Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Cultivate the Mind’s Field of Blessings (福田心耕)
We must be diligent every day. We must “cultivate the field in our minds. The practice of great diligence leads to World-transcending Flawless Karma. Blessings and wisdom arise from repentance.”
This means we must be diligent; we cannot be lazy. Spiritual practice is like cultivating a field. In this field, we must earnestly eliminate the weeds and move the rocks so the soil in the field will be clean. We need to plant seeds in good soil so we can have a good harvest. Thus, monastic practitioners are called the Field of Blessings Sangha.
This also means that besides just cultivating our own fields, we can teach others to do the same. Fields of Blessings are cultivated in our hearts. So if we want to cultivate the fields, we must practice with great diligence. If we are not diligent, the many traps in the world will lead our minds astray. If we are lazy, we will fall. If our thoughts stray and we misstep, we can go far off course. So we must aim for the Noble Path. We must be diligent. Then we will attain World-transcendent Flawlessness and be purified of afflictions. Earlier we said, “karma glamorizes worldly attractions.” Karma can glamorize worldly attractions at all times and places.
There are many traps in the world. Those attractions seduce us and render our minds uncontrollable. If we are not vigilant about these seemingly beautiful worldly attractions, we create karma at all times and in all places. Whether you are a monastic or lay practitioner, whatever job you do, you are surrounded by traps. They can quickly seduce us, so we must always raise our awareness.
We must always maintain a repentant heart. When we deal with people or things, we cannot always say we did not wrong. When others are unhappy, we have done something wrong. If things do not go smoothly, then we are not being mindful. So we must always be repentant. Blessings and wisdom grow from repentance. If our body and mind are always clear, everything we do will be correct. That means we are benefitting ourselves and others. That is a blessing.
We know to do that because we have wisdom. Didn’t tell you that blessings are the joy we get from taking action? Wisdom is the freedom we gain from happiness. Yes, it is the freedom of understanding and happiness. If we can give, we are happy. But we cannot give without being understanding.
So when we are among others, we must always be understanding and happy. Then we can be peaceful and free and transcend the Six Destinies. The Sutra also says, “We do not need to think. Seek liberation from the world. The retributions of each of the Six Realms are different and take varying forms.”
This text continues the previous passage about karma. “Karma can glamorize worldly attractions at all times and places.” This passage tells us not to think anymore. To think about what? Thinking will lead us to create karma. Thinking brings about views. The Three Delusions will arise from our thoughts and views.
Three Delusions: Delusions of Views and Thinking, Delusions of Countless Objects, and Ignorance.
Delusion is ignorance. The Three Delusions create conditions for three types of karma. One is good karma, one is bad karma, and the last is indeterminate karma. These are the three types of karma.
Three types of karma.
Good Karma: created by good or kind behavior.
Bad Karma: created by bad or evil behavior.
Indeterminate Karma: not good or bad, karma that is neutral.
Some people do not do anything good or evil. They do not do good things, and do not do bad things, so they do neither good nor evil. The Buddha did not categorize them as good or bad. They are indefinable. If something good attracts them, they will do good. If something bad attracts them, they will do bad. Perhaps they do neither, and live a mediocre life. So they are neither good nor evil. The three types of karma arise from thinking. If our thoughts go astray, they become the Three Delusions, three types of ignorance. They are the origins of the Threefold Karma, which “lead us to rise and fall with the retributions of the Six Realms.”
This means that karma is like a rope, which binds us and pulls us. Sometimes we do good and ascend to Heaven by creating blessed karma. When we exhaust our heavenly blessings, we are dragged down by bad karma. If we create a lot of bad karma, we fall into the Three Evil Destinies.
In the Six Destinies, three are good and three are evil. What are the three good ones? The Heaven Realm is the highest blessed reward. The Human Realm is an average blessed reward. The Asura Realm is the lowest blessed reward. Asuras exist in the Heaven and the Human Realms. They can still enjoy blessings, but they cannot engage in spiritual practice. They easily lose their tempers, and are foolish and ignorant. Although they have blessings, they lack wisdom. They enjoy blessed rewards, but they have no wisdom. These are the Three Good Realms. What about the Human Realm? If we can cultivate blessings and be wise, it is the simultaneous practice of blessings and wisdom. We can enlighten ourselves, benefit others. It is actually better than the Heaven Realm, however, its weak point is impermanence. The catch is that human life is short.
But this inspires us to learn Buddhism. It inspires us to be diligent and take advantage of circumstances. Then we can transcend the Six Realms and not be seduced by the glamour of worldly attractions. This is the benefit of the Human Realm. If we are born into the Heaven Realm, we enjoy a long life and luxuries, but we have no opportunity to practice. We do not have a challenging environment. We must use our environment to train the mind. Without it, we do not know worldly suffering. We just enjoy ourselves until we exhaust our blessings and fall again.
We have no chance for improvement in Heaven Realms. So among the Three Good Reams, the best place to practice is the Human Realm. It is the best starting point. We can attain Buddhahood only in the Human Realm. If we leave this realm, we cannot attain Buddhahood.
So among these three, it is better to choose the Human Realm. There are also Hell, Hungry Ghost, Animal Realms. Those Evil Realms are filled with pain. Actually, Asuras also exist among them. I often tell this to everyone. We rise and fall with the retributions of the Six Realms, which originate in the karma created by the Three Delusions. In the Six Realms, we suffer tremendously.
So we need to know there is Flawed Karma, which is karma with afflictions. It can glamorize the worldly attractions which cause painful retribution in the Six Destinies. Flawed Karma can glamorize the Six Destinies and attract people’s interest. What is bad about being human? If we choose to linger in the Six Realms, we will suffer. So, we must always be vigilant. Our thinking can elicit three kinds of afflictions so we cannot think about how to shatter delusions and eliminate ignorance. Thus we must eliminate this karma “Seek liberation from the world.” We must be very mindful.
The retributions of the Six Destinies “are different and take varying forms.” The Six Destinies are truly different. As we said, Asuras seem to have blessed karma, because they have money, power, fame, and wealth. But they are foolish and lack wisdom. They are categorized as blessed, which is good. They did good deeds so they enjoy blessings. Those born in heaven experience great enjoyment. They experience long lives and material abundance. These are the many difference between Realms.
The Human Realm is what is what we see now, equal parts pain and joy. There are truly many differences. We can also see the Animal Realm. We know there are many types of animals. There are so many variations just among what we can see, not to mention what we cannot. All these beings suffer from Delusions of Views and Thinking. We use views to discriminate, so many evils views arise from the Five Roots and Five Dusts. Those are Delusions of Views.
We all know the Five Roots, they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. Form, sound, odor, taste, touch are the Five Dusts. So the Five Roots and Dusts cause our views to be deluded. Thinking leads us to be greedy when the eyes see, or when the nose smells, etc. After we see, after we come in contact with objects and conditions, our thinking creates karma, and greed arises. We desire the five sense objects so “thoughts of attachment” arise. This is the Delusion of Thinking.
Delusions of Views and Thinking are the delusions of ordinary beings.
Delusion of View: Delusional and incorrect knowledge and views, such as View of Self. Extreme Views, Deviant Views, Stubborn View, and View of Deviant Precepts. These are the Five Wrong Views.
Delusions of Thinking: Delusional and incorrect thinking, such as the Five Afflictions of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas can eliminate the Delusions of Views and Thinking, they can attain Arhatship and escape the Three Realms.
Second is Delusions of Countless Objects. This means there are so many views and thoughts, which cannot be categorized or calculated. So they are Delusions of Countless Objects.
Bodhisattvas come to transform sentient beings, but if they cannot penetrate infinite Dharma as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, they cannot save and transform sentient beings. This is Delusions of Countless Objects.
The Delusions of Ignorance is very problematic. We have accumulated unknown lifetimes of habitual tendencies so we have accumulated a lot of karma through ignorance. The seeds of karma have been deeply planted in our Eighth Consciousness. These are the Delusions of Ignorance.
So in our Eighth Consciousness, we have developed different habits. The most important part of practice is eliminating bad habits.
The Delusion of Ignorance is also called Root Ignorance. It obscures the Ultimate Truth of Middle Way. By eliminating it, one attains Buddhahood.
Everyone, learning Buddhism sounds easy. If the direction of our views and thinking is correct, how can we go wrong? So we must “cultivate the field in our minds. The practice of great diligence leads to World-transcending Flawless Karma. Blessings and wisdom grow from repentance.”
If we always self-reflect and repent, we will reduce our afflictions and ignorance. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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