Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Dharma Arise from the Mind (法由心起)
We listen to and see things every day. With technological advancements, we can hear sounds and see images from far away places. It seems that the world is filled with suffering. This is oppressive. We are the ones who created the karma that attracts this oppressive pain.
Why is the world full of disasters? Didn’t we bring this on ourselves? We created karma ourselves, so we share in this collective karma.
Now, the world is experiencing climate change. Cold places become colder and hot places become hotter. Floods occur because of the greenhouse effect. The climate of the entire world is changing. What region or country can avoid abnormal weather? It is unavoidable. So isn’t this our collective karma? It is like the house on fire in the Three Realms. We are all in it together, with no exceptions. This is the collective karma of sentient beings.
Why do sentient beings create collective karma and bring suffering upon themselves? When we create karma, we must face hardships. Thus, we attract suffering, which feels very oppressive. It feels like everything is closing in on us, causing us to feel very uncomfortable. The world is filled with hardships. Looking at the world, it seems like it is distressingly hot. Both real heat and mental agitation [cause pain]. Spiritual disasters are the most severe, they are extremely oppressive. They are truly painful. What can we do? Diligently cool everything down with Dharma-water. If we can truly feel the Dharma as water, if we think about this and believe that Dharma is as water, it can at least irrigate the field of our hearts, and douse the fire of anger in our minds. Everyone seems to have a fire of anger and only the Dharma in our minds can dampen it, so it does not become a disaster.
So, we must practice and diligently calm our minds with Dharma-water. This wondrous refreshing Dharma brings liberation.
The world is distressingly hot. Diligently cool everything down with Dharma-water. The wondrous, refreshing Dharma brings liberation so we practice all Dharma peacefully and happily.
Along with the fore of anger, there is also foolishness in our minds. This also requires us to constantly guide each other with the wondrous Dharma, so we can walk in the right direction. We cannot go off-course by even a little bit. “A small deviation can lead us far off course. A mind deviated toward good or evil. If we deviate toward evil, we lose our good thoughts.
Let us quickly wash away afflictions that delude and confuse us. Let us quickly extinguish the flames of anger. This requires the wondrous Dharma, a cooling and liberating breeze.
Most importantly, we must practice all good Dharma to live peacefully and happily in this world. We talked about how “our transgressions fill the world. Neither previous nor future selves realize or know this.”
The transgressions we have committed and the karma we have created in this way are as vast as the world. In one day alone, we give rise to many thoughts. So many people are creating so much karma just in one day. Thoughts arise every second of every day. I often tell everyone, every second of the day is a test. To successfully pass it, do not let even a single thought of hate or ignorance arise. This is very difficult.
So in one day alone, who knows how many bad thoughts have come and gone in our minds? They continuously appear and create karma. Think about it, don’t these transgressions fill the world? We cannot even calculate the number of negative thoughts in one day of our lives, not to mention the number for any of our previous lives, or nay of our future lives. Our previous body is dead and our future body has yet to come. Over incalculable Kalpas, we kept losing lives and receiving new ones. We truly do not realize or know the karma we created over our many lifetimes. We truly cannot know.
So we say transgressions fill the world. Since Beginningless Time, we have created karma of the body, speech and mind through greed, anger, and ignorance. It is truly immeasurable and boundless. If evil karma had substance and form, it would truly pervade the vast universe.
We often hear about carbon dioxide. How much electricity do we use? How much carbon dioxide does one kilowatt emit? When talking with professors or scientists, if they bring up carbon dioxide, I ask him, “How do you calculate the amount of Co2? How can you figure out how many tons there are? A ton is a weight, so how do you use it to measure carbon dioxide?”
They explain this by saying, “When we generate electricity we emit heat. That pollution, those emissions will spread through the air. Many factories, whether they produce goods or chemicals, or generate electricity, will emit pollutants. That is carbon dioxide. It spreads through the air and we measure the weight using surface area.” So this weight is measured through the surface area it covers.
Since Beginningless Time, I have created immeasurable and boundless karma through greed, anger and ignorance with my body, speech and mind. If evil karma had substance and form, the vast universe would not be big enough to hold it all. Avatasuka Sutra, Pu-Xian Bodhisattva Chapter.
When I see the lines, “If bad karma had substance and form,” I think of how carbon dioxide does not have a form. It is difficult to quantify. If we could measure it quantitatively, it would be very heavy. Here we say that “if it had form, it would pervade the universe.”
If our bad karma and transgressions had substance and form, they would pervade the vast universe. Now we can measure this. In our daily living, how many of us can give up the conveniences we are used to?
Take electricity as an example. If we do not use it, we will not able to videotape this. You would not see me clearly or hear me past a certain distance. So as consumers, we are all creators of karma. Our consumption is the source of the karma we create. We can appertain out source of karma based on usage.
So, scientists can calculate Taiwan’s share of the global carbon footprint and the per capita production of carbon dioxide. Our share of this is very significant. Everyone, this shows how wasteful our lifestyle is. We use a lot of goods so we consume a lot of resources.
Therefore, we create tremendous amounts of karma. If karma had substance and form, it would pervade the entire universe. If karma had substance and form, as big as the universe is, even this tremendous space could not contain the karma of so many people. This is how it is described in the chapter on the Vows of Samantabhadra.
Some environment researchers and scientists have already quantitatively measured and proved that the karma we create truly pervades the entire universe. So with this metaphor we can understand the pervasiveness of karma. Although the world is vast, it is not big enough to contain the substance and form of all the karma we have created.
The volume of transgressions that exist is greater than the world, and more are continually being committed. No wonder the Buddha said that sentient beings’ futures are filled with the Three Small and Three Great Disasters. We continuously and relentlessly do damage to the world. This is what the Buddha told us.
Everyone, the Buddha has wisdom Modern science is getting closer and closer to verifying His Dharma. Now scientific supports the Buddha-Dharma. So, we cannot disbelieve the Buddha’s teachings. We must quickly practice all good Dharma. Let us see if we can use Dharma-water to calm everyone’s mind and cool them with the winds of liberation. Let us try to mitigate the greenhouse effect. If we can return the climate to normal, our lives will be more peaceful and happy. If we want be peaceful happy, we should practice all good Dharma. Then all sentient beings can be peaceful and happy.
We practice so that everyone may find peace; it is not only for ourselves. We are all in this together, with no exceptions, so we must realize the effects of our actions. World-shattering disasters keep happening, so we must have world-awakening realizations.
The karma from transgressions is tremendous. Do we know what kinds of karma we have created in our many lifetimes? The Sutra also said, “Committing the Five Offenses creates solid bonds of turbidity and Unremitting Karma.” From these few words we know that throughout our many lifetimes, and even now, we can see people “commit the Five Offenses.” Many people commit them Five Offenses, which are patricide, matricide, killing and Arhat, destroying the harmony of the Sangha, and shedding the blood of a Buddha the Five Rebellious Transgressions.
In the news we often see people who have killed their father or mother. Killing Arhats and disturbing the harmony of the Sangha are also serious transgressions. A monastic community must have harmony in order to promote Buddhism. The Buddha’s teachings are essential for the world. To maintain teachings, we must have the Sangha to transmit the Buddha’s Dharma-lineage. If the image of the Sangha is destroyed, how will they be able to expound the Dharma to ordinary people?
So we must cultivate our body, Speech and mind. In order to make the Dharma become a reality, those in a monastic community must work together. If the harmony of the Sangha is disturbed, then that community is damaged. In the Sutras we read about the Six Undisciplined Monks in the Buddha’s lifetime. The Buddha often spoke about their transgressions. Even Devadatta committed transgressions that would send him to the Hell Realm. He disturbed the harmony of the Sangha, which is one of the Five Offenses He also shed the blood of the Buddha. We often hear these classic stories. The Five Offenses are patricide, matricide, killing and Arhat, destroying the harmony of the Sangha, and shedding the blood of a Buddha, these are the Five Offenses. Whether we are lay or monastic practitioners, with every thought or emotion it is easy to commit these offenses.
Everyone, who knows how many transgressions we have committed throughout our many lives? Now we must heighten our vigilance. We must practice the Dharma and apply it in our lives. The Dharma arises from the mind. So, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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