Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Eight Inverted Views Part 1(八倒一)
In learning Buddha-Dharma, there is nothing more important than developing wisdom so that we can eliminate ignorance. Life is often confusing. In Dharma as Cleansing Water, we first talked about the Eight Inverted Views. Because of these Inverted Views, we easily commit wrongdoings.
We must understand why there are Eight Inverted Views. Buddhist Sutras indicate that these Inverted Views are held by ordinary people and Hinayana practitioners. The Eight Inverted Views exist due to ordinary people and Hinayana practitioners. Ordinary people are ignorant, and Hinayana practitioners cultivate in order to gain self-realization alone. They practice the Small Vehicle, so they are unable to reach the profound Path. They still have deviant and inverted views.
What are the eight types of inverted views? “Clinging to impermanence as permanence, not-joy as joy, no-self as self, impurity as purity.” There are ordinary people’s Inverted Views.
For Hinayana practitioners, they are: “Clinging to permanence as impermanence, joy as not-joy, the Greater Self as no-self, and purity as impurity.” There are the Hinayana views. Together they add up to Eight Inverted Views.
Inverted Views are what we fear most when we practice Buddhism, because they easily give rise to delusions. Delusional thoughts are not real, they are fabrications. They are not genuine. So how do we understand them? We need to consider this carefully. To end these types of afflictions, we need to understand the Truth. So we should practice the Fourfold Mindfulness.
The Fourfold Mindfulness: Contemplate the body as impure. Contemplate sensations as suffering. Contemplate the mind as impermanent. Contemplate that all things have no self.
We need to know that the body is impure. We all understand this. So we must always observe and contemplate. Because we each have a body, the feelings associated with this body cause ignorance to arise in our minds. Then we become confused about the Dharma, and easily become passive. Hinayana practitioners can become passive. When ordinary people do not understand that the body is impure, they fixate on it as being pure. This is because they love the body too much.
So in the process of practicing Buddhism, we need to first understand the body. Confucianism indicates that our biggest troubles arise from the body. Because of the body, we create a lot of evil karma and endure a lot of pain and suffering. So the Buddha taught us to first examine it.
To learn Buddhism is to understand the Truth so that our minds will not follow the feelings of the body, and thus allow ignorance to arise, causing us to have Inverted Views on the Dharma.
At what age is our body really us? At what point is the body permanent? After our mothers first gave birth to us, we were called babies. When we were older and could walk and run, we were called children. Then we got older, and we were called teenagers. We grew into our 20’s, and we were called young adults. After 30, we are in our prime, and in our 40’s, we are middle-aged. Then, we slowly become seniors. When we were young, we looked young. As we age, we start to look different. Each stage of life has a name.
So at which stage is the body truly our body? Let us think about it. As it moves through these stages, there is only one thing in common: impurity. Whether we are young or old, our body is impure. We can see, the seven orifices often discharge impurities, even in a healthy person. They eyes, ears, nose, mouth, plus the two for urination and defecation make the Nine Orifices, which often discharge impurities. We are healthy, but we can become ill or have an accident. When the body is damaged, infections and decay set in.
A young male patient was transferred from Penghu. The medical facilities there were inadequate, so his condition had actually worsened after his car accident. His leg was swollen and he developed cellulites. It was not only one leg, both his legs had swollen until they were the size of an elephant’s. He could not walk or go out. He was suffering beyond words. He traveled to Taiwan for treatments. He went back and forth many times. His parents and his brothers accompanied him and took care of him, but he got worse. This young man was 175 cm tall, and weighed 175 kg. It was a vicious cycle. He kept eating and gaining more weight, so it became harder for him to move.
Our medical staff held a free clinic in Penghu. Locals reported the case to us during the outreach. Xindian Hospital was not yet open at the time, so they arranged for a member of our medical association, a head nurse who lived in Penghu, to regularly visit him at his home. She helped wash his feet and change his dressings. They hoped this would help, but it did not. Although the kind nurse often washed his wounds, the swelling continued. So when this case was raised again, our superintendent at the Xindian Hospital thought it was a very rare illness, and wished to bring the young man to Taipei for treatment. But to start with, how would they transport someone so heavy, with swollen and putrid legs? Members of the Faith Corps in Penghu and the local head nurse thought of a solution. They arranged with the airline to remove two seats so the patient could sit down. The Faith Corps and the head nurse accompanied him on the flight.
At the Taiwan airport, our medical association and the Faith Corps coordinated with our Xindian Hospital to pick him up. It was very problematic and took a lot of effort to transport him to the hospital. We had to use a special car. He had to get in and out through the back. It was truly difficult. As you can imagine, his legs were putrid. The smell of dead tissue was really foul. When he arrived, the superintendent of Xindian Hospital gathered the relevant department heads to diagnose him. They decided to treat him with debridement, to completely remove the dead tissue.
They considered the painfulness of debridement, since it is extremely painful to have tissue cut, brushed and scraped. So we mobilized four anesthesiologists. We do not ordinarily need so many for surgery, but for this young man, we mobilized four anesthesiologists. Why? His body mass was great. Administering the anesthesia required a lot of effort to life him or flip him over. But everyone used love and patience to endure the extreme stench during the procedure, while comforting his spirit and treating his body. Nobody complained about the stench or the hassle. Once they did the first clearing of dead tissue, he felt more comfortable. His father accompanied him, and told our doctors, “He kept swelling until the wounds suddenly ruptured, and blood kept flowing like water running through the sewers.” The young man said, “The blood wasn’t just flowing, it was spurting. The wounds completely ruptured, the veins split open, and blood spurted.” Hearing this conversation was unbearable frightening.
Everyone, the body is impure. This was just a car accident that happened on a remote island. Was treatment available? Yes, but the medicine facilities were inadequate. It was just a car accident, it should have been a simple case, but his condition kept worsening. They kept travelling between Taiwan and Penghu. It was suffering beyond words. So we must contemplate the body as impure.
We often hear that health is being able to breathe in and out. When we stop breathing, it does not take long for worms to grow inside, and for decay to occur outside. In the summertime, this will take less than a day. So if one’s injuries can smell foul while one is still alive, and one starts to decay immediately after death, how pure can the body be? Not pure at all. Although the body is impure, we need to protect it when we vow to practice, because it is a vessel for spiritual practice. We need this body to accomplish things. We need a healthy body in order to engage in spiritual practice. But we must understand that this body is fundamentally impure. We also must know that to thoroughly comprehend the principles, we need to maintain our health.
When we understand the truth that the body is impure, then we will keep it healthy. The body is the vessel for spiritual practice. Only with a healthy body can one engage in spiritual practice.
So in the end, how do we practice the Middle Way? We may keep thinking the body is impure and practice in solitude, or we may keep seeing the impure body as pure. This is dangerous. Hinayana practitioners view the body as impure, but ordinary people reverse it and see it as pure; they do not understand. At what age is it our body? When we are young? When we are old? What is the composition of the body? They do not try to understand. They only enjoy what is before them, and yield to their hearts’ desires. So they use their bodies to do many wrong things, because they do not understand the principles. As practitioners, once we know this, we must treat it as a vessel for cultivation. We must use it to practice, not Hinayana, but the Bodhisattva-path.
The concept of contemplating the body as impure is very profound, so we must all understand it. We have to constantly be more vigilant, whether with our clothes, food, housing or travel. They all relate to this body. So regarding clothes, food, housing, and travels, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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