Shakyamuni Buddha

Page 13

"A man does not live until he begins to discipline himself; he merely exists. Like an animal he gratifies his desires and pursues his inclinations just where they may lead him. He is happy as a beast is happy, because he is not conscious of what he is depriving himself; he suffers as the beast suffers, because he does not know the way out of suffering. He does not intelligently reflect upon life, and lives in a series of sensations, longings, and confused memories which are unrelated to any central idea or principle. A man whose inner life is so ungoverned and chaotic must necessarily manifest this confusion in the visible conditions of his outer life in the world; and though for a time, running with the stream of his desires, he may draw to himself a more or less large share of the outer necessities and comforts of life, he never achieves any real success nor accomplishes any real good, and sooner or later wordly failure and disaster are inevitable, as the direct result of the inward failure to properly adjust and regulate those mental forces which make the outer life." James Allen

PURIFICATION OF THE MIND... People have worldly passions which lead them into delusions and sufferings. There are five ways to emancipate themselves from the bond of worldly passions. First, they should have right ideas of things, ideas that are based on careful observation, and understand causes and effects and their significance correctly. Since the cause of suffering is rooted in the mind's desires and attachments, and since desire and attachment are related to mistaken observations by an ego-self, neglecting the significance of the law of cause and effect, and since it is from these wrong observations, there can be peace only if the mind can be rid of these worldly passions. Second, people can get rid of these mistaken observations and resulting worldly passions by careful and patient mind-control. With efficient mind-control, they can avoid desires arising from the stimulation of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and the subsequent mental processes and, by so do- ing, cut off the very root of all worldly passions. Third, they should have correct ideas with regard to the proper use of all things. That is, with regard to articles of food and clothing, they should not think of them in relation to comfort and pleasure, but only in their relation to the body's needs. Clothing is necessary to protect the body against extremes of heat and cold, and to conceal the shame of the body; food is necessary for the nourishment of the body while it is training for Enlightenment and Buddhahood. Worldly passions cannot arise through such thinking. Fourth, people should learn endurance; they should learn to endure the discomforts of heat and cold, hunger and thirst; they should learn to be patient when receiving abuse and scorn; for it is the practice of endurance that quenches the fire of worldly passions which is burning up their bodies. Fifth, people should learn to see and so avoid all danger. Just as a wise man keeps away from wild horses or mad dogs, so one should not make friends with evil men, nor should he go to places that wise men avoid. If one practices caution and prudence, the fire of worldly passions which is burning in their vitals will die down. There are five groups of desires in the world. Desires arising from the forms the eyes see; from the sounds the ears hear; from the fragrances the nose smells; from tastes pleasant to the tongue; from things that are agreeable to the sense of touch. From these five doors to desire come the body's love of comfort. Most people, being influenced by the body's love of comfort, do not notice the evils that follow comfort, and they are caught in a devil's trap like a deer in the forest caught in a hunter's trap. Indeed, these five doors of desires arising from the senses are the most dangerous traps. When caught by them, people are entangled in worldly passions and suffer. They should know how to get rid of these traps. There is no one way to get free from the trap of worldly passions. Suppose you caught a snake, a crocodile, a bird, a dog, a fox and a monkey, six creatures of very different natures, and you tie them together with a strong rope and let them go. Each of these six creatures will try to go back to its own lair by its own method: the snake will seek a covering of grass, the crocodile will seek water, the bird will want to fly in the air, the dog will seek a village, the fox will seek the solitary ledges, and the monkey will seek the trees of a forest. In the attempt of each to go its own way, there will be a struggle, but, being tied together by a rope, the strongest at any one time will drag the rest. Like the creatures in this parable, man is tempted in different ways by the desires of his six senses eyes, ears, nose, tongue, touch and mind and is controlled by the predominant desire. If the six creatures are all tied to a post, they will try to get free until they are tired out, and then will like down by the post. Just like this, if people will train and control the mind, there will be no further trouble from the other five senses. If the mind is under control, people will have happiness both now and in the future. People love their egoistic comfort, which is a love of fame and praise. But fame and praise are like incense that consumes itself and soon disappears. If people chase after honors and public acclaim and leave the way of truth, they are in serious danger and will soon have cause for regret. A man who chases after fame and wealth and love affairs is like a child who licks honey from the blade of a knife. While he is tasting the sweetness of the honey, he has to risk hurting his tongue. He is like a man who carries a torch against a strong wind; the flame will surely burn his hands and face. One must not trust his own mind that is filled with greed, anger and foolishness. One must not let his mind run free, but must keep it under control. To attain perfect mind-control is a most difficult thing. Those who seek Enlightenment must first rid themselves of the fire of all desires. Desire is a raging fire, and one seeking Enlightenment must avoid the fire of desire as a man carrying a load of hay avoids sparks. But it would be foolish for a man to put out his eyes for fear of being tempted by beautiful forms. The mind is master and if the mind is under control, the weaker desires will disappear. It is difficult to follow the way to Enlightenment, but it is more difficult if people have no mind to seek such a way. Without Enlightenment, there is endless suffering in this world of like and death. When a man seeks the way to Enlightenment, it is like an ox carrying a heavy load through a field of mud. If the ox tries to do its best without paying attention to other things, it can overcome the mud and take a rest. Just so, if the mind is controlled and kept on the right path, there will be no mud of greed to hinder it and all its suffering will disappear. Those who seek the path to Enlightenment must first remove all egoistic pride and be humbly willing to accept the Light of Buddha's teachings. All the treasures of the world, all it's gold and silver and honors, are not to be compared with wisdom and virtue. To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind, he can find the way to Enlightenment and all the wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. The Buddha's teaching, which tells people how to eliminate greed, anger and foolishness, is a good teaching and those who follow it attain the happiness of a good life. Human beings tend to move in the direction of their thoughts. If they harbor greedy thoughts, they become more greedy; if they think angry thoughts, they become more angry; if they hold foolish thoughts, their feet move in that direction. At harvest time farmers keep their herds confined, lest they break through the fences into the field and give cause for complaint or for being killed; so people must closely guard their minds against dishonesty and misfortune. They must eliminate thoughts that stimulate greed, anger and foolishness, but encourage thoughts that stimulate charity and kindness. When spring comes and the pastures have an abundance of green grass, farmers turn their cattle loose; but even then they keep a close watch over them. It is so with the minds of people: even under the best of conditions, the mind will bear watching.

habit we have formed since beginning-less time. However, if we carefully examine and investigate, we cannot find the self. If there is a self, it has to be either body, mind or name. First, the name is empty by itself. Any name can be given to anybody. So the name is empty by itself. Likewise the body, we say "my body" just like "my house, my car, my home, my country" and so forth, so the body and "I" are separate. If we examine every part of the body, we cannot find anywhere, anything called "I" or the self. It is just many things together that form what we cling to as the body or the self. If we investigate carefully from head to toe, we cannot find anywhere a thing called self. The body is not a self because the body has many parts, many different parts. People can still remain alive without certain parts of the body, so the body is not the self. Likewise the mind, we think that the mind may be the self, but the mind is actually changing from moment to moment. All the time the mind is changing. And the past mind is already extinct, already gone. Something that is already gone cannot be called the self. And the future mind is yet to arise. Something that is yet to arise cannot be the self. And the present mind is changing all the time, every moment it is changing. The mind when we were a baby and the mind when we are an adult are very different. And these different minds do not occur at one time. It is all the time changing, all the time changing, every moment it is changing. Something that is constantly changing cannot be the self. So now, apart from name, body or mind, there is no such thing called the self, but due to long habit, we all have a very strong tendency to cling to a self. Instead of seeing the true nature of the mind, we cling at a self without any logical reason. And as long as we have this, it is just like mistaking a colorful rope for a snake. Until we realize that it is not a snake but only a rope, we have fear and anxiety. As long as we cling to a self, we have suffering. Clinging to a self is the root of all the sufferings. Not knowing reality, not knowing the true nature of the mind, we cling to a self. When you have a "self," naturally there are "others" - the self and others. The "self and others" are dependent on the "self." Just like right and left, if there is right, there has got to be a left. Likewise, if there is a self, there are others. When you have a self and others, attachment then arises to one's own side, one's friends and relatives and so forth, and hatred arises towards "others" whom you disagree with, towards the people who have different views, different ideas. These three are main poisons that keep us in this net of illusions, samsára. Basically, the ignorance of not knowing and clinging to a self, attachment or desire, and hatred - these three are the three main poisons. And from these three, arise other impurities, such as jealousy, pride and so forth. And when you have these, you create actions. And when you create actions, it is like planting a seed on a fertile ground that in due course will yield results. In this way we create karma constantly and are caught up in the realms of existence. To be completely free from samsára, we need the wisdom that can cut the root of samsára, the wisdom that realizes selflessness. Such wisdom also depends on method. Without the accumulation of method, one cannot cause wisdom to arise. And without wisdom, one cannot have the right method. Just like needing two wings in order to fly in the sky, one needs both method and wisdom in order to attain Enlightenment. The most important method, the most effective method, is based on loving-kindness, universal love and compassion, and from this arises the bodhicitta, or the Enlightenment thought, which is the sincere wish to attain perfect Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. When you have this thought, then all the right and virtuous deeds are naturally acquired. On the other side, you need wisdom, the wisdom that realizes the true nature of all phenomena, and particularly of the mind - because the root of samsára and Nirvana, everything, is the mind. The Lord Buddha said: "One should not indulge in negative deeds, one should try to practice virtuous deeds, and one should tame the mind." This is the teaching of the Buddha. The fault lies in our wild mind; we are caught up in samsára or the cycle of existence. The purpose of all the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha is to tame our mind. After all, everything is the mind - it is the mind, which suffers, it is the mind which experiences happiness, it is the mind, which is caught up in samsára and it is the mind that attains liberation or Enlightenment. So when the true nature of the mind is realized, all other things, all other outer and inner things, are then naturally realized. So what is the mind? If one tries to investigate where the mind is, one cannot find the mind anywhere. One cannot pinpoint any part of the body and say, "This is my mind." So it is not inside the body, not outside the body, and not in between the body. If something exists, it has to be of specific shape or color, but one cannot find it in any shape or any color. So the nature of the mind is emptiness. But when we say that everything is emptiness and doesn't exist, it does not mean that it does not conventionally exist. After all, it is the mind, which does all the wrong things, it is the mind, which does all the right things, it is the mind, which experiences suffering and so forth. Therefore, there is a mind of course - we are not dead or unconscious, but are conscious living beings, and there is a stream of continuity of the consciousness, constantly. Just like the candlelight that is burning, the clarity of the mind is constantly continuing. The characteristic of the mind is clarity. You cannot find it in any form or in any color or in any place, yet there is a clarity that is constantly continuing. This is the characteristic of the mind. And the two, the clarity and emptiness are inseparable, just like fire and the heat of fire are inseparable. The clarity and the emptiness cannot be separated. The inseparability of the two is the essence, the un-fabricated essence of the mind. In order to experience such a state, it is important first to go through the preliminary practices. Also, through preliminary practices one accumulates merit. It is best to meditate on insight wisdom. For that, one needs to prepare the present mind, our ordinary mind that is constantly in streams of thoughts. Such a busy and agitated mind will not be a base for insight wisdom. So first we have to build a base with concentration, using the right method. Through concentration, one tries to bring the mind to a very stable state. And on such stable clarity and single-pointedness, one then meditates on insight wisdom and through this one realizes the true nature of the mind. But to realize such, one requires a tremendous amount of merit, and the most effective way of acquiring the merit is to cultivate bodhicitta. So with the two together, method and wisdom, one can realize the true nature. And when one has realized the true nature, on the basis of that and increasing wisdom, eventually one will reach the full realization and will attain Enlightenment.
(By His Holiness Sakya Trizin. - I have re-printed these articles on my other pages (and sites) because of their informative value.)

Nature of The Mind... One of the main teachings of the Buddha is the law of karma, the teaching that all the lives we have are not without cause, are not created by other beings, and are not by coincidence, but are all created by our own actions. All the positive things such as love, long life, good health, prosperity and so forth are also not given by anybody else. It is through our own positive actions in the past that today we enjoy all the good things. Similarly all the negative aspects, like short life, sickness, poverty, etc. and all the undesirable things are also not created by any outsider but by our own actions, the negative deeds we committed in the past. If one really wishes to be free from suffering and to experience happiness, it is very important to work on the causes. Without working on the causes, one cannot expect to yield any results. Each and everything must have its own cause and a complete cause - things cannot appear without any cause. Things do not appear from nowhere, from the wrong cause, or from an incomplete cause. So the source of all the sufferings is the negative deeds. Negative deeds basically means not knowing reality, not knowing the true nature of the mind. Instead of seeing the true nature of the mind, we cling to a self without any logical reason. All of us have a natural tendency to cling to a self because we are so used to it. It is a kind of

to the wisdom of the Buddha. If a person expounds this sutra, he should enter the Thus Come One's room, put on the Thus Come One's robe, sit in the Thus Come One's seat, confront the assembly without fear and broadly expound it for them, making distinctions. Great pity and compassion are the room, gentleness and patience are the robe, the emptiness of all phenomena is the seat, and from that position one should expound the Law for them. If when a person expounds this sutra there is someone who speaks ill and reviles him or attacks him with swords or staves, tiles and stones, he should think of the Buddha and for that reason be patient. In a thousand, ten thousand, a million lands I will manifest my pure and durable body and for immeasurable millions of kalpas (an extremely long period of time) will expound the Law for living beings. If, after I have entered extinction, there are those who can expound the sutra, I will send the four kinds of believers (monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen), magically conjured, monks and nuns and men and women of pure faith, to offer alms to the teachers of the Law; they will lead and guide living beings, assemble them and cause them to listen to the Law. If someone thinks to do evil to the preachers with swords and staves or with tiles and stones, I will dispatch persons magically conjured, who will act to guard and protect them. If those who expound the Law are alone in an empty and silent place, and in that stillness where no human voice sounds, they read and recite this sutra, at that time I will manifest my pure and radiant body for them. If they forget a passage or a phrase, I will prompt them so they will be thorough and effective. If persons endowed with these virtues should expound to the four kinds of believers and read and recite the sutra in an empty place, I will enable all of them to see my body. And if the expounders are in an empty and silent place, I will send heavenly beings, dragon kings, yakshas (a type of demon, one of the eight kinds of non-human beings who protect Buddhism), spirits and others to be an assembly and listen to the Law. Persons such as this will delight in expounding the Law, making distinctions and encountering no hindrance. Because the Buddhas guard and keep them in mind, they will be able to bring joy to the great assembly. If one stays close to the teachers of the Law, he will speedily gain the Bodhisattva way. By following and learning from these teachers, he will see Buddha as numerous as Ganges sand. (From the Lotus Sutra)
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At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to state his meaning once more, spoke in verse form, saying: If you wish to put aside all sloth and remissness, you must listen to this sutra. It is hard to get a chance to hear this sutra, and believing and accepting it too is hard. If a person is thirsty and wants water, he may dig a hole in the high plateau, but as long as he sees that the soil is dry, he knows that water is still far away. But, bit by bit he sees the soil grow damp and muddy, and then he knows for certain he is nearing water. Medicine King, you should understand that people are like this if they do not hear the Lotus Sutra, they will be far removed from the Buddha's wisdom. But if they hear this profound sutra, which defines the Law of the voice-bearer, if they hear this king of the sutras and afterward carefully ponder it, then you should know that such persons are close

October 9, 2003