Episode 193 – The Five Roots and Five Powers Destroy Evil
>> We must “let teachings of the Path enter our heart, uphold the 37 Practices to Enlightenment, always remember the Fourfold Mindfulness, mindfully practice the two ‘Fives’, the spiritual roots and powers, and diligently and rightly consider the. Seven Factors of Bodhi and Eightfold Noble Path.”
>> “Contemplate the body as impure, contemplate all feelings as suffering, contemplate the mind as impermanent contemplate all things as having no self.”
>> The Five Spiritual Roots can give rise to all goodness. Root of Faith: Have faith in the Right Path. Root of Diligence: Practice Right Dharma without distractions. Root of Thought: Never forget the Right Dharma. Root of Samadhi: Focus the mind without being scattered. Root of Wisdom: Illuminate and understand all Dharma. These five methods are the foundation of the Noble Path. Therefore, they are called the Five Roots.
>> The Five Powers: Even though roots of goodness arise, evil has not been destroyed. So, we must cultivate practices that enable these roots to grow. When roots are grown, evils are destroyed. Thus, they are called powers.
We must
“let teachings of the Path enter our heart, uphold the 37 Practices to Enlightenment,
always remember the Fourfold Mindfulness,
mindfully practice the two ‘Fives’, the spiritual roots and powers,
and diligently and rightly consider the. Seven Factors of Bodhi and Eightfold Noble Path.”
When we study the Buddha-Dharma and aspire to engage in spiritual practice, the 37 Practices to Enlightenment are very important.
I often remind everyone that to walk the Bodhi-path, the teachings of the Path must enter our minds. And when that happens, we must diligently accept and practice them. The 37 Practices to Enlightenment is something we must never give up on and must understand very clearly. It is the foundation for us Buddhist practitioners. It is not just a name or a number, it helps us to safely walk and practice the path to Buddhahood. So, the teachings of the Path must enter our minds. It is very important that we accept and cultivate the 37 Practices to Enlightenment.
To help people remember them more clearly, we say we must “always remember the Fourfold Mindfulness” because the Fourfold Mindfulness is
very closely related to our physical body. The first thing to be mindful of is to.
“Contemplate the body as impure, contemplate all feelings as suffering, contemplate the mind as impermanent contemplate all things as having no self.”
If we contemplate these four things in our daily living, the Dharma will be in our minds and actions. This is the Fourfold Mindfulness.
[We must] “mindfully practice the two ‘Fives’, the spiritual roots and powers.” The two “Fives” are the Five Spiritual Roots and Five Powers. We always need to be mindful of the Five Spiritual Roots and Five Powers. In our daily living, we must focus on spiritual roots and powers to safeguard our spiritual aspirations. Thus, we need to mindfully practice them.
“Diligently and rightly consider the. Seven Factors of Bodhi and Eightfold Noble Path.” With the Seven Factors of Bodhi and. Eightfold Noble Path, we need to be very mindful. If we can diligently practice the Seven Factors of Bodhi, we will not go astray. When we also [practice] the Eightfold Noble Path, our thinking, perception, action, etc., will not deviate.
All these are part of the 37 Practices to Enlightenment. The sum of all these numbered [items] equals 37, so by [thinking of them as numbered sets], we can all be more mindful of them. This is because, as we walk the path, we must also pave it for others.
I often tell you all that. Tzu Chi is a road paved with love. This love is selfless great love, which [comprises] “unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion.” We “seek the Buddha’s Way,” and to “transform sentient beings.” We need to give with loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, and our minds must have sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness.
With sincerity, integrity, faith, steadfastness, we continuously seek teachings and diligently learn them. Having loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, we continuously practice giving. The process of learning the Dharma is like paving a path. The 37 Practices to Enlightenment is the Bodhisattva’s great, direct Bodhi-path. Therefore, we must really work to pave this path, so we can lead people to walk on it with loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. If we do not firmly lay down the base for this road, we cannot follow that path. This is why I ask you all to mindfully cultivate the 37 Practices to Enlightenment.
So, I have already mentioned the Fourfold Mindfulness, Four Right Efforts and. Four Bases of Fulfilling Power. Next are the Five Spiritual Roots and Five Powers.
The Five Spiritual Roots can give rise to all goodness. Root of Faith: Have faith in the Right Path. Root of Diligence: Practice Right Dharma without distractions. Root of Thought: Never forget the Right Dharma. Root of Samadhi: Focus the mind without being scattered. Root of Wisdom: Illuminate and understand all Dharma. These five methods are the foundation of the Noble Path. Therefore, they are called the Five Roots.
The Five Spiritual Roots can give rise to all goodness. They are like the roots of a tree or of plants grown in the ground. If the roots do not extend, the sprout cannot emerge. If the root is not strong enough, the tree will not grow. When we see a very large tree and are asked how long its roots are, we can confidently tell them, “Its branches extend all the way out to here, so that is how far its roots extend.” Because it has extended its roots, this tree can become sturdy and sprout branches and leaves.
So the roots, stem, branches and leaves all depend on the size, health and length of the roots. So, “roots can give rise to all goodness.” Therefore, we compare [goodness] to a tree. When its roots are solid, the branches and leaves above can flourish.
When we often say that a person has great capabilities, this means that his thinking, perception and wisdom are very solid. These things are his “roots.” In particular, I often tell you all that the Buddha taught according to capabilities. “Capabilities” [are another word for] our “roots.” As ordinary people, depending on how much we can absorb, He will give us the right amount of Dharma-water. This applies whether we have great or limited capabilities. This is the direction of the Buddha’s teachings in the Lotus Sutra.
This is why we must put our hearts into [developing] this “root.” The stronger our roots are, the more steadily we can accept the Dharma. There are five types of roots. First is the Root of Faith.
“Faith is the source of the Path, the mother of merits.” I often say if we want to study the Buddha’s teachings and understand the Buddha’s wisdom, the first requirement is to have faith. Not only must we have unwavering faith, we also need to have very correct faith. So, this faith is the source of our teachings of the Path. Here, I am telling you that to have the Root of Faith means to “have faith in the Right Path.” We must strive to have faith and go toward the Right Path.
We must believe that the Buddha’s teachings of the Path are infinite and boundless. Earlier I discussed [how the Buddha] “exhaustively practiced all Buddhas’ infinite teachings of the Path.” Sakyamuni Buddha, for countless kalpas, drew near to countless Buddhas. As He encountered these Buddhas, He constantly absorbed [their teachings] and practiced them. So, He “exhaustively practiced all Buddhas’ infinite teachings of the Path.” We must really remember this phrase. Now I am discussing the 37 Practices to Enlightenment to also help you all understand the fundamentals of the teachings of the Path. Therefore, we begin with faith. So, we must have faith in the Right Dharma, which is the Buddha’s path. The Buddha [attained] enlightenment, and the path to enlightenment is entered by faith.
Second is the Root of Diligence; we must be diligent. Having a solid Root of Diligence means “practicing Right Dharma without distractions.” [Only] then can we move forward wholeheartedly toward one goal. As we walk, if we stray even slightly, we will go down many unnecessary roads. If we can be truly diligent and have Right Faith, naturally we will not stray from our diligent path as we go forward. This is the second root.
The third is the Root of Thought, where the mind “never forgets the Right Dharma.” As we listen to the Dharma every day, we must retain it, not forget it. The Right Dharma is the road that past Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, [these] ancient sages and teachers, have continuously paved for us. Thus, we should always be mindful of the Right Dharma. We must remember it, not forget it. This is the third root.
The fourth is the Root of Samadhi. Our thoughts must be focused, not discursive. I keep telling you that we must be in Samadhi. Precepts, Samadhi and wisdom are the Three Flawless Studies. Once the Dharma is in our minds, we must not let it leak out. Therefore, we must cultivate Samadhi. Doing so begins with the Root of Faith. We must have [right] thoughts, etc., to make sure our course is correct. This is the Power of Samadhi.
Having Samadhi means to “focus the mind without being scattered.” Then we will have great concentration. Therefore, we need to always be mindful. We must not let our thoughts become scattered. “Thoughts of the past are distractions. Thoughts of the future are delusions.” We must always hold on to the Right Dharma. By seizing the moment, we persevere in practicing the Right Dharma. This is Samadhi.
The fifth is the Root of Wisdom, by which we “illuminate and understand all Dharma.” If the roots of our wisdom can extend far, our Bodhi-tree will be very stable. All Dharma refers to the infinite teachings of the Path. With wisdom, we can constantly examine if we have deviated from these infinite paths. There are so many teachings, infinite and innumerable. Have we deviated from them in our daily living? So, if wisdom illuminates us at all times, the road we walk will be clear and bright, never dim for a moment. This is wisdom.
These are the Five Spiritual Roots, the foundation that helps us give rise to the Noble Path. Don’t we learn the Buddha’s Way to walk on this noble path of the sages? This is what we must put our hearts into. So, we must remember the Five Spiritual Roots and not [allow] our minds to deviate from them.
The Five Powers and. Five Spiritual Roots share the same [categories], so why do we also need the Five Powers?
The Five Powers: Even though roots of goodness arise, evil has not been destroyed. So, we must cultivate practices that enable these roots to grow. When roots are grown, evils are destroyed. Thus, they are called powers.
The aforementioned Five Spiritual Roots are the roots of goodness. Haven’t I mentioned this before? The Four Right Efforts [teach us to] “refrain from all evils, and do all good deeds.” Our roots of goodness still need to be strengthened continuously and anything evil must be eliminated immediately. This is what the Four Right Efforts teach. If we allow the roots of evil to grow, the results will be unimaginable. Roots of evil must be destroyed immediately, and roots of goodness must be [developed] constantly. This is what we Buddhist practitioners must bear in mind.
So, having the Five Powers means good thoughts have already arisen in our minds. However, if we still have doubts or have lost our spiritual aspirations, evil still remains. Thus, we are still ordinary people. As ordinary people, karmic obstacles surround us. If we strive to uphold precepts, and at least uphold the Five Precepts, then we will have over 20 Dharma-protectors with us. So, although our roots of goodness have begun to grow, like the aforementioned Five Roots, we still need to add the Five Powers to them.
So, this means that, although the roots of goodness have arisen, evil has not yet been destroyed. That is why we need to practice further to enable these roots to grow more, so the Five Spiritual Roots from before can grow healthier, longer and stronger. Therefore, we must engage in practice to help roots of goodness grow and destroy evil. When roots are grown, evils are destroyed. If our roots are very solid, evil will not come back again. If evil is totally destroyed, these [improper] thoughts will not return. Moreover, since we have faith, once our roots are established, naturally our spiritual aspiration will be firm.
Therefore, roots and powers must be combined. After we have the Five Spiritual Roots, we must [develop] the Five Powers. So, we all need to be mindful, whether of the Fourfold Mindfulness, Four Right Efforts and. Four Base of Fulfilling Power or the Five Spiritual Roots and Five Powers. We must all put our hearts into remembering and practicing them in our daily living. We cannot lose any one of them. Therefore, we must always be mindful.