Episode 265 – Cultivate Virtue to Eliminate Arrogance and Pride
>> We spiritual practitioners must not be arrogant and proud. To cultivate virtue, we must form great aspirations and “establish right mindfulness among myriad worldly phenomena, and establish faith and vows on the great Bodhi-path.”
>> Because “if this matter were spoken of, heavenly beings, humans and asuras in all worlds would be shocked and begin to doubt.”
>> Asura means “not heavenly being.” They have heavenly blessings but not heavenly virtues. So, they are like heavenly beings, and yet not. Asura is also translated as “improper” because their appearance is very unpleasant and their nature is belligerent, they often fight with heavenly lords. The males are ugly and the females are beautiful.
>> Bhiksus with overbearing arrogance claim that they have attained superior Dharma, so they slight other people. Those who claim to have attained what they have not and to have realized what they have not have overbearing arrogance.
We spiritual practitioners
must not be arrogant and proud.
To cultivate virtue, we must form great aspirations
and “establish right mindfulness among myriad worldly phenomena,
and establish faith and vows on the great Bodhi-path.”
This is telling everyone that we cannot be arrogant and proud. If we engage in spiritual practice with conceit, arrogance and pride, we will never advance in our spiritual practice. As we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must humble ourselves. When we humble ourselves, others will find us agreeable. When we enter their sight, joy will arise in their hearts. This is a skill we must practice.
In our practice, “inwardly, being humble is a merit; outwardly, being courteous is a virtue.” We must constantly work to train our minds, so we can really live among others with unity, harmony, mutual love and concerted effort. Not only must we develop those skills, we must also put the teachings into practice. True unity arises when we work with others and do not give them the feeling that we are something special, just that they need our help to get something done. We can be acknowledged by others without needing them to feel that we are special. If we can work together this way, this is unity.
This is working together with unity and harmony. This comes from our hearts and manifests through our actions. This is how we cultivate virtue. Both the skills we develop internally and the appearance we manifest externally are part of cultivating virtue.
We must always be vigilant and make that great aspiration. “To cultivate virtue, we must form great aspirations.” In forming aspirations, we must hold on to and forever preserve our initial inspiration. If we can hold on to that aspiration and sustain that moment forever, our mindset will be lasting and unchanging.
Being born human in this world is rare, and being able to listen to the Buddha-Dharma is rare. Since [we] have this connection with the Buddha-Dharma, we must establish right mindfulness for the world. When our thoughts never deviate [from the path], we have right mindfulness. Not only must we establish right mindfulness for all things in the world, more importantly, we must “establish faith and vows on the great Bodhi-path.” Without faith and vows, we will easily deviate from right mindfulness.
As we [deal with] all things in the world and walk this great Bodhi-path, hopefully we can stay on this path to remain on course. We had the karmic conditions to come to this world and are able to help others. As we work with people, our hearts need to be united as one. To do this, we must start with ourselves and tame our arrogance and pride. We must also form great aspirations, establish right mindfulness and sustain our faith and vows; this is very important. So, in our daily living, we must not lack spiritual aspirations.
We had previously been discussing how. Sariputra asked the Buddha to teach the Dharma and reveal the One Vehicle, the extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma. The Buddha repeatedly said, “Stop, stop, there is no need to speak further.” Sariputra was persistent and again asked the Buddha to give teachings.
Why did the Buddha stop?
Because “if this matter were spoken of, heavenly beings, humans and asuras in all worlds would be shocked and begin to doubt.”
What are “asuras”? “Asura” is a Sanskrit word and means “not heavenly being.” The place where they live is a realm of heavenly blessings; however, though they have heavenly blessings, they lack heavenly virtues.
This means, sometimes when we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we only want to cultivate blessings without understanding the principles within. So, while we willingly make offerings, our hearts are still filled with greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. These afflictions still fill our minds. Though some people do not eliminate afflictions, they are willing to practice giving and constantly do good deeds. This is called cultivating heavenly blessings but not heavenly virtues.
These people do not look dignified at all. So, we say they look “improper.” Also, “their appearance is unpleasant.” If we think about it, there are many such people in this world. They are asuras in the human realm. Not only do they exist in the human realm, they exist in the animal realm as well. When they take the form of other living beings, they maintain their very belligerent nature.
So, asuras [exist] throughout the Six Realms. [Asuras] in heaven have heavenly blessings, but not heavenly virtues. In the human realm, they have human blessings, but lack human virtues. This is the characteristic of asuras.
Asura means “not heavenly being.” They have heavenly blessings but not heavenly virtues. So, they are like heavenly beings, and yet not. Asura is also translated as “improper” because their appearance is very unpleasant and their nature is belligerent, they often fight with heavenly lords. The males are ugly and the females are beautiful.
Of course, heavenly beings must have cultivated the Ten Virtues to be born in the heaven realm. Asuras did not cultivate all ten, just one, because they enjoyed the practice of giving. Giving is a way to seek blessings. So, I often say when we give, we must not seek blessings. Instead, we must seek wisdom, so we may have both blessings and wisdom. Of course, when we give, we must give joyfully and unconditionally. Then it is a virtue. On top of blessings, we add virtue, which is wisdom. Thus we cultivate both blessings and wisdom.
There were “bhiksus with overbearing arrogance.” In addition to heavenly beings, humans and asuras who were afraid to accept this Dharma, the “bhiksus with overbearing arrogance would fall into the big pit.” Not only would heavenly beings, humans and asuras be shocked and begin to doubt,
so would bhiksus with overbearing arrogance. If the Buddha gave this teaching, bhiksus and bhiksunis with overbearing arrogance would not have the mindset to accept it. Their refusal to accept it naturally would give rise to afflictions and the desire to slander the Dharma. So, these afflictions arise from overbearing arrogance.
Those with overbearing arrogance “claim to attain what they had not.” These bhiksus assumed, “I have engaged in spiritual practice for so long and followed the Buddha, so I understand all His teachings. Not only do I understand, upon hearing one [principle], I understand all. After the Buddha spoke of impermanence, I then understood the true principles of all things in the universe. With one teaching from the Buddha, I have already realized ten things.” This [mentality] is called overbearing arrogance.
In reality, if the Buddha gave one teaching, how could they understand ten things? Each principle is so deeply profound. Indeed, they only [knew] a little bit, only superficial things. They only knew the terms but did not understand the principles behind them. So, these people “claimed to have realized what they had not claimed to have attained what they had not.” So, they are overbearingly arrogant people; they [consider] themselves one step above others. They think they know more, are better, are superior to others. This [mentality] is called overbearing arrogance. Most ordinary people are like this.
Bhiksus with overbearing arrogance claim that they have attained superior Dharma, so they slight other people. Those who claim to have attained what they have not and to have realized what they have not have overbearing arrogance.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, he spent a period of time at the Kalandaka Abode. During that period of time, there was a married couple in the city who made a living through entertaining others with music, dancing and acting. This couple had a daughter they had trained since she was young. As the girl grew older and more beautiful, everyone who saw her liked her, especially because her talents were outstanding.
One time, someone was holding a party in the city, so they hired this family to perform. Everyone cheered loudly and really enjoyed the show. They cheered and praised [the performance]. As for this girl, she became more and more arrogant. She flaunted her seductive figure and told the audience, “All of you really enjoyed the way I dance. Have you ever seen [anyone] with this kind of figure and movements? Is anyone more beautiful than I am, more talented than I am or more knowledgeable than I am? Can anyone compete with me?”
Among the crowd, someone said, “Yes, right now, outside of our city, in the Kalandaka forest, Sakyamuni Buddha is giving teachings. His appearance is magnificent, and everyone who sees Him likes and respects Him. Even the king and ministers look up to Him with respect and reverence.”
The woman refused to accept this. She wondered, “Can there really be someone in the world who makes people happier than me?” So, she said to her parents, “Let’s go see this Sakyamuni Buddha, who everyone says is magnificent.” The parents went to see Him with their daughter, followed by a large group of people.
From outside the abode, she saw the Buddha inside, explaining the Dharma to the monastics. She sashayed into the room with song and dance. Upon seeing the Buddha, she disregarded [His presence] and flaunted her seductive dance. When the Buddha saw this, He felt sympathy and remained unmoving. He manifested a truly dignified appearance.
This flirtatious and beautiful dancer was named Blue Lotus. Seeing the magnificence of the Buddha, she stopped. Then the Buddha spoke, “Look, Blue Lotus. Around us are many men of different ages. There are young and strong men. In my monastic community, there are also elderly people who aspired to become monastics. Turn around and see how many are around us? Consider the appearance of these old women and men.”
Blue Lotus turned and looked around. Indeed, the elderly looked old and weak, their bodies were hunched, their hair white and unkempt, their faces wrinkled. They were hunched over and had such an aged, ugly appearance. After she turned a full circle, the Buddha said, “Blue Lotus, in the future, your appearance will be the same as these elderly people.”
Blue Lotus heard the Buddha speak with such a soft voice and saw that He was very magnificent. His words were so profound that she was moved by them. She felt as if she was waking up from a dream. “Indeed, because of my youth, my dancing is bewitching and seductive. In a few years, my appearance will the same as these others. What can I flaunt then? My talent? Beauty?” In that moment, she suddenly formed an aspiration. She repented and knelt before the Buddha to beg Him to take her as a monastic disciple. This [happened] during the Buddha’s lifetime. This young woman had a [mindset] of overbearing arrogance. Indeed, this mentality also exists in monastics. Some feel, “I understand Dharma better than you. I understand [the teachings] more thoroughly than you.” Those who have listened to the Buddha for a long time may think, “I have understood all of the Buddha’s teachings.” Many people had this overbearing arrogance. Therefore, the Buddha still did not freely give these teachings.
Everyone, to be able to listen to the Dharma is not very easy. We must have a sense of right mindfulness and have faith and vows. So, we must always be mindful.