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發表於 2013-7-23 14:54:16
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Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: A Still Mind Clearly Reflects External Conditions (心靜境界明)
Learning Buddhism is about being constantly mindful of thoughts. A calm mind clearly reflects external conditions. Afflictions arise sue to our reaction to external conditions. If we are unclear and cannot see through things, afflictions will continue to arise. Since we know this, we must know hard to eliminate afflictions. After they are eliminated, we dare not repeat our transgress ones. After we have cleansed our minds, our lived start anew.
Mental afflictions arise due to our reactions to external conditions. So take good care of the mind. Wash away past affliction and be even more cautious in the future so as to not create new bad karma.
Remember that our minds need to seek refuge in something, in the refuge of religion. As long as it is a proper religion, our minds will have something to rely on. If we practice according to the right path, then we will not wrong in life.
Taking refuge in the Buddha means that we constantly are mindful of. His teachings and use them as guidelines for our daily living. Every thought and every action should abide solely by these rules.
Buddha, the Enlightened One, awakens the self and others with perfect enlightened practice. With the enlightened mindset, the Buddha teaches those who are wise and keen. If people can accept the Buddha’s teachings, the can resolve to follow the Bodhisattvas-path “to seek enlightenment and transform all beings”.
They walk the Bodhisattvas-path, transform sentient beings, and continuously seek Dharma from Buddha. Buddha’s Dharma is vast and profound “The universe may have its limit, Dharma is limitless.” Therefore, we must constantly be ready to learn the Dharma. So always be diligent.
There is an ancient saying, “Live till old age, learned till old age”. Even if we learn until our very last breath, we cannot learn everything. We have also made the great vow to transform all sentient beings, so we must continuously seek Dharma from the Buddha. To constantly seek the Truth from the Buddha, we should be sincere, respectful and single-mindedly take refuge.
We take refuge in all Buddhas of the Ten Directions and the entire universe.
All great Bodhisattvas are also our role models, especially those surrounding us. They are all Bodhisattvas. Anyone who can guide us, correct our mistakes, and lead us toward this broad path is a spiritual friend. Always resolve to take refuge with these spiritual friends and follow them in their footsteps.
Anyone who can guide us, correct our mistakes, and lead us toward the right path is a spiritual friend. Such friends are the Bodhisattvas in whom we should we should always take refuge.
Next, the text mentions Pratyekabuddhas. They are sharp. By seeing how everything constantly changes, they realized the truths of impermanence, suffering, and emptiness. They seize the moment to quickly focus on their own spiritual cultivation, so as to gain experiences and realizations. They are called pratyekabuddhas. They focus on their own enlightenment.
Buddha attained Buddha-hood through accomplishing the 3 Elements of Enlightenment. They are enlightening self, enlightening others, and perfect enlightened practice. A pratyekabuddha seeks self-enlightenment only. He cannot resolve to enlighten others, so his enlightenment is not perfect. It has deficiencies. They are called Pratyekabuddhas. They gain self-realization only to benefit themselves. But their pure wisdom is worthy for us to learn from.
A Pratyekabuddha can enlighten himself and realize the Truth. Though he did not resolve to transform others, his pure and undefiled wisdom is worthy for us to learn from.
Arhats are similar. They also focus on self-cultivation. They just follow the Buddha’s teachings. They practice the initial, second, third, and fourth stages of Arhathood in sequential order. Thus they achieve Arthahood. They practice Buddha’s teachings in order. But they are afraid of cause and effect so they remove themselves from others. They are the Hinayana practitioners. Although they seek to benefit themselves, they still deserve our respect. Anyone who is kind and does not create bad karma is worthy of our respect. Moreover, they practiced and conducted themselves according to the Buddha’s teachings. So, they are worthy to be our teachers.
Following the Buddha’s teachings, Arhats practice according to the sequential order of the path and attain realization. Though they focus on their own enlightenment, their mastery in eliminating affliction is worthy to be emulated.
“Brahma, Sovereign Sakra, Devas, Nagas, 8 Classes of Heavenly Beings, and all Sages.” Aside from sages in the Buddhist tradition, there is also Brahma and the Heavenly Realm. All of them also come and take refuge n Buddhism. The heaven Realm is full of pleasures. We often say, “Spiritual practice is difficult for the rich”. Brahma and Sovereign Sakra are kings in the Heaven Realm but even they can take refuge in Buddha’s Dharma. The wealthy, on the path of practice, deserve our respect.
Moreover, only those who accomplish the practice of the Ten Virtues and realize blessings and virtues can be born in the heaven Ream. So we should also respect them.
May Brahma, Sakra, Devas, Nagas, 8 Classes of Heavenly beings, sages witness my prayer.
People refer to Brahma to as the Lord of 3 Realms. According to the Earth Treasury Sutra, Sovereign. Sakra is lord of the Trayastrimsha Heaven and a great protector of Dharma, along with Devas, Nagas, and Heavenly beings of 8 Classes. Let us truly respect and admire them all. So, we humbly pray they will “be our witnesses”. We ask then to bear witness for us and to supervise us.
We must correct the foolish ways of the past. Starting from today, let us take refuge in Buddhism with utmost sincerity. Therefore we ask that Pratyekabuddhas, Arhats, Brahma, Sovereign Sakra, 8 Classes of Heavenly beings bear witness for us and supervise us. This signifiles that resolve is very film and sincere.
That is why we ask 8 Classes of Heavenly Beings to bear witness, judge, and supervise. It is with such sincerity that we begin to pay respect to Buddha. When we recite the Water Repentance, at the end of certain sections we stand and pay respect to Buddha. This shows that our minds are already made up. To express our sincerity, we bow to Buddha.
Bowing to the Buddha shows our respect. As we begin here, our voice should be gentle.
After we pay our respect, again from the depths of our heart, we recite, “After we pay respect to Buddha, we repent again”.
Repentance does not happen just once. The opening section says when ignorance covers the mind, ordinary people act ignorantly. Thus, we resolve to take refuge in the Dharma. After we sincerely pay respect to the Buddha, we repent again.
Everyone, the aspiration of Pu-xian Bodhisattva, states, “All the bad karma created in the past, rooted in greed, hatred, ignorance since beginningless time, and born of body, speech and mind, I am now repenting all today” .
All of us can recite these verses from memory. “All the bad karma created in created in the past. This past began in beginningless time. It is impossible to calculate how long, how many lifetimes we have spent transmigrating through the 6 Realms. It all began with one ignorant thought, with the conditions of conflicts and our surroundings.
We are continuously covered by more and more ignorance. With the accumulation all that ignorance, we create karma. In the midst of delusion, we create karma. Then karma makes us more deluded. Thus we create more karma. The cycle continues to repeat. We now often hear of viruses. A single virus can multiply quickly and repeatedly. Therefore, viruses spread very quickly. Our afflictions, our ignorant thoughts, are just like viruses. Once the virus invades our minds and defiles our spirit, eliminating it is very difficult. The only way is to have a humble, repentant mind.
Affliction of greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and double are viruses that defile the mind. The only way to eliminate them is humble repentance.
Take SARS for example. It created a global panic. Everyone was scared and felt threatened. At such a time, the most important thing is for everyone to be humble. We must be cautious and reverent. Reverence must arise from the depths of our minds. Quarantine those who need to be quarantined and offer care to those who need it.
Some people disregard everything in their desire to help, like medical personnel and medical teams. They disregard everything to be on the front line to save lives. They are willing to sacrifice. Their lives and enter areas of severe infection. Is this not like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who come into the Human Realm? All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas leave behind their pure lands to enter this evil world of 5 turbidities solely to rescue the Wisdom-lives of sentient beings. In this defiled world, we sentient beings are continually infected by many types of viruses, because of our different capabilities and under different conditions.
So, some rescue physical lives. Others rescue Wisdom-life. In a time of urgent need, we must give our respect to and be grateful for those who are willing to serve.
Without regard for themselves, they enter evil and defiled conditions to do their best to save and transform others. No matter what their social status is, they deserve our respect and gratitude.
When the public is panicking, let us use love to comfort and soothe their hearts. That is called safeguarding health. Humans cannot lack either wisdom or love. With our pure minds, let us express our repentance.
In repenting, we use Dharma to wash away our selfishness and our ignorance. If we are selfish, we will be ignorant and blind. This ignorance will continuously cover our minds. So we only love ourselves and cannot care about others. This is a type of mental virus.
Whether the virus is tangible or not, we need to treat it with love and wisdom. Repent the mistakes of the past. Use pure and undefiled Dharma-water to wash away defilements in body and mind. Then we have the potential to heal.
We must display a high degree of love and the purest, keenest wisdom. That is the way to live. If we do not recognize that we are all interconnected, if we cannot love each other, follow our rules, or express our love, then no matter where we are, we can become contaminated. Therefore, mental viruses are very frightening, even more than the SARS virus. So it is important for us Buddhist practitioners to use Dharma-water to cleanse and sanitize our mental conditions. We must constantly clean up our minds. Repentance is cleansing. To repent is to use Dharma-water to wash away mental defilement. So, everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水) |
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