Ven. Master Hsuan Hua

(p. 97 - 98, Herein Lies The Treasure Trove, vol. 1)

 

The less you know about what's going on,

The less affliction you will have.

The more people you know,

The more gossip there will be.

Most people seek knowledge, but cultivators seek "no knowing." Why? Because the less you know about what's going on, the less affliction you will have. If you know just a little, you'll have fewer problems. "The more people you know, the more gossip there will be." Even when there's no gossip, it will start to circulate. Because of this, those who seek learning seek scholastic knowledge, while those who cultivate the Way seek "no knowing."

No knowing just refers to:

Growing up to be a dolt,

One becomes a genius,

Studying until stupid,

One is rare in the world.

When you grow up to be a big dummy, then you're truly sharp. So it is said, "Great wisdom seems like foolishness. Great eloquence seems like clumsy speech." Those who have truly great eloquence seem at a loss for words. They do not talk a lot. They may only say one or two sentences, but they leave everyone else speechless. "Studying until stupid, one is rare in the world." When you have studied to the point that you seem to be stupid all day, then the miracles can happen; a special state can happen.

It's also said,

When you reach the point that you seek nothing,

Then you have no worries.

That is, in cultivation, you should not seek to become a Buddha, or a Bodhisattva, or to certify to the fourth fruit of Arhatship, or to have great wisdom, or to get enlightened, or to break through your investigation. Don't seek anything. In the very act of seeking, you are adding a head on top of a head; you are riding a donkey looking for a donkey. In cultivation, seek nothing, just cultivate. It's just like eating, wearing clothes, and sleeping. It's a necessity, that's all. You must cultivate every day, day and night the same. That is following conditions, but not changing; not changing and yet following conditions. You should work in this way and then, when you have reached the extreme point, without seeking enlightenment, you will be enlightened, and without seeking to become a Buddha, you will become a Buddha. Without seeking to become a Bodhisattva, you will certify to the Tenth Ground. So, when the effort takes one to that point, one's success is naturally attained. You don't need to seek. Seeking is just greed; just false thinking.

Dharma Talk by Venerable Master Hua

(Vajra Bodhi Sea 1/86 pp. 19-20)

 

When we bow to the Buddhas, our body, speech, and mind karma should be pure. The body is capable of committing three kinds of evil deeds: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. If you deliberately kill someone or some creature, you cannot think that you can then go to a temple to bow and repent and that you will immediately be absolved of your offense. If you do not bow to the Buddhas ordinarily, but as soon as you kill, you wash the blood off your hands and run to the temple to repent, and expect to be pure, then you have the wrong idea. Killing is an example of impure body karma. Further, you cannot deliberately steal valuables and then think, “I have stolen, and thereby have broken the Second precept against stealing. I had better go quickly before the Buddhas to bow and repent.” Such a repentance is an impure action.

Whether you are a man or a woman, if you are deliberately promiscuous and then think, “oh, I have used my body incorrectly, I should quickly go bow to the Buddhas,” then although you repent, this too, is to be impure in body, speech, and mind while bowing to the Buddhas. If you refrain from killing, stealing, and committing sexual misconduct, then when you bow to the Buddhas, there will be a response.

The mind can commit three kinds of evil offenses: greed, hatred, and stupidity. I often talk about a mind and heart which are greedy. Why are we so hurried and flustered? Why is it that we never rest all day long? It is because of our greed. Hankering after this and that, covetous and lustful, our greeed stirs us up so we can never rest.

Following greed there is a mind and heart which is filled with hatred. If you desire something and you do not get it-if things do not go your way and you want them to-then you become afflicted with anger. It is stupidity which allows afflictions to arise. It is because you are so stupid that you can become afflicted. Those who are wise do not become afflicted no matter what difficulties they encounter-even if things do not agree with their wishes.

Stupidity can become so pitiful that it is ridiculous. How stupid can people be? There might be one who has not gone to elementary school or high school or college. He meets a person with a Ph.D and notices that most people address the Ph.D as Doctor so-and-so, praising him in this way. Envious of the Ph.D.’s special status, he also wants the same degree. But if he does not go to school, who will give him a Ph.D.? No one.

Another person who has not studied the Dharma or attended Sutra lectures hears that the Buddha was unsurpassed, the foremost person in the world, and so he wishes to become a Buddha right on the spot. Is that not stupid? Another wants to start a business without capital. How can you start a business without capital? There is yet another person who is extremely funny:he does not buy a horse-racing ticket and expects to win the feature race. Such stupid ideas are totally unreasonable and impossible. And yet some people are actually as stupid as that! There is a saying that illustrates the depths to which stupidity can go:

Day in and day out, may my beautiful flowers stay fresh, And night after night, why can’t the shining moon be full? I wish that all the springs on earth will flow with sparkling wine, And in the forests, all the trees will sway with gold.

Someone who likes flowers wants them to be always fresh and beautiful, so he says, “May my beautiful flowers stay fresh.” Now is this not a false thought? The person described in this poem thinks that the full moon is the very finest and wishes that it would never wane, and those who like to drink think, “I wish that all the springs on earth would flow with sparkling wine.” They wish that everybody of water would become wine so that whenever they want to take a drink, it would be convenient. Although they feel this is the best, it too is impossible.

Those who are greedy for wealth wish that all the trees in the forests would sway with money so that when they need money, all they have to do is pick it off a tree. This would be best for them, but it too is impossible and does not exist.

“Day in and day out, may my beautiful flowers stay fresh.” This is the thought of those who wish that objects of beauty will never change. They want money and wine everywhere, and a full moon every night. The full moon represents anger, so in this short poem we find wine, wealth, sex and anger. How does the full moon refer to anger? Such a person wants the moon to remain full, but it cannot be full every night, and so this person becomes dissatisfied, and dissatisfaction is just anger.

This poem discusses the subjects of wine, wealth, sex, anger, and of course, stupidity. If people were not stupid, they would not give rise to desire and all the other different kinds of afflictions which follow it. This has been a brief explanation of the karma of the mind.

Our mouths create many karmic obstructions and offenses, which are in general, grouped together under four kinds of evil speech. Irresponsible speech refers to discussions about improper things. For example, men like to talk about women and women like to talk about men. Speech like this is useless and unprincipled; it is basically depraved. False speech refers to lying. There are big lies, medium sized lies and small lies. If you have killed someone and are interrogated about it, a great lie would be to say, “no, it wasn’t me; I didn’t do it.” The same is true if you are questioned about stealing or sexual misconduct. Covering up your misdeeds is lying.

Harsh speech is very cruel, vicious and cutting, something which people do not like to hear. Duplicity is spoken by one who is two-faced. These are all descrīptions of karmic obstructions, the evil karma done by our actions, words and thoughts. If you have these faults, then your three karmas are not pure. You cannot deliberately commit the ten evil acts and then bow to the Buddhas thinking that you can balance off the karma in that way; it will not work. You must be pure in your karmas of body, mouth and mind.

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Now, homosexual conduct has already incurred punishment from heavens, yet the homosexuals aren’t even aware of it. What kind of heavenly punishment have they provoked? Well, as soon as they engage in homosexual behavīor, there are problems. This is because Yang (the male or positive principle) mutually overcomes Yang, and Yin (the female or negative principle) mutually overcomes Yin. Just take a look at magnet, which has a negative (Yin) side and a positive (Yang) side. There has to be one negative and one positive for the two to be sucked together. If both sides are positive they cannot be drawn together. If both sides are negative, it’s not easy for them to be attracted to each other. From the study of matter, we can deduce the principle of Yin and Yang, which cannot favor one and neglect the other.

            The Book of Change says, “One Yin and Yang is called the Way; extreme Yin or extreme Yang is illness.” When Yin and Yang harmonize together, this is the Way. When Yin and Yang do not harmonize, illness results. The practice of homosexuality has produce AIDS. Some says AIDS originated in Africa, but Africa is not the source of AIDS. The origin of AIDS is homosexuality. When homosexuals catch this disease, they have no medicine to treat it, and no way to cure it. The doctors all have their hands tied, with no strategy to deal with it.

            What kind of disease is AIDS? It’s an epidemic which cannot be cured by any medicine. There are still people study AIDS right now, trying to find a way to cure it. Alas! This is called knowing something cannot be done, yet insisting on doing it anyway. Attempting to cure it by force, they not only fail to cure AIDS, but what happened is that from AIDS came another “AIDS”, which is pneumonia. This new pneumonia is more vicious than AIDS, once you catch it. This illness can be transmitted through the mere the shaking of hands. If the sick person merely opens his mouths to speak, he can pass the disease to you. Not only ordinary people have no way to treat this disease; even among the doctors and nurses, in the last year alone in the U.S., nearly twenty thousand have died from the new variety of pneumonia. There’s no way to avoid it – even facemasks don’t work. With there is body contact, the infection is transmitted. It can even be passed through the air. This kind of illness is more devastating than the atomic bomb. It’s more devastating than the hydrogen bomb. That’s why it is a catastrophe of epidemic proportions. Now that this epidemic has struck, not only do men have this disease, a great number of women have also been infected. And not only do women have it, even babies are now getting born with this kind of pneumonia and with AIDS. Just look! How terrifying this is!    

            Throughout the world the now, if we count it up, we find that the number of people with AIDS and this pneumonia is not small, for some are infected with the germs of pneumonia while still in the womb. That’s why all over the world, the final days of the human race have arrived. The so-called final days means that all will be annihilated, all will disappear. Among the human population in the entire world, more than half are infected with the germs of this disease, so when this disease breaks out, it will be like an overwhelming deluge which cannot be stopped by anyone.

            So what should the human race do when it encounters this kind of calamity? We should recite the Great Compassion Mantra with utmost sincerity and earnestness. The Buddha said that The Great Compassion Mantra can cure eighty-four thousand illnesses of the world. All the eighty-four thousand kinds of disease are covered, including AIDS and pneumonia. We should bring forth the mind of utmost sincerity, and be as earnest as when we are eating, as earnest as when we are dressing, and as dedicated as we are to sleeping, so much that we cannot miss any sleep.

            We have to merge the Great Compassion Mantra into our daily activities, so that it becomes an integral part of our everyday life. If we can do this, then AIDS will be afraid and pneumonia will also be afraid. But this requires our utmost sincerity.

            Over half the human population in the world is going to perish, and those who will be left will be people who cultivate the Way, who cultivate truly, those who recites Buddha’s name, those who recites Sutras, those who are vegetarian – these people will be able to remain. I’m not saying this to terrify you. It’s just that the time has come when can I no longer refrain from shouting and crying out, to tell all of you that this current age is not a time of peace. It is very dangerous, and each morning we have no guarantee that we will see the evening, for the danger can come at any moment. /.

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