Lecturer: Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Mental Hell Is Created by the Mind (心獄心造)
We have been talking about the appearance of Hell. People say we cannot see Hell. So, look at the human world. Is there suffering here? In the Sutras, the human world is one of the Six Realms. Cyclic existence is unspeakably painful, but this world is a mix of pain and joy. There is suffering and happiness, and the chance to choose between good and evil. There are also sages who come to teach us. If we have the right causes and conditions, we can encounter many sages and saints. In the past we had Confucius and the Buddha. They lived in a time when many sages and saints appeared in this world. Confucius led a group of disciples. He was followed by Mencius, etc. There were also Zhung-Zi, Mo-Zi, Lao-Zi. They were great philosophers and proponents of morals and ethics. In that time, there was great discord in society; so, many sages and saints appeared in the world. Their wisdom, realizations and experiences became teachings that were passed down. But Sakyamuni Buddha was different from them. The sages spoke about the human world. Besides that Sakyamuni Buddha also explained in detail how we can transcend the human world and not be forever subjected to the pull of karmic forces, which are beyond our control. We exist in the Six Destinies because of karmic retribution. We cannot escape the Three Realms, Six Destines. Why can’t we escape? Because our minds are full of darkness. Sometimes, a burst of light will illuminate our path, but darkness quickly returns. I often say that our time here is very short. Look at Confucius. He only lived to seventy-something. The Buddha also lived to be around 80, just a bit more than one day in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings.
This is not even a day in Trayastrimsa Heaven. Therefore, time in this world compared to that in the Heavens is very short and brief. The human lifespan is so short. Even sages and saints only live for a short time. It is like our day and night. It as if the day only lasted a few hours, while we spend most time in the long endless night. This is like our minds.
As we experience long nights in the macrocosm, so too do we experience long darkness in the microcosm of our minds.When minds are dark they are filled with ignorance.Think about it.When young, we barely understand anything, until we can discern the things of the world.
Then the world becomes full of traps, with many conditions tempting us to allow ignorance to arise once again.We were already unaware when we were young.As we got older, worldly desires and ignorance defiled us.So thinking about it, our minds are forever in darkness, like the long dark nights in the outside world.
Who can guide us?When and where is our refuge?Where can our minds take refuge?It is truly difficult [to find refuge].
Although we are born into a time of advanced science and technology, the brightness of the day or the darkness of the night.These cannot be changed.Instead, we have caused the greenhouse effect and provoked many natural and manmade disasters.So, the natural world is not something humans can artificially change.Then who can change the condition of our minds?Only we can.
Right now we are talking about Hell.How far away is Hell?It is actually in our minds, very close by.We create our own afflictions and ignorance.When we create these afflictions and ignorance, we produce indifference.Are others really indifferent to us?Or are we indifferent toward others?This is all in our minds.Who causes us vexation?Who makes us unbearably frustrated?Again, it is us.If we cannot open our minds that ray of light, that refreshign breeze cannot enter.So, mental hells are cold and hot, with freezing ice and blazing fires.Our minds produce the freezing ice.Our minds also produce blazing fires.So in this state, we enter mountains of knives, swallow iron balls or are painfully fried.Who can we call on the save us?
In our mental hell we have many ways of torturing ourselves.Others do not do this to us, we do it to ourselves.We are in this mental hell until our karma is completely exhausted.We cannot d anything about it until we unravel the mental entanglements in our minds.
The mind is dark, like long dark nights.
Who can guide us?Where can we take refuge?
Mental hells are cold and hot, with freezing ice and blazing fires.
Who can save us from the pains of entering a mountain of knives, swallowing iron balls, and being fried?
Only when karma is exhausted will it end.
So, we keep saying that in Hell there are iron walls and nets, mountains and forests of knives, etc.Who can save us?We came here because of our own karma, so we have to deal with the consequences.If we cannot unravel these mental entanglements, they will be like iron walls and nets, mountains and forests knives, hot iron balls, brining stoves and columns.There are many Hells.
We can also see the animals that live in the human world are in their own hell.They cannot bear it either.It is like a report that I saw.
Sudan is like a Hell on Earth.It has been at war for a long time, mostly in a civil war.There have been very few moments of peace. So, the people cannot support themselves. Government troops and rebel forces are in conflict. People have already lost their spirit of morality.There is a lot of cruelty. The people truly live in a lot of pain. How can they survive? Not only do they find it hard to survive, even the animals and livestock cannot go on living. This was the conclusion of the peacekeepers and medical doctors India sent there.They reported that the donkeys had run out of strength. They could not move the carts another inch. No matter how their masters beat them, they did not move. They would rather be beaten to death than pull the carts.
Moreover, the local people who use these animals do not know how to cherish them. If humans cannot even care for each other, how can they cherish animals? They want them to pull heavy carts. The harnesses they use to yoke them are very crude.Since the burden is heavy, the collar rubs against them painfully. They are wounded and bleeding, but still forced to keep pulling. When they cannot go on, they would rather be beaten to death than move. This is a form of suicide.
Sometimes donkeys are used to carry water buckets. When people get water from the Nile, they hang the buckets on donkeys. The donkeys refuse to move forward. They turn around and jump into the river. They are swept toward the rapids and out into the sea.This has happened many times there. So, the peacekeepers passed on this news to the United Nations and said that there is so much suffering there that even animals, donkeys, cannot bear the pain and torment and wish to die.
So now, army doctors are beings sent to figure out how to treat the animals’ mental disorder. Where do these mental disorders come from? Even donkeys have mental disorders. This comes from the stress of the environment.So Hell exists even in animals’ minds. It truly is an unbearable hell. The suffering is unbearable. So not only do people have a mental hell, animals also have mental disorders, mental hells. So we need to know, where is Hell?
In the Six Destinies Among the Six Destinies are the Human Realm, and Asura Realm. So the Human, Heaven, Hell, Hungry Ghost, and Animal Realms are all filled with mental Hells. With hell in our minds, there will be many Yaksas and evil ghost. Aren’t there Yaksas and evil ghosts in the human world?It is filled with Asuras, Yaksas, and evil ghosts.
Look at the fighting in Sudan,all of their mutual antagonism.The people ar truly innocent.
They are brutalized by war and face so much suffering.Think about it .Isn’t this the work of Yaksas and evil ghosts?Isn’t this the work of ox-headed Raksas?They truly cause unbearable suffering.We can already see this in the human world.
So shouldn’t we repent?
Repent the Hell of lron Millstones ,
where bones and flesh are ground to ash and dust as retribution.
Repent the Hell of Black Ropes ,
where limbs are torn apart as retribution.
Repent the Hell of Ash Rivers and Boiling Feces,
where maddening afflictions arise as retribution.
“Repent the Hell of lron Millstones , where bones and flesh are ground to ashes and dust as retribution.”In the Hell of lron Millstones,we are ground down until our bones and flesh become ashes and dust.How can we endure this ?Then we “repent the Hell of Black Ropes, where limbs are torn apart as retribution.” Black ropes are flaming ropes that bind us. In this Hell ,the ropes wrap around us to twist our bodies until our limbs are torn off.
“Repent the Hell of Ash Rivers and Boiling Feces,where maddening afflictions arise as retribution.”Ash rivers and boiling feces make a very dirty,filthy place.The heat and smell from this boiling soup is truly unbearable.
Next,
We repent the Hell of Salt Water and Freezing lce,
where our skin freezes and cracks as retribution.
This should be more or less obvious.We are immersed in salt water,and in freezing ice.Think about it.If you hold a piece of ice too long you experience something like frostbite.This is a form of torture.We also need to repent this.
Repent the Hell of jackals ,Falcons ,and Hounds where we mutilate each other as retribution.
Look at jackalsa and wolves, falcons ,and hounds.Whether they fly in the air or run on the ground,they mutilate each other, not just humans.There are such beasts in Hell that harm each other.
We repent the Hell of knives and Claws where we fight to chop and stap each other as retribution.
In Hell , we use knives,along with other weapons to very cruelly attack each other.
Think about this deeply,isn’t this world the same way?So many disasters in the world began with people.So , human are truly cruel.This is comparable to Hell.
Look at Sudan.Isn’t that Hell on Earth?Both animals and humans have lost their nature,
so they kill each other.This is called Hell.
Everyone , when we learn Buddhism,we are truly learning to improve our lives.Otherwise , like in these Hell,we face unbearable suffering.Learning Buddhism is about improving our minds.
If we do not,do you think that anyone can help us out of any of these Hells ?If this mental hell envelops our minds,we will not feel happy,no matter how great our lives are. Even if we live in the best environment,we will not feel that this is what we want.
So ,this is all about the mind.We manufacture a lot of our own discontent.When our minds are in darkness,who can guide us?If we do not open our minds ,no one can.
Where can we take refuge?If we make no progress,how can we find a place of refuge?
Mental hell is agonizing.With freezing ice and blazing fires,mountains of knives ,swallowing iron balls ,the pain of being fried , who can save us ?Truly , no one can.
How long does this last?Until our karmas is completely exhausted.All karmic causes and effects.Heaven and Hell ,all are created by our minds. So ,everyone please always be mindful.
Believe ,accept ,and practice Buddha’s teachings.
Please always be mindful
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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