Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Tame the Mind; Do Not Be Move by Circumstances (調伏自心不受境轉)
Every day I talk about how to adjust our state of mind. Indeed, this is very important.
Every day, as we are faced with different kinds of environments, people and things, we must train and adjust our minds well. Otherwise, in response to all these conditions afflictions will arise without our knowing. This often leads to many delusions and thus we commit many mistakes. Because of this, we must repent. “Repent our afflictions.” We must repent the Obstruction of Afflictions.
Many afflictions arise from one ignorant thought. So from this moment forward, we must constantly repent. Afflictions will obstruct our way, so we must put ourselves on guard and always repent. “Such afflictions arise from our thoughts.” Afflictions actually come from our thoughts. “How?” How does it happen? “When thoughts arise in the mind, speech and physical actions follow.”
We often speak of the Threefold Karma. The most critical of the three is the mind. Once a thought stirs in the mind, we will start to act on it verbally and physically. When a thought of displeasure arises our facial expressions and our movements will reflect our displeasure. We can see that when some are unhappy, their facial expressions are not very nice. Their movements are also loud and forceful. They pick up something light but throw down with great force. We can easily see that the source of this is anger. Losing our temper or showing displeasure begins with thoughts arising in the mind. Then the body acts upon these thoughts. This happens countless times in our daily living.
Every day, we have to work, which brings us in contact with others. When we work with others, we may not always be satisfied or happy with what they do or say. When those thoughts arise, they will be clearly reflected in our actions. A similar thing happens with speech. When someone says something unpleasant, we will lose our temper and respond with something even worse then what they said. This is how we create karma of speech. If we are unhappy with someone, we tend to speak carelessly and sow discord with gossip. Karma of speech also arises from our minds. If the mind is still and unwavering, no matter what the external conditions are, we will not create mental karma. Naturally, no karma of actions or speech will arise. Therefore I tell you all that we must constantly tame our minds. If our minds can remain calm in any circumstance, then we have cultivated ourselves well.
When the mind remains still and unmoving, the karma of action and speech will not arise. If we can always tame our minds, so they will not be moved by our circumstances, that is self-cultivation.
I remember many years ago, there was a family in which the man’s sister, and wife were very close to each other. His sister thought her sister-in-law was wonderful. But her mother treated the daughter-in-law poorly. No matter what her sister-in-law did, her mother was never happy and always made cutting and demeaning remarks. This made the sister very angry.
She told her mother, “You are wrong. My sister-in-law did nothing wrong.” This further angered her mother.
Her sister-in-law then said, “Our mother is not wrong in what she says.”
The sister responded, “Why are you so foolish? When my mother said that, she was criticizing you.”
Her sister-in-law said, “I don’t think so. I think what she said is right.”
So she thought that her sister-in-law was foolish for not understanding her mother’s sarcasm.
One day, the woman and her sister-in-law came to visit me. This woman kept praising her sister-in-law while criticizing her own mother. I asked her sister-in-law, “Don’t you sense your mother-in-law’s attitude toward you?”
She said, “Master, I don’t feel mistreated. I think that I may have done something wrong. That is why she says things. So I’m fine with that I don’t feel mistreated.”
I asked her again, “Doesn’t it make you upset that you were wronged?”
She answered, “How have I been wronged? If we are scolded by our elders while we are in the right, we simply don’t take their words to heart. When it is not right, we just do not listen. We just need to know what we are doing is right.”
The sister interrupted her sister-in-law, “Not only did my mother tell her she is wrong, my mother also made very cutting remarks, but my sister-in-law just doesn’t get it,” then told her, “Honestly, your sister-in-law is very wise. You keep saying she is dumb, but you are the foolish one.”
She said, “How can that be?”
“You see, no matter what your mother says, your sister-in-law’s attitude is correct. After all, your mother is an elder. If we are certain that we did something right, but an elder insists that we are wrong, we should not be antagonistic, or talk back, Perhaps afterwards your mother will realize that your sister-in-law was right all along. She chose not to listen to the wrong things being said because she knew she was right. As for those cutting remarks, your sister-in-law does not feel them. Those with great wisdom may appear foolish. It is fine that she does not understand. Why are you angry on her behalf? You are punishing yourself for other’s mistakes.” It does not concern you. What are you angry about?”
She thought for a while and said, “That is true. Actually, I myself am constantly fighting with my own mother-in-law because I understand all her unpleasant remarks. So I argue with her. That just makes her angrier. I feel that I am right.”
I replied, “Yes, your sister-in-law never fights with your mother. Isn’t that more peaceful? When there are no problems, things are easier for your brother. In your case, you understand every remark, so you argue constantly with your mother-in-law. What is that like for your husband?”
She replied, “Oh, he always complains about being caught in the middle, like the filling of a sandwich.”
I said, “Right, so why does that? Now, are you smarter? Or is your sister-in-law smarter?”
She replied, “I thought I was very smart, but now I know I am not. My sister-in-law is wise.”
See how the mind interacts with conditions. The minds of those with wisdom will not be moved by their circumstances. No matter what others say, as long as we clearly know we are right, that is fine. That is wisdom. If we are wrong and others tell us so, then we should be grateful and quickly correct our mistakes. It is not a big deal. So do not let circumstances sway your mind. If we allow our minds to be affected by external conditions, our actions and speech will quickly follow. Everything starts with the mind. “When thoughts arise in the mind, speech and physical actions follow.” Therefore we must pay close attention when thoughts arise in the mind. “There are 3 Evils of the Mind.”
There are Three Evils of the Mind. The first is stinginess and greed. The second is anger and hatred. The third is ignorance and blindness.
“The first is stinginess and greed.” What does it mean to be stingy and greedy? I often use analogies to describe them. Greed is bottomless. “Having one, we lack nine.” We can never satisfy our greed, so it will always cause suffering. Craving inevitably leads to suffering. Stinginess means that once we gain something, we are unwilling to give it up because we never feel like we have enough. Since we feel we are lacking, we are reluctant to give anything.
There was a man in central Taiwan, who had a master’s in physics. At one time, he taught at a university. When he was young his parents encouraged him to study abroad, which he did, and obtained his degree. When he taught at the university, he began dating a colleague. They were both professors. They got married and had children. Because his parent lived in the countryside, on one of his visits home he came to feel that country living was what he really wanted. From that point on, whenever he visited them, he did not want to return to the city and wanted to give up teaching. So he resigned from his professorship and went to live with his parents in the countryside. As the years passed, his parents grew old. His father passed away. Soon afterwards, his mother also passed away. He was alone, but he liked the solitary lifestyle. He had no burdens. He did not need to worry about teaching, about supporting a family, or his wife and children. Those were all things that afflicted him. So he continued to stay in the countryside.
Time leaves no one behind. One day passed after another. He liked to read books, so he read every day. He completely neglected his surroundings. When he got tired, he lay down and slept. When he woke up hungry, he ate whatever was around. Not only did his house get dirty, so did his body. His neighbors felt sorry for him and wondered how he got to that point. Sometimes they brought him food. He still read all day. The Dept. of Social Welfare felt that his filthy conditions affected the neighborhood and posed a sanitation risk. So they wanted to get him into a retirement home. When they looked up his records, they discovered that he was extremely wealthy. But because of his mental delusion, he did not know how to and refused to use his wealth. This is a form of affliction as well. Even though he was not greedy, had no ambitions, and did not think about all that he lacked, he held on to so much wealth. He did not make use of it. He did not even spend it on himself, let alone use it to benefit others. So stinginess means not using what one has, but hoarding it instead. Being stingy and greedy brings a lot of suffering.
Having one, we lack nine. If we feel we never have enough, that is called greed. If we have something but so not know how to make good use of it and refuse to use it, that is called stinginess.
“The second is anger and hatred.” This refers to losing our temper. We all know this. If we make a habit of losing our temper, we will also suffer greatly. We must cultivate our minds and refine our character. This is the goal of our practice. We must not lose our temper easily. Losing our temper is very troublesome.
Next is “ignorance and blindness”. This ignorance means not understanding principles. Many people in this world fall prey to passion and affection out of ignorance. They get entangled in love, hat, passion, enmity. Ignorant thoughts are truly frightening. Those emotions of love and affection cause us to produce more and more ignorance. This is called “ignorance and blindness.” Blindness is not seeing. Ignorance produces many afflictions.
“Because of ignorance and blindness, evil views arise, and we commit evil deeds.” Ignorance comes from not understanding principles. Blindness is being unable to see. Thoughts of “ignorance and blindness” are deviated views. With such views, we can easily go astray and become unable to free ourselves.
This is frightening. From our thoughts alone come greed, hatred, and ignorance. Moreover, ignorance and blindness create deviant views. Much bad karma arises from ignorance. Actually, ignorance is not knowing. The mind, due to ignorance, gives rise to ignorant, greedy and hateful thoughts. Most importantly, greed and anger exist because of ignorance. Due to ignorance, our views on life become deviant. When we have deviant and erroneous views, our path of goodness will veer toward evil. So Right knowledge and Views are very important.
Our delusion and ignorance will lead us from Right views to Evil Views.
In learning Buddhism, being upright is very important. We need to cultivate our minds, refine our character, and rectify our behavior. That is true spiritual practice. The Bodhisattva-path is a broad path, a great, noble path. So we must be firm in our resolution and stay on this correct path. Everyone, please be diligent and do not go even a bit astray. Please take good care of your mind.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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