Subject: Seeds in the Field of Karma (業田中的種子)
Early in the morning the temperature is not too cold or too hot. It feels as if everything in the world is in perfect harmony. These conditions are so wonderful.
We learn Buddhism so we can learn to develop a pure and tranquil state of mind. We want to be as pure and tranquil as dawn, like the sense of universal harmony we feel early this morning. Isn’t this the state we seek?
Our bodies continue to metabolize grow and age, this is the nature of a body. But our minds, our intrinsic natures, should not change. They neither grow old nor change with time. Whether we are young or old, we have the same intrinsic nature, the pure Buddha-nature within.
“Human nature is innately good”. We all know this saying but latterly I have been talking about afflictions and bad habits we have accumulated and carried over from many past lifetimes. Moreover, in this lifetime, we continue to accumulate, layer by layer, even more afflictions. This is the trouble of human life.
As our karmic force continues to grow, we continually suffer from the retributions. There are our afflictions.
The Ten Evils will proliferate into the 84,000 types of defilements resulting in the rise of immeasurable wrongdoings. In general, they can be classified into three main categories: first is afflictions, second is karma, and third is retribution.
The text indicates, as we mentioned before, “The Ten Evils proliferate into 84,000 types of defilements”. Yesterday I said that 84,000 symbolizes an immeasurable number. This number is used to represent a large amount.
Our thoughts, our afflictions, can change in less than a second. Thoughts change very quickly. So with each passing seconds, with every thought, our afflictions are growing and changing. Once affliction arises in our minds, we create bad karma through our thoughts, words and actions. Thus we begin to accumulate wrongdoings and defilements, both knowingly and unknowingly.
Because there are 84,000 types of defilements, “there are immeasurable types of wrongdoings”. Wrongdoings can take many forms, far more than 84,000. There are immeasurable wrongdoings.
As I have said, an intentional offense is a transgression, an unintentional offense is a mistake. Who knows how many wrongs we’ve committed intentionally or in bad faith? As for the number of unintentional mistakes, that must be incalculable. So there are immeasurable types of wrongdoings.
With every arising and changing thought, afflictions change accordingly, they grow and accumulate. Once afflictions arise in the mind, we accumulate wrongdoings & defilements through action & speech.
“They’re classified into three main categories”. There are countless, bound wrongdoings. If we try to distinguish them, there are indeed so many. But they can all be traced to three major sources. All these wrongdoings and defilements originate from three sources.
The text states, “They can be classified into three. First is afflictions, second is karma, and third is retribution.”
There are countless types of wrongdoings. But these three things cause us to accumulate them and continuously produce afflictions. I have been talking a lot about afflictions. They arise from greed, anger and ignorance.
Afflictions alone can be broken down into 3 types. Let us start with greed. The world is full of temptations that lure us closer to the abyss of evil & wrongdoings. We easily fall into those traps.
For instance, many war-torn countries have buried landmines everywhere. Our volunteer in Jordan, Mr. Chen, worked with the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization. Together they drove 19 trucks full of relief goods from Jordan into Iraq.
In Iraq they saw signs of devastation everywhere. During the 24-hour drive, they saw many vehicles damaged by explosives. Most of them were buses. There was wreckage everywhere. Each bus was big enough to carry dozens of people.
From the charred shells of the buses, we can imagine how many lives were lost. This was caused by bombs dropped from the air during the war. Who knows how many lives were lost.
They saw buildings reduced to rubble. Not one wall was left standing. No building was left intact. It was a heart-wrenching scene.
They also saw a helpless mother on a sickbed. She was caring for her two children but could only watch as they wailed in pain. They seemed to be hanging on by a thread. She felt so helpless and powerless. Her two children were not injured by missiles or bullets. They were playing and accidentally stepped on an unexploded bomb. It exploded and seriously injured both children. That was why the mother felt so helpless.
They could dodge bombs dropped from the sky, but could not avoid an unexploded bomb. We can imagine the life of this poor mother and her two children. Bombs should not be lying on the ground. Their society could have been very peaceful, with neat rows of houses and countless happy families. Life in Iraq should be like this.
But humans are greedy so they invaded the country and causes large-scale, national tragedies. There was complete devastation and unspeakable suffering. This was caused by desire. Greed, anger and ignorance will often lead to such heartbreaks and unspeakable suffering. These are afflictions.
This is affliction on a large scale. On the smaller scale, as we each deal with people, matters, the environment, family, society, etc. each day, we are also caught up in afflictions. So we emit troubling signals and manifest appearances of confusion. This is all due afflictions.
Because of greed, anger and ignorance, afflictions arise in our minds and we commit countless, boundless types of wrongdoings.
The second is karma. Karma is truly frightening. It is like a field, so it is also called the Field of Karma. Karma can bring pain or joy. In the Field of Karma, good and bad seeds are intermixed.
If we plant good seeds they will continuously create blessings. Once we create blessings, the seeds all remain in that field. In Buddhism, it is called “Storehouse Consciousness”. When we commit wrongdoings, we plant bad seeds. There are both good and bad seeds in this field. When we do good deeds, they are stored here. When we do bad deeds, they are stored here.
With cravings, greed, anger, ignorance and delusion, we will create karma and those seeds will be placed in our Storehouse Consciousness. Then we will reap their fruits. In the Earth Treasury Sutra, it is written, “Whether we do good or evil, we reap the fruits”. They go into the Storehouse Consciousness and become karmic forces. Like a real field, once we plant a seed it will stay in this field. When causes and conditions meet, this power will manifest.
Karma is like a field. Whether we have done good or evil, we will reap it all according to the seeds we planted if we plant good deeds, we will continuously create blessings. If we plant bad seeds, we will continuously create evil.
Many people say that we are born to suffer. Not necessarily. We come to this world to create blessings. Do not be passive and say, “I came to this world to face retributions.” Do not think this way. No matter what karma brings, we should “willingly accept what we happily did”. We committed wrongdoings in the past and could not break our bad habits. Now that we finally have the wonderful affinity to meet good people who can help us change our bad habit, we should seize this opportunity.
Do not think, “I have already changed my ways, why so bad things still happen to me?” We should remind ourselves, “Fortunately, I have changed, and l had opportunities to create blessings. I now know and clearly understand the evils I committed in the past. So I willingly accept the retributions.” In the past we did all kinds of things and all sorts of evil. We did that happily. We did whatever made us happy, so now we should willingly accept the consequences.
I often say, “Happy accept what we willingly did.” When we willingly do goods, we create blessings. We are willing to extend unconditional love to all suffering sentient beings. Besides loving our families and ourselves, we need to extend our love to the entire society and love everyone in the world. Loving ourselves and our families already takes a lot of effort. It is even more tedious to love and care for everyone in the world.
But if we are very willing to do so, this hard work will feel like a blessing. Tzu Chi volunteers who work hard and are fatigues will not say they are tired. Instead, they say they are “blessed”. Indeed, it is a blessing. Everyone, this is called willingness. The Chinese characters for this are “sweet” and “voluntary” so it is something we happily do. No matter how tired we feel we are willing to endure it. Thus we are blessed.
Everyone, everything can change when the mind changes. The mind alone creates everything. Thus, we must always take care of our minds. In our daily living, we must keep our minds as pure and tranquil as the dawn. Do not allow worries and complicated matters to obscure your hearts. So please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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