Episode 311 – Teachings for Eliminating Defilements
>> “The desires of sentient beings give rise to defilements. Their afflictions have as many differences as the number of sands in the Ganges. The Buddha, with His nature of True Suchness and purifying wondrous wisdom, taught according to capabilities and understanding.”
>> “It is thus, Sariputra, that in the era of chaos and turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled with stinginess, greed, envy and jealousy. Thus, they develop all roots of unwholesomeness.”
>> The era of chaos and turbidity of kalpa: This era is muddled and turbid. Every generation is degenerating; their morals are deteriorating. The world is mixed-up and confused; people’s roots of goodness are shallow and weak. The number of unwholesome people is growing.
>> With delusions, greed, anger, ignorance and all kinds of afflictions, we obstruct ourselves and others, until our obstructions become heavy and thick. This is the turbidity of affliction.
“The desires of sentient beings give rise to defilements.
Their afflictions have as many differences as the number of sands in the Ganges.
The Buddha, with His nature of True Suchness and purifying wondrous wisdom,
taught according to capabilities and understanding.”
The desires of sentient beings give rise to many defilements. Doesn’t “turbidity” arise from our minds? I constantly tell everyone, the pollution in our world is completely manmade. Our accumulated [actions] have polluted the air and land. Originally, the air and land were clean, but then human minds [gave rise to pollution]. “Their afflictions have as many differences as the number of sands in the Ganges.”
Look at the number afflictions we humans have. Our afflictions are infinite, innumerable and have as many differences as the number of sands in the Ganges, They are all different. So, “with His nature of True Suchness and purifying wondrous wisdom,” the Buddha continuously [teaches] everyone to awaken everyone’s nature of True Suchness. The Buddha wants to help people understand, but their countless afflictions vary greatly, so they have capabilities of different levels. The recipients of the Buddha’s teachings are not all on the same level, so He has to teach according to their capabilities.
To teach sentient beings, He also has to observe the current era to identify where the problems lie, what the roots of these problems are, and what medicine can cure these illnesses. With “His nature of. True Suchness and purifying wondrous wisdom,” the Buddha observes the conditions.
So, teaching according to their capabilities is based on the time, people and location. In the past, I have often spoke about this. When we speak, we speak according to people, time and location. Furthermore, the Buddha manifests in this world for one great cause. His one great cause was to save help people in this turbid world, in this era. In this era, where does sentient beings’ suffering arise from? From frequent natural disasters. From constant manmade calamities. In an era of many disasters and calamities, the Buddha manifested.
Indeed, that era over 2000 years ago was part of a decreasing kalpa, when turbidity began to arise. During the Buddha’s era, kingdoms were in constant conflict. Kingdoms were based on city-states. Each city, each kingdom, wanted to invade other kingdoms to to expand its own boundaries. It was the same for the Buddha’s Sakya clan. Other clans were trying to invade and destroy the Sakya clan. Even during the Buddha’s era, kingdoms invaded and fought each other, not to mention in our time.
Nowadays, people want to grow their businesses. They want to continuously expand their [influence]. They create a business in this country and then hope to continuously expand internationally. They want their businesses to be widespread and franchised. Indeed, we are very small, but our desires are very big. With such tremendous greed, naturally we will create tremendous karma. Karma is an impurity, so we become defiled. “The desires of sentient beings give rise to defilements.” One single thought of desire can give rise to many defilements. Indeed, turbidity arises from people’s desires. Thus, the afflictions that arise and develop have have as many diferencesdifferences as the number of sands in the Ganges.
The Buddha could not bear [to see this], so because of sentient beings’ turbidity, He manifested in the world. He truly wanted to transform sentient beings. There are people who are willing to pass on the Buddha’s ideas, but not many truly aspire to spread the Dharma. So, the Dharma is not widespread in this world. Yet sentient beings’ desires are always growing. The population is always increasing, and in such a world, many people are not able to hear Right Dharma.
In the past, the Buddha-Dharma was taught, but what was promoted was only chanting the Buddha’s name. “This world and cyclic existence in the Six Realms the Six Realms are suffering. Only by chanting His name will Amitabha guide you to the Western Pure Land.” People believed this was the most effective way to save themselves and calm their minds, to leave this evil and turbid world and reach the Western Pure Land.
This practice of chanting was very popular for a period of time. Although the Buddha-Dharma was in this world, spiritual practice stopped at chanting. Originally, we often said, “When chanting the Buddha’s name, we must take Him to heart.” If the Buddha is in our hearts, then our hearts will be a pure land. Only with the Buddha in our hearts can the Dharma manifest in our actions. The Dharma naturally brings about. Samadhi and purity. If we can understand the Dharma, we can spread the Buddha’s teachings more widely so people can practice them.
We often say, “The sutra is the pPath; the Ppath is a road to walk on.” Mr. Zhang was a lay practitioner in Yuanlin. When he first started, he very reverently learned the Buddha’sa-Dharma Way by constantly chanting the Buddha’s name. His chanting was very reverent. Next door to him lived one of our Commissioners, Yuzhu. She felt that since Mr. Zhang was a devout Buddhist practitioner, if she could bring him into Tzu Chi, he would be a [promising] seed. Since he was good at explaining the Dharma, she wanted to recruit him.
Thus, whenever she saw him, she always talked to him about Tzu Chi, and Mr. Zhang always told her to chant the Buddha’s name, because chanting purifies the mind. “I just want to focus on chanting His name. I do not want to contrive affinities with anyone. I do not want to join any organization. I only want to wholeheartedly chant His name.” Yuzhu did not give up [on transforming him]. When she saw him, she talked to him about what Tzu Chi was doing. He felt, “You only talk about Tzu Chi; you never talk to me about the Dharma. I always share the Dharma with you, yet you only tell me about Tzu Chi.” This went on for quite a few years.
Then one day, Yuzhu told him, “Mr. Zhang, since you chant the Buddha’s name so well, but you don’t want to do Tzu Chi work, why don’t you teach me the Dharma? It’s time for you to transform me.” When Mr. Zhang heard that our Commissioner wanted him to transform her, he suddenly fell quiet and reflected on himself. “Indeed, how should I transform you? I only chant the Buddha to have a pure mind, so how can I transform you? What can I use to transform you?”
Right around that time, the 921 earthquake happened. In Nantou and Central Taiwan, many houses collapsed, causing many injuries and fatalities. Suddenly, he saw things clearly and felt, “By only chanting the Buddha’s name, how many people can I really help?” He suddenly came to a realization. He knew what to do, so he quickly told the Commissioner, “I want to join to help with the 921 earthquake relief efforts.” From then on, he got involved. He very joyfully volunteered and felt that those who help others are true Bodhisattvas. Then, he got involved with recycling work.
In Xincun, by the entrance to the community, at the security station, he erected a very large piggybank. Written on it was “[conserve] water, electricity, rice, carbon.” He wrote all of these things on it. Many people lived in the village, and when people asked him about it out of curiosity, he told them about Tzu Chi’s principles. Living in that community, he transformed others and happily did recycling work.
Isn’t this teaching according to capabilities? Doesn’t this lead to a better understanding of how “the sutra is the pPath,” and “the Ppath is a road to walk on”? Thus we say, “Maintain the Buddha in your heart, and the Dharma in your actions.” Practicing the Dharma will naturally bring Samadhi and purity. Aren’t pure lands and Samadhi found in the Dharma? Every action can be a practice of Samadhi. Our every action can be like the Buddha’s. If we take the Buddha to heart, we will manifest the Dharma in our actions. For the Buddha-Dharma to be present in this world, there must be people who go among others to transform sentient beings.
As some learn the Buddha’s teachings, they only chant the Buddha’s name because they only seek to awaken themselves in the hope of going to a pure land. But isn’t this a very passive [practice]? When a pure land is in our minds, we are in a pure land when among others.
Thus, since the Buddha manifested over 2000 years ago, how many people have actually been purified? If people go astray, though they hear the Dharma they only focus on their own awakening. At the end, the Buddha began to teach everyone to return to their intrinsic nature. To go from the state of ordinary people to the state of the Buddha, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. To walk the Bodhisattva-path, we must practice giving in this world. To practice giving, we must fully comprehend the Buddha’s principles. The Dharma is learned and put into practice in a turbid world; then turbidity can be transformed into purity. This is what we must strive to do.
Thus, the Buddha spoke to Sariputra again. The sutra states,
“It is thus, Sariputra, that in the era of chaos and turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled with stinginess, greed, envy and jealousy. Thus, they develop all roots of unwholesomeness.”
The defilements of sentient beings arise from stinginess and greed. “Stinginess” is being miserly. With this stinginess and greedy attachments, [we think,] “This is mine; everything is mine. I want what you have, too.” These kinds of desires are very strong. With this stinginess and greed, we cannot bear to give away anything. By guarding our own possessions very closely and being unwilling to give, we are stingy and greedy.
Beyond that, we are also jealous. We envy people who are wiser and more capable. We resent them for being more capable. When people praise someone else, If people praise someone else, we feel very unhappy and wonder, “Why aren’t they praising me?” If others are capable and are praised, people who are stingy, greedy and jealous cannot stand it. This is an affliction.
With these afflictions, people cannot recruit others to do good deeds. These people are stingy, greedy and jealous. They are afraid that if others do good deeds, then others will be praised, while they will lose face. Many people have these kinds of mental ailments. They are afraid that others will be more capable, that others will do too many good deeds, that others’ abilities will draw too much attention. They do not help good people succeed. They do not assist capable people. Thus, they are stingy and greedy,
not only with regard to material things. We can be stingy and greedy by not sharing good things with people or not encouraging people to do good deeds. This is also stinginess and greed. “Thus, they develop all roots of unwholesomeness” and many roots [of goodness] will wither. Sentient beings are stingy and greedy. Our roots of goodness are thin and shallow our roots have withered. The Buddha said the same thing. We sentient beings are scorched sprouts and bad seeds; our roots have withered. If the seeds are hollow, they cannot give rise to millions of things. Millions of things can arise from one seed, so these kinds of seeds are very precious.
What is “the [era of].” What is the “[era of] chaos and turbidity of kalpa”? It is a time of confusion and turbidity. This era is very dark, muddled and turbid. The world has degenerated,
and morals have deteriorated.
The era of chaos and turbidity of kalpa: This era is muddled and turbid. Every generation is degenerating; their morals are deteriorating. The world is mixed-up and confused; people’s roots of goodness are shallow and weak. The number of unwholesome people is growing.
There was a news report about a woman from northern Taiwan whose who was found dead, corpse was found floating near the Hualien’s coast. When the body was discovered, the hands and feet were tied up, and no one was able to identify her. Eventually, she was identified. But how did she come to Hualien from the north? Why were her hands and feet tied? This happened in May (2012), and it took a long time for the case to be solved. This happened in May, and it took a long time for the case to be solved. A girl and her boyfriend had conspired to murder her mother.
Why would a daughter murder her mother? Because the mother had four or five properties under her name, and they wanted her properties. From an early age, [the daughter] had a poor relationship with her mother. Yet, suddenly she became unusually attentive. Yet, recently she became unusually attentive. She lured her mother away from the house, drove her to Hualien and murdered her.
They were mother and daughter, but they had problems with each other because their hearts were impure. Her mother did not treat her well, so her enmity for her mother built up over time. Though her mother owned some very valuable properties, she knew her mother would not share any of it with her. This is a sign of the confusion in the world. Morality has become muddled and turbid and has deteriorated. [She] and her boyfriend went as far as murdering her own mother. They have indeed lost their morality.
Such news, or where we read about a grandson murdering his grandfather and mutilating his body, In the news, we also read about a grandson murdering his grandfather and mutilating his body what great hatred could they have with each other? What great hatred could he have against him? When relationships go wrong, people may kill their lover and then jump off a building. When I read all this in the news, I feel the turbidity of this era, the loss of morality. The world is in a state of confusion, all because we sentient beings have shallow and weak roots of goodness.
For some unknown number of lifetimes, these turbid, defiled habitual tendencies have been continuously flourishing. Then at this moment, causes and conditions converge, causing continuous problems in families. Even blood relatives are killing one another. With people like this, “the number of unwholesome people is growing.” The number of unwholesome people is always growing.
This happens because of delusion and because of greed. With delusion in our minds, we give rise to greed.
With delusions, greed, anger, ignorance and all kinds of afflictions, we obstruct ourselves and others, until our obstructions become heavy and thick. This is the turbidity of affliction.
With greed, there will be anger and ignorance, If not for greed, anger and ignorance, why would people do such brutal things? This is delusion, which is ignorance and lack of clarity. When we are deluded, greed, anger and ignorance continuously arise. With all kinds of afflictions, “we obstruct ourselves and others, until our obstructions become heavy and thick.” This is “the turbidity of affliction.”
If we obstruct ourselves, we will not earnestly and diligently work hard. Though we are practicing, we may still be lax and filled with afflictions. If we cannot be diligent, then we are indolent. Indolence is caused by afflictions.
We must examine ourselves; are we practicing diligently every day? Do we make full use of every single day? If we cannot, not only are we indolent, we obstruct other people as well as ourselves. So, “our obstructions become heavy and thick.” Whether we obstruct ourselves or others, layers and layers of afflictions accumulate. So, “our obstructions become heavy and thick.” This is “the turbidity of affliction.”
Dear Bodhisattvas, please think carefully; do these afflictions also cover our minds? Do our afflictions pile up thicker and thicker, causing us to become more indolent? Are we sharing the teachings that bring us joy with others? Are we encouraging people to do good deeds? Are we? If not, then we are stingy, greedy and jealous. We must examine ourselves for these problems, to see whether we are stingy, greedy, jealous or heavily defiled by afflictions. We must first understand ourselves in order to understand others. Thus, we must always be mindful.