Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Revata and Pilindavatsa (離婆多 畢陵伽婆蹉)
Date: May. 21, 2013
Spiritual practice is all about the mind.
心正念正除煩惱
心念毫差千里偏
邪思一動入魔圈
自拔自度悟妙法
Eliminate afflictions with a proper mind and proper thoughts. A slight deviation in thought can take us far off course. When evil thoughts stir, we enter demonic traps. To save and transform ourselves, we need to realize the wondrous Dharma.
Everyone, are we constantly and carefully safeguarding our minds? Spiritual practice is dealing with afflictions that lead us to develop countless habitual tendencies. When we have habitual tendencies, they do not help at all with others’ views of us, nor our views of ourselves. So, we must constantly eliminate habitual tendencies. In particular, our minds always need to maintain Right Mindfulness. If our minds are proper, so are our thoughts, and naturally we will have no more afflictions. Therefore, our thoughts cannot deviate at all.
I often tell everyone that a slight deviation causes a great divergence. So, our minds are who we are. Our moral characters and mental processes are all encompassed within our minds. When a thought goes astray, if we want to steer it back on the right path, it may be very troublesome. So even though a single thought is something very tiny, we still need to take good care of it. Once evil thoughts stir, we fall into demonic traps. We need to know that if our thoughts stir during our spiritual practice, many demonic troops of afflictions will manifest regardless of the external conditions. Once certain people find out that someone is going to engage in spiritual practice, they will create conflictions and obstacles in that person’s surroundings. These are tangible ways people obstruct each other. Some [obstruct] themselves in their own minds when the aspiration for spiritual practice arises. Some are struggling to free themselves from the deviant way to return to the right path. Once this thought arises, potentially many self-created afflictions and ignorance thoughts may manifest in the mind. They may never be eliminated. Only by exercising wisdom can we stabilize our minds.
So we say, “To avoid the suffering of reincarnation, one must sincerely chant Amitabha.(免受輪迴苦要虔誠念彌陀).” “Amitabha” means infinite lifespan and infinite wisdom. An infinite lifespan lasts a long time. Infinite wisdom is a wisdom that can destroy much of our spiritual turbulence. We must all carefully stabilize our minds so we can be at ease. “They had eliminated all Leaks and had no further afflictions. They had severed all bonds of existence. Their minds had attained a state of freedom.” (諸漏己盡, 無復煩惱, 盡諸有結, 心得自在) Mental freedom is very important, so “to save and transform ourselves, we need to realize the wondrous Dharma.”(自拔自度悟妙法)
No one can save us. Our minds have already sunk under the turbulent waves. Who can save us? Only we can save ourselves, just as Venerable Revata(離婆多尊者), the Arhat we are discussing today, did He is also called Temporary-Union(假和合). Before this venerable one became the Buddha’s disciple, he was out one day and it started to get dark. He saw there was no village ahead of or behind him. He felt that he had been walking a long time, and was very tired. With that, he chose a gazebo as his resting place that night. He spread out some hay and prepared to sleep. As he began to doze off, his surroundings became unfocused. Suddenly, he saw a ghost quickly carrying a corpse to this gazebo. He was followed by another ghost. This second ghost, Ghost B, quickly ran over and the two fought over the corpse. As that was happening, the ghost who brought the corpse said, “I carried this corpse here.” The ghost that came later said, “I got to this corpse first.” Ghost B ignored Ghost A and broke off the arm and leg of the corpse and started eating them. Ghost A was very contentious. He said, “That person there saw the order of our arrival. Let’s ask him to be the judge.”
This man came to the gazebo to rest and just happened to see these two ghosts fighting over a corpse. Now they wanted him to be the judge. How could he judge this? If he said this one was right, he would offend the other.
If he said the other one was wrong, he would then offend this one. What should he say? Revata thought, “I should just answer honestly.” He said, “I saw Ghost A carry this corpse here, then Ghost B chased after him here.”
“That is all I saw I don’t know about anything else.” But Ghost B was very angry. He exclaimed, “If this was the case, then you are saying that I am wrong.” He got very angry and broke off Revata’s arm and leg. Ghost A, who was judged to be correct by Revata, saw Ghost B broke off Revata’s arm and leg. So, he broke off the arm and leg of the corpse and attached them to Revata. Suddenly Revata awoke from the dream.
He woke up to an empty gazebo. Where was the corpse? Where were the two ghosts? There was nothing.
Look at my body. One arm and one leg were broken. But now I can stand up. I can still take a step and walk.
My two arms can still move, and they are both intact. Exactly who does this arm, leg, and this body belong to?
He could not understand what he had seen and encountered in his dream. What did it mean? What is this body of mine? Are these limbs on my body the original ones? Or are they parts of other people that were attached to my body?
Because of this, he became very confused and overwhelmed. His state of mind could not be stabilize, so whenever he saw people he asked them, “Are the limbs of my body mine? Or do they belong to others?” He asked everyone he encountered. During this time, a group of bhiksus(比丘) happened to walk past. He saw this group of spiritual practitioners and quickly went to them. He grabbed them, one by one, and asked, “Do you see my body? Yes, your body is fine. How do you think I look? Are my limbs, my legs and arms, all mine? This group of bhiksus asked him. What did you encounter in your mind?” He then described his dream to this group of bhiksus.
The monastics(出家眾) then felt that this person could be transformed, so they started to teach him the Dharma. They said, “Your body is actually someone else 's remains. You do not own it. We need to understand that our parents gave birth to each of us with their sperm and egg. This is the body they gave us. We all go through the process of birth, aging, illness and death. This body will not last forever.” After they said this, Revata suddenly realized that this body exists only because of a temporary union. It is temporary. A temporary union of the four elements creates what we call our head, our leg, our arm and our body. These are all superficial names and appearances. All these names and appearances combine to form this “self”, this body. This is what he realized. Because of this instant realization, all his past afflictions and doubts completely disappeared.
離婆多 此云假和合
謂曰 此身乃他人遺體 非己有也 即悟此身
假和合而有 由此漏盡得道
Revata means Temporary-Union. He was told that they body is someone else 's remains it was not his. Thus, he realized that his body exists because of a temporary union. So, he eliminated Leaks and attained enlightenment.
From then on, he deeply realized that his body was temporary and there was no need for attachment. Then he followed these bhiksus to see the Buddha and took refuge with Him. He began to engage in spiritual practice so his mind was very tranquil. After what he had experienced at the gazebo, now when he meditated, no matter what state manifested, his mind would not waver. Therefore the Buddha said,
坐禪入定
心不倒亂者
離婆多為第一
《阿含經》
“By sitting in meditation and entering Samadhi, the mind will not be confused or scattered.” So this is the story of Revata.
Next was Pilindavatsa(畢陵伽婆磋尊者), which means Remnants-of-Habitual-Tendecies(餘習). He had yet to eliminate all habitual tendencies. He had been a Brahmin(婆羅門) for the past 500 lifetimes. Brahmins were typically arrogant because among the four castes, brahmins were considered the most respected. After 500 lifetimes, this formed the habitual tendency of arrogance. After he encountered the Buddha and became one of His disciples, he was very diligent in his spiritual practice. So, he indeed eliminated afflictions but “remnants of habitual tendencies have not been eliminated”(餘習未亡) He had not eliminated his habitual tendencies. Every time he wanted to go across the Ganges River(恆河), he would call our, “Servant girl, stop the flow and let me cross”(小婢止流, 令我過去). The Ganges River had a river goddess. Every time this venerable one wanted to cross, she was scolded by him. Whether he was leaving or returning, she often heard him call her “servant girl”, which was a term that slighted her. The river goddess felt constantly belittled by him, and she could not take it anymore. So she complained to the Buddha, “Your disciple, Pilindavatsa, is arrogant and egotistic. Every time he crosses my river, he speaks to me with scorn and calls me a servant girl.” Therefore, the Buddha asked Pilindavatsa to come in front of Him and the river goddess and said, “You were wrong to do this. The river goddess safeguards this river and protects the people. How could you scold her like that when you want to cross the river?” He said, “That was unintentional.” “If that was unintentional, that is your habitual tendency. Your habitual tendencies hurt others.” So he said, “Very well, I will repent to her. He put his palms together and said, “Servant girl, don’t be angry. That was unintentional.” He still called her servant girl.
This kind of habitual tendency was very difficult to eliminate. So the moment he said those words, even when he was trying to apologize, he still called her servant girl, everyone there laughed. He was told to change, and he knew he was wrong. But when he apologized, he started by belittling her and then asking her not to be angry. He just could not help it. So, he realized that habitual tendencies were very hard to change. For example, when we are talking to others, we also have stock phrases and habitual tendencies. Therefore, to change our habitual tendencies is very difficult.
畢陵伽婆蹉
此云餘習
小婢止流 令我過去
神白於佛
令向神懺悔
即合掌云 小婢莫瞋
大眾皆笑
佛言
實無慢心 乃習氣也
Pilindavatsa means Remnants-of-Habitual-Tendencies “Servant girl, stop the flow and let me cross”. The river goddess complained to the Buddha, who commanded Pilindavatsa to repent. So he put his palms together and said, “Servant girl, please do not get angry”. The assembly laughed. The Buddha said, “This is not arrogance, but habitual tendency”
This kind of habitual tendency unintentionally causes people to be unhappy. If people are not happy, that does not benefit us. Why aren’t we changing these commonplace habitual tendencies? We tend to say, “It’s not that I don’t want to change. I don’t’ even know why such words come out of my mouth so easily”. We really have no control over this. This is simply because of our habitual tendencies, yet it is so difficult to change. Because this is difficult, it requires spiritual practice. So spiritual practice is not difficult, it is habitual tendencies that are hard to eliminate.
Therefore, when we make an effort to correct our habitual tendencies, that is very helpful to spiritual practice. The Agama Sutra(阿含經) states,
樹下苦坐
不避風雨者
畢陵伽婆蹉比丘
為第一
《阿含經》
Bhiksu Pilindavatsa is foremost in ascetic meditation under a tree, not avoiding the wind and rain
You see, he spent much effort on ascetic meditation under a tree He worked very hard. Regardless of wind or rain, he remained very diligent. Why couldn’t such a diligent person change his habitual tendencies? Indeed, eliminating them is painful and difficult. So everyone, please take good care of your minds. Our speech and actions all arise from the mind. Therefore, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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