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DIR Return to: Buddhism in Plain Terms - By Lu Junhong
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#Post#: 1206--------------------------------------------------
V 11-23 View Desires as Something Empty and the Bodhi as
Something Real 欲望为空
菩提为真
DIR By: Chen
Date: March 1, 2021, 2:42 pm
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Buddhists shouldn’t become too indulgent into their desires.
Desires can ruin people. A person starts from wanting this and
that, then gradually they want everything until their mind is
completely filled with desires. They would then forget all about
the hardships they experienced in the past, and they will no
longer cultivate properly. If we are too eager to experience the
worldly pleasures, for example, eating fine food, drinking fine
wine, playing and joking around, they basically won’t find the
time to cultivate. One wastes their time because they’re too
greedy. Some people will use up a lot of their time for the sake
of getting a property or a car. In the past, why did the
Bodhisattvas tell us to practise asceticism? It’s because when a
person is experiencing hardships, they will think about
cultivating. Whereas when a person is enjoying themselves, they
won’t think about cultivating, they won’t think about
restricting themselves to increase their level of spirituality.
Just like when a child study. If the child didn’t spend a lot of
time playing and focused on studying, then they will perform
very well academically. If the child plays all day and enjoys a
lot of things, then they won’t put in the effort, and they won’t
do well academically.
To us, Buddhists and in the eyes of the Bodhisattvas, hardship
and bliss are empty. Hardship is empty because when the
experience is over, it’s gone. If you twisted your ankle today,
you would be in pain for a few days, but afterwards, it will
disappear, and you will forget about it. Many people injured
their body before, but when the pain disappears, they will
forget about it. Many people tell smokers to smoke less. Some of
them obey when they find themselves coughing non-stop even if
they haven’t developed any lung disease yet. At the same time,
others continue to smoke despite coughing badly. These are all
hardships. Bliss is also empty. Are you happy now? After a
while, that feeling is gone. When you were married, weren’t you
very happy? That happiness quickly passes as what follows are
arguments, afflictions, housework and many other
responsibilities. In the end, divorce is a possibility. Is there
still happiness? When you gave birth to your child, weren’t you
happy? Yes. But when the child grows up, they would continue to
argue with you. Then when they start to scold at their parents
or disobey them, then many parents might think that it would’ve
been best if they didn’t give birth to them. In the end, the
child will still leave their parents. So doesn’t that happiness
become empty? When you’re having your favourite dish, aren’t you
happy? But after you ate it, doesn’t that happiness go away?
Many people eat too much and vomit when they return home and
throw up all of their favourite food. So happiness is empty.
Think about it, the level of spirituality of a human and a
Bodhisattva is different, and it shows in these kinds of
environment.
That’s because you haven’t enlightened yet, you don’t know what
you should possess or what you should lose. That’s why you
differentiate between things of hardship and things of bliss. If
you understand that today’s hardships will bring tomorrow’s
sweetness, or today’s happiness will bring you tomorrow’s
suffering, then you will know how to use the dialectic method of
analysis. Then in times of hardships, you won’t get too
depressed, and in times of happiness, you won’t be too
overjoyed. That’s because, on many occasions, what awaits at the
end of the road of happiness is the road of suffering. That’s
why one must persevere in times of hardship in order to awaken.
Hardship is the same as bliss, and bliss is the same as a
hardship. They are inseparable. But because you haven’t
awakened, you think that life is always hard. If one day, you
realise that everything in this world is impermanent, then you
won’t feel unhappiness or joy. That’s because unhappy events
will go away, and happy events will also go away. In the end,
there is only emptiness. Many great people who passed away
always died empty-handed. Isn’t that right? Emperor Qin has his
terracotta army buried along with him, could he take them away?
He wanted to take all the lands he conquered with him, could he?
That’s why you must understand these principles.
Here’s a classical allusion, there was once a small mouse. The
mouse said, “I possess the sun; I give warmth and sunlight to
the lands.” All of the small animals around it laughed at it and
said it was crazy. In reality, it’s because the small mouse
genuinely felt that the sunlight is its. That’s because it has
experienced the sun’s radiance and it made it very happy and
warm. So it felt that the sun belongs to it. From that
perspective, it isn’t wrong. That’s because every person could
view the sun as theirs. They just need to open the window and go
out in the open, and they could feel the sun’s rays, and the sun
belongs to them. If you could open up your mind, as long as you
accept the Buddha-Dharma, then the Buddha-Dharma belongs to you.
Many people don’t cherish it. They hide at home so they don’t
see the sun and can’t feel the sun’s warmth. In reality, as long
as you could feel that the Buddha-Dharma exists, then it’s
yours. When you don’t feel that it exists, then it is the same
as losing the sunlight. A person who hasn’t seen the sun for a
long period would say, “The sun is meaningless to me.” But we
who possess the sunlight will never want to lose it.
Master hopes that you could cherish your worldly blessings, and
cherish your possession of the Buddha-Dharma so that you could
clear up your mind and find your inherent nature and minimise
your desires. To you disciples, how many desires do you
currently have? Think about it according to your age, is it
still realistic for you to do the things that you want to do? If
you are currently 70 years old, and you want to have a property
or have more children, then it’s definitely not a realistic
desire. People should think about things and act according to
their age. That’s why one shouldn’t let their desires grow;
otherwise, it will lower your rational thinking to the lowest
point. Think about it, when many people encounter problems
suddenly, is it because they lack money? They already have
enough money to drive a Bentley and spend it for a few
lifetimes, yet why do they still want more money? It serves as a
warning. If a person’s desires continually grow, it won’t shrink
back. Unless the person learns Buddhism, they would naturally be
led by their deep-rooted bad habits, and they would never be
satisfied when their desires are fulfilled.
Many of the kings and emperors of the past had a hobby of
collecting antiques. From our perspective, even they themselves
are antiques. But at their time, they were excavating antiques
that were older than them to keep. They were very happy. There
was once a king in Europe who likes to steal things. He was a
king, so why did he still steal? That’s because he felt happy
about it. He regularly held balls in his palace and invited
other princes and princesses to dance there. And when they
turned away, the king would steal something from them, so when
he returns back into his room, he will admire his spoils. “Oh,
this is the pocket watch from the prince of xx. Oh, this is the
jewellery of the princess of xx.” He would be very happy. You
may say that he’s already a king, what does he lack? In reality,
it is a kind of deep-rooted bad habit. That’s why the
Bodhisattvas tell us to act like sages. In other words, we must
elevate our rational thinking to the highest point. That’s
because only a rational person could control their desires. Just
like when we act like a morally upright individual, we must
always view things from the other person’s point of view, so we
know how to care for them. That is an act of compassion.
Look at those who are around Master. Master is somebody who
thinks about others before thinking about himself. When Master
sees you all doing volunteer work, he would first think of how
hard it is for you. “The temperature is so hot, have you eaten
yet?” Master is always like that. That’s why, as a disciple, you
should also think of others first. When somebody could think of
others first, then it means that they’re compassionate.
Buddhists must learn that compassion could resolve their
afflictions. When you’re frustrated about others, or when you
are depressed about something, it’s because you haven’t forgiven
the person. If you do, then it means you’re compassionate. Those
who are compassionate forgive others easily. When you forgive
others, your afflictions would be resolved.
You must know that retreating is advancing. After your
afflictions are over, you will gain wisdom. That’s why an
affliction appears, don’t be frustrated about it, you must think
of a method, and use the Bodhisattva’s wisdom to treat it. After
the affliction is eliminated, then you would own the rights of
the affliction. Do you know what that means? In reality, when
you control its rights, it is what Gautama Buddha called
‘afflictions are Bodhi’. Bodhi means wisdom; afflictions mean
problems. If that problem didn’t arise, how could you manifest
your wisdom? It’s when you encounter many problems that your
wisdom would fill your mind, and then you possess the Bodhi
wisdom. That’s why ‘afflictions are Bodhi’.
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