Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Ties of Love Linger over Lifetimes (情絲繫縛 生世難斷)
Date: June.18.2018
“We must not take this lightly; such karmic causes lead to such effects. [Karma] from a single thought of ties of love can entangle us for a long time. Coarse afflictions can be easily changed, but it is difficult to guard oneself against the fine dusts of ignorance. It is hard to sever entanglements that constrict us throughout lifetime after lifetime. Through our roots and dusts, these enter our karmic consciousness.”
We must be mindful! We must not take the law of karma lightly. For a long time, I have been constantly reminding everyone that every word we say and every thought we have will become a seed of karma. When we give rise to a thought or take an action, we plant seeds in the ground [of our minds]. Once a seed converges with the soil and the air and water from nature, this seed will continually sprout and grow. [The cycle] is thus perpetuated. Our [karmic] seeds word in the same way. Causes and conditions arise from one thought; this thought that arises is the seed. Once a thought arises, action will follow, and actions form causes and bring about effects. So, we must never take the law of karma lightly. We must place great importance on it.
These causes and conditions originate “from a single thought of ties of love” and “can entangle us for a long time.” When it comes to love, ordinary people’s love is deluded. Because we are ordinary people, all our thoughts contain ignorance. Because of our ignorance, we deviate in our direction, which will certainly result in mistakes. So, in the span of a single thought, this delusion will proliferate into ties of love. This is just like thread. From a seed in the ground grows a cotton or sisal plant. People [harvest] the cotton or sisal and spin it into yarn. These strands of fibers are put together horizontally and vertically and gradually turn into yarn, thread, rope and so on. The yarn can be used to bind things. Apart from the threads used to weave cloth, ropes can be used to tie things up and bind them together; as they remain bound, they become more and more entangled. To untangle them is very difficult. So, all of this originates “from a single thought of ties of love” and in this way continues to entangle us, continues to entangle and tie us together.
Naturally, we are unable to free ourselves. Entangled by the connections of causes and conditions, this connection is continually perpetuated. The world is full of suffering. With love, there is suffering. In this impermanent life, when certain events happen at certain moments, with feelings of love, we are entangled and connected together. For us sentient beings, a single deviant thought can entangle us in this deluded love.
“Coarse afflictions can be easily changed.” For some, feelings of romantic love, will result in [successive generations] of children and grandchildren. Will the marriage be smooth? Will we be in love our whole life, and will our family be harmonious? Furthermore, will our children be well-behaved so we do not need to worry about them? Even if we do not have to worry, will this love and affection truly be everlasting? In the process, there is birth, aging, illness and death. How long will this lifetime last? Will we remain healthy or fall ill?
No matter what, in the end we are always afflicted. This is to say nothing of how, in the world, 1000-foot swells rise on the river of cravings. Human relationships are truly unbearable suffering. There are many [examples of this]. Moreover, when one thought of greed, anger, delusion, arrogance or doubt arises, we keep replicating our ignorance. Coarse and severe afflictions and major mistakes can be corrected, since after making a big mistake, we suffer severe punishment. We realize our wrongdoings, so we know that we must correct them. However, those kinds of very subtle ignorance and afflictions are hard to prevent.
The past wrongdoings we know about, we can change. We already know we must repent. But in our daily living, aren’t our habitual tendencies still very hard to eliminate? This is why we are ordinary begins; it is hard to become a sage, so we always remain ordinary begins. We have these habitual tendencies. With our coarse afflictions that are visible to others, we ourselves may know that we need to be vigilant and not commit wrongdoings. Such wrongdoing s are visible to everyone, so we feel ashamed of ourselves and will not dare repeat them. But the fine dusts of ignorance in our minds are not visible to others, and we ourselves are also not aware of them. These fine dusts of ignorance are truly difficult to guard against. If our habitual tendencies are bad, others people can likely tell just by looking. “This person still has such habitual tendencies.” When others see our expression, they can tell, but we ourselves do not realize it. When others tell us, “Why are you doing this? Oh, am I doing that? I did not realize it myself.”
Indeed, these sublet sensations expressed through our emotions and gestures are visible to others, but we ourselves do not sense them. When we are unhappy or upset, people around us will notice and know that our expressions mean we are unhappy. “I didn’t notice anything!” We are not aware of the expressions we are projecting. These are subtle afflictions of ignorance, which we are unable to guard against. This is common for us ordinary beings. So, it is hard to sever the entanglements that constrict us for lifetime after lifetime. Because we have the coarse afflictions we mentioned as well as romantic desires, with one thought, we are entangled by ties of love. Such entanglement will cause us to create greater [karma] and commit more serious wrongdoings. Once we make great mistakes, we will understand that romantic desires these ties of love, are very hard to eliminate. In this world, some parents think that when children grow up, they absolutely must get married. If they are getting too old, they must quickly pick someone. Even if they do not like the person, they pressure them to marry. “Of the three ways of begins unfilial, the worst is not producing offspring.” Everyone wants to keep procreating, continuing our entanglement. Everyone views this as the norm.
But truly, very often, these ties of love will reproduce themselves and cause problems in the family; this happens too. Aside from their love for their family, they may also experience extramarital attraction which leads them astray. This is what we ordinary people refer to as “keeping a mistress” or “cheating on one’s husband” and so on. Such incidents happen often. Or people have children outside of marriage, or there may be many other [situations]. These are all due to single thought which produces these entangling ties of love. There are many causes like these. But because of this, due to a single thought of ties of love or because of how the customs of the world views this as the norm, people are bound by many afflictions. We also create much karma with our wrongdoings. These are all sufferings caused by entanglements.
So, “It is hard to sever entanglements that constrict us throughout lifetime after lifetime. Through our roots and dusts, these enter our karmic consciousness. Our roots and dusts interact, and after we act, this enters our karmic consciousness. We cannot bring anything [but karma] when we die; lifetime after lifetime we bring these entanglements with us. Thus, “It is hard to sever entanglement that constrict us throughout lifetime after lifetime. Through our roots and dusts, these enter our karmic consciousness.” We continue to remain entangled. Thus, we must be very vigilant.
Mahaprajapati was Lady Maya’s younger sister, the Buddha’s maternal aunt. Yasodhara was Rahula’s mother. They took joy in the Dharma and begged the Buddha to allow them to become monastics. They attained Bodhi and received predictions.
Mahaprajapati was Lady Maya’s younger sister. This was their relationship. Of course, during the Buddha’s lifetime, when the Buddha was born, His mother passed away seven days later. Mahaprajapati felt pity for the child, so she came to the palace and became Prince Siddhartha’s adoptive mother. She was his maternal aunt. After Prince Siddhartha grew up, he also had to take a wife.
So, Yasodhara entered the palace as the prince’s wife and [became] the mother of Rahula. Because Prince Siddhartha continued to single-mindedly want to become a monastic, King Suddhidana worried that Prince Siddhartha did not have an heir. What would happen to this country in the future? Thus he did not allow [the prince to leave].
So, to fulfill his filial duties, Prince Siddhartha had to have a son, Rahula. This was what society believed was normal. Both Yasodhara and Mahaprajapati had causes and conditions from many lifetimes. In their eighth consciousness, they had already created causes and conditions in the past. They had formed aspirations and made vows that life after life they would help the Buddha attain the causes and conditions for Buddhahood. Because people in this world reproduce in this way, in His spiritual practice, He had to live among people in this way. Throughout lifetime after lifetime, the Buddha had to form aspirations to be among people. Lifetime after lifetime, people perpetuate afflictions and ignorance, so He needed people to help Him by providing good causes and conditions.
Take for example Mahaprajapati. After the prince was born, Lady Maya passed away, so Mahaprajapati raised Prince Siddhartha and helped him grow up without incident. In the same way, Yasodhara also helped Prince Siddhartha fulfill his wish by bearing him a son so that he was able to become a monastic. After the Buddha returned to the palace to teach, Mahaprajapati and Yasodhara joyfully sought and accepted the Dharma. In the end they also become monastics and also received predictions of Buddhahood from the Buddha.
So, “Yasodhara ’s great sacrifice demonstrated her causal practice of great compassion. She had Dharma-joy and great wisdom. She exercised both wisdom and loving-kindness. Thus she cultivated goodness and myriad virtues. She will become replete with magnificence, perfect her causes and approach fruition. She will be fully endowed with millions of radiant marks.
In the palace, Yasodhara had a life of enjoyment, but she gave up all her wealth and nobility. Along with Mahaprajapati, she led 500 palace maids to follow the Buddha and asked to become a monastic. She was acting as an example. Life in the palace was so luxurious, so why was she willing to give it up? She was willing to live a life as a monastic and beg for alms to survive just like the bhiksus; this demonstrated her “causal practice of great compassion”, which is the Bodhisattva-path. To truly teach sentient beings, we must walk on the Bodhisattva-path.
She was not a man, she was a woman who was willing to “destroy her form and uphold her integrity and leave home to serve her Dharma-family”. This group of spiritual practitioners became her family. She willingly gave up the pleasures of the palace. Although her daily living was harsh, she was filled with Dharma-joy. She was very joyful and satisfied. This is great wisdom. She “exercised both wisdom and living-kindness”. With her great wisdom, she exercised the practice of loving-kindness and compassion in the world. This is cultivating the Bodhisattva-causes, so in “her causal practice of great compassion”, she could not bear to let sentient beings suffer. Thus, she taught by example to help the Buddha transform sentient beings. So, she brought 500 palace maids along with her. Now, there were 6000 bhiksunis [in the Sangha]. This is manifesting the teaching through practice so that women would also have the opportunity to engage in spiritual practice.
“She exercised both wisdom and loving-kindness. Thus she cultivated goodness and myriad virtues”. She cultivated so much goodness. Life after life, she appeared as a woman to help Sakyamuni Buddha in His spiritual practice. Because of this, she now received predictions from the Buddha. “She will become replete with magnificence, perfect her causes and approach fruition. She will be fully endowed with millions of radiant marks”. She will be born in a virtuous land and will be called “Replete-with-Millions-of-Radiant-Marks Tathagata”.
This shows how, although the world is like this, with sexual desires leading to the constant reproduction of sentient beings and sentient beings’ minds constantly becoming contaminated, she had to come to the world and undergo this process here.
So, Yasodhara and Mahaprajapati had these causes and conditions to help the Buddha engage in spiritual practice. So, we must be earnestly mindful.
The previous sutra passage states, “The Buddha told Yasodhara. In the future, amidst the Dharma of countless Buddhas, you will cultivate the Bodhisattva-practice, become a great Dharma teacher and gradually complete the path to Buddhahood.
Yasodhara had not heard the Buddha call her name. The Buddha had told Mahaprajapati, “In the future, you will attain Buddhahood. These 6000 bhiksunis will also earnestly engage in spiritual practice in the presence of trillions of Buddhas and become Dharma-teachers”. The 6000 bhiksunis had all received predictions at the same time. But Yasodhara thought to herself, “Why didn’t the Buddha call my name?” So, in response to her wish, the Buddha called her name, “Yasodhara! In the future, amidst the Dharma of countless trillions of Buddhas, you too will cultivate the Bodhisattva-practice, gradually complete the path to Buddhahood. In the presence of countless trillions of Buddhas, she will earnestly engage in spiritual practice and become a great Dharma teacher, until she perfects her causes and approaches the fruition. She will attain Buddhahood in a virtuous land. She will become a Buddha who will be called “Replete-with-Millions-of-Radiant-Marks Tathagata”. She will be replete with the ten epithets.
So, “That Buddha’s lifespan will be infinite asankya kalpas. This was mentioned previously. In a virtuous land, you will become a Buddha with the epithets Replete-with-Millions-of-Radiant-Marks Tathagata, One Worthy of Offerings, Completely Awakened One, One Perfect in Wisdom and Action, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Guide, Tamer, Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans and Buddha, the World-Honored One. That Buddha’s lifespan will be infinite asankya kalpas.
The following sutra passage states, “At that time, Mahaprajapati Bhiksuni and Yasodhara Bhiksuni, along with their retinue, all experienced great joy, having attained what they never had before”.
At that time, Mahaprajapati Bhiksuni and Yasodhara Bhiksuni, along with their retinue, had all heard the Buddha ’s predictions for them. So, everyone was very joyful.
[They] all experience great joy, having attained what they never had before. So, they had received predictions from the Buddha. in the future, no matter how long it takes, even practicing with trillions of Buddhas, and no matter how laborious their process of spiritual practice will be, they will be able to listen, teach and spread the Dharma. So, they were very joyful. No matter how long it takes, since the Buddha bestowed predictions on them, they will surely attain Buddhahood in the future.
They were very joyful at having attained what never had before. Because they were very joyful, “Immediately, before the Buddha, they spoke in verse”. Because they were very joyful, they used verses to praise the Buddha.
“The World-Honored One, our guiding teacher, brings peace and stability to heavenly beings and humans. We have all heard our predictions, and our minds are peaceful and fulfilled.”
Everyone was very happy, so they used verse to express their thoughts. “World-Honored One, You are our guiding teacher who can bring peace and stability to heavenly beings and humans” and “the guiding teacher of the Three Realms, He can being peace and stability to heavenly beings and humans. Only the Buddha, the World-Honored One, is able to do this. The guiding teacher of the Three Realms can bring peace and calm to heavenly beings’ and humans’ minds. Since heavenly beings and humans are among the Six Unenlightened Realms, they are always focused on pursuing pleasures.
They pursue pleasures, so their minds become lost. Confused as to [the right] direction, they create karma. Thus, within the Six Unenlightened Realms, sentient beings’ minds are not stable. What they need is the Buddha to appear in the world life after life to go among people to teach and transform them. He is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and the kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings. this is how, lifetime after lifetime, He can spread the Dharma in the world and teach sentient beings.
So, they said, “We have all heard our predictions, and our minds are peaceful and fulfilled. Since the Buddha taught the Dharma, our minds feel very peaceful. We have all heard our predictions. since this voice entered our minds, our bodies and minds are both at peace. We do not need to worry any further; our wish has been completely fulfilled. The goal of spiritual practice is to attain Buddhahood. Although in the future, we will still need a very long time of engaging in spiritual practice, we are very satisfied. Our minds ae settled and we know the direction we will go. So, we will make vows to advance forward. This was what they expressed.
After they spoke that verse, the next sutra passage states, After those bhikusnis spoke verse, they said the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One, we are also able to widely promote this sutra.
These bhiksunis, including Mahaprajapati and Yasodhara were all at the Vulture Peak Assembly and they all understood the Buddha’s intent. The Buddha was advanced in age, and so was everyone else.
So, the Buddha began to pass on His teachings. For His vow to be passed on, the Dharma had to be continually transmitted in this world. He hoped that everyone would accept this Dharma, form aspirations and make great vows. He was recruiting people [to carry on] the Dharma. He hoped that everyone could express their willingness to go among people and uphold this sutra and to persist in this throughout future lifetimes. If we do not form aspirations in this life, if these seeds do not nature in this lifetime, then how can there be seeds for us as we continue on into the future? Even if a tree is able to bear fruits, if the fruit do not ripen properly or if the tree withers before the seeds have matured, then there will be nothing left.
So, we hope the fruits on every tree can ripen so they can continue on into the future. The principle is the same. The Buddha also hoped to ensure that, since He was now advanced in age, the teachings were very mature, so that the seeds could [take root] in everyone’s mind. He had to sow them in everyone’s mind. After [the teachings] entered everyone’s mind, He needed everyone to express this through vows. This is how the Buddha “recruited people for the Dharma He hoped that everyone could express their vows. So, when the bhiksunis heard this, they were able to comprehend the Buddha’s wish. Though they all had aged as well, since they heard the Dharma in this life, they hoped that they would continue [this work] in future lifetimes. They made this vow to earnestly seize their causes and conditions. Only with vows can causes and conditions nature. Without vows, the conditions will be incomplete. So, they had to form vows in front of the Buddha and make this promise to the Buddha. only with this promise could the causes and conditions be carried forward.
So, they made this promise for life after life. In the same way, [they expressed] this vow. “Fine, I can do this too. I promise you, I can do this too.” So, they praised the Buddha in verse and expressed their intention. Then they again told the Buddha, “World-Honored One, we can all go to other lands to widely promote this sutra.”
They too wanted to go to other lands to widely promote this sutra. This was because everyone was very scared of [the begins in] the Saha World. Even the bhiksunis were scared. Everyone formed aspirations and was willing [to spread the Dharma], but in other lands. It was the same for the same for the group of bhiksunis that Mahaprajapati led. After they praised the Buddha, they too made vows, but they made vows to widely spread the Dharma in other lands. They did this because they considered themselves. They knew that “their strength was lacking”. They knew that their strength was not very firm. They understood this themselves.
They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, we are all also able to go to other lands to widely promote this sutra, wisely promote this sutra”: Because their strength was lacking and they feared this world of evil turbidities, they wished to go to other places to widely expound this sutra.
So, “Their strength was lacking”. They felt that they were lacking in strength. Thus, “They feared this world of evil turbidities.” They feared coming to this world again; it is full of suffering! So, they did not dare to come back to this world. “They wished to go to other places to widely promote this sutra”. They would rather go to other lands instead of staying in the Saha world. This was because their power of vows was weak. They measured themselves and [found that] their vows were not strong enough.
Those who have tasted purity will certainly be unaccustomed to afflictions, so it will not be easy for them to walk the Bodhisattva-path while remaining in the evil world of turbidities. If, in the ground of afflictions, we have already been able to form great aspirations, so long as we practice a little longer, we can certainly turn our afflictions into Bodhi. Then the merits from practice we attain will swiftly become firm. Those whose nature is not pure cannot reach this level.
So, “Those who have tasted purity will certainly be unaccustomed to afflictions”. To engage in spiritual practice without habitual tendencies creating afflictions is truly not easy. So, “It will not be easy for them to walk the Bodhisattva-path while remaining in the evil world of turbidities”. So, this is to say that to walk on the Bodhisattva-path in this evil world of turbidities is truly difficult.
This is because, as we walk on the Bodhisattva-path here, sentient beings are turbid and evil. They may once again contaminate us. We must consider ourselves and reflect upon ourselves. Our strength is not great. It is still not great enough to resist the power of afflictions. So, “If, in the ground of afflictions, we have already been able to form great aspirations…”. Now, this place, the Saha World, is filled with afflictions. If, in this place filled with afflictions, we have “already been able to form great aspirations,” if we form great aspirations at this place and persist in our spiritual practice for a little longer, “we can certainly turn our afflictions into Bodhi”. We may be scared.
Mahaprajapati was scared, afraid of being contaminated. But actually, “in the ground of afflictions,” we can begin to form great aspirations. If, in this afflicted place, we can form great aspirations and earnestly engage in spiritual practice over a longer period of time, “we can certainly turn our afflictions into Bodhi. Then, the merits from practices we attain will swiftly become firm”. This is why we must be earnestly mindful over a very long period of time. Moreover, if we complete our meritorious practice, it will “swiftly become firm”. It can become very firm.
We need our minds to be very resolute. “Those whose nature is not pure cannot reach this level”. Our nature is intrinsically pure. It is pure to begin with, but in this afflicted place, it will become defiled by [our environment]. So, everyone was afraid, afraid that if their nature became defiled, it would no longer be pure. So, they did not dare remain here. Although after a while they could attain Bodhi, if their nature was to become defiled by this place, [they feared] their intrinsic nature would again become contaminated. So, they were scared. Their strength was still not very great; they would be unable to guard against defilements. This would is filled with evil turbidities, and there are many binding afflictions. The afflictions that we just talked about, these ties of afflictions, may arise in our minds with a single thought. Then these ties of love and emotion can continue to entangle us for a long time. If in a single thought we are not careful, then, in this manner, we will again be dragged by causes and conditions. They were all in the Saha world, in this place filled with afflictions, willing to form great aspirations and vows. They knew that through long practice, they could turn afflictions into Bodhi. But even though they knew this, they were still very worried that being in this place, if they did not quickly attain Buddhahood, if they did not quickly attain Bodhi, they would again become entangled and their intrinsic nature would once again become contaminated. In this way, those who had weak power of vows truly did not seize [the moment].
So, “Those whose nature is not pure cannot reach this level”. Just because they were pure, it did not mean they had seized the moment. Because they still had female bodies, they thought they were too weak. They had formed aspirations here, and by engaging in practice here, over time they would be able to turn afflictions into Bodhi. However, considering their own strength, it they could not quickly attain Bodhi, after a long time, would they still be able to persevere? So, they did not dare to stay in the Saha world and formed aspirations to go to other lands. This Saha world is truly frightening. Both the bhiksus and bhidsunis feared it. So, we must be earnestly mindful.
Only very courageous people can stay in this place of afflictions and form great aspirations and make great vows. They felt that this would be impossible for them, because they lacked the great power of vows. Thus, they did not dare [to stay]. They must still, in the presence of countless trillions of Buddhas, listen, teach and spread the Dharma. This will take a long time. So, they had to form great aspirations. Even to go to other lands, they must have the power of vows. So, they formed aspirations to go to other lands.
This is like Bohol Island in the Philippines. Because of certain causes and conditions, after the earthquake in 2013, this lasting connection was formed. Aside from helping them [with emergency relief], we also helped the reconstruction by building temporary classrooms for them. As they began educating the children, through these causes and conditions, they learned about our Jing Si Aphorisms. The local educators requested that we provide them with Jing Si Aphorisms. The adults already understood them, but could the teachers use Jing Si Aphorisms to teach the children? They submitted this request. The volunteers in the Philippines also hoped [this would happen]; they shared the same wish. In Malaysia, there is a group of enthusiastic teachers from our Teachers’ Association who made a vow. They were willing to go to Bohol island and share their Jing Si Aphorism curriculum with 304 public school teachers there. On December 6-7, 2016, for two days, they went to Bohol Island to share Jing Si Aphorisms with them. The local teachers were happy to hear people explain about the Jing Si Aphorisms and the way to teach them.
On the third day, they invited members of our Teacher’s Association to demonstrate how to teach them, so the Malaysian Teacher’s Association went to the temporary classrooms and started showing the teachers, “This is how I teach my lessons.” They directly taught the students for the teachers to see. So, now the teachers there all know how to do it. Everyone on Bohol is now using Jing Si Aphorisms to teach their local students in both Mandarin and English. Our teachers from Malaysia also delivered Jing Si Aphorisms books as gifts for the children and teachers. In this way, they spread the teachings there. Truly, this was something they needed. But we must form aspirations and make vows.
Indeed, there are such enthusiastic teachers in this world who vow to spread the teachings in other places. This also happened during the Buddha’s era. But during the Buddha’s era, because the Saha world’s beings were so stubborn, they lacked courage and hoped to go elsewhere. This made the Buddha very worried. Though they made vows, the Buddha was still very worried. So, all of us must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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