Lecture No. 0106
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0106
Tape : 2B 27:08 ~ 28:07
Date : 2019/04/04 ~ 04/07
Outline: Foundation
Topic: Prologue – Veneration at the beginning of the commentary
English Lamrim Vol 1, Page 33-34
Vol. 1 of Master’s discourse handbook P63-L6 ~ P63-LL1
Thus, the 2nd part is: for worldly beings, the worldly standards are just marginal, and they just apply those standards to judge each other. However, if we learned Buddha’s teaching, after the standards [for the code of conduct] are elevated, using these elevated standards, take heed! We should first apply these elevated standards on ourselves, but we skipped the first step and jumped straight to what? We still flow along with our latent propensity since beginningless time to judge others. Then, everyone would appear to be much worse than before we learned Buddha Dharma. Why? Because this “mirror” is way too powerful, the standards are too high! Master said, “that is not good!” Applying such standards to reflect on others is not good; such behaviour is like holding a demon-revealing mirror. Master continued, “Take a look at it! Everyone would be revealed as a goblin or demon;” the next statement is even more horrible! “No one is decent… except for one person – that is you!” Master followed by saying, “this is a very serious situation.” [01′11″]
Let’s think about it! Thirty years ago, Master already told us of this fact. When we measure other people against the standards of the teaching we have learned, do our hearts become happier and happier? Would we feel somewhat disheartened, somewhat sullen, justifiably conclude that others are not striving hard at applying the teaching? Is that so? As though we are the ones who made great efforts to apply the teaching, is it true? If we continue to think this way, would we become arrogant? Will we develop the idea as described in the Lamrim [Volume 1, Page 196], “I am superior; I am the best”? Or will we think, “Everyone else is drunken; I am the only one sober”? We place ourselves at a very high platform and criticize others, as if we have already achieved omniscience, and comprehended thoroughly the minds of self and others. Thus, unmistakably judged that others are not applying the teaching. If we continue walking the path with this thought, we would become lonelier and lonelier, for we cannot see any companions around us; because, we can only see demons surrounding us, we are the only purified ones. Is this possible? This world that we are living in is the Land-of-Common-Residence-of-Beings-and-Saints [Master’s commentary Tape 1B, GL II Lecture No.34] among all the people we have encountered, it’s really hard for us to tell who is a saint. What if our vision is clouded, and use that magical mirror to reflect on someone who is a Bodhisattva? Can you imagine where such a twisted mirror would take us to in our next life? If we keep on doing so, how much negative karma would we have accumulated? That would be an immeasurable great loss on our part! As Master described, “that is not good!” [02′56″]
As a saying goes, “Stand on the peak of the high mountain and walk at the bottom of the ocean.” Once we have ascertained the proper understanding of cultivation, we absolutely cannot neglect how we behave on a daily basis. In other words, we shouldn’t stop doing virtuous deeds simply because they are trivial. Let’s look at a simple example, greeting others. When we meet others, it is really nice and amiable to smile and greet them, but will we overlook this? Or say, when we move to a new neighbourhood, will we pay particular attention to make friends with our neighbours? And will we express our hospitality toward them, or even ask them for help? Everyone will start to build rapport very quickly. Hence, the neighbours will not feel worrisome, and we will have a smooth transition settling into the new community. Furthermore, we should be as pleasant and kind as possible when talking to our parents. Do not argue with them, we should use very gentle speech and attitude toward our parents. This is actually very fundamental and a very important matter. [04′13″]
Just like when we start a new class, after some of these new students join our class, when we find that they are not in line with what we have studied, we sometimes will tell them our opinion directly. Should we take a step back first, to observe their personalities, temperament and character? Look at how long they have studied Buddhism? Then find out if they are facing any difficulties? All these require observations on our part before we provide them with any suggestions. Especially some new classmates would at times raise questions in class. However, they are still not familiar with some of the important guiding principles, so when they raise questions we immediately tell them, “This act of yours is not respectful to this, not respectful to that!” If they don’t even have a chance to raise their questions, will this pose an obstacle to these new classmates to fit in and to their learning? Hence, sometimes we are especially attached [to some fundamental guiding principles] and expect others to follow suit. However, for those who have just started learning, it still requires quite a long while for them to get familiarised with these important principles. [05′36″]
Thus, if we mindfully adjust ourselves, we would not be especially attached [to our know-how] and put forth a list of principles in front of those new class members. And, when meeting people, we wouldn’t easily [follow our habitual tendency to] correct them and point out their problems, automatically transforming ourselves into a teacher who corrects others; forgetting that the first step in the practice of Buddha Dharma is to examine ourselves and rectify our personal shortcomings and flaws. If we don’t know how to rectify our own faults, we don’t even know our own shortcomings, we have little or even no cultivation experiences, or we have not even obtained right views, then how can we properly understand others and how can we help them to rectify their flaws? [06′19″]
Upon hearing this, some might claim, “Since I don’t know much, so I cannot be of help to others. I might as well earnestly mind my own practice; I will not be part of the matters relating to the group because I lack the ability to do so!” I would like to check with everyone how do you see this question and how will you answer it? In Buddhism, there is another concept called “putting in proportional effort in accordance with one’s capability”. There must be some responsibilities and obligations that I can take on. We should not push all the responsibilities to others. If we don’t know how, then we should start to learn it now! Will we know how to cultivate/practice by doing nothing? If we don’t want to take on any responsibility, then we will also forgo the opportunity to train our minds through handling tasks under all kinds of conditions! If we don’t have any chance to polish our mind, how could we obtain [the cultivation experience]? [07′07″]
In fact, when we introspect, and when we focus on examining our minds closely, we would also notice more and more of our own flaws. When we notice that there are more and more areas that we need improvement, naturally we would not hold such an attitude toward others. We would come to realise that actually our mind has always remained a mystery and has innumerable facets. Whether we are providing a helping hand to others or helping ourselves, if we can strive hard to improve ourselves from the perspective of training our own mind and fostering virtuous qualities, then Master would not be so worried for us. We can uphold, in our mind, the advice Master gave, and how to do that? How can we not look at others through the demon-revealing mirror? Once we notice that we are holding up that mirror again, pause for a second and examine ourselves, “Am I applying this demon-revealing mirror on others again? We should apply the Dharma mirror to examine ourselves. So, when we apply the Dharma standards to measure our own minds, is it to reflect on ourselves through the Dharma mirror? If we reflect on ourselves through the Dharma mirror and apply Dharma for our own realization, we would naturally not view the people around us as goblins and demons. Instead, we would realise there are many, many aspects that we can learn from others, and realised that many many people are actually working very hard and even with very kind intention. We will, in the process of better understanding our minds, discover the beauty of this world. This is actually a very fascinating experience. [08′45″]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0106】
讲次 0106
科判 道前基础
主题 〈皈敬颂〉造论宗旨
音档 2B 27:08 ~ 28:07
日期 2019/04/04 ~ 04/07
广论段落 P1-LL1 今勤瑜伽多寡闻……复乏理辩教义力
手抄页/行 第1册 P63-L6 ~ P63-LL1 ( 2016 南普陀版：第1册 P63-L7 ~ P63-LL1 )
手抄段落 那么说：好、好、好！ ......这个是非常严重的事情
那么第二个部分就是：世间的人来说，世间的标准马马虎虎，互相就这样看了。但是如果学佛法的话，标准提高了之后，拿这样的一个标准，注意！拿这个标准应该是先看自己的，但是他忽略了第一个程序，跳到了什么？还是顺了无始劫来的习气去看了别人。那么一看别人的话，都比原来看得还糟，为什么呢？因为这个镜子太厉害了，这个标准太高了！师父说：[害了！]说拿那个标准去照别人的话，害了！像个照妖镜一样。 [这一看哪！世间所有的人都是妖魔鬼怪]，下面一句话就更可怕了！ [没有一个像样的，只有一个人没看见——自己]，说：[这个是非常严重的事情]。 [01′11″]
想一想喔！在三十年前，师父就告诉了我们这个现象。当我们拿法的标准去衡量别人的时候，我们的心会越来越快乐吗？是否会有几许失落、几多悲愤，理所应当地成立别人都没有努力修行？是这样吗？好像自己都很努力修行的样子，是这样吗？如果一直这样认为，会不会我慢呢？会不会产生像《广论》上所说的[我是超胜我第一]这样的想法呢？抑或[众人皆醉我独醒]？把自己放到一个很高的平台上去评判别人，仿佛自己已经是一切遍智了，已经彻底了达了自心和别人的心，没有任何错误地判断出别人没有修行。这样走着走着，就越来越孤单了，因为前后左右都看不到友伴，因为前后左右都是妖魔鬼怪，只有自己一身洁白。可能吗？我们这个世界是凡圣同居土，我所遇到的人哪一位是圣者可能完全不清楚。万一我们眼拙，用那个镜子照到了菩萨，那个扭曲的镜子到底会把我们的来生带到哪里去呢？我们这样照下去，得造多少恶业？那损失实在是太大了！用师父的话来说：那就害了！ [02′56″]
有一句话说：[高高峰顶立，深深海底行。]我们一旦确立了正确的修行见解，绝对不可以忽略平常的行为，所谓不可以因为善小而不为。举个简单的例子，打招呼，就是看到人微笑、打个招呼，这样是挺好的、挺亲切的，但是我们会不会忽略这个呢？比如说我们到了一个新的居住的地方，我们会不会很注意跟邻居先交个朋友？然后见个面很热情，甚至有点什么事情请他帮个忙？大家迅速地就开始融洽了。这样别人也不会担忧，我们自己可能也在新的地方居住得很顺心。还有就是跟父母亲说话尽量和颜悦色，不要跟父母亲吵架，用非常柔和的语言和态度对待自己的父母亲，其实这也是很基础的，也是很重要的事情。 [04′13″]
像有的时候我们开新班，有一些新的同学来到班里之后，当我们发现他好像有点跟我们所学的真理不相符顺的时候，我们有的时候就直接去说了。是不是要等一下，观察一下他的个性啊、脾气啊、秉性啊？看一看他学佛多久了？然后再看一看他有没有什么困境？这些都是要做观察的，然后再给别人一点意见。尤其是新的同学在班里有的时候会提问题，因为很多重要的原则可能还不知道，所以他提问题的时候，如果马上就跟他说：你这样是对这个不恭敬、对那个不恭敬！他连提问题的机会都没有的话，那会不会给新同学融入、开始学习造成一些困境呢？所以有的时候我们会特别特别地执着，也希望别人能做到那些。但是对刚开始学习的人来说，还是要一长段的时间熟悉这些重要的原则的。 [05′36″]
这样的话，注意调整这些方便，我们就不会特别特别执着，见到一个人就把很多道理摆在他面前，而且一看到别人就容易去调整别人、去指出别人的问题，自动地就成为校正别人的小老师了，忘记了佛法的第一步是要观察自心、改正自己的缺点和毛病。如果我们不会改自己的毛病，甚至看不到自己的毛病，修心经验不足，甚至没有，甚至连正知见都没有获得，那我们岂能把别人看明白，岂能够帮别人改毛病呢？ [06′19″]
学到这里，有人说：[因为我什么也不会，所以我也不能帮人。老实修行自己，大家的事一概不承担，因为我没有能力！]请问大家要怎样思考这个问题、回答这个问题呢？佛法还提出一个观点叫[随分随力]，总有一些责任和义务是自己要承担的，不能把所有的事情都推给别人。如果不曾学会，那么就现在开始学嘛！什么也不做，就会修行了吗？如果什么都不想承担，那么在各种境界中历事练心的方便也没有机会去练习了吧！如果都没有机会练习，怎样获得呢？ [07′07″]
实际上一旦我们看自己，当我们锁定我们的内心好好观察的时候，我们也会看到越来越多的自己的错误；当我们看到越来越多自己没改正的地方之后，我们自然不会对别人那种态度。我们就会知道自心是一个很神秘的事情，好像有太多重的风光。无论帮忙别人，还是帮忙自己，如果都能从修链自心的角度、成长美德的角度去努力，那师父就不会那么担心我们。把师父的提醒放在心上，怎样放在心上呢？怎样能够不拿照妖镜照别人呢？当发现自己那个镜子又拿起来的时候，停止一下、观察一下：我是不是又拿照妖镜照别人？我们应该以法自照。那么以法的标准来衡量自心的话，是不是以法自照呢？如果以法自照、以法自明，我们就自然看周围的人不再是妖魔鬼怪，我们就会发现很多很多要向别人学习的地方，发现很多很多人其实都很努力，甚至非常地善意。我们将在明了自心的过程中，去发现这个世界的美好，其实这是一种很有趣的经验。 [08′45″]