Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Battling the Maras with Great Accomplishments (與魔共戰 有大功勳)
Date: September.26.2018
“All our delusions from afflictions and ignorance are called maras. We crave and form attachments to the Five Dusts and give rise to various afflictions. They obstruct the right path, thus we lose our wisdom-life. This is called the mara of afflictions, which is indulgence in the Five Dusts.”
We must be mindful! In life, we are constantly thinking. What are we thinking about each day? What do we want to do? Do we have a direction? Are our actions in this direction beneficial to others? When something is beneficial and we aspire to put it into action, do we do this with mindfulness? We must earnestly contemplate this. If we lose this aspiration to benefit others in our everyday life, then, when sentient beings are suffering, what Dharma can we use to help them? If we lack mindfulness in our everyday life, how will we serve others when the time comes?
We must apply the Dharma in worldly matters. When afflictions and hardships befall [others], what Dharma should we use to help them? We must remember that “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” When we see sentient beings in suffering, what can we do to determine their suffering? We must form Bodhisattva-aspirations and always remain mindful of these aspirations. This is called “cultivation”. “Internal cultivation brings merit.” Internal [cultivation] is our homework. In our daily life, we must earnestly engage in contemplation, “skillful contemplation.” If we regularly engage in skillful contemplation, when it is time for us to serve, it will not be difficult at all.
Bodhisattvas must practice the Six Paramitas by actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions. If we do not work hard [at this] in everyday life, how will we be able to go out to serve others? Day after day, faced with sense objects, we spend [our lives] amidst our delusions from afflictions and ignorance. By the time we need to apply the Dharma, we [have lost sight of it]; instead, we keep turning back to our afflictions and delusions in our ignorance. We are still dominated by this mara, which renders us unable to freely apply the Dharma we have learned and listened to. Once we form aspirations, we [lose sight of] the Dharma. This is because we lack consistent mindfulness. The world is full of suffering. If we do not work hard at our inner [cultivation], when the time comes, we will be unable to apply the Dharma in everyday life. I often tell everyone, the Dharma is in our lives, but are we applying it? We often speak of forming Bodhisattva-aspirations. “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” How do we diligently advance? We must diligently advance in this world that is full of suffering, this is the most practical spiritual training ground. This is the time for Bodhisattvas to be diligent. At this time, the world is full of suffering. If we do not help others in a timely manner, we are not taking part in this spiritual training ground and we are not engaging in the Bodhisattva-practice. So, this is how we must actualize the Bodhisattva-practice. Because of suffering sentient beings, Bodhisattvas arise to take action and help them. This is the path practiced by Bodhisattvas. This is diligently advancing in our spiritual training ground. For instance, people often refer cases to us.
A certain person had, in his house, been hoarding things for decades and had accumulated so many filthy things. Either the village chief or their neighbors referred this case to us.” In this neighborhood, this village, this has led to so many issues. There is so much garbage, and it stinks so bad. Tzu Chi volunteers, will you please help him clean it up?” The owner of the house was reluctant, so we had to ask him again and again. We did everything we could to advise and guide him. Finally, we were able to clean the house. We cleared out several truckloads of garbage. In the house, it was very filthy and dirty; there was excrement everywhere. These Tzu Chi volunteers, these Bodhisattvas, were not afraid of the filth. They went in to help him clean, sweep and scrub. Once they had cleaned [the house], they also painted it for him. They cleared out all the junk inside and swept it all clean. The house was looking just like new. [They brought in] a bed, either second-hand or brand new, and quickly moved it in. They furnished the house with a bed, a table, chairs, a cupboard and everything he could need. They counseled him, “From now on, you should live like this.” He became a care recipient whom we visit often. This care recipient had lived in this house for several decades. He had never felt uncomfortable while living there. Whether it got cleaned sooner or later made no difference to him. Imagine if a big storm were to come all of a sudden and cause a flood. Most days, we live in a very clean [house]. But then this storm comes along and floods our [house]. Everything inside gets soaked, and there is mud coming in too. All our furniture gets dirty. There would be nowhere to sit or stand, let alone a place to rest or sleep. Everything would be soaked. Let us put ourselves in this position. If this happened to us, would we be able to spend a night there? Forget about spending the night; even if we cleaned for an entire day, let alone not being able to clean at all, we would not even have a place to stand or sit. Just spending half a day there would be insufferable; we would nit be able to bear it.
In situations like these, what people need the most is [having someone] whether they know them or not, who willingly comes to help them so that they can regain their clean environment. This is their most urgent need. Indeed, whether [the helpers] are strangers or not, some people will feel worried! “Right now, I really need some help. But what kind of people will come help me clean my house? Can I trust strangers?” so, this means that when we practice regularly in the spiritual training ground for Bodhisattvas, in our everyday life, we must inspire trust in people. Whenever there is a place in need, we must go there to help them and being peace to their minds.
Then, whenever a difficult situation arises, they will have the peace of mind to let us help them. This also [help then] eliminate afflictions that arise during times of hardship. They cannot resolve afflictions on their own, but will they be able to let go of their worries and let us help them? This is also a form of “delusion from afflictions. When people willingly come to help us, we must be able to be grateful. We must let go of worries and be grateful for everyone’s help. Will we be able to eliminate ignorance and doubt? We must help people eliminate their doubts and clear away the mara of ignorance. We must regularly [ask] ourselves, have we vanquished these maras, and are we worthy of others’ trust?
In the past, we kept talking about “conditioned phenomena”. How do we help others? How do we dedicate ourselves [to others]? How do we eliminate suffering in the world? The virtue we cultivate in daily life serves to build up faith people’s hearts. As we serve others, we also [abide in] “unconditioned Dharma. We see ourselves and others as one. When other people suffer, we treat it the same as our suffering. We always talk about becoming one with the universe. We cannot bear to see sentient begins suffer; we must serve others with this mindset. These are matters and appearances. Among people, matters and things, the four elements are imbalanced. The world is suffering from natural disasters. This visible and tangible suffering [creates] issues for people This requires Bodhisattvas to take action and help sentient beings in suffering. As we diligently walk the Bodhisattva-path, this is our spiritual training ground. We must enter this training ground and diligently advance. Afterward, our minds will be full of joy! This requires us to be determined. So, we still need to destroy this mara. This means we must eliminate troubles, afflictions, ignorance and hardships. These are all called “maras”. When we are able to live in peace, this means we have freed ourselves from maras. As soon as problematic matters start to trouble our minds, this means the maras have reemerged. How do we eliminate these maras and eradicate these hardships? Whether it is our state of mind or tangible experiences of disaster and hardship, they are all called “maras”.
Now, we understand this word “mara”. When we face hardships, various afflictions or suffering, these are all called maras. “We crave and form attachments to the Five Dusts and give rise to various afflictions.” When we regularly engage in spiritual practice, we must constantly remind ourselves to be vigilant. Do our minds crave and form attachments to the Five Dusts, giving rise to afflictions? We should all know the Five Dusts. They are form, sound, smell, taste and touch. This is what we connect to; our Five Roots connect to the Five Dusts. In regards to these things, if we crave pleasure and comfort, we are not accepting or upholding [the Dharma] and we lack vigilance. If this is the case, greed, anger, delusion, arrogance and doubt [will arise], and in this state, we will find that we are not diligent; we have become indolent. How do we use our time? We are always craving pleasure, [lost in] form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness, indulging in pleasures among [the Five Dusts]. We all need to work hard. Be it form, sound, smell taste and touch or form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness, we must always be mindful and remind ourselves to be vigilant. As humans, we are always entangled in these things. This obstructs the right path. We must truly be earnest and diligent. We must diligently cultivate upon this path. Where is this path? If we practice the Bodhisattva-path, the path lies with suffering sentient beings. Helping them when they are in hardship is our path. If something hinders our thinking, we will fail to advance diligently. Thus, this “obstructs the right path,” and it follows that we will “lose our wisdom-life”. If we can diligently walk upon this path, our wisdom-life will grow. Otherwise, our wisdom-life will disappear. Are we all growing, or are we stagnating in one place? Our lifespan is limited. Time is passing us by, so everyone must work hard to make use of it.
So, “This is called the mara of afflictions, which is indulgence in the Five Dusts”. Our mara of afflictions often creates entanglements in our minds. Amidst the Five Dusts, this mara can “snatch away our wisdom-life.”
Maras can snatch away our wisdom-life, because they kill our world-transcending roots of goodness. 1. The mara of the Aggregates. 2. The mara of afflictions. 3. The mara of death. 4. King Mara of Mahesvara Heaven.
Our wisdom-life is disturbed by maras and afflictions. As for the Dharma we listen to regularly, how do we apply it when the time comes? If we do not apply it mindfully, though we normally listen to the Dharma, the maras will invade our minds again and we will [fail] to apply it when we need to. This is how the maras entangle us. So, “Maras can snatch away our wisdom-life”. As time passes us by, a part of our wisdom-life will also fade away, and we will not grow. This is because “they kill our world-transcending roots of goodness”. Though our minds intend to cultivate the roots of goodness, our roots of goodness will fail to grow. How sad is this!
If our roots of goodness fail to grow, how will we extend our compassion and spread great love? Tzu Chi volunteers often hear this phrase. This is to encourage us. Have we accepted this encouragement and teaching? Do we spread great love and extend our compassion? When we have yet to extend our world-transcending roots of goodness, this snatches away our wisdom-life and kills our world-transcending roots of goodness. When we do not extend these roots, this is akin to severing them.
There is also “the mara of the Aggregates”. “The Five Aggregates” are things that “accumulate”. “They accumulate into samsara’s fruit of suffering and can snatch away our wisdom-life”.
“The Aggregates” refers to gradual accumulation. What is accumulated is our afflictions. The Dharma is like water. this water purifies the afflictions in our minds. If the afflictions in our minds are not cleansed with Dharma-water, they will continuously accumulate into samsara’s fruit of suffering. Then, in life, we can only follow the law of nature. We will go through birth and death, forever entangled by samsara. Our entire life will pass by in vain.
So, “[Maras] can snatch away our wisdom-life”. This is the nature of our wisdom-life. We want to make the most of our time to grow our wisdom-life, but our wisdom-life is occupied by so many afflictions that enshroud [our minds] and make us waste our time. In this way, we lose our wisdom-lie and our roots of goodness are severed.
The second is the mara of afflictions. “This means that the illusions and delusions in the Three Realms can vex and disturb our mind and spirit, preventing us from attaining Bodhi”. This is known as “the mara of afflictions”.
In the Three Realms, we spend our life amidst ignorance and afflictions. In this place, we constantly accumulate things that are not real, we constantly accumulate things that are not real, merely indulging in momentary pleasures [just like] being in places of entertainment. All we do is crave pleasures. These illusions and delusions “can vex and disturb our mind and spirit, preventing us from attaining Bodhi”. So, this is known as the mara of afflictions. We waste our days away, craving pleasure, not daring to do any hard work or think much about people in suffering. These afflictions cause us to lose our wisdom-life.
The third is “the mara of death”. “When the four elements disperse, our wisdom-life can no longer continue. This is known as the mara of death”.
Our body is a vessel for spiritual cultivation. We have been saying lately that being born human, it is rare to hear the Dharma. Having heard the Buddha-Dharma, we have already mastered lots of skills; it is as if we can steer a big ship or drive a car. Our body is the best vessel for spiritual practice. This is not for us alone. We must make use of our physical bodies to cross over from this place of suffering to that place of joy. Whether we are using a vehicle on land or a vessel in the water, we are the pilot, and we can deliver ourselves as well as others. So, speaking of life and death, if this vehicle is broken or scattered into pieces, it cannot be used at all. When our breath stops, will we be able to extend our wisdom-life? Though we listen to the Buddha-Dharma, we may not take in much of it or put it to use. If we do not put any of it to use, we are just piling up trash in this car. We are piling on afflictions without carrying any true Dharma. This is a real pity. So, this is the mara of death. How much time do we have until we stop breathing? We do not know. The mara of death is always beside us.
The fourth is “King Mara of Mahesvara Heaven”. “This is the sixth heaven of the desire realm. When people earnestly cultivate superior goodness, King Mara will obstruct them”.
When people cultivate goodness, King Mara will rise up against them and obstruct them from advancing diligently. If this is the case, “They will not perfect their roots of goodness”. This is King Mara. Everyone, we must truly be mindful. To safely engage in spiritual practice, we must have firm spiritual aspirations. We must not allow King Mara, with his pleasure-seeking mindset, to obstruct us. If we do, we will fail to use the Dharma we hear, and we will be perpetually lost in confusion. We must be more mindful.
Thus, the previous sutra passage states, “Manjusri, this is like how the wheel-turning king, upon seeing those soldiers with great accomplishments, has great joy in his heart. He takes this unbelievable pearl, which he has long concealed in his topknot and has never causally given away to anyone, and now gives it to them”.
Sakyamuni Buddha told everyone, “You must all awaken your wisdom!” The wheel-turning sage king sees how those soldiers have courageously battled the invaders from the outside. They are successful and victorious, so he is very joyful. This is the wheel-turning sage king. So, when people bring joy to others, they should be rewarded and praised. The Tathagata saw these spiritual practitioners working hard, so He was very joyful. If He were to see spiritual practitioners and people who listen to the Dharma fail to apply the Dharma in their daily lives, His heart would be pained. Since He saw that everyone was diligent, He was very joyful. So, this praise is a reward. He bestowed predictions upon them and entrusted missions to them, which means that He had faith in them. [The Buddha] entrusting missions to them was their reward.
However great their strength was, He entrusted just as great of a mission to them. However, there was still one great mission that He had not entrusted to them yet; this is [symbolized by] the pearl in the topknot. It cannot be given to just anyone. This is from the previous sutra passage.
So, this refers to the Tathagata. “He is the great Dharma-king in the Three Realms who uses the Dharma to teach and transform all sentient beings.”
He uses the Dharma to teach and transform all sentient beings. He hopes all sentient beings can take on the great responsibility of transforming themselves and others. This is the Buddha’s expectation.
So, the next sutra passage continues with, “He sees his army of sages and noble beings battle with the mara of the Five Skandhas, the mara of afflictions and the mara of death and have great accomplishments. They eradicate the Three Poisons, transcend the Three Realms and destroy the net of maras. “At that time, the Tathagata is also greatly delighted.”
The Buddha hopes to see us genuinely work hard. The mara of the Skandhas is the Five Aggregates. The Five Aggregates cause many afflictions through form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness. Are we being mindful of this in our everyday life? When we come into contact with external dusts, we have feelings and so on, but what exactly are our feelings? Are they feelings that [propel] us forward? Do our hearts go out to those who suffer, or are we just indulging in pleasure? This depends on us. The Buddha is deeply concerned about these matters. The sutras say, “When we recognize suffering, we destroy the mara of the Five Skandhas.”
The sutras say: When we recognize suffering, we destroy the mara of the Five Skandhas. When we eradicate causation, we will be free from the mara of afflictions. When attain cessation, we will be free from the mara of death. When we practice the Path, we will destroy King Mara of Mahesvara Heaven. This is the lord of the desire realm who delights in and is attached to deviant views, who detests and is jealous of the enlightened practices of all sages and nobles. He is called King Mara of Mahesvara Heaven.
We know that the world is full of suffering. Life is short, and our lifespans are limited. Also, in the world, there is so much accumulated suffering that is beyond our control. There is so much suffering! The suffering of afflictions and ignorance continuously accumulate, layer by layer. They continuously appear in the world, becoming severe turbidities in the world. These are the mara of the Five Skandhas. We must understand [what causes us] to accumulate afflictions. We should put our hearts into “eradicating causation” so that “we will be free from the mara of afflictions”. Only then can we “attain cessation [and free ourselves] from the mara of death”. Many of these things require us to work hard. First, we must understand “suffering”. We must know that suffering comes from “causation”. It accumulates, so we must work diligently in order to “eliminate” this suffering. To eliminate suffering, we must practice the Path. To practice the Path, we must understand this “Path”. There is suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. We must understand suffering, end causation, realize cessation and practice the Path. We must mindfully seek to comprehend this.
So, the lord of the desire realm, King Mara, “delights in and is attached to deviant views, detests and is jealous of the enlightened practices of all sages and nobles”. He is called “King Mara of Mahesvara Heaven”. When this lord of the desire realm sees people cultivating Right Dharma, he becomes very anxious, fearing that the descendants of Mara will decrease. When we attain liberation from the Three Realms, the descendants of Mara decrease. Are we willing to remain in the Three Realms as the descendants of Mara, doing all sorts of evil, constantly entangled within the Three Realms? We do not want this.
So, we must cultivate Right Dharma. We must become the army of sages and noble beings and battle the maras ourselves. Each of these unwholesome things must be treated with Right Dharma, one by one. When King Mara sees this army of sages and noble beings, these hard-working people, bringing in Right Dharma, King Mara becomes scared for this mara-realm. “When he sees the army of sages and noble beings in great and small vehicles, he becomes anxious”.
So, “the mara of the Five Aggregates” refers to form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness. All our afflictions, delusions and ignorance come from the mara of Five Aggregates. So, what is “the mara of the Five Skandhas?” They are form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness, a total of five. These five are afflictions that delude people.
“So, they can conceal and obstruct” our wisdom. Thus, they are called “the mara of the Skandhas”. In this way, we humans are deluded. So, we do not understand the principles clearly and thus give rise to ignorance. As we give rise to ignorance, we give rise to all kinds of afflictions and create all kinds of karma. So, the root of this is in “delusion”. The Five Aggregates, slowly, amidst this delusion, [lead us to] create ignorance and afflictions, and then we begin to create karma“. “So, [the Aggregates] can conceal and obstruct.” They conceal this wisdom and obstruct our spiritual practice. The cover it all up so that we cannot exercise the principles. Even after listening to the True Dharma, when we encounter issues among people, we will not know how to exercise our true wisdom or true contemplation. We will be unable to reveal these because this obstacle will conceal them and obstruct us. To “conceal” means to enshroud. [The Aggregates] enshroud us and obstructs our clear wisdom. This is “the mara of the Skandhas. The Skandhas” are “the Aggregates, the obstruction fo the Five Aggregates”.
So, as we “battle with the mara of afflictions and the mara of death, one thought of ignorance and afflictions will delude and disturb our proper state of mind and our concentration.”
We just discussed the mara of Five Aggregates. Now, we continue with the mara of afflictions and the mara of death. Regarding these two afflictions, we must use the Dharma to eliminate them. “One thought of ignorance and afflictions will delude and disturb our proper state of mind and our concentration.” When we give rise to a single thought of ignorance, the delusions from our afflictions will disturb us. They will disturb our state of right thinking. Our concentration, our state of right thinking and our power of Samadhi will be gone. We will be unable to exercise right thinking. As the mara of afflictions and the mara of death emerge, the will confuse and disturb our proper state of mind and power of Samadhi.
Our power will disappear. Thus, “the mara of afflictions” are “fiery afflictions that harm our mind and nature”. These very fiery afflictions are just like the weather these days. The temperature keeps rising. As it becomes hot, our heads grow dizzy and our minds grow dull. So, we keep thinking, “This is suffering!” The heart becomes an affliction, and this is all we can think about. We cannot concentrate on doing anything else. This mara of afflictions [refers to] “fiery afflictions that harm our mind and our nature”. They “cause us to give rise to various impermanent and illusory phenomena of samsara”. Because of this, our mind [burns] like a wildfire, and we will of course be unable to calm our minds. Our mindset will undergo all kinds of changes.
The mara of afflictions: This refers to fiery afflictions that harm our mind and our nature and cause us to give rise to various impermanent and illusory phenomena of samsara. Since these afflictions conceal and obstruct, they completely turn the Dharma-realm of One Reality into the appearances of the Five Skandhas. In fact, when ignorance is destroyed and afflictions are [seen as] empty, the Five Skandhas turn out to be our Dharma-nature.
Afflictions, ignorance and fiery afflictions harm our minds. They disturb our minds. “Since these afflictions conceal and obstruct, they completely turn the Dharma-realm of One Reality into the appearances of the Five Skandhas.” The Dharma-realm of One Reality is our nature of True Suchness. These pure principles are turned into the obstructions of afflictions. The concealed essence of our True Suchness must be used against afflictions and ignorance. So, we must be very mindful. True Suchness is pure. We must earnestly eliminate these afflictions so that they do not rise up against us. So, we must put effort into being mindful. These [afflictions] “completely turn the Dharma-realm of One Reality into the appearances of the Five Skandhas” However, “in fact, when ignorance is destroyed and afflictions are [seen as] empty,” as long as we destroy ignorance, indolence and our scattered state of mind, naturally, our true minds can engage in spiritual practice upon the Bodhi-path. This path has become very clear to us.
See how in a dust storm, from one side of the street, we cannot see the building on the opposite side. As the dust storm dissipates, everything becomes clear again. By the same token, when afflictions and ignorance are destroyed and afflictions are [seen as] empty, “the Five Skandhas turn out to be our Dharma-nature” When our Dharma-nature draws near to the nature of noble beings, we will no longer be ordinary beings who remain lost in delusion. So, we must be very mindful. We are all indulging in the afflictions of samsara. There is “fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara. Fragmentary samsara is the cyclic existence of unenlightened beings’ physical bodies”. We all have this body, and it goes through life and death. This applies to us ordinary beings.
“Transformational samsara is when the Three Vehicle practitioners who cultivate precepts, Samadhi and wisdom see different effects from changing causes. This is known as transformational samsara”. This means that when we begin to engage in spiritual practice, we must understand “suffering, causation, cessation and the Path”. Once we understand these principles, we must begin from the aspiration to eliminate “fragmentary samsara”. We do not want to be reborn again, we must be mindful. This is “transformational” [samsara]. We must be mindful when discursive thoughts arise. If we are very earnest, we will cultivate “precepts, Samadhi and wisdom”. Speaking of “precepts, Samadhi and wisdom”. We often say, if we lack precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, “transformational samsara” will be very dangerous. We need precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, the Three Flawless Studies. If we do not let these leak away, by upholding precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, these maras cannot approach us. We will then be able to concentrate on precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, in listening, contemplating and practicing and focus on our spiritual practice. We will be able to avoid creating more causes, refraining from creating evil causes. This is just like cultivating a piece of land. We must not allow the weeds of evil causes to return. And effects? On this land, to harvest good fruits, we need to plant good seeds. So, on the same piece of land, when we change the causes or the seeds, what grows from these seeds will be different fruits. So, this is what we call “different effects from changing causes”. This is how we can transform [ourselves]. Once ordinary beings, we will enter the state of sages and noble beings. “This is known as transformational samsara”. This “transformation” depends on whether our aspirations are firm. If our aspirations are not firm, [our practice] will be flawed, and we will regress to “fragmentary samsara”. If our aspirations are firm and we practice the right and virtuous path, we will have the power of Samadhi and wisdom to uphold our aspirations well. We will be able to protect this piece of land, the ground of our minds, and keep the world of our minds pure. So, we must “battle with the mara of death”.
Battle with the mara of death: When our lives come to an end and we leave the present place we were born into, our spiritual path is hindered and we thus lose our wisdom-life. This is called the mara of death.
We must work hard as we battle the Five Skandhas, the mara of afflictions and the mara of death. Thus, in cyclic existence, we must utilize our physical body and make the most of our lifetime. We know this lifetime the best, so we must decide how to act in this lifetime. Are we going to practice good, or are we going to do evil? Do we want to waste our lives lost in confusion? This is all a matter of this lifetime. But how long is a lifetime? “When our lives come to an end,” we will “leave the present place we were born into”. We do not know how much time we have left! We will leave this place once we stop breathing. When our lives come to an end and we stop breathing, we will leave the body we have now.
“Our spiritual path will be hindered”. We have just begun to cultivate the path. At this time, our aspirations are not firm yet. We lack resolution in the things we do. In our future lifetime, will we have any control over where we go? We still do not know. This is all out of our control. Where will we go? We do not know. If we do not earnestly cultivate in this lifetime, our path will be obstructed. The path to spiritual practice will be obstructed, so we will lose our wisdom-life. If our wisdom-life had yet to truly grow and our lifespan came to an end, wouldn’t this hinder our spiritual path? Wouldn’t this obstruct our practice of the Bodhisattva-path, this spiritual training ground of diligence? If we cannot walk [the path], we will lose our wisdom-life. Without having finished forming affinities, [our lives] will have ended. This is known as “the mara of death”. So, If we work hard and practice mindfully, naturally, the Dharma will always be in our hearts and in our daily lives. Whatever external conditions or matters we face, we must put the teachings into practice and do what we can in time. We must act effectively and clearly. We must diligently advance in our training ground to perfect our merits and fruits. We perfect our affinities through these hardships as we work to relieve [people’s] suffering, thus completing this diligent [practice session]. This is called “having great accomplishments [in battle]”.
[They] have great accomplishments: By upholding the Dharma diligently, they fight and push back the net of all maras. This is what it means to have great accomplishments. It is because of this that they can turn from the Small toward the Great.
For people in suffering, we have employed many methods to relieve their suffering. When they are free of suffering, we will be joyful. Our mind-king will be joyful; our inner Buddha will be joyful. So, “By upholding the Dharma diligently,” “they fight and push back the net of all maras. This is what it means to have great accomplishments.” Ordinary beings like us are trapped in this net. We must be diligent, work hard and spare no effort to finally liberate ourselves from this net, the net of maras. These maras control our state of mind. We must liberate ourselves from them, dedicate ourselves to advancing along the path and contemplate this concept of diligence so that we can quickly practice it. This is the meaning of “great accomplishments.” This is turning from the Small toward the Great. When we turn from Small Vehicle Dharma to Great Vehicle Dharma, we go from seeking to benefit ourselves to benefiting others. This is known as “eradicating the Three Poisons, transcending the Three Realms and destroying the net of maras.” If we persevere in doing this, the Dharma will be in our lives, and we will apply it when the world needs it. In this way, we will be able to practice joyfully.
So, it says “They eradicate the Three Poisons, transcend the Three Realms and destroy the net of maras. Through Small Vehicle practices, they totally eradicate the Three Poisons and are able to transcend the Three Realms.” This is known as “destroying the net of maras.”
This is how Small Vehicle practitioners begin, by eliminating their afflictions. They must now begin to go among people. By the same principle, if we have not eliminated our own afflictions, when we try to help clean the mud off of others, our entire body will get muddy, because we do not even know how to clean ourselves. So, we must train ourselves first so that we can be pure and then go to help others. This is the skill we must master.
“At that time, the Tathagata is also greatly delighted” [means] “The Tathagata sees that those who uphold their spiritual practice have eliminated afflictions in the Three Realms and are no longer caught in the net of maras. They have eradicated the suffering of the Three Poisons and” are able to escape the hell of the Three Realms. So, He is also very joyful. This is how the Buddha [feels] when He sees spiritual practitioners like these. When we eliminate these Three Realms, when we are no longer attached to them, we will be free of these desires; naturally, we will have severed their root. Once we sever the root of afflictions of the Three Realms, we will have cut through the net of maras that enshrouds us.
Then, we will be able to escape. We must eradicate the suffering of the Three Poisons and transcend the Three Realms. Those who are able to do this, ”by destroying the evil net of all maras, can realize the intrinsic Dharma-nature and attain the intrinsic Nirvana. Thus, [the Buddha] is greatly delighted.”
Everyone, we must be truly mindful, and we must take the Dharma to heart. As I always say, we must apply it in daily living in our dealings with people, matters and things. Bodhisattvas diligently advance in their spiritual training ground, which lies in the suffering of the world. “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” The more mindful we are, the more people we can help attain liberation from the conditions that arise and the afflictions and hardships that are difficult to withstand. If we can help them do this, we can help relieve them of hardships, and we ourselves can also attain joy. So, we must apply the Dharma and work diligently. We need to always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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