Amituofo (ten times)
Today we will continue with the last part of
Chapter 4 of Liao Fan’s Four Lessons. I will
just give it some context before we go in depth.
Liao Fan’s Four Lessons is about changing
destiny. As you might know Master Chin
Kung gave it the name Changing Destiny,
because if you just say Liao Fan,
people don't know (who he is)
if they didn't read it.
So it's all about changing destinies,
about how you reform yourself and
how you improve yourself.
And the last part is about what is the right
attitude you should have while you're
doing this(reforming and improving).
Knowing that you can change your destiny
like chapter one (taught us) and knowing that,
we need to start by reforming ourselves,
stopping ourselves from committing
all the deeds that will cause us
to lose our merits.
That means whatever you do if you have
not reformed fully, thoroughly,
if you are still committing,
what we call evil karmas in speech,
actions and thoughts we will
keep leaking (our merits).
No matter what you do, your merits will
leak like a bucket with a hole, no matter
how much water you (pour) inside.
So on that ground, we move on to merits.
So after you reform, then you understand
that you need to accumulate merits.
And that's all about sincerity,
a true heart
and doing it from your heart,
not just copying others or imitating
someone else for the sake of
fame, prestige or praise.
So you do it because it's right. Obviously,
with that you will be more aware of
what is right and wrong.
Many times it's more than what meets the eye,
because nothing is always
(as it appears) on the surface.
But the point is to tell you not to think too much,
just (try) to understand, assess the situation
properly, be patient,
and only then
can you perfect your merits.
So it's not just to simply do good (deeds).
It's while doing good (deeds), you must be
aware of the implication of your good (deed),
is it long lasting? Does it come from your heart
and have your actions truly benefited
the parties involved,
not just simply at that one moment, but in the
long run, so you have to apply a bit more
thought towards the good deeds.
Even though everyone's doing good deeds,
everyone is doing good deeds
for different reasons.
We need to make sure the reason is right.
You also need to make sure
that it's coming from the heart.
Even if we are just starting with finding
our way through this lifetime of how
we accumulate good deeds
and how we eradicate
all of our evil habits,
we just need to start doing it however you can,
like donating, or volunteering
and you grow your understanding.
Obviously we need to have this kind of session
or these kinds of books that tell us their
experiences of doing good deeds, the theories,
like the map so that
we don't walk down the wrong path,
thinking we're doing good,
but we are actually
committing negative karma
that will cause more misery.
Like I've been doing good deeds for 20 or
40 years, so why am I still miserable or
why am I still having so many issues?
It might be because the method is not applied
correctly. The way we're doing it is not
truly good or not fully good.
Hence
you will not get the full result.
So Mr. Yu Meets the Kitchen God
goes into detail about
what appears to be good
in a more concrete way
by using his own life
as the example.
Liao Fan was more ordinary because he was
not as dramatic compared to Mr. Yu
because Mr. Yu’s life was very dramatic.
I think I will talk about that
in the next (lesson).
Everyone will see the contrast, it is so stark
because he has done something
that was very obviously not kind
when exposed because ordinary people
can't read other people’s heart(mind),
but the heavenly beings can,
people with attainment of
enlightenment can.
So they can see if your heart is not real
and all of the good deeds they do are
only like a puppet, only on the surface.
So,
because of that,
all the good deeds are not full.
So this is what Chapter 3 is all about. It's about
the times we thought we're doing good deeds,
we thought the deed was good,
but we're not seeing the reality,
the truth behind it, we only see
the surface, superficial part.
So knowing all that,
understanding all that, obviously,
we are still learning.
Liao Fan talked about the 10 things you can
do to help people. I picked the most
important one, Protecting the Dharma,
because the Dharma is
the eyes of the beings,
not just sentient beings, all beings.
Without eyes, you cannot walk properly, you will
keep running into poles in a way or you may
even be diverted to the path of no return.
So this is why we need to protect the Dharma.
That’s why we have all of these printings
and distributions of Dharma sutras
and more importantly we have our
Master Chin Kung淨空老和尚, our teacher,
Master Chin Kung’s speeches,
we propagate them so that everyone knows
what's going on and how to cultivate
at their own level.
And obviously, this goes beyond just Buddhism.
It can be one of those very public health
or public decency and all that stuff,
like morality and virtues,
general decency,
all these things can be propagated,
the more the better, talk about moderation,
we can talk about more modern things,
like environmental consciousness,
or being more whole-minded,
not just focusing on profits or
talk about ecology.
All of these are very good,
because they're protecting
our environment in our hearts.
But most importantly, it is the heart because
without a clean, purified heart, everything
we do will be tainted.
No matter how pure the water is,
when it goes into a cup full of mud,
it will always be muddy.
So that's why we need to reform and
we need to learn how to
accumulate merits.
So other than Dharma we talked about
being loving, because we didn't talk too deeply,
too much in terms of what good can we do,
we talked about what is good
and what is not good. So I'll spare
a bit of time just to talk about this.
Being a loving heart, in our case,
we can say vegetarianism, in the sense,
it's coming out of loving hearts.
A lot of people
ask me
why I am a vegetarian.
I'm never a person who sits there and says,
I am a vegetarian. I only do that
when I eat and I ask for a diet.
A lot of people are curious and ask why,
and I just say, because I don't want to kill.
That's how simple it is.
People might do it
for a reason of health,
and all that.
But this is also a way to show that you're not
involved in the killing by adopting a diet
that does not involve it.
And everyone
has a different level
of acceptance to this.
Some people just can't (accept it),
because of cultures, or religion,
or it’s part of their identity and stuff.
Master Yin Guang印光大師 did always advise
people to gradually adopt this because
it's not a matter of health only.
Health is small, because we all will pass away.
No matter how good your health is,
(we have) to pass away after 100 years old.
It is the thing that awaits you after that,
the karma debt that you have to pay.
We're talking about Cause and Effect here.
I cannot
shy away from this topic.
There is (a kind karma) in the middle,
(which is not a merit or a fault),
in Chinese we call it 無記業.
But this(killing) is
definitely not in the middle,
you either have merit or fault.
We are in a society, at least,
in this part of the world,
we have supplies.
(This is) an agricultural society, we have food,
we don't need to do that, hunting, killing
and eating (meat).
So if you can adopt that.
It's good for karma.
It's good for your heart.
But in a more broader sense, beyond just diet
愛敬存心 it means that you need to
leave a little bit of space for other people.
Be considerate,
put yourself into
other people's shoes.
Like at a late night, if you live in an apartment,
don’t smoke on the balcony,
which is what happened,
and don't speak loudly
on the phone.
That's also a little bit of empathy.
Empathy comes from compassion,
which is a loving heart,
the basis
of all religions and
all creeds and Brotherhood's.
Without a loving heart, there's no family,
there's no friendships,
there's no country, nothing.
Love for your nation, love for your people,
that's why you have a nation,
you have a community.
So, always have that loving heart,
do not get numb by the technologies,
desires, all that.
In Chinese …, all that impulses,
all that sensory indulgence,
do not get blinded by that.
Keep that pure heart in there.
Also,
we talked about Giving.
To do good, you need to start with Giving.
That's why, in Bodhisattva's Six Parameters,
the Giving Parameter is the first step.
You start with giving away what you have,
giving away what is beyond your
(necessary) needs, your basic food,
your basic shelter,
your basic (clothing),
… and all that necessity is covered.
What beyond that,
we all start learning to give.
It's common
in all religions and all communities,
because that is the first step
of how one accumulates merit. They don't do it
for the sake of merit, they do it and
get merit naturally because of that.
As you can see in a lot of wealthy countries,
they usually have a habit of giving,
and that's why they are wealthy.
There's a reason behind it.
They don't just get it from nowhere.
Nothing happens without a reason.
The reason why you were born in a wealthy
country, the reason why this country is
wealthy because they give.
So merits are important, it preserves you
and it makes your life less miserable.
It makes your life better and happier.
What else do we have? Respect.
Oh, yeah, respect. Everyone knows respect.
Not really.
Respect elders,
respect the people in charge of something,
like your boss,
or people who are in positions of making decisions
not because you're trying to get in favor
of them or anything,
it is because you understand that
they've been through a lot
more than you have.
By respecting them,
you understand that
you are doing the same thing for yourself.
No one dislikes being respected and
no one doesn't want to be
a respected person.
The person
can be blunt or honest,
but you still respect them.
Being respectful means that you have a nice
distance(relationship) with other people,
and it keeps the relationship going.
In the future, when you get older, (you might be)
in a position of power, in a position of doing
important stuff or stuff like that,
you're having that high position, you also
hope people will respect you. So
(what) comes around and goes around.
In Chinese we also can say 貴, in the sense,
not just simply 尊敬, people who
become prestigious 貴,
because
they are the people
who have respect for others.
If you see someone who appears very arrogant,
and they still have a very high position,
don't be doubtful of this law,
because the law of Cause and Effect
is not about one life,
it is about the past, present and future.
They have had many pasts,
just like this earth,
before the earth, there were many, many, many
big bangs and universes before that.
It's not ridiculous to think about that.
Right? The scientists will also think about: okay,
before the Big Bang, there is another big bang
or something like that.
And after you, after this existence,
there will be many, many, many,
many (lives) that come after.
So does our human life, because we're part
of the universe, is not some New Age stuff,
it is a reality
Our life is a continuum. You can't just say:
when you die, (it’s like) you are gone
like a candle (burning out).
this is one of the reasons why we need Dharma.
This is a very serious misconception
of the current world especially.
So back to the point,
being respectful.
A person who gets respect is the person
who always respects (other) people
and is always respected by everyone,
even though they don't get positions
in terms of power in government
or CEO companies, that is very narrow.
If a person is
respected in the community,
even though they have no titles, anything,
but they are treated like royalty in the sense
that they are respected so much,
It is because
they are (the people who)
themselves respect others.
If you see
someone
who is being respected,
or in the position of worthy or demanded
respect, even though that person's
morals and virtues are not that good,
it is because in their past lives, they have
cultivated respectful hearts, and hence
they got what they sow, it is fair.
It's just that in this life, they are not aware of this.
That’s why Dhamma is important.
They're not aware of this,
their eyes aren’t open.
So they thought:
I was born in a wealthy family and all that,
so I should be above everyone else.
They don't understand,
I was born here because
I cultivated so many lives of giving,
just to get where I am,
a person who
can think like that is a Bodhisattva.
So that's why we need to be aware of this.
Okay, so why do we need to respect elders,
because they are the ones who pass down
the knowledge, pass down the foundation,
and also
remind the elders themselves to be
worthy of respect.
So don't do something that will cause more harm
towards the next generation, which is not
happening for our generation now.
According to Master Chin Kung, as you can see,
his era, he is 95 years old, 1920s, until now,
(we have) all forgotten about all that,
or gradually forgotten about
virtues and morals,
and it becomes more and more prone to scientific
development in order just focusing on the outside
without the Human Development insight.
So it naturally becomes chasing after
wealth for the sake of wealth,
without thinking about leaving,
what we call right now,
the environmental movement,
leaving something for the next generation.
So, in case we think about
nowadays, people, young people,
don't feel respectful towards them
and then we will get old one day. We think about:
Am I worthy of respect, have we done
something deserving of respect from them.
Back then,
there was a concept of
you have to respect us and all that.
But right now, to gain respect, to be worthy
of respect, we need to do something
that truly benefits them,
or do our job, as a father, act like a father,
take care of the family, as a mother,
act like a mother.
People who do their job, who fulfill their basic
duty, obviously, being devoted to their
relationships, as a husband and wife
and father and son, parents and children,
teachers and students, in Confucianism,
we call these the five relationships 五倫,
if they all do their job, naturally, the respect
will form, you don't have to ask them to respect
you. You can, when they(your kids) are young,
we tell them: you need to be respectful to people,
your movements and your mannerisms need
to be taken care of. Those are mechanical,
but what these mechanical teachings are trying to
achieve cannot be replaced by a genuine
respect that comes from the heart.
Those mannerisms,
they are a way to express your
love and respect towards your parents.
This is
what the ancient Chinese did,
they had a set of rites and customs.
It got a little bit off track
towards the end of the Imperial Era,
but the origins of it is you love that person,
you respect that person
like your beloved
Grandpa or Grandma
and the way you show respect is, you can imagine
that you love someone so much, you give them
a very deep bow, or a big hug, stuff like that.
Obviously,
the Chinese people
didn't hug in the ancient times
and so we give them
a very deep bow or a big hug,
you feel very natural.
You feel like you're expressing
that sort of energy to them, they
themselves sitting there will feel touched.
So, it all has to
come from the heart.
Obviously towards the end
or towards the later era, which is closer to us,
people got more and more restricted on the
outside and forgot what the core is about.
The core is about
you expressing yourself.
So respect, in this sense,
is not just a mannerism, mannerisms
are just for show(superficial).
Respect from
the heart means
everyone's doing their job.
Like you see a cleaner, cleaning is their job,
earnestly using a clean cloth every time,
taking care of every single cleaning product,
taking care of the windows, taking care of
the basins, they use clean cloth every time,
especially around the kitchen area,
and is sensitive
towards the needs of the people.
They are like, Okay, I will use a clean cloth,
I won’t use the cloth that wipes the toilet
to wipe the kitchen.
So if you see a cleaner like that,
that cleaner is worthy of respect
as much as you respect your boss.
So, parents doing their job,
the husband and the wife
doing their job
Obviously we can't define
in the old times, woman stayed at home,
that's not the era.
What I'm saying is
there has got to be someone
to do the job.
Be it the wife or the husband, whichever one,
like, if the husband stays at home
taking care of the children
and the wife goes out to earn money, that's fine.
As long as someone's doing the job, taking care
of the children, educating them,
it doesn't matter. Don't give the children to the
nanny, it's not fair for the children,
they need you, the parents.
So as long as people are doing their role,
fulfilling the role,
they will be earning respect.
It's not about (making) big money,
getting (high) position,
I can't emphasize this enough,
because the whole 弟子規 by Master
Chin Kung why he wants us to talk about
The Standards of Being a Good Person,
is because we're lacking this part in our life.
So we can talk about all the big sutras
or the big theories, or the big signs,
high philosophies
but when it boils down to
the simplest ingredient, we call it love.
When you love, you would not show it purely
from emotion that you would use respect
to convey that love,
because if you
love without respect,
it just becomes spoiled.
Whether between
husband and wife or
between parents and children,
respect gives that
beautiful distance that is
needed for everyone to grow
properly, healthily, because we are a mix of
emotions and rationale like
they are together.
We cannot live without emotions.
It's like without colors.
But if it's too many colors like disco,
without order, which is what we
call rationality,
or wisdom becomes disco,
which is very fuzzy,
it becomes messy,
which is what happened now everyone's do
what they want, and it becomes too messy.
There's nothing for the next generation to follow.
You don't have to restrict their power,
but you have to give them a path
to choose. Right?
Don't mess up their life. Like in the 70s and 80s,
we have that experimental period.
I can see their costumes and all that
this is personal opinion, by the way,
but I have to say that
because it reflects our societies.
Like after those very strict 40s and 50s,
I can see all that the way they wear
and the mannerism is very stringent.
And then 60s, start to liberate 70s and 80s
become so weird, you can see the way
they wear stuff in their hair.
And then 90s were like, Okay, that's enough,
way too much. And then back to now
everyone's normalizing a little bit.
So what I'm trying to say is,
there was always
a balance in the middle.
And I tried to express this,
using this to express
what this respect is,
the balance,
balance of your love for that person
at the same time,
the mannerism you need to have.
So going back to the main point,
because I diverted from it
too much, but
but think about life like that,
think about society like that,
I mean,
to have a happy life,
you can't have an unhappy
community and unhappy world.
Right now it's a very messy world
and messy in terms of
multi dimensional threat.
(We are) no longer in the good old days, where
communities were very solid, and you can
go back and forth back to everywhere
pre World War II,
use World War II
as a big drawing line.
Before that,
the communications
were not too much.
Everyone got that nice little village they could
fall back to and people were simpler. There
was no iPad or iPhone, not even television,
after World War II
they (started) having television.
So it was a relatively simple (lifestyle).
Yes, they still had wars and all that,
but they were still very close knit,
so after World War II
all the technologies gave us
easier access to everything,
which is good, but without the wisdom
to control it, to (oversee) it.
Right now we don't have enough of that,
it becomes the servant becomes the master.
I’m using the Zen Language,
the master becomes the servant.
Master is us, the one who created or
the one who meant to use this
technology for the good,
but we become the servant because our desires
override our intentions of using this tech for
the betterment of everyone,
they are a beam of light and hope
in the middle of this,
that is happening.
People use that,
really like medicine and all that,
for advancement.
But most of the time
we're using it for weaponry
or entertainment, they are way too addictive.
Back then you had to go out to a Disco or Pop
to have fun. Right now you don't have to,
you can stay at home with one computer,
one decent $1,000
Aussie dollar computer,
I'm talking from experience,
it's all you need to get indulgence
for years and waste this life away.
It’s so dangerous.
It's exactly
what Master Chin Kung
has been saying.
So going back to here is that helping yourself,
you will always need to help others
to help yourself
but to help others
you will need to get yourself sorted first,
what you want, where you are going,
what is
the current state of your life,
or in terms of personally,
your habits,
have you cultivated that habit
that makes you available to accept missions,
bigger missions
or bigger responsibilities
that will affect more people.
If you haven't cultivated the good habits
or a good foundation for that, which is
as a person of virtues,
and also a world view that is broad and inclusive
and at the same time rational and
understanding, not too extreme,
then we can't lead the world
in the direction that we want to.
So it all relies on Dharma and respect among
every single layer of relationships,
up and down, down and up,
left and right as well,
like siblings, friends, colleagues,
those things are there,
doesn't matter
what kind of ideology you have,
anarchism or anything.
..., it will always be there, there will always be
someone who needs to lead the rest unless
everyone is Bodhisattvas and Buddha.
In the Pure Land, everyone is a student.
You still have one Buddha leading,
but everyone's like equal,
they have true democracy.
They don't need to democratize anything,
because they are wise people.
They don't do stupid stuff, like vandalism
or creating segregation or racism.
Everyone looks like Amitabha (Buddha).
That is the world
where you can talk about
equality.
But right now, in this reality, in this mud,
we need to have orders and
to have orders, we need to have law.
But beyond just law,
we need to have a proper
human relationship to carry out,
because 法外有情 beyond the law,
there's humanity in there,
love and parents
and all of the bonds
that we need to
take care of right now,
before next generation comes up
and takes over the reigns
because it will be miserable for them
if we didn't
put a good foundation for them.
We need to work on this.
So let's continue. No killing. Liao Fan talked about
basically, what I'm trying to say, vegetarianism,
trying to reduce consumption of meat.
There is a lot of people with a lot of reasons,
this is a claim they have...,
this is a cow they were born to be killed.
We don't talk to them like that.
We don't need to argue with them.
If they argue, just follow what they say
and say okay, okay, cool.
Don't need to argue.
Just talk to people who are willing to accept this,
if they don't really accept, it's fine.
You can't force people.
Everyone
has their own choice
and our job is to tell them,
like, right now, I'm doing my job
through this recording, I'm just telling
whoever is willing to listen.
Vegetarianism is not just about health,
I believe that one is too narrow.
It's about saving the world.
To save the world,
there are many facets,
the most important thing is the heart.
Eating a non-meat diet doesn't automatically
mean you're a saint, because there are
dictators that were vegetarian as well.
I'm not going
to mention a name, but
using that as a method to express your
commitment to be empathetic towards
a fellow sentient being also suffer like you are
or more than you are, like the animal realms,
they are suffering a lot more than you are.
They are born to be killed.
Even though you don't eat it,
someone else will still
eat it,
but that someone else will have to be
one of the animals
in the next generation(life).
I'm talking very bluntly,
one way or another, even if
they are not animals, in human realms,
they will have to encounter wars.
You know why
wars are happening?
Because of killing.
You know why wars in Europe happened
is because of all those pigs and cows
that were killed.
You can take my word for it.
I am very confident of that
because I heard from Master Chin Kung,
and I believe that
he doesn't just say things ...
it's according to Buddha's Sutras.
He was also saying,
if you don't want to have wars in this world,
shut down all the butcheries.
If you want to have no wars in this world,
no conflicts, no killing among people
in this world,
then unless we no longer,
everywhere else in the world,
no longer hear any butchery sound,
like the sound of the animals wailing ,
otherwise it will be inevitable,
there will always be wars.
This is how
World War I happened,
World War II happened.
This is how invasion of this country and
that country happens guys.
It is that serious, guys.
And this is a bit far,
but very important,
very close to us.
So the importance of merit
goes beyond
just simply having a happy life,
because what is a happy life? Right?
How can you be happy
when everyone else is miserable?
How can you be happy when your own family
is happy but you have to worry about
other people breaking in your house.
That's not happiness. It's fake.
It's called having opium, it’s trying to drug
yourself to happiness. That’s not happiness.
Real happiness is
when everyone is stable.
Yes, they will not all be very rich.
They will not all be Warren Buffett,
they will not all be Bill Gates. It is impossible.
But because everyone's karma is different,
they created a different karma,
but
at least everyone
cultivates the five precepts,
10 meritorious deeds, 十善業,
五戒十善 if they have this,
which is what 10 commandments
in Christianity, same thing.
In Islam as well,
they have all the rules that follow this.
The reason why it is there is to
create a proper stable society
where everyone knows
their place(responsibilities).
And they also, with this Liao Fan, ...
you don't have to be bound to one part,
you can improve your standings.
If you're not aiming for the Pure Land,
even the human and heaven realms
are good for people who are not going there.
(If) you want to be a human,
(or if) you want to be
in a heavenly realm?
Cultivate this,
follow these Five Precepts,
the 10 Meritorious Deeds,
and these deeds are coming from
these teachings,
do not kill, do not steal,
do not sexual misconduct
is very serious,
Number three
and do not lie. (Under the precept of No Lying,)
there are slanders, there are 兩舌,
slanders, harsh words,
Lying: Big Lying, Small Lying.
Big lying: I'm a saint. I'm Arhat.
I'm Buddha.
In terms of actual attainment,
no, I'm not.
I'm naturally a Buddha,
but I have not attended that yet.
I'm a normal person.
So that's a Big Lying.
Small Lying, White Lying
and (there are) all kinds of lies.
Sometimes you need to lie
in order to save life,
this is fine.
So I'm giving you
an overview of
what we're looking at in a notation
and the fifth one is the no intoxicants.
That one is to prevent you from
breaking the four precepts.
Those things need to be taught in this section
because they're all about trying to get yourself
preserved where you are right now,
instead of falling further.
Let's not talk about the next life,
talk about right now, your condition,
your state of life with COVID,
and all the disasters
waiting outside
because of the karma we commit.
to preserve your life, to preserve your property,
to preserve your family's life and property,
to preserve your friends' life and property,
this is the way,
not the Second ...
That's not enough...,
but what I'm talking about is that
those are passive, these are active.
These are active because you are creating
a society where everyone follows
this common creed:
common humanities,
no killing and all that.
It might sound very simple.
But while we commit killing, in terms of animals,
or we can go even deeper, you commit killing,
by causing people to be angry,
it's also a form of killing.
惱害衆生,
it means you cause them to be annoyed.
You make them very annoyed, make them
unhappy and unstable. You make their
emotions go up and down. That's not right.
No Bodhisattvas
cause annoyance to the beings
菩薩所在之處 皆讓衆生歡喜.
Every time a person who cultivates the path
where they are, they will always cause
happiness around them,
true happiness, they will even awaken
part of the people who are ready
around them.
That's the kind of person
we should be,
inspiring, an inspiring person.
So after all this context,
just to give you a context of how big this is,
how important this is, how across different
religions, how ... it is,
no matter where you are,
if you are a human,
you need to follow these lessons.
Now, how do we
preserve all of
these achievements?
Like if you have done that, say, you have
actually achieved that height
where you truly inside your real,
you're cultivating, outside you doing good deeds.
And obviously you do not attach to it,
you learn not to attach to it.
And all that meritorious reform
has been done.
How do you preserve them?
How do you keep them growing and growing,
without falling.
So this is where we talk about humility.
So Chapter Four is about humility.
He began
with the very iconic words
in I Ching(The Book of Changes),
I believe in the West,
everyone loves I Ching
I think, not everyone,
but I Ching is well known.
It is because it talks about laws of life,
just like
we're talking about laws of physics,
reaction, action, reaction and all that.
But this is the same thing. It's an observation
of how things work in terms of
nature and human,
nature and nature,
human and human,
the human and nature
and all that relationships,
it is about relationships,
how it changes, how dynamic it is
So there, he picked a phrase, he saw,
the heavens will always reward
the one who is humble,
and always take away from those
who are full of themselves.
Sounds like the Bible.
I read the Bible yesterday as well.
And they did talk about that,
God will only reward the humble
and take away from the people
who are full of themselves.
So same thing, it's an iron law,
everyone knows,
everyone should know.
On the earth,
we are talking about the physical one,
the earth, right?
we're always making
something that is piled up like a
mountain back into the common ground.
So look at the mud,
they will always flow to the ground,
not the other way around.
So this is how it works
in our world.
That means if your heart is as deep as a valley,
you can take in even more 虛懷若谷,
you can take more in.
If you're already high
like a mountain there,
no one can fit anything more in there.
So humility
is the way to preserve it,
keep a low profile all the time.
Always have that, low profile,
don't do anything flashy
unnecessary,
unless it gives a proper message,
otherwise don't.
Not just the sky and the land.
Heaven as in the sky
and earth as in the land.
We're talking about
the spiritual beings like the ghost,
the gods, the spirits.
They will always
try to punish people
who are full of themselves
and always try to benefit those people
who are humble,
who are keeping a low profile,
who are not
trying to show off.
Humans always hate
someone who is too full of
themselves.
(They) don't like someone
who is full of themselves
and they dislike arrogance.
Always respect those
who are humble.
(When) people are humble, you feel
very comfortable with that person.
They don't get in your face all the time,
This is more relatable,
they’re humans.
Someone who is full of himself,
you can see even having a meal with them
is so unbearable,
they will be talking about
everything just about themselves.
Every time you try to bring up a topic,
it's all about me,
it's about me.
So, reflect on that.
Therefore, in I Ching,
there is a Gua(卦).
So eight opposites, just like what we read about
in Chapter 3, the eight opposite of good deeds,
I think he got inspiration from here.
And this is also eight pairs.
If you want to summarize phenomena
of the whole world, of the whole universe,
they can be summarized into eight pairs,
including science, including biology
or whatever, the history,
sociological, psychological, biological,
scientific, and philosophy, everything can be
summarized into these eight Gua(卦)
Obviously, I'm not profoundly
learning about this,
but this summary I read.
So everything has ups and downs, like Yin and Yang,
this is how the Yin Yang(陰陽) came from,
by the way guys.
Everything
has its good and bad (sides),
they always have opposites.
When you have merits here, (you) always
have some faults there, something like that.
They will and unless you are a Buddha.
So normal people will always have that.
But among that there's only one Gua(卦),
which is one of the signs,
they're always positive,
they will never be negative,
which is humility, 六爻皆吉.
So
in Chinese it is called
謙之一卦 六爻皆吉.
In a very simplified way, every phenomenon
has its pluses and minuses, some have
more pluses, some have more minuses.
But this one
only has pluses
and no minuses.
So as you can see in the history,
people who made, in Chinese history,
people who made huge achievements,
like building the Han Dynasty,
張良, Mr. Zhang,
and he, I think he read this as well.
He's like:
I finished, I helped this Emperor
Liubang(劉邦) to build a nation.
So the Han Dynasty,
that’s why we are called
Han Chinese here.
As you can see, it was a very powerful dynasty.
So they built a whole nation out of that,
and then he retreated from the scene.
He didn't take any
dukedom or marquees,
or any sort of prestige or fame.
He just hid, without even being known,
without even informing him(劉邦),
he just hid from the public.
He didn’t take the prestigious honor
that he deserved, hiding and
enjoying his little life in the mountains.
So that person lives happily. Yes, you might not
have the fame and whatever the fortune
that we worldly people call,
but do you know
what happened after that?
Because of the Emperor every time,
it's a historical precedent,
it's always happening.
Every time you build a nation,
you will always kill all those people
who helped you to build a nation.
Yep, that's what happening all the time,
Han, Ming, Tang every Dynasty,
they all have to kill all those 功臣 殺功臣.
In Chinese (history), we all heard so many
(stories like that), because these people were
fighting for you, with you,
When they
build the nation with you,
they have that influence
and as the absolute monarchy,
you don't allow influence like that,
sitting too long.
Sitting too long, he will influence your next
generation to inherit your throne and
(your power) will become weak.
Unfortunately, that's the precedent set
and was always followed to
the end of the Qing (Dynasty).
So this is what happened.
Everyone was killed except him
because he didn't take any positions…
his son would not inherit anything.
So he would not
have any power influence
over the Han Royalties.
So back to humility,
this is how on the big scale,
this is how humility works.
In modern times, I can think about
the U.S. George Washington. See,
he might be the one who built the nation,
but he did not
take the title of King.
He called Mr. President.
I can think about the U.S.
why it can hold itself properly
in the beginning is because of him.
First thing is non-partisan.
He didn't play that multi-party thing.
He did not like that. I read his profile.
I know
why the U.S. is the U.S.
because of him.
He was the one
who laid the foundation
for the nation.
And obviously the rest
whether it deteriorates like Roman Empire,
it's just a matter of time,
but I will talk about why was he able to
hold this nation amidst a world
that was quite hostile,
because he himself, he was humble, as well,
he didn't want to be given the suggestion
to be called a King or anything,
which is a high title, but he didn't.
He keeps himself low profile as well.
He didn't try to overtake this military power
and that he let the course run itself,
he only did what he needed to do,
doing his job.
And that's why he was worthy of respect,
no matter what parties you are,
especially in a polarized situation right now.
So, those are modern examples
that we can relate to
and these are great people,
who did humility well, and ended up creating
at least a period of time where something
can be built on for nations and stuff like that.
So back to normal people,
we are normal people.
Over here
Liao Fan talked about careers
or Imperial Examinations.
He said that, in summary,
arrogance brings failure,
pride comes before one falls,
like when you start to be
too proud of yourself,
your date of your fallen time will be there,
your failure is there. So, humility
will always benefit (you) every time,
without fail.
So he used the example of his era,
which was the Imperial Examination,
every time they went to (take) the exam,
he would always look at these scholars,
look at their mannerisms, behaviors,
obviously at the sight,
so they were behaving naturally.
He
himself was also
part of (those who took) the exam,
like a person who was going to
sit(take) the exam
and he saw his classmates.
He said someone called
Ding Jing Yu Bing 丁敬宇賓
Mr. Ding, was very young
but he was very very humble,
natural,
very humble.
Mr. Liao Fan could see(observe) this
because he himself had been
cultivating a lot.
So he
could see other people
if they're really cultivating.
He talked to other people and said:
Hey, look at Brother Ding, this year,
he will definitely get one of the top marks.
Back then top marks means
you have your whole family condition
elevated immediately.
So
everyone's like:
Why do you think that?
(Liao Fan) said:
Look at him, the way he
behaves himself, carries himself.
He's the person
who can take all the fortunes.
Guys, what does it mean
by taking all that fortune?
Shouldn't everyone want fortunes? Right?
We all want good fortunes.
We all want good work, good jobs,
good career progressions, wealth and all that,
a comfortable life
but why did he(Liao Fan) say
he(Mr. Ding) can take in this fortune?
It is because even good fortune itself
needs someone deserving to
have it.
There's a saying that if your boat can only take
five kilograms of gold and if you put in
10 kilograms you will sink.
Think like let that sink in. If you are only worth
five kilogram of gold and you take
10 kilograms you will sink.
So the work is to make the boat bigger,
not getting more money in,
you always have money coming in.
The problem is when it comes, can you take it
or it will go out or make you sick,
or (drag) your whole family with you.
So going back to the historical example,
he said among these 10 people taking this exam,
look at Mr. Ding丁敬宇賓,
(he is) putting others before himself,
considerate. Is there anyone
as considerate as Mr. Ding?
Walking, sitting, eating, always after people,
Lao Zi always talked about: I have three,
in Buddhism we call the Triple Gem,
he also has the Triple Gem
that was Pre Buddhism
in China.
我有三寶 一曰 儉 二曰 慈
三曰 不敢為天下先
I also have Triple Gem.
Remember guys, that was before
Buddhism came to China.
Number one: being frugal,
being saving, saving, not spending lavishly.
So being frugal.
Number two: being compassionate,
loving other people，
respecting other people
The third one is do not dare
to be the first in the world.
Do not want to be the first in the world.
Always be the number two,
always number two,
letting other people go(be the first).
So I have these Triple Gem that
keep me at the peak of
my cultivation.
This is how we do it.
This is how he did it.
Is there anyone who are really respectful
in their speech, fearful, in the sense of,
they are not reckless,
like Mr. Ding,
is there anyone who could be humiliated
without rebutting or be defamed or slandered
without trying to clear their name,
or without trying to debate as Mr. Ding,
that means you can hold this pressure
without bursting,
you can carry your composure or
everything properly.
That's a deep cultivation, guys.
If everyone can do that, everyone can do that.
Even the heavens and the ghosts,
not just human and,
and heavenly realm people,
spiritual realm people,
they will always protect this person,
how can this person not be fortunate?
We call it fortunate, we call it luck, guys,
where does that come from?
Suddenly, randomly, a roll of the dice? no, guys,
no. Cause and Effect, guys, back to
Cause and Effect, always remember.
If you have luck, fortune,
(if you are) fortunate,
it's all because the first thing is your past,
but your present is the most important because
present is a fuse that leads the past to
the present and to whatever the results.
You're the water to the seeds,
your current life is the water to the seeds,
the sunlight to the seeds, the air to the seeds,
you're giving the condition for it to happen.
So, if you want to be lucky and fortunate
(during) your whole life,
learn from Mr. Ding, and to learn from him,
first you should not get angry
immediately.
I already failed. So, to be able to take in
the pressure of being misunderstood
without (explanation),
because people who immediately rebut
or answer, most of the time,
they are very 浮躁
they move very quickly
(they are very impetuous).
Like a little bit of a word
that does not sound right,
already shakes this person,
do you think this person
is able to achieve
anything big??
Something big happens, like maybe your
company's going into profit loss or
a global financial crisis.
If you are already the CEO of the company,
and you run around like the rest
of the workers, (saying):
Oh my god, what should I do?
What should I do?
How can you hold the ship?
Or in a country if you have a big problem...
and you got to immediately jump for
revenge and invade.
The nation
has nothing to do with
the terrorist attacks your nation,
can you see the real consequences?
Yes, twenty years spent in Afghanistan
growing up without any results
and killing all your fellow countrymen.
Why
am I bringing this in?
because this is a real example.
I don't need to
bring some Ming dynasty stuff,
I bring 21st century stuff, guys.
So what I'm trying to say is, if you can hold
and release at the right time,
at the appropriate time,
that takes a huge amount of patience. To have
a huge amount of patience, you need to
have a very deep stomach to take it in.
Your heart has to be very deep, 沉得住氣.
Be patient. In Buddhism, we call it patience
忍辱波羅密 the Parameter of Patience.
In China, they don't say patience,
but are able to take in 辱,
take in humiliation,
patience against humiliation
because Chinese people,
they like the face a lot.
In historical context guys,
I'm not talking about
just now.
Since the ancient time when the Indian monk
came to China, they looked at the Chinese
and there was a saying:
As a government official,
you can kill me,
but you cannot humiliate me.
I’d rather have my head severed
than being humiliated.
士可殺不可辱 so they were like:
okay, you like your face so much,
you like your 名節
your name so much,
so this is the point
you Chinese people need to cultivate
when Buddhism came in as a new stream,
they were like one of the homework
you need to learn is to be patient
against humiliation.
So this one is big in that terms,
so he can take it in. He can be careful,
because his mind is stable,
he can see things clearly.
So I'm analyzing why he is deserving
of such a big honor,
考狀元 getting the top marks,
and prestige and fame,
because he had that quality.
If everyone can do that, yes,
everything will be at your side, you will
be able to take in all sorts of fortune,
and all sorts of pressure
without a problem.
So when the result was announced,
he got it, he just said that he got it,
and it was in Beijing.
Then he talked about other people being able to,
收斂 I'm talking about qualities of people
who are deserving of merits.
Mr. Ding was very humble, very careful.
At the same time, he can withstand slanders
without jumping at it straightaway,
because this kind of slander, is like
what Liao Fan talked about in the First Chapter,
is like holding a flaming torch against the sky,
one day it will burn out.
If you're trying to rebut against that,
or trying to debate against that
it will get muddier and muddier.
It is like trying to use your muddy hand
to wipe something clean.
I forgot the other metaphor,
but the thing is that sometimes
you just (need to) leave it be,
let it die itself.
The other person, Mr. Feng, he also could hide
his talent without showing it unnecessarily
收斂 虛己斂容 大變其幼年之習
so he could empty himself,
not full of himself,
not full of whatever he was good at
and he could hide, not hide but keep a low profile.
When he was younger, Mr. Feng was a bit
more arrogant or maybe more showy?
So other case is Mr. Lee, as well.
李霽巖 He had a friend
who was very strict,
like, immediately criticized him in front of others
and all that, like, what you did wrong,
you are not good and all that.
Yeah, right in front of his face, in front of everyone.
He just talked about his weaknesses
and all that.
He could take it and
take it without a face of anger.
He could take it.
And he didn't even mention a word.
Imagine someone standing in front of you,
in front of all your family and
colleagues and all that,
he just talks about all your problems and all that.
Then he can just smile and take it in
without a word.
So he gave another summary.
Every fortune has its beginning.
So you can see how this person begins
to have fortune.
And also, every disaster has its beginning.
You can see how every disaster has its buds,
buddings coming out.
When these people who are behaving like that,
you can see already, deduce,
Yes, like Sherlock Holmes,
you can deduce what’s going to happen.
This is all doable, guys. This is doable.
They're not some magical property in our sense,
it can be learned.
If you are very,
very adept at examining yourself
and able to cultivate very good at controlling
emotions and harnessing properly and cultivate,
we call it cultivate, properly.
Then, when you look at other people, you
immediately know what kind of person is this,
what kind of person is this,
you don't need to think about it, you just see,
you understand, you see the historical behavior
of this person and then see,
you can deduce where this person is going.
Same thing. So this is very interesting.
All of these fortunes and disasters,
they're all together,
福兮禍兮 禍兮福兮
in Chinese.
If there's a disaster,
it’s a blessing in disguise,
( there’s a blessing in the disaster,)
if there is a disaster,
there's a blessing in there.
And if there's a fortune,
the disaster hidden in there,
if (it is) not managed properly.
So, if your heart is truly humble,
it's not full like a mountain,
but as deep as a valley
is able to accept everything,
then definitely
you will be repaid 天必報之(by Heaven).
So, he talked about how this person definitely
got the good karma, good fortune
of passing the Imperial Examination.
He(Liao Fan) brought out other cases like,
Mr. Zhao himself wrote an essay, trying to
submit it to the examinations to pass the vetting.
Someone who was
very talented in words,
just came in and corrected his words,
just saying that you're very bad at this editing,
basically come into your heart, like a book,
and then just say: this does not make sense,
this is not good and all that,
but that person is
very good at that.
He didn’t just say: it's not good, he just
went straight ahead, obviously, there was
no eraser back then,
they used the brush strikethrough,
and said:
this article does not make sense.
Mr. Zhao was like,
he didn't erupt (in anger or rage),
he didn't feel shocked. He was very calm.
He took it very well
and it's like:
Thank you, thank you.
Like, if someone, imagine,
you finish an essay,
maybe a thesis after three months,
bring it in the modern context,
three months
and then you put it there.
Your father may have invited someone
who's a very good editor and stuff like that,
or someone very good, proficient at writings,
come in front. Then he didn’t say anything,
just came in, took a pen, had a look,
strike, strike, strike, strike and all these
three months of hard work
is there.
Then he just strike like 90% of it
or something? It's like, this is not good.
It's not good.
So as normal people , can we take it in?
That's the test, can we take it in?
He could take it in
and he took it in very well.
It's like, I will change immediately.
He took it very well, absorbed all
of his advice and changed.
Next year, immediately,
he got into(passed)
the examination.
Before this happened, because he had been
failing the examination every year
for a long time.
So his father's like: Oh, my God,
I need to find someone to help him,
lift him up a bit.
This was the test not just on his words,
words are secondary,
is the heart.
If the heart is right,
your words will reflect your heart.
So this is a lot of wording, it's important that
people can see through your heart,
from the way you write,
because it's a brushstroke guys and
a trained eye can see this is very rushed,
the way you wrote 字不正,
and then when you write all the contents,
the logical lining of your words
文理不順 不行.
If your words are not making sense,
they will know that your heart is messy,
how can you run a country like that?
No.
It’s very strict.
So this is what happened. Same thing,
people who are very humble,
they don't act,
what he talked about before naturally
admitting humbleness,
they're not full of themselves.
I think we all know, like, when you meet
someone like that, they are just like that
they're not acting or anything.
They're just humble.
I also want to confess a bit like,
I get a little bit
too doubtful of people.
I need to learn from this,
like, see things as they are.
People sometimes are just like that.
Just because we learned about Chapter 3, that
they are not always on the surface, doesn't
mean that we need to guess if this is real or fake?
No, I think I have a conclusion that, an opinion,
that we need to see things as they are,
like, yes,
this person might be
faking it or not, doesn't matter.
If that person is truly humble, you will know.
They will show it
through their actual everyday life,
whether you see or not.
If this person is not, it's just putting a face
eventually will have to be facing a test.
Everyone has to be tested.
And that test
you will not pass if it's not real.
So be real, and learn what is real,
and then you will carry on to your next life
or the Pure Land, you still need it
anyway in the Pure Land.
That's it. So I'll pause here.
These are the examples
that I do not have a heart to skip.
Every single one of them deserves proper,
contextual understanding in depth,
because those are very useful.
We have a lot of smart people nowadays.
I'm summarizing now guys,
sorry for the overtime.
(There are) smart people everywhere.
Okay. There are genius people
everywhere.
Master Xue Wu學悟法師 mentioned that
those people created something that creates
a new era, IT, technology, spacecraft.
These are smart people, but why are we
still lacking the elements that make us truly
a global superpower village,
something
that bonds us together because
we lack this internal practice.
In Chinese
we call it Nei Gong(内功),
the Internal Kung Fu(功夫).
the External Kung Fu(外在的功夫)
is like science, technology,
philosophy and all that,
but the Internal Kung Fu
is reflective, contemplative
and moral virtues.
The inner quality that will make good use of
this external effort that we have made for over
400 years of scientific achievements is lacking.
So in order to be a civilization,
I'm talking about big scale,
worthy of all these edge,
like, if you want
to be a good civilization,
on earth, we need to have that quality,
that depth, that can carry this much fortune,
otherwise, disasters will happen,
wars will happen, all that pain will happen.
So the first thing
we need to learn is humility.
Be humble,
learn from the past, help these people
who have created the Golden Age.
Understand that there are always negatives,
obviously, not just during that period of time,
but we also need to learn from them.
It is because
there's a lot of understanding,
I think it's better nowadays.
But back in 1800s, and 1900s, we are already
looking down the past people,
we think of them as apes,
not thinking that
if that person can manage to achieve,
like maybe one era of Golden Age,
or relative peace for 300 years, amongst
all that pressure, internal politics and external
problem, what brings them together.
So this is something we need to learn,
as modern people, we need to be humble,
we need to learn what's good from them,
and then apply in our current
dried out politics, dried out civilization,
we dry out internally.
It is because we keep chasing outside,
we're lacking something that can regenerate,
a new achievement as a whole global,
no more China, no more the U.S.
whole global civilization
basically.
That's what Master Chin Kung's wish is
and that's what I aspire to follow,
it will not be in my generation,
it will not be
in my grandchildren generation,
it will be another few hundred years,
but what we're trying to do right now,
is just to plant the seeds, to get that idea out,
west, east, north, south, wherever
and trying to
build that consensus gradually
over hundreds of years.
Eventually I hope that we have that consensus
of the Five Precepts, the Ten Meritorious deeds
or the Ten Commandments
and it
becomes usable
in a modern practical manner
At the same time we have our internal
regeneration like we have regained
our creative insight
no longer dead
and blunt as the science
has portrayed our universe.
We are just a rock and that's the rock.
There's nothing in there because
we only see what we see,
which is very narrow,
even our color spectrum is narrow,
our hearing decibel is narrow, guys.
There's so much we don't see.
There's so much we can't see.
We need something, some myth or not myth,
some legend that is part of our era
that belongs to everyone.
So going back to the reality,
it has to start from
this basic Kung Fu(功夫).
Changing destiny, changing your destiny,
changing your family’s destiny, changing your
country’s destiny, changing your Earth destiny.
It all takes the steps to go, someone has to
guide you, learn the guide, learn
what you need to do to reform,
learn to accumulate the merits
and learn to hold the merits,
learn not to show off the merits,
learn not to attach to the merits,
learn when to release the merits.
It will create fruition by itself,
but you just need to keep accumulating
deep, deep, deep merits, so the next
generation will be reborn into this world.
People of the same level of merit
will inherit the merit
that you have accumulated.
Thank you so much.
That's all I want to say.
I might have
stretched (our time) a little bit
for this one,
but I'm just trying to show you
how powerful we can be
if we are able to use this properly.
The potential is endless
and the historical precedent
is there.
It's just the mindset we need to change a bit.
We are not lacking talent,
we're not lacking resources.
Yes, we have population growth
and all that problem, but trust me,
it's not a problem,
when it's managed and to manage
you can't have someone else imposing,
this is not the era anymore.
It has to be automatic by yourself,
individuals learn what your role is
and work together.
This is what democracy is.
Everyone learns
their own responsibility,
not just the privilege,
the responsibility towards this family,
this relationship, these children.
From there, not the nation, that's too big,
and then to the community
and then you talk about the nation.
We need to go back to that and when we get
that right and implant that into the next
generation and pass it down,
only then
can we have that very strong bond.
But we start from
what we start, like talking about this,
getting aware of this
and then
we can talk about practice as we go.
Okay, thank you! Amituofo
Sorry for
overtaking 15 minutes extra,
15 minutes of your life.
Is there anything I could improve or anything
I have said wrong or you disagree,
please point it out.
(I will) try to bring it into
the topics and because
ultimately my goal is:
just to make these teachings
that are hundreds or thousand years old,
make them alive again in our time.
That's my vow as well.
So it has to be reflecting everyone
as much as possible.
Amituofo (Ten Times)
May the Merits and Virtues
accrued from this work
adorn the Buddha's Pure Land
Repay the Four Kindnesses above and
Relieve the Sufferings of those
in the Three Paths below
May those who see or hear of this
bring forth the heart of understanding
and compassion, and
Cultivate the teachings for the rest of this life
Then be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss
Amituofo!
one by one step by step.
Take care of yourself, guys. Bye bye
