Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Enter Bodhi through Shame, Fear, and Renunciation (慚愧怖畏厭離入菩提)
The past few days we have talked about how afflictions can obscure our pure, intrinsic nature. How do we remove the obscuration of afflictions? There are seven ways to do so.
Develop Seven States of Mind to eliminate the Three Obstructions. First is a sense of shame. Second is s sense of fear. Third is a sense of renunciation. Fourth is developing Bodhicitta. Fifth is impartiality toward all beings. Sixth is repaying the Buddha’s grace. Seventh is contemplating the empty nature of evil.
The first is having a sense of shame . We should all be ashamed for being foolish or not as good as others. Others can see clearly an obvious path and they can move forward diligently. But we cannot follow such a broad and open path. Instead, we stay the same and cannot advance. This is when we should feel ashamed. Let us feel shame when we are not as good as others, or when we constantly commit wrongs. So we must always have a sense of shame.
We need that to give rise to a sense of fear. We need to know fear. Why do we need to be afraid? Because we need to believe in karmic retribution, that doing evil will cause us to descend into Hell. As I said yesterday, this even applies to Buddha’s disciples, particularly the Buddha’s half-brother, Nanda. The Buddha hoped that even His closest relatives would attain eternal liberation. So He found a way to entice His brother to the monastery to become a monk.
But eliminating cravings and desires from an ordinary person’s mind is difficult.
The Buddha used skillful and ingenious ways to show him that doing good only allows people to enjoy blessings in Heaven. If a person’s mind is not stable, greater power and status will lead him to create even more evil. With an accidental mistake, he can fall into Hell. So the Buddha hoped Nanda could fully escape the suffering of cyclic rebirth in the Six Realms.
Thus the Buddha wanted him to feel shame. “Others can calmly peacefully, comfortably practice, why can’t I?” The Buddha showed him Heaven and Hell.
Hell in particular aroused great fear. Nanda developed a sense of fear when he learned of the suffering in the Three Evil Realms. Only then did he develop a sense of renunciation. So the second step is fear.
The third is renunciation. What do we need to renounce? The human world of pair and pleasure. Some people suffer a great deal in this world, yet they have not awakened. Instead, they ask, “Why are these disasters and painful retributions happening to me? Why?” So toward this world, they develop an attitude of envy and hostility.
They envy others “Why can they enjoy such a relaxing and wealthy lifestyle?” Envy will become jealousy, resentment and disgust. Such an attitude can turn into abject pride. Not only will they not self-reflect, even worse they will loathe the world.
When we develop a sense of fear toward suffering in the Three Evil Destinies, a sense of renunciation will arise. When a sense of renunciation arises, the unenlightened will loathe the world, while the enlightened will develop Bodhicitta and enter the Bodhisattva-path.
In the Tzu Chi Archive, there are many real life stories. One is about Mr. Qiu. He was adopted at a young age. The parents were childless, so they adopted him, but they later had a child. From then on, they abused their adopted son very badly. He was given work, but no food. His adopted father addressed him as garbage. So he felt that his life was garbage. This is how he grew up.
When he reached adulthood, his adoptive parents arranged a marriage for him. They did so with the intention of finding a daughter-in-law to serve his mother. Although the daughter-in-law was a relative, did his mother treat her well? No. she did not.
She despised both the son and his wife. She worked them hard, harassed them, tormented them, and did not give them a single day of peace. Eventually the couple fled, but that was not the end of the story.
One day, the little brother got into a car accident and could not recover. The mother was superstitious and asked a spiritual medium for help. He was kind, and knew how this couple had abused their adopted son. So he said to her, “The only way for your son to recover is for your precious benefactor, Qiu Wen-Ji and his wife to return home and for you to treat them well. Only then will your son’s life be saved”
So the couple returned. Once they did, were the parents grateful? Did they treat him as a person? Did they treat him as part of the family? No, they still gave them a lot of work. As the adoptive parents got older, what the mother feared most was that if they died. While this couple was in the house, the couple could get a share of her son’s inheritance. So she tormented them in many ways and once her son recovered, she threw them out of the house again.
After she drove them out, she bad-mouthed them everywhere. She told the villagers, “Do not give him any work he is such an unfilial son. She said many bad things about him. The entire village pitied him. But if they hired him, they would have to face the wrath of his adoptive parents.
So no one dared to hire him. He could not find any work. The financial pressure drove him to work at the dock. That was when he began drinking. He resigned himself to being a failure. He got drunk every day, then came home and beat wife and son. Later, he was diagnosed with liver disease. Though his condition was already critical, he still continued to drink and beat his wife and son.
When his son grew up, he fell in love with a girl. When her family found out Mr. Qiu beat his wife, they refused to let their daughter marry his son. He deeply felt that he was truly a piece of garbage. His son was great, but could not marry because of him. So he was very frustrated. He was miserable and kept drinking.
One day he was sitting in the park half-drunk. He saw Tzu Chi volunteers collecting garbage and recyclables. They swept the grounds and sorted the garbage. He saw them and wondered, “That’s strange. What are they doing? They seem like people with good character. Why are they picked up garbage?” At that moment a Commissioner walked over because there was an aluminum can next to him. It was a beer can he had thrown away. She greeted him as she picked up the can. He was very curious and asked her questions. She told him, “We are collecting recyclables. We are doing this for Tzu Chi.” He realized that, “Picking up garbage can save people, too!”
From then on, he was occasionally in the park when Tzu Chi people were there. They gradually got to know him. They knew he got drunk every day, so they guided him patiently. In time, he began sharing with our Commissioners. They understand his background, and knew that what bothered him the most was that his son was miserable because he could not marry his girlfriend.
So, our Commissioner told him, “There is no other solution. You have to change yourself. You must create a happy family, be a good father. Then they a will allow the marriage.” “Is that the way?” Thus he began to change himself. He said, “What if I join you in doing this volunteer work?” “That would be great!”
From then on, the volunteers began to guide him. Gradually, he drank less and understood more about Tzu Chi. This group of volunteers got along very well. They really respected him. He no longer felt like garbage. He felt that everyone loved and respected him. So, in this environment, his personality gradually improved.
As he was changing, no one believed he could do it. But since he was determined to change, he truly and thoroughly changed. When people did not believe him, they humiliated and insulted him. He faced it all with forbearance. The whole process took quite a number of years.
However, because he was determined to renounce his mistaken ways, he knew to cherish the opportunity to diligently improve himself. He needed to stop drinking. Since he was already addicted to alcohol, not drinking was very agonizing. But with determination and perseverance, he strengthened his resolve. Through the process was painful, he changed. It was excruciating and took many years. He dealt with it and thoroughly transformed.
He started calling his wife “grandma” because he felt that he was absolutely terrible to her. He wanted to treat her with the filial piety of a grandchild to atone for the past. After he changed his ways, he helped her with laundry and dishwashing.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last. He already had liver disease. Drinking damaged his liver and alcohol poisoned his body. After he reformed, he stayed strong for many years. He volunteered despite being ill. He said, “I need to eliminate the karma I’ve created in this lifetime promptly so I do not carry it to the next life.”
Therefore he was very devoted, eventually the doctor told him, “You have to be mentally prepared. You may only have another two to three months. He was not frightened when he heard this. He felt that it was just the end of this life. Since he only had two or three months left, he had to make full use of his time. So he continued to collect donations and prepared to hand these matters over to his wife and son.
His son was able to marry his girlfriend and she was a very good daughter-in-law. She was supportive of her husband continuing her father-in-law’s Tzu Chi work. The same was true of his wife. Even though he used to beat her badly, in these last couple of years he cherished her and respected her. She was reluctant to part with him. She was grateful toward Tzu Chi for transforming her husband. So she was willing to shoulder his Tzu Chi duties.
During his last month of life, he was admitted to our palliative ward in Hualien. He did not stay in bed. He walked around and shared his experience with others. During that time, he transformed many people.
Toward the end, he asked me for one thing, to serve as a witness to his marriage. He said, “I was very rash I even tore our wedding picture to pieces. Now, at the end of my life, I want to put on the groom’s attire to stand with my wife so you can bear witness to our marriage. In the Heart Lotus Palliative Care Ward, they dressed beautifully as bride and groom so I could give them my blessings. This is truly precious.
He was such a terrible person, jealous evil because of the great suffering he went through. He envied others’ lives and resented them because they mistreated him. Thus, he gave up on himself. A person like him has no sense of shame, no sense of fear. But he became ashamed and aware of the karmic conditions he brought from past lives, and the karmic forces leading to future lives. Therefore he developed a sense of fear and was able to renounce his mistaken ways. He was able to progress diligently and thus truly develop Bodhicitta.
For many years, even after his doctor told him he had a serious liver disease, he still participated in Tzu Chi; he was determined to volunteer. He was not just making up for his past, he wanted to sow blessings for the future. Thus he developed Bodhicitta. In the end, he passed away peacefully. He become one of our “Silent Mentors.” Such a transformation is truly precious.
Every Buddhist must cultivate the Seven states of Mind in sequence. First with shame and fear, renounce worldly existence. Then truly develop Bodhicitta, be impartial toward all beings, repay the Buddha’s grace, and lastly, realize evil has an empty nature.
Everyone, only with a sense of shame can fear and renunciation arise, thus allowing one to enter the Bodhi-path. So everyone, please always be mindful.
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