The Buddha said, people who take leave of their families and go forth from the householder life, who know their mind and penetrate to its origin, and who understand the unconditioned Dharma are called Shramanas. They constantly observe the 250 precepts, and they value purity in all that they do. By practicing the four true paths, they can become Arhats."
This is the first section of the Sutra in Forty-two Sections. It says that a Shramana (Buddhist monk) can become an Arhat.
The Buddha said, people who take leave of their families and go forth from the householder life. "When you leave home, according to the Buddhadharma it is necessary to receive your parents ' permission . It not like in America where you are free after the age of eighteen to do whatever you want. Formerly, within Buddhism in India and in China, in order to comply with the custom of the country, it was necessary to tell your plans to your parents: going to leave the home life. " This is called taking leave of them. To leave home is to respectfully offer up your body, mind, and life to the Triple Jewel and no longer to engage in worldly affairs. This is what is meant by ake leave of their families and go forth from the householder life. " You enter a place of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and you leave the home-life.
In going forth from the householder life, you leave the ordinary household that has been your worldly home. Every household has its own troubles; there is constant quarreling among relatives and no real happiness. Thus you want to leave the mundane home, which is also called the burning house. It is said, he three realms are like a burning house; there is no peace to be found in them. " Therefore, it also called leaving the home of the three realms --the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. It also called leaving the home of afflictions. Laypeople all have afflictions and no true happiness; that why they wish to leave home. Once you leave home, it essential that you cut off afflictions and resolve your mind on Bodhi. That is what is meant by leaving home.
They are people who know their mind and penetrate to its origin. This means knowing your own fundamental mind and recognizing that when the mind arises, every kind of dharma arises. When the mind is gone, every kind of dharma ceases. There are no dharmas beyond the mind, and there is no mind outside of dharmas. Mind and dharmas are one. If you understand that there is no mind outside of dharmas, then you understand the nature that is everywhere calculating and attaching, our ordinary conscious mind.
In penetrating to the origin, if we understand that the mind and nature in fact have no real substance, nor any form or appearance, if we can understand this principle, then we will understand that the nature which arises dependent on other things is false and illusory. The nature that is everywhere calculating and attaching is fundamentally empty as well. The nature that arises dependent on other things is also false and illusory. Neither of these natures actually exists. That is what is meant by knowing the mind and penetrating to its origin.
And who understand the unconditioned Dharma. To understand the unconditioned Dharma is to understand the Dharma of True Suchness. True Suchness and all dharmas are not one, but at the same time they are not dual. If you understand this doctrine, that True Suchness and all dharmas are not one and yet not different, then you can understand the perfectly accomplished real nature . You can awaken to your basic substance. That is what is meant by nderstand the unconditioned Dharma. "
Are called Shramanas. If you can be like that, if you can take leave of your family and go forth from the householder life, know your mind and penetrate to its origin, and understand the unconditioned Dharma, then you can be called a Shramana . "Shramana" is a Sanskrit word that means "diligently putting to rest." The Shramana diligently cultivates precepts, samadhi, and wisdom; and he puts to rest greed, anger, and stupidity. After you leave the householder life, you should not diligently cultivate greed, anger, and stupidity while putting to rest precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. If day after day you are without wisdom and day after day your stupidity grows greater, that is what is meant by diligently cultivating how to be greedy, diligently cultivating how to be angry, and diligently cultivating how to be stupid. Every day you are confronted with your own greed, anger, and stupidity. You can put them down, and so precepts, samadhi, and wisdom cannot develop. You pay no attention whatsoever to investigating how to cultivate, how to hold precepts, how to practice samadhi, and how to develop wisdom. Every day your afflictions increase. And why? Because your karmic obstacles from past lives are too heavy and your karmic retribution is so weighty that it keeps you from making the resolve for Bodhi. It makes you constantly find fault with other people. With this attitude, from morning until night you feel that you are better than anyone else, even to the point that you feel you are better than your teacher. y teacher doesn measure up to me. See how talented I am? You could say that rom heaven above to earth below, I alone am honored. '" Someone with this outlook is certainly headed for a fall.
I often see Sangha members who haven even learned how to place their palms together correctly; they join their palms in a very sloppy manner. They sometimes hold them up at eye level! Properly done, your palms should come together in front of your chest. When you place your palms together, your ten fingers should be touching one another. After having left home for so many years, you don even know how to put your palms together! You don know how to bow correctly or to offer incense correctly; youe too pathetic! If you don't know how to place your palms together, then you should look at the older cultivators and imitate them.
I recall when I explained the Rules of Deportment for Novices, I told you all not to put your fingers into your nostrils. How could this possibly happen? Because youe joined your palms so high that your fingertips brush against your nose! Your folded palms should be at chest level. Hold them evenly at chest level, not at your mouth, your nose, or your eyes. When you are unclear about as basic a point as this, how can you cultivate the Way at all? If you still get this wrong, you will understand cultivation even less. When you cultivate the Way, you cannot be sloppy about anything or you won have any accomplishment. If you are off by a hairsbreadth in the beginning, you'll be off by a thousand miles in the end "
So, as Shramanas cultivate, they
constantly observe the 250 precepts. They always rely on the
precepts in their cultivation and do not violate them, and thus their study
of the precepts grows. They value purity in all that they do. In
motion and stillness, no matter what you are doing, you should maintain
your purity. There should be no defilement in what you do.
By practicing the four true
paths. The four true paths refer to the Four Noble Truths: suffering,
accumulation, cessation, and the Way. When Shramanas diligently cultivate
this Dharma, they can become Arhats. Since Arhat is
a Sanskrit word with three meanings , it is considered to be a term that
contains many meanings and thus is not translated. Due to the multiple
meanings, it is not translated. We merely transliterate the sound of the
Sanskrit word. The three meanings of Arhat are:
What is an Arhat ? A fourth stage Arhat has reached the position called Beyond Study, because further study is no longer necessary. So Arhats of the first three fruitions are in the position of Having More to Study. Arhats of the fourth fruition have reached the position of the Way of Certification ; second and third fruition Arhats have reached the position of the Way of Cultivation ; and first fruition Arhats have reached the position of the Way of Seeing .
Later this Sutra says: "Be careful not to believe your own mind; your mind is not to be trusted." We should be particularly careful not to believe our own minds. Our minds are unreliable. You can trust your mind only after you reach the fourth stage of Arhatship.
Sages who reach the fourth fruition of Arhatship don have any more desire and love. They have severed love and desire . What proof is there that someone has certified to the fourth fruition of Arhatship? A fourth stage Arhat feet don touch the ground. His feet leave the ground by three-tenths of an inch, and for that reason he never squashes insects or ants, as would an ordinary person who walks along. When he walking, there may be insects or ants beneath his feet, but he won step on them. This proves that he has become certified to the fruition. Not only can fourth stage Arhats do this, but first stage Arhats can do this as well. Therefore, the text says: Arhats can fly and transform themselves. A fourth stage Arhat can go wherever he wants to go, and he can transform himself in endless ways. He can create endless numbers of transformation-bodies . For example, when I was in Taiwan, I visited the elder cultivator Dharma Master Guang Qin and invited him to come to America. He pointed to his heart and said he could come whenever he wanted to come. Now when he wants to come, he can. He knows he has come, but other people don't know. Only those who have opened their spiritual eyes will be able to see that the elder Dharma Master Guang Qin is here.
Not only can the spirit of a fourth stage Arhat travel to some other place, his whole body can go. He can go easily and whenever he pleases. It not necessary for him to buy an airplane ticket. He can just travel through the air and transform himself freely. Arhats possess the ability to make eighteen transformations, and each of these transformations is truly inconceivable.
They have a life span of vast eons. These vast eons are limitlessly long, because a fourth stage Arhat can live as long as he wishes. Longevity is no problem. When the body he inhabits gets old and deteriorates, he can exchange it for another body quite easily. Thus he has a life span of vast eons.
People who realize the fourth fruition
of Arhatship have freedom over birth and death . They are truly free: if
they want to live they can live; if they want to die they can die at any
time they choose. If they want to die standing up, they can die standing
up. If they want to die sitting, they can die sitting. If they want to
die walking, they can die walking. If they want to die sleeping, they can
die sleeping, just as they please. They are very independent; no one can
control them. So that why they have a life span of great eons and are said
to be free of rebirth. They are not reborn, and they no longer die.
And wherever they dwell they
can move heaven and earth.
Wherever an Arhat dwells, the heaven spirits
and the earth spirits are influenced and moved by him. They are all taught
and transformed by him. That what this line means. Wherever an Arhat dwells,
the gods, dragons, and members of the eightfold pantheon protect his Dharma
and keep his locale peaceful. There aren any hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes,
avalanches, tidal waves, or any such disasters because the Dharma protectors
and good spirits are always guarding him and making everything auspicious.
Inauspicious things do unexpectedly happen to Arhats, though; these are
mani festations of karma from their past lives. Occasionally such things
do occur. Because an Arhat cultivation at the stage of causation may not
have been perfect, he will encounter trials and difficulties after he has
achieved the fruition. So it is said, ne who cultivates blessings without
cultivating wisdom is like an elephant wearing a valuable necklace. One
who cultivates wisdom without cultivating blessings is like an Arhat who
receives scanty offerings.
" Sometimes
Arhats have no food to eat. They go out on alms rounds, but nobody makes
offerings to them. That because when they were at the causal stage, they
only cultivated wisdom and didn cultivate blessings. And so even after
they become Arhats, they don have any blessings. People rarely make offerings
to them.
Another way to explain ove heaven
and earth "
is that
in every move this Arhat makes, no matter what he does, both heaven and
earth will tremble and quake for him. This is a brief explanation of the
word Arhat. "
Superior to the Arhat is the
Anagamin.
At the end of his life, an Anagamin vital spirit will rise above the nineteenth
heaven, and he will become an Arhat."
Prior to the Arhat is the Anagamin . A fourth fruition Arhat has realized the position of being Beyond Study, while an Anagamin, an Arhat at the third stage of fruition, is still in the position of Having More to Study. A Sakridagamin of the second stage has severed six grades of delusion in thought in the desire realm and still has to cut off the last three grades of delusion in thought inthe desire realm. Once he severs those last three grades, he realizes the stage of an Anagamin and becomes certified to the third stage of Arhatship. One who has not finished cutting off these last three grades is called a Sakridagamin.
At the end of his life, if an Anagamin vital spirit becomes a ghost, then it is known as he body between sets of skandhas . " If it is yang, then it is known as the vital spirit; this is also what we refer to as the soul , or efficacious nature. It will rise above the nineteenth heaven, and he will become an Arhat. When the Anagaminlife ends, since he has not ended birth and death, his soul rises above the nineteenth heaven. We count from the Heaven of the Four Kings up to the Heaven of No Afflictions. The Heaven of No Afflictions is above the nineteenth heaven. Above the nineteenth heaven, the Anagamin will realize Arhatship, so his name means e who never again returns. " He doesn return into the human realm. This is the Anagamin, an Arhat of the third fruition.
Just now we heard that there are no disasters wherever an Arhat dwells, and some people have raised doubts that it might not be peaceful where an Arhat dwells. I won comment about that, but I will speak about the Elder Master Hsu Yun in China and the responses that occurred during his life. Once during the Sino-Japanese War , when the Elder Master was living at Nanhua Monastery near Canton , Japanese warplanes dropped several bombs on the area, but none exploded. Some people say, ell, they were duds. It was just a coincidence. " But then, why weren other people so lucky? Why was it only at Nanhua Monastery that there were duds?
Another time, when the Elder Master Hsu Yun was transmitting the precepts at Yun Qi Monastery in Yunnan , the trees blossomed with lotus flowers . Why didn the trees blossom with lotuses in those areas to which he didn go? On the leaves of the vegetables and other plants there appeared images of Buddhas . Despite the power of such miraculous responses, people still failed to recognize them as such. They considered them to be merely isolated occurrences. When the Elder Master Hsu Yun was at Nanhua Monastery, a cypress tree that had been dead for several hundred years came back to life and budded. That was another inconceivable happening, as was the time when a white fox came and took refuge. At the time people still didn realize clearly what was happening. Now that the Elder Master Yun has entered Nirvana, everyone praises him. They all say that the Venerable Yun was a sage who realized the fruition of the Way and that he was a Bodhisattva who returned to earth. This is just how people arehen something is before their eyes, they miss it; and once theye missed it, they regret it. People are strange and stupid creatures.
Now in America I want to create living Buddhas, living Bodhisattvas, and living Arhats. I want to create Anagamins, Sakridagamins, and Srotaapannas. Anyone who can get rid of desire and cut off love will have a share in it. As for those who can get rid of desire and cut off love those who are completely spinelesshere just no way to help them. Everything is made from the mind alone. If a person wants to be a ghost, he can be a ghost; if he wants to be a Buddha, he can be a Buddha. If a person wants to be a person, he can be a person. If he wants to be an animal, he can be an animal; it just remains to be seen which road his mind takes.
Don assume that The Ten Dharma-realms
Are Not Beyond a Single Thought is an insignificant little book. A
thousand years from now, there may be many people who will become enlightened
upon reading that book. That is a future matter. Right now it remains to
be seen whether anyone will become enlightened.
Superior to the Anagamin is the
Sakridagamin, who ascends once, returns once more, and thereafter becomes
an Arhat. Prior to the Sakridagamin is the Srotaapanna, who has seven deaths
and seven births remaining, and then becomes an Arhat. Severing love and
desire is like severing the four limbs; one never uses them again."
Prior to the Anagamin is the Sakridagamin, who ascends once, returns once more, and thereafter be comes an Arhat. The sage of the second fruition is called a Sakridagamin . akridagamin " is Sanskrit and means e who returns once more. " At this level of sagehood, one is in the position of the Way of Cultivation. What does it mean to eturn once more " ? The Sakridagamin is reborn once in the heavens and once in the human realm. The Sakridagamin has cut off six grades of delusion in thought in the desire realm. What is delusion in thought? hought " here means consideration or discrimination. If you have thought, but no delusion, that can also be pure. As long as you use wisdom to make discriminations, that is not delusion in thought. Delusion in thought exists when you are confused, and you don understand. You think about what you don understand. This is he nature that is entirely calculated and attached to . "
For example, you might see a piece of rope at night, but not recognize it as a rope. You think, h, look, it a snake! " Why do you think that the rope is a snake? Because, based on the rope, you give rise to he nature that is entirely calculated and attached to. " That is he nature that arises relying on other things . " If you investigate the rope itself, you find that the rope is in fact made of hemp, and it not a snake. Then you are using he perfectly accomplished real nature . "
The desire realm has nine grades of delusion in thought. One reaches the third fruition after severing the last three grades of delusion in thought. If one severs the first six grades of delusion in thought in the desire realm, one becomes certified to the second fruition of Arhatship. If one has not severed these six grades, one cannot become certified to the second fruition. One returns once to the heavens in the desire realm and once to the human realm. Thus, one is called e who returns once more. " When one returns, one becomes certified to Arhatship and ends birth and death.
Prior to the Sakridagamin is the Srotaapanna . Srotaapanna, also Sanskrit, means ntering the flow " or oining the flow. " It also means pposing the flow. " ntering the flow " means one enters the flow of the Dharma-nature of a sage. pposing the flow " means one opposes the flow of the six defiling objects of ordinary people. The six defiling objects are: forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, and dharmas. When one becomes certified to the first fruition, one cuts off delusion in views . We have delusion in views and delusion in thought; we are confused by views as well as by thoughts. Delusion in views and delusion in thought take control of us and cause us to be confused. So, if you genuinely want to become enlightened, you have to cut off these two kinds of delusion. Delusion in views must be severed, and delusion in thought must be cut off, too.
What is delusion in views ? Delusion in views means that when faced with situations, one feels greed and love. Delusion in thought means one becomes confused about the principle and makes discriminations. Delusion in views: you see events and things, and you are confused by them. Once you are confused by them, you follow along with the situation and are turned by it. And when you are turned by the situation, you give rise to greed and love. With greed, you become attached to things; and with love, you can bear to part with things. Being attached and unable to put things down, you can realize sagehood . If you want to achieve sagehood, you have to cut off delusion in views. How many grades of delusion in views are there? There are eighty-eight grades of delusion in views . When you cut off these eighty-eight grades, you attain the first fruition of Arhatship and become a Srotaapanna. The Srotaapanna is a sage of the first fruition. What is meant by oining the flow " ? You join with the sages ' flow; you are together with sages.
A Srotaapanna is one who has seven deaths and seven births remaining, and then becomes an Arhat. Sages who have realized the first fruition have seven more births and deaths to undergo. When these seven births and deaths are over, then these sages become certified to the fourth fruition of Arhatship and put an end to birth and death. The seven births and deaths are divided in this way: upon reaching the upper-highest level of delusion in thought in the desire realm, you put an end to greed, hatred, stupidity, and pride, and you sever delusion in thought. Severing delusion continues through two births and deaths. Then one life is spent in the middle-highest level of the desire realm; one life in the lower-highest level; one life in the upper-middle level; one life in the middle-middle level and lower-middle levels combined; and one life in the upper-lowest, middle-lowest, and lower-lowest parts combined, for a total of seven birth and deaths. When the seven are finished, you can realize the fruition of Arhatship and end share section birth and death . This is the way it happens in the ordinary course of events, but it can vary among particular individuals; there nothing fixed about it. If a cultivator potentials and roots are special, then he might advance from the first stage directly to the fourth stage of Arhatship. Kumarajiva mother, for instance, went from the first fruition to the second fruition. Therefore, the sequence of certification is not fixed.
There are many categories of delusion in thought and delusion in views in the Triple Realm, but when all is said and done, what confuses people most is love and desire . Love and desire gain control of us and turn us upside down. Knowing clearly something is wrong, we still want to go and do it. Knowing clearly something is right, we don want to do it. People are just such strange creatures. Even if we know very well that something is not good and we are told not to do it, we still go ahead and do it anyway. Knowing clearly something is good, we still don want to do it, even when wee told to do it. We never listen. Why? Because love and desire control us and cause us to be upside-down.
Severing love and desire is like severing the four limbs; one never uses them again. If we can cut off love and desire, then we certainly will be able to accomplish the Way. Cutting off love and desire is just like cutting off your hands and feet: once youe cut off your hands and feet, you can use them anymore. That what it should be like when you cut off your love and desire. So the Sutra says, rior to the Sakridagamin is the Srotaapanna, who has seven deaths and seven births remaining, and then realizes Arhatship. " You must be just that determined, that decisive. You shouldn't neglect to cut off what you are supposed to cut off; otherwise you'll have trouble. You ought to cut off love and desire, but you don cut them off; in general, you just keep avoiding the issue. This is to be indecisive, to have no real wisdom. Without any genuine wisdom, you keep intending to cut them off but never quite do it. Some people are proverbially indecisive like this. They think about it one way, and then they decide that it really another way. They have no will of their own and no principles to go by. This is of no benefit to cultivation. People who cultivate the Way should have heroic determination in their words and deeds. If they are resolute and decisive, then they can cultivate the Way.
Section 2
The Buddha said, hose who have left the home-life and become Shramanas cut off desire, renounce love, and recognize the source of their minds. They pene trate the Buddha profound principles and awaken to the unconditioned Dharma. Internally they have no thing to attain, and externally they seek nothing. They are not mentally bound to the Way, nor are they tied to karma. They are free of thought and action; they neither cultivate nor attain certification; they do not pass through the various stages, and yet they are highly revered. This is the meaning of the Way. "
This second section of the Sutra is talking about non-cultivation and non-certification.
The Buddha said, hose who have left the home-life and become Shramanas cut off desire. "What should people who want to leave the home of the Triple Realm and become Shramanas do? They should cut off desire. Earlier, the Sutra said, evering love and desire is like severing the four limbs; one never uses them again. " They renounce love and recognize the source of their minds. At that point when there is no more love, they recognize the source of their own minds. They penetrate the Buddha pro-found principles and awaken to the unconditioned Dharma. They understand the Buddha most profound principles, which are neither conditioned nor unconditioned. Internally they have no-thing to attain, and externally they seek nothing. If you want to talk in terms of yourself, you have no understanding and no attaining. Inside, you obtain nothing. Outside you seek nothing and obtain nothing. Obtaining nothing inside is the unconditioned Dharma ; seeking nothing outside is also the unconditioned Dharma. So it said,
The less affliction you will have.
If you reach the point of seeking nothing,
Then you will have no worries.
They are free of thought and action. They have no false thoughts; all they have are proper thoughts. They don have even a single false thought , so they are free of thought. Since they perform no false or superfluous actions, they are ree of action. " They don do anything in particular. They neither cultivate nor attain certification. They have done what they had to do, they have already cultivated to the ultimate point. There is nothing left that they can cultivate. They don certify because they have already obtained the fundamental substance of the Way. They have already realized the fruition of their cultivation.
They do not pass through the
various stages. It
is unnecessary to go through all these positions: from the Ten Dwellings
to the Ten Practices , to the Ten Transferences , to the Ten Grounds. You
need not go through them. You suddenly transcend them. And yet they
are highly revered. The position that Shramanas occupy is lofty. This
is the meaning of the Way. That is what a Shramana who has attained
the Way is like.
Section 3
The Buddha said, having their hair and beards, they become Shramanas who accept the Dharmas of the Way. They renounce worldly wealth and riches. In receiving alms, they accept only what enough. They take only one meal a day at noon, pass the night beneath trees, and are careful not to seek more than that. Craving and desire are what cause people to be stupid and dull. "
This is the third of the forty-two sections; it praises the most excellent ascetic practices. If you can cultivate these supreme ascetic practices, you can become certified in your fruition in the Way.
The Buddha said. These are the words of the Buddha. What did the Buddha say? He said, having their hair and beards." People who leave the home-life shave off their beards and the hair on their heads, and they become Shramanas, left-home people, who accept the Dharmas of the Way. To accept the Dharmas of the Way means a cultivator should accept the Way in his mind and cultivate the Dharmas of the Way. A person who cultivates the Dharmas of the Way should renounce worldly wealth and riches; he doesn want the riches of the world. Here, for example, we have several people who have left the home-life and are keeping the precept against holding money. That is very good. That's to renounce worldly wealth and riches. All the fighting in the world is due to wealth. Take a look: countries fight with countries, families feud with families, and people battle with people because of personal benefit. He can renounce worldly wealth; he doesn want any worldly valuables.
In receiving alms, they accept only what enough. Every day they carry their bowls and receive alms. They eat their fill, and that suffices them. Here, eceiving alms " means they carry their bowls and receive alms food. hey accept only what enough " means that having eaten their fill, they stophey aren greedy; they don eat more. They don eat oftenhey take only one meal a day at noonnd they pass the night beneath trees. When they sleep, they sleep under trees . Further, they don sleep under any one tree more than three nights. And they are careful not to seek more than that. You should be careful not to seek for more. Don seek for anything beyond these simple things.
Craving and desire are what cause
people to be stupid and dull. A person stupidity is like weeds growing
in his mind: the sod and rocks cover over the mind, making him dull. Like
the sun obscured by clouds, we don understand things; we can fathom how
to do things. And what causes this? Craving and desire. They make us stupid.
You object to my saying you are stupid? If you weren stupid, then why,
once youe received the precepts, would you then break them? If you aren
stupid, then why do you want to do things that you should not do? Just
because of craving and desire. You can see through love and you can put
down desire, and so you aren at ease. If you can see through and put down
things, then you feel at ease; and then you won have any worries, any distress,
any troubles, or any affliction. Everything will be just fine. There won
be any problems at all. The way I like to say it in English is: verything
okay. "
Section 4
The Buddha said, iving beings may perform Ten Good Deeds or Ten Evil Deeds. What are the ten? Three are done with the body, four are done with the mouth, and three are done with the mind. The three done with the body are killing, stealing, and lust. The four done with the mouth are duplicity, harsh speech, lies, and frivolousspeech. The three done with the mind are jealousy, hatred, and stupidity. Thus these ten are not in accord with the Way of Sages and are called the Ten Evil Deeds. To put a stop to these evils is to perform the Ten Good Deeds. "
The fourth section dis cusses how good and evil have no fixed form. It as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It simply up to us to do it.
The Buddha said, iving beings may perform ten good deeds. " There are ten kinds of good deeds that living beings can do. Or there are also ten evil deeds. Although these are good deeds, if done incorrectly, they become evil. What are the ten? Three are done with the body, four are done with the mouth, and three are done with the mind.
The three done with the body are killing, stealing, and lust. What is meant by killing? To kill is to take a life, to put an end to the life of another sentient creature. What is meant by stealing? It means to take some object without getting the owner permission. Lust refers to sexual intercourse between men and women.
The four done with the mouth are duplicity, harsh speech, lies, and frivolous speech. Duplicity, or ouble-tongued speech, " doesn refer to someone growing two tongues. It means saying things in two different ways. You speak about Mr. Lee to Mr. Chang, and then you speak about Mr. Chang to Mr. Lee. You speak out of both corners of your mouth. Harsh speech means scolding or profanity. Telling lies means saying things that aren true. Frivolous speech means talking about things that are meaningless frivolous, in appropriate things. Frivolous speech reflects deviant knowledge and deviant views.
The three done with the mind are jealousy, hatred, and stupidity. Jealousy refers to envy. When youe jealous, you don wish good to come to others. When something good happens to another person, you become jealous. Hatred includes haughtiness, resentment, maliciousness, and vengefulness. When one is stupid, one doesn distinguish between principles and facts.
Thus these ten are not in accord with the Way of Sages and do not lead one down a good path. They are called the Ten Evil Deeds. To put a stop to these evils is to perform the Ten Good Deeds. The Ten Good Deeds are: not killing, not stealing, not being lustful, not being jealous, not hating, not being stupid, not engaging in duplicity, not using harsh speech, not telling lies, and not speaking frivolously.
Section 5
The Buddha said, "If a person has many offenses and does not repent of them, but cuts off all thought of repentance, the offenses will engulf him, just as water returning to the sea will gradually become deeper and wider. If a person has offenses and, realizing they are wrong, reforms and does good, the offenses will dissolve by themselves, just as a sick person who begins to perspire will gradually be cured. "
The fifth section exhorts people to realize that if we have offenses, we can change them and start over with a clean slate. But if we have offenses and don change them, then the offenses always remain with us. If we can reform and make a fresh start, then the offenses disappear.
The Buddha said, "If a person has many offenses and does not repent of them " The category of offenses includes all kinds of mistakes and wrong deeds. If you don change and repent of offenses, but conceal them and hide them away because you don want anyone to see them or know about them, that called not being repentant. The person cuts off all thought of repentance. You don realize that you should repent. You abruptly put a stop to any thought of repentance. That is, you have no intention of changing your errors. If you stop your thoughts of repentance, then when the offenses come down upon you, they will engulf you. The offenses will engulf him, just as water returning to the sea will gradually become deeper and wider. It will be like a small stream flowing back into the sea. Gradually the small offenses will grow deeper and broader, and will turn into big offenses. Even tiny transgressions will become huge. Light karmic obstructions will become heavy karmic obstructions.
If a person has offenses and,
realizing they are wrong, reforms and does good. You can have such
monstrous offenses that they fill up the sky, but with a single thought
of repentance you can melt them away. Your offenses may be as vast as the
heavens, but if you can repent of them, they will disappear. You must repent,
untie the knot of offenses and realize your own mistakes. After that, you
should change your evil conduct into good conduct and practice all kinds
of good deeds. The offenses will dissolve by themselves, just as a sick
person who begins to perspire will gradually be cured. If you can become
a new person, then your offenses will disappear. What is this like? It
like a feverish person who breaks out in a sweat and then gradually becomes
well.
Section 6
The Buddha said, "When an evil person hears about your goodness and intentionally comes to cause trouble, you should restrain yourself and not become angry or blame him. Then the one who has come to do evil will do evil to himself. "
This is the sixth section, which says that good can overcome evil, but evil cannot overcome good. The pre vious section told people to stop doing evil and to do good, to reform themselves. The Buddha feared that some people might be afraid that if they did good deeds, evil people would give them trouble. So the Buddha spoke this section.
The Buddha said, "When an evil person hears about your goodness and intentionally comes to cause trouble. "Suppose an evil person hears that youe doing good deeds, and he intentionally comes to hassle you. He comes to give you trouble and to disrupt your practice of good deeds. At that time you should restrain yourself, you should remain cool and dispassionate. Don get agitated or nervous.
And you should not become angry or blame him. You shouldn get angry, nor should you scold him. Don talk about his wrongdoing. Then the one who has come to do evil will do evil to himself. The evil person who comes to bother you and disrupt your practice will wind up giving himself trouble. He just destroying himself; he just giving himself a hard time. It like a mirror in which an extremely ugly reflection appears. The ugly appearance is simply his own reflection in the mirror; it not that the mirror itself is ugly.
This illustrates that no matter how bad an evil person is, the evil belongs to him and will bring him harm in the end. If you pay no attention to him, there will be no problem. As soon as you start paying attention to him, though, what happens? You fall in with his ilk; you become an evil person yourself.
Section 7
The Buddha said, "There was a person who, upon hearing that I observe the Way and practice great humane kindness, intentionally came to berate me. I was silent and did not reply. When he finished abusing me, I asked, "If you are courteous to people and they do not accept your courtesy, the courtesy returns to you, does it not? '
"It does, 'he replied. I said, ow you are scolding me, but I do not receive it, so the misfortune returns to you and must remain with you. It is as inevitable as an echo that follows a sound, or as a shadow that follows a form. In the end you cannot avoid it. Therefore, be careful not to do evil. '"
The seventh section verifies the preceding statement that one who does evil harms himself. In order to explain this, the Buddha makes an analogy.
The Buddha said, "There was a person who, upon hearing that I observe the Way and practice great humane kindness, intentionally came to berate me."The Buddha is a person who observes and cultivates the Way. He also cultivates the practice of great kindness. On hearing this, a person came right up to the Buddha and started scolding him. The Buddha heard him, but was silent and did not reply. He remained silent and did not say anything. When he finished abusing me, once the person stopped berating him, I, the Buddha, asked, "If you are courteous to people and they do not accept your courtesy, the courtesy returns to you, does it not? "
"It does,"he replied. "Right, " he said. "It comes back to me. If they do not accept my courtesy and respect, then I take those back."
I said, "Now you are scolding me, but I do not receive it. "Now, sir, " the Buddha said, you are scolding me. You berate me, but I remain thus, thus, and unmoving. Whether you scold me or not, it all the same to me. I not affected by your scolding; I simply won accept it. So the misfortune returns to you and must remain with you. "Sir, " the Buddha continued, "your scolding me is not right, so there will certainly be an unfortunate result; it is inevitable. And that misfortune will fall back on you; it will follow you just as an echo follows a sound or as a shadow follows a form, just as the shadow of your body follows you. In the end you cannot avoid it, the misfortune that will result from your having scolded me. Therefore, be careful not to do evil. It is my hope that everyone will not do evil deeds."