Episode 819 – The Practice of Loving-Kindness and Patience
>> If we lack the virtues of compassion and wisdom, it is difficult to transform sentient beings. Without loving-kindness and patience, it is difficult to achieve peace in the Saha World. A single deviant thought leads one to fall into the Six Realms, focus only on awakening oneself and take no delight in the Great Dharma.
>> “However, as he approached old age, he increasingly worried about his son. From morning until evening he thought, ‘My time of death is drawing near My foolish child left me more than 50 years ago I have all these objects in my storehouses; what can be done about them?’.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> “At that time, the poor son, searching for clothing and food, went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom, sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> At that time, the poor son, searching for clothing and food is an analogy for seeking to escape suffering through the teachings of the Human and Heaven Vehicles. Practitioners of the Two Vehicles [seek] the clothing and food of Samadhi and wisdom that lead to world-transcending liberation.
>> [He] went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom. This is an analogy for being among the 5 Skandhas, the 12 Entrances and the 18 Realms and thus cultivating the 37 Practices to Enlightenment. So it says, [He] went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom.
>> The Five Skandhas: Form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. Skandha means covering; it is that which covers our true nature so that it is not able to manifest. Raging means something that is powerful, as all the sufferings mentioned above are brought together by the Five Skandhas. This is the suffering of the raging Five Skandhas.
>> The 12 Entrances: Where the Six Roots and the Six Dusts mutually involve each other. For those more deluded and biased toward form, the Tathagata broke down form into eye, ear, nose, tongue and body along with form, sound, smell, taste and touch. He combined feeling, perception, action and consciousness, the four mental functions, and simply called it mind.
>> What the mind connects with is only the phenomenon of the [Six] Dusts. To enable the mind to meticulously contemplate the form, He broke down “form” and connected it with the “mind”. Thus He taught the 12 Entrances.
>> The 18 Realms: For all sentient beings, the inner and outer states of mind and the Roots and Dusts are all encompassed by the 18 Realms.
>> The 18 Realms include the Six Roots, the Six Dusts and the Six Consciousnesses. They are called the 18 Realms because each realm has a boundary.
>> The Six Roots are the inner realm. The Six Dusts are the outer realm. The Six Consciousnesses are the middle realm. When the eye-root and form-object, the inner and outer, connect with each other, eye-consciousness arises between them, thereby creating three realms. The Six Roots and Six Dusts are the 12 Entrances from which the Six Consciousnesses arise, thus forming the 18 Realms.
>> Sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing: When we do not encounter virtuous friends, this is called getting nothing. Being born human, listening to the Buddha-Dharma and encountering true virtuous friends is called getting something. Engaging in flawed good deeds.
“If we lack the virtues of compassion and wisdom, it is difficult to transform sentient beings.
Without loving-kindness and patience, it is difficult to achieve peace in the Saha World.
A single deviant thought leads one to fall into the Six Realms,
focus only on awakening oneself and take no delight in the Great Dharma.”
We must be very careful. In every thought, we are engaged in spiritual practice. What we seek is to be able to exercise both compassion and wisdom so we can transform sentient beings. This is what we spiritual practitioners must have and what we should diligently seek. However, if there is a “lack, if we lack the virtues of compassion and wisdom,” it is because we are not mindful and are unwilling to help others. A person like this lacks compassion as well as wisdom. Without compassion and wisdom, when he goes among people to help them, how could he transform sentient beings? It would be difficult to transform them; if we cannot even transform ourselves, how can we transform others? So, we should exercise both compassion and wisdom;
we must always remember this. In our daily living, “compassion” is recognizing we are all connected. When we speak to those who we do not like, as we talk to them, we should not purposely say words that will cause them to feel hurt. We cannot do this. We often say, “Every time we open our mouth we create karma.” Every good word we say creates good karma with this person. With every bad word that hurts another person’s feelings, we will have created negative karma of speech. This all arises from a single thought.
If we put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, how would we feel upon hearing something like this? We would feel hurt. If we would feel hurt [ourselves], then we should not hurt others’ feelings. This is compassion. If it was the other way around, and this person did something we do not like, we might think, “He has a bad affinity with me.” Then, since we are unhappy, we make them unhappy too. If we think this way, we truly lack wisdom. So, we will be unable to transform ourselves and also unable to transform others; we hurt other people’s feelings and develop bad relationships. If so, how can we transform sentient beings? Thus, we must be careful with our speech every day
and even more careful with our actions. “Without loving-kindness and patience, it is difficult to achieve peace in the Saha World.” When we engage in spiritual practice and listen to the teachings, we should learn to be compassionate. To be kind and compassionate is to want everyone to have blessings.
This is loving-kindness. For our world to have blessings and for our society to be safe and sound, then we must practice patience in our actions. When people are patient and can endure, naturally, unkind words and unpleasant things will not occur. Then, our society will be harmonious.
What happens if our actions are lacking in loving-kindness and patience? Look at the many countries in this world where people can no longer endure. Unable to patiently endure, we may give rise to a negative thought. If greed, anger, ignorance or evil intent arises, think of the man-made disasters it can cause! In so many countries, people can no longer endure patiently; they are unable to stay due to the danger. This creates a wave of refugees. Look at how many refugees there are today. What created this [situation]? It was a lack of “loving-kindness and patience.” The people and the leaders in that country were not willing to make mutual concessions. Without the virtues of compassion and wisdom, without loving-kindness and patience, it is difficult to achieve peace in the Saha World.
The Buddha said the place we live in is called the Saha World. “Saha” means to patiently endure; this is “the world of patient endurance.” This is why it is called the Saha World. Life is full of suffering to begin with; birth, aging, illness and death are all suffering. The impermanence in life is also suffering. Birth, aging, illness and death, parting with those we love, meeting those we hate, the raging Five Aggregates are all suffering. In addition, there is humankind’s greed, anger and ignorance, which are then put into action. So, “A single deviant thought leads one to fall into the Six Realms.” A small number of people with a single deviant thought have caused great suffering for many people.
Our intrinsic nature of True Suchness is equal to the Buddha’s enlightened nature. But because of a deluded thought, we turned away from enlightenment to connect with objects of desire, falling into the Six Realms. In the heaven realm, one can still enjoy comfort. In the human realm, there is both suffering and joy. In the human realm, it is very easy to create karma; we create so much karma. This has caused great numbers of disaster victims and refugees to endure unbearable suffering. This has already led their whole society and entire country into the asura realm. Therefore, the fighting does not stop. Because of a single deviant thought, we turn away from enlightenment to connect with objects of desire, and our minds become deluded. We are unable to return to our calm and kind intrinsic nature. So, we do not know which of the Three [Evil] Destinies we will end up in.
“We focus only on awakening ourselves and take no delight in the Great Dharma.” Some who engage in spiritual practice are in a place they can live in peace and work happily. We have being born human and can engage in practice, yet “We focus only on awakening ourselves and take no delight in the Great Dharma.” We only focus on ourselves and do not care about others. Thus, we “take no delight in the Great Dharma.”
We must know that in order to learn the Dharma and transform ourselves, we must exercise both compassion and wisdom. This is having virtue. If we lack this, we only awaken ourselves and are unable to achieve great Nirvana and great liberation. If we cannot completely liberate ourselves, then how can we transform others? Therefore, we must be very careful.
The previous [sutra] passage says, “However, as he approached old age, he increasingly worried about his son. From morning until evening he thought, ‘My time of death is drawing near My foolish child left me more than 50 years ago I have all these objects in my storehouses; what can be done about them?’.”
This describes the elder who searched for his son. He had not found him, so he thought of him day and night. He had used many methods to find him. With a worried mind, he was constantly searching for his son. This is just like how the Buddha hopes that all spiritual practitioners will be able to find their way back to their intrinsic nature of True Suchness.
The following sutra passage says, “At that time, the poor son, searching for clothing and food, went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom, sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing.”
At that time, the poor son, searching for clothing and food is an analogy for seeking to escape suffering through the teachings of the Human and Heaven Vehicles. Practitioners of the Two Vehicles [seek] the clothing and food of Samadhi and wisdom that lead to world-transcending liberation.
“At that time, the poor son, searching for clothing and food” is an analogy for “seeking to escape suffering through the teachings of the Human and Heaven Vehicles. Practitioners of the Two Vehicles [seek] the clothing and food of Samadhi and wisdom that lead to world-transcending liberation.” How can we escape this suffering? Even if we are in the heaven or human realm, we still cannot escape suffering. Even heavenly beings with their long lives will reach a time when their heavenly blessings end. It is the same even for them; when heavenly blessings end, [heavenly beings] will still fall into the other good and evil realms. This is to say nothing of we who are living such deluded lives. So if we have more evil karma, we will not be able to be born in heaven, and there is no guarantee that we will be born human in a future lifetime. We may end up in the Three [Evil] Destinies. Thus, “If we do not transform ourselves in this lifetime, in which lifetime will we transform ourselves?” Since we have this human body, we should earnestly practice [the Dharma].
“Practitioners of the Two Vehicles [seek] the clothing and food of Samadhi and wisdom that lead to world-transcending liberation.” This refers to Small Vehicle Practitioners. These are Hearers and Solitary Realizers, who are already in the human realm. Though they know that their cyclic existence in the heaven and human realms is impermanent and are retributions received according to karma, they are already practicing the Buddha-Dharma. Whether they are Hearers or Solitary Realizers, they are seeking world-transcending liberation, Samadhi and wisdom. This is like searching for clothing and food, because in “searching for clothing and food,” that was all the poor son asked for; he only asked for warm clothing. For some who adopted the appearance of monastics, they only [adopted] this appearance to say “I’m engaging in spiritual practice.” However, they practiced only for themselves. They only wanted to awaken themselves. So, this is not the ultimate
“[He] went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom.” This is an analogy for being among “the 5 Skandhas, the 12 Entrances and the 18 Realms” and thus cultivating the 37 Practices to Enlightenment. So it says, “[He] went from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom.”
「從邑至邑，從國至國」。就是譬喻「由五陰、十二入、十八界而修三十七助道品」，所以叫做「從邑至邑，從國至國」。
The Five Skandhas are form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness. “Skandha” means covering. This refers to ignorance and afflictions. Our ignorance and afflictions have covered our nature of True Suchness. So, “It is not able to manifest.” Our true nature cannot manifest. These are the Five Skandhas. When we are full of ignorance and afflictions, the Five Skandhas are “raging”; “This is suffering of the raging Five Skandhas.” Here, “raging” means something that is powerful
The Five Skandhas: Form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. Skandha means covering; it is that which covers our true nature so that it is not able to manifest. Raging means something that is powerful, as all the sufferings mentioned above are brought together by the Five Skandhas. This is the suffering of the raging Five Skandhas.
As we exist amidst form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness, as we often say, a single thought begins to arise. Our eye-root connects with external states; we will talk about this later. Thus, thoughts of greed and so on arise, and we create much negative karma of body, speech and mind. With negative [karma], we will have many afflictions that burn like fire. These [afflictions] keep accumulating, so we say they are “raging. Raging” means powerful, which refers to the powerful nature of the Five Skandhas. All the suffering we face has been brought together by the Five Skandhas. Otherwise, why would we suffer?
Suffering arises because we encounter “form.” Then I feel, “I want that.” After this, “I” begin to take action and create a lot of karma and end up taking in great karmic forces. These karmic forces are due to “form,” which begins with the 12 Entrances.
The 12 Entrances: Where the Six Roots and the Six Dusts mutually involve each other. For those more deluded and biased toward form, the Tathagata broke down form into eye, ear, nose, tongue and body along with form, sound, smell, taste and touch. He combined feeling, perception, action and consciousness, the four mental functions, and simply called it mind.
The Six Roots (sense organs) are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. The Six Dusts (sense objects) are form, sound, smell, taste, touch and thoughts. Together, these two sets of “six” form the 12 Entrances. Our eye-root sees various forms and colors. Our ear-root hears pleasant sounds, unpleasant sounds, sounds of [those] who like me, sounds that entice me and so on. When Roots and Dusts come together, we have all these feelings
“For those more deluded and biased toward form the Tathagata [broke it down].” When we come to the human realm, we may be enticed by this “form,” so we place great importance on “form.” Thus, “The Tathagata broke down form as eye, ear, nose, tongue and body.” All of these are considered “form,” along with “form, sound, smell, taste and touch.” He put together the mental functions of “feeling, perception, action and consciousness.”
What the mind connects with is only the phenomenon of the [Six] Dusts. To enable the mind to meticulously contemplate the form, He broke down “form” and connected it with the “mind”. Thus He taught the 12 Entrances.
There is also the “mind.” The states the mind perceives are only the objects of objects; the mind has sensations of external states. If we can meticulously contemplate form, that is “breaking down ‘form’ and combining ‘mind’.” The outside world is filled with shapes and colors. Then we take these shapes and colors into our minds. This is called the 12 Entrances.
The 18 Realms: For all sentient beings, the inner and outer states of mind and the Roots and Dusts are all encompassed by the 18 Realms.
Our eyes, ears, nose and tongue connect with all external things, and we let them enter our consciousness. Then as our consciousness functions, what does it contain? It contains all of these things. This is called the 12 Entrances. The 18 Realms are “all sentient beings’ inner and outer states of mind.” The Six Roots, Six Dusts and Six Consciousnesses are called the 18 Realms.
Previously we mentioned the 12 Entrances; now there are the Six Consciousnesses. These six are [part of] our consciousnesses. When our mind sees external states, our eye-root has already seen external form-objects. In fact, once we see it, that is that, but because of our consciousness we get attached to it. When we hear something, it has already passed, but it is our consciousness that then gets attached to it. “I remember something you said many years ago, and it has caused me to hate you until now.” We hold this hatred in our minds. Things like love, hate, passion, animosity, meeting those we hate, [etc.] are all held within our minds.
This all happens because our consciousness connects with external things; via the Six Roots it connects to external things and then takes them all in. These are our Six Consciousnesses. So, the Six Roots, the Six Dusts and the Six Consciousnesses combine together to form the 18 Realms.
The 18 Realms include the Six Roots, the Six Dusts and the Six Consciousnesses. They are called the 18 Realms because each realm has a boundary.
The 18 Realms “include the Six Roots, the Six Dusts and the Six Consciousnesses.” They are called “realms” because each realm has its own boundaries. The eye-root is just the eye-root; form-objects are just form-objects, Mind-consciousness is just mind-consciousness. But once this is set in motion, these three are combined together as one. So, when these three sets of six are combined together, they become the 18 Realms.
The Six Roots are the inner realm. The Six Dusts are the outer realm. The Six Consciousnesses are the middle realm. When the eye-root and form-object, the inner and outer, connect with each other, eye-consciousness arises between them, thereby creating three realms. The Six Roots and Six Dusts are the 12 Entrances from which the Six Consciousnesses arise, thus forming the 18 Realms.
“The Six Roots are the inner realm. The Six Dusts are the outer realm. The Six Consciousnesses are the middle realm.” Our Six Consciousnesses are in the middle. When our eyes look at things, the things are outside, but it is our consciousness that is in the middle and takes them in. Because of this, “The Six Consciousnesses are the middle realm. When the eye-root and form-object, the inner and outer, connect with each other,” eye-consciousness arises between them, thereby creating the three realms. We must make the effort to experience this. So, the Six Roots and Six Dusts are the 12 Entrances from which the Six Consciousnesses arise, thus forming the 18 Realms
Sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing: When we do not encounter virtuous friends, this is called getting nothing. Being born human, listening to the Buddha-Dharma and encountering true virtuous friends is called getting something. Engaging in flawed good deeds.
“Sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing” is “when we do not encounter virtuous friends; this is called ‘getting nothing’.” It is rare to be born human, yet we [might] not encounter good friends. Good friends will help us transform. Good friends will help us succeed. Whether we are right or wrong, they will help us analyze things. This is helping us to “get something,” which is
“being born human, listening to the Buddha-Dharma and encountering true virtuous friends.” If we can meet [people] who lead us to encounter the Buddha-Dharma, they are truly virtuous friends. This is also “getting something.” If we do not encounter good friends, we are “getting nothing.”
“Engaging in flawed good deeds is practicing in order to get something.” Practicing to get something is a “flawed good deed” ․Sometimes getting something, sometimes getting nothing: When we do not encounter virtuous friends, this is called getting nothing. Being born human, listening to the Buddha-Dharma and encountering true virtuous friends is called getting something. Engaging in flawed good deeds is practicing in order to get something. In this life, if we only seek to awaken ourselves, we are still practicing “flawed good deeds.” This is because we are still seeking; we are still “searching for clothing and food.” But we have not yet attained our own true wealth. We are still seeking something external, warm clothes to wear, enough food to eat. We try to use this thing to get that thing. This is all still the basic Small Vehicle Dharma. We still have not developed a mind that delights in the Great Vehicle. In this way, we sometimes get something and sometimes get nothing. We have not yet unwaveringly entered this great Bodhi-path. Therefore, we must always be mindful.