Lecturer: Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: A Pure Body and Mind Eliminates Disasters (身心清淨除災難)
In your daily living, do not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight; tiny grains of sand accumulated can build a pagoda. Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial; drops of water become a river that overturns boats.
So, in our daily living, we must not disparage any good deeds, thinking, “This small deed does not need to be done by me. This small matter does not require my help.” We must understand that tiny bits of good can accumulate into a lot. If we say something kind to every person, when all the good words that everyone hears are gathered together, there will be so much kind speech! So absolutely do not disparage and avoid doing small good deeds. In the morning volunteer meeting we heard about a grandmother with a 7-year-old on her motorcycle. The young girl noticed a converging mirror at a four-way intersection. That mirror shows us our blind spot. It lets us know that there is a care coming from the left so we should be careful; or a car is passing on the right, so be cautious. Although it is just a tiny mirror, serves an important purpose there. If it is covered with dust, the image gets blurry. Then we cannot see anything. So, one day her grandmother said to her, “Grandma, that mirror is very dirty. I can’t see.” She had a flash of inspiration and decided that after she took her granddaughter to school each day, on her way back she would wipe every mirror so they would always be clean. Then she would feel at ease. Later here granddaughter said, “I want to do this with you, grandma.” In order to take her granddaughter with her, she said, “Then you have to wake up earlier! We have to wipe the mirrors on our way to school.” Every morning, her granddaughter really woke up on her own. The duo left the house at 7 A.M. and cleaned the mirrors on the way. Her granddaughter was small, so in her wisdom, the grandmother wrapped a rag on a long bamboo stick and said, “Here, wipe it with this.” Although the girl was not very strong, by holding the bamboo stick with the rag attached and lifting her head up high, she managed to wipe the mirrors clean. Do not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight. An offhand remark from a small child made its way into an adult’s mind and inspired her. Thus every mirror at every intersection will be very clean and people will be safe. Wouldn’t you say this is a good deed? Yes. Some people will say, “That’s nothing.” Do not disparage small good deeds and avoid them. Perhaps if a careless person cannot see the mirror’s reflection, a major car accident can happen in an instant. Do not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight. Tiny grains of sand accumulated can build a pagoda.
Isn’t every house made out of a countless amount of sand mixed with concrete?This is how we are able to have these sturdy houses.The same applies to bridges.A safe bridge will allow us to cross over, so we cannot lack sand.Sand is also accumulated grain by grain.
Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial; don’t think “This doesn’t matter.”“I’ll only do it once.”Then, “I’ll only do it once more.”After this time, there will be another.
Then evil habitual tendencies will never end.They constantly accumulate, just as tiny drops of water become a river.Can’t a river capsize a boat?We often say, “Grains of rice make a basket-full, drops of water form a river.”Isn’t a large rainfall made up of many rain drops?
This can turn into a roaring flood.Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial.
Recently, everything in “Dharma as Water, has been a reminder to everyone.”Do not disparage small good deeds.Do not overlook small evils.We must know the causes and retributions.We need to understand karmic retribution, so we must be cautious in our daily living.
The next passage in the repentance text says,
“in the present and future, in the Heaven and Human Realms, we face countless disasters, plagues, woes and mental decline as retribution.”
In the Human Realm, in the present or future, we face a lot of suffering because of what we accumulated in the past.So, in the present and future in these realms, there are countless disasters.After blessings in Heaven are exhausted, the Five Signs of Decay manifest in very displeasing ways.We see even more calamities in the Human Realm.
These sudden disasters are a demonstration of impermanence.We do not know when or how disasters will strike.Next are “plagues and woes”.Plagues are periods of epidemics.Avian flu, foot and mouth disease, fowl plague, etc., are all animal germs, which have begun mixing with human germs.They turn into epidemics and create many disasters.
Remember how anxious people were about SARS 2003?People wore face masks everywhere, whether they were on the streets or in their homes.Didn’t this make everyone fearful?Now there is also war.When manmade disasters arise, not only do people use [conventional] weapons, some even spread poisonous germs.This is also very scary.
So in the present and future, these disasters will continuously appear.This is truly worrisome.We need to repent such evil retributions.So, all these disasters happen in the past, present, and future.
Next,
“Today we disciples repent with deepest sincerity to the Buddhas, respected Dharma and Sangha of the Ten Directions.May we eliminate all disasters?”
Indeed, because of our confusion in the past, present or future, we accumulate many small evil causes and evil conditions.So, starting now we need to sincerely repent to all Buddhas, the respected Dharma and the Sangha of the Ten Directions.
May these disasters all be eliminated.This requires that we have great reverence.Let us cultivate this state of constant repentance.If we can all do this every day, repentance will bring us purity.Only then will we have the sense of remorse that can prevent certain thoughts from arising. So, we practice to nurture this mindset.To protect this mirror in our mind, we must constantly polish it and continue persevering in this practice.
So next, the text says,
“Previously we already repented the Threefold Karma and Six Roots, all Obstructions of Affliction, all Obstructions of Karma, and all Obstructions of Retribution in the Four Forms of Birth and Six Realms. We now make vows, dedicate merits in sequence. ”
We have already talked about many types of repentance. We repented the Threefold Karma which can refer to greed, anger and ignorance. Past, present, future are also threefold karma.We have explained the term Threefold Karma many times in many ways. There are also the “Six Roots”. Everyone has a better understanding of these.
We talk about them often. They are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.They follow the external Six Sense Objects to attract our Six Consciousnesses. Because we have the Six Roots, we can encounter external sense objects like sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, etc. When we encounter these sense objects through our Six Roots, our Six Consciousnesses discriminate between them, so we began to have cravings and attachments and take action, etc.
In the past we clearly analyze the afflictions created by the Threefold Karma, Six Roots, etc. We have analyzed all this, and everyone should have repented them. But after repenting, people forget, and may repeat their mistakes.
So we must always bear in mind that we must not overlook small evils and commit them. In this way, we will definitely not create afflictions of the Three fold Karma and Six Roots. Anytime we create these we will face obstacles.If we create them, we create evil causes and negative affinities. Then, in the future, we will often suffer hindrance at the hands of others. Even if we want to do good deeds now, we still face obstacles. All these Obstructions of Affliction are attracted by the light and heavy afflictions created through our Threefold Karma and Six Roots.Then there are also “all Obstructions of Karma”.
We were just discussing obstacles where others hinder us. We create Obstructions of Karma ourselves. People want to help us accomplish good things, but our minds prevent us from proceeding. Contrarily, evil thoughts and ignorance arise, so we act, or cause others to act. These acts are karmic obstacles that prevent us from doing good deeds. There is also all Obstructions of Retribution in the Four Forms of Birth and Six Realms.
The Four Forms of Birth are egg-, womb-, moisture-, and transformation-born. Although sentient beings take various forms, they are all alive. They live in different habitats. Moisture-born beings live and grow in water. They are called moisture-born. Womb-born are those like humans, cows, hoses, etc.These are all womb-born. Next is egg-born. After the egg is incubated, a living being is hatched. Then there is also transformation-born. Whether they are in Heaven or Hell, they can be transformation-born. They leave one life for another.After leaving this place ,they descend into Hell.
The Six Realms are the Heaven, Human,Asura , Hell ,Hungry Ghost and Animal Realms.
Everyone know these Six Realms“All Obstructions of Retribution”.We already face retributions.In the Four Forms of Birth and Six Realms,our retributions have already appeared.
Now we are in the Human Realm.Whether we are rich or poor,we have already been born in this era. We are all human ,but we face different karmic retributions.We created these Obstructions of Retribution that are now before us. “We now make vows and dedicate merits in order”.
After we repent , our minds need a direction.We no longer do evil and now direct our minds towards goodness.This is dedicateion of merits. Actually , this dedicateion of merits can be done with our minds by choosing the right things to do ,and doing them ourselves while
maintaining the intention to benefit everyone.
Next , let us look at this section
“We disciples vow to repent the Three Obstructions.We dedicate all the merits that arise”.
We have finished repenting the Three Obstructions.We have repented everything. After that , merits will arise because once we eliminate evil ,good will definitely arise. Once we clear the weeds from the fields ,good seeds will mature and produce good fruits as a reward [At the Abode ] we have planted peanuts ,legumes , and whole grains for a long time.
After we plant seeds ,we need pull weeds after a few days. We must take care of the seeds when they are small. We must make sure there is sun and water. If we eliminate the weeds ,
the sun , water ,and fertilize will help our seeds grow very well.This is what we must constantly practice.After we eliminate the Three Obstructions,we will produce merits.
Like seeds flowering and bearing fruit ,the merits will slowly mature. The principle is the same“Then we dedicate all the merits that arise”.Now we are almost ready for the harvest.
As we engage in spiritual practice ,we learn many things. Now that we know , we need to give.
So ,
“We dedicate them to all sentient beings so we can repent together”.
We should know the important of sharing this Dharma with others to pass on our Dharma –lineage. We need to put it into action.We also need to concertely give to and benefit others. Whether we give Dharma ,wealth or fearlessness ,these are all dedications of merit.
I hope everyone knows not to do evil ,and to be diligent in doing good.Everyone need to understand this.We all need to know that in the past we may have made mistakes, so
everyone “can repent together”.We do not repnet alone.We invite everyone to repent at the same time.
So I often say , be vigilant and reverent.We all need to be reverent and vigilant;live in peace , but be aware of dangers.This is what we constantly promote.
So ,
“May all sentient beings ,in this present life find peace and happiness in body and mind ,and completely eliminate the Three Calamities ,Eight Difficulties and unfortunate matters.”
This passage reminds us to repent together.I hope we unite our strength and quickly and reverently cleanse and purify our minds. Then we can be nurtured by Dharma –water and
Understand the Dharma.So let us “ repent together”“All sentinet beings can ,in this life , have peace and joy in body and mind”.
We hope everyone has peace and happiness .The Three Calamities , Eight Difficulties ,
and unlucky matters will be completely eliminated.This is what we look forward to.I hope we can all be mindful.
As we learn Buddhism , we must not disparage and aviod doing small good deeds. Do not say ,“A little bit of evil doesn’t matter” “Remember ,do not disparage and aviod doing small good deeds; tiny grains of sand accumulated can build a pagoda”. “Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial;drops of water become a river that overturns boats. ”
Everyone , we must always be aware of ourselves.For a long time we have been repenting and repenting. But after we repent,we must not make mistakes again.Small good deeds and small evils must be clearly distingshed.We must do what should be done.Do not even think about doing what you should not.
So everyone , please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)