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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0110

Tape: 3A 00:04 ~ 02:25

Date : 2019/04/18 ~ 04/21

Outline: Foundation

Topic: Prologue – Veneration at the beginning of commentary

English Lamrim Volume 1, page 34

Vol. 1 of Master’s discourse handbook P67-L1 ~ P68-L1

We discussed the “Purpose of Composing this Treatise” earlier. What was the purpose of composing this text? What were the author’s aims and expectations? We have briefly gone over it, and today we will continue. When it says “nowadays,” it does not mean our present time; rather this “nowadays” refers to Lama Tsong-kha-pa’s time, which was five hundred, almost six hundred years ago. In fact, the condition of Buddhist lineage at that time was much, much better than it is today. What was the situation then? It was already like this: those yoga practitioners did not study much, nor did they contemplate philosophical reasoning. Reasoning serves the purpose of teaching us why we need meditation practice and how we can practice. You must know why you need to practice; this force will motivate you to practice, and then encourage you to apply the teachings. Furthermore, it teaches you how to practice and, in the process, how to validate experiential effects, etc. All of these require theoretical understanding before application. Now, if you lack these preconditions, may I ask, how can your practice be correct? As a result, practitioners, who claim they would like to practice Buddhist teachings, might not necessarily achieve the proper effects. Often, we describe this phenomenon as “practicing blindly and training aimlessly” (盲修瞎練) – such practitioners may end up wasting an entire lifetime. In fact, once this negative habit is formed, it will last for many lives and eons; what a pity! [02′21″]

Well! In this paragraph, Master explained that “nowadays” refers to the time period of Lama Tsong-kha-pa [1357~1419], which is more than five hundred, or almost six hundred years ago. At that time, there were yoga practitioners who would like to apply meditation practice but did not value the importance of studying and contemplating the teachings. Master again stressed it by asking, “Why didn’t the practitioners put more effort into studying the teaching?” Practitioners should study broadly the teachings, because the philosophical reasoning is to show us why we need to put the teaching into practice, and these philosophical reasoning are the tenets. [02′52″]

When we contemplate “how we can practice” and “why we need meditation practice” the force will propel us to practice. Furthermore, during the process of practicing, such force will help us distinguish “right from wrong”, as well as validate the “experiential effects.” Pay attention! What words come after the “experiential effect”? “Experiential validation.” Before we can attain “experiential validation”, we need to understand the conceptual theory and the tenets. Then, we could put what we have learned into practice. In fact, it is quite important to know “how to distinguish right from wrong, how to attain experiential effects, etc.” [03′19″]

Take listening to the teachings for example. After hearing the teachings, many people may have different understanding and reach various conclusions about what they have heard. A very simple case: suppose you assign a task to someone. Upon explaining the assigned task, that person immediately went ahead to get it done. Upon his returning, you noticed, “Well! It seems different from what I have told you.” But he insisted, “I just did it as you said.” Or suppose you share your thought with ten different people, and let them work on their own separately; chances are you would have ten different outcomes. Hence, what is Master emphasizing here? He pointed out that validation is required – to validate what I have heard is the same as instructed. Besides, even with the outcome, we should inquire “Well, is this your expected result?” Take another example, you would like to have something in orange, but I got you something in red without realizing that something was wrong with my eyes or due to some blurry eyesight problem and I mistook red for orange. Therefore, with too many personal habitual tendencies involved, we will have the faults of not hearing the teachings correctly and not contemplating the teachings properly, resulting in a distorted understanding of the scriptures. In this regard, we need virtuous teachers to help us make discernment and validate the effect as well. [04′17″]

There are times when we feel pretty good about something, but virtuous teachers might ask us to desist it. Sometimes, it could be a very pleasant perception, but virtuous teachers just won’t let us be indulged on it. Sometimes, it could be a very arduous task, but our virtuous teacher would ask us to take on the responsibility. Therefore, the criterion is not set upon by how we feel about it, but rather by whether we should do it or not. There is a validation standard between right and wrong. The primary criterion is to refrain from doing any non-virtuous deeds, and do as many virtuous deeds as possible, even very trivial ones. Never ever engage in any non-virtuous deeds, even if it is very petty; never ever disregard any trifling virtuous deeds, do go for it. [04′54″]

The most noticeable one Master brought up here is the phrase “practicing blindly and training aimlessly,” whereas Master used “demon-revealing mirror” in the previous teachings. About the word “blindly,” what areas are practitioners blind to? Apparently, it is the path of practice that the practitioners cannot see clearly. So, who can guide us on the path of meditation practice? Buddha, who recognized the path of practice thoroughly, disseminated the teaching, and guided us on how to practice; Bodhisattvas and great masters of the past annotated Buddha’s teaching so that we can better understand the stages of the path, the ways to validate the meditation effect, etc. Therefore, we must study the tenets. After learning the tenets, we must abide by the guidance from the tenets in practice. The best guidance for us to understand the tenets is the explanations from virtuous teachers. So, the tenets and virtuous teachers are like the eyes. In the process of meditation practice, we must not disregard the tenets or the virtuous teachers, let alone forsaking tenets and virtuous teachers! Hence, the essence of avoiding practicing blindly and training aimlessly is to rely on virtuous teachers and listen to the teaching properly. [06′13″]

How serious is the fault of practicing blindly and training aimlessly? One may end up wasting an entire lifetime. Master continued by saying that “In fact, once the negative habit is formed, it will last for many lives and eons!” [06′31″]

Take heed! Right here, Master again guided us to view our life from a broader and wider perspective. We often confine ourselves to this lifetime; most of the time, future rebirth poses little concern to us. Nevertheless, when Master imparted the teaching, he would constantly mention “many lives and eons”. He would view the future impact of our latent propensity – that is the influence of karmic force – from the wide-open angle of one life after another journey. It is like riding bicycles. As you paddle really hard for a while and then let go, the momentum will continue, and the bicycle keeps moving forward; this is known as inertia, which will keep the bicycle going forward. [07′23″]

Thus, once this habit of “practicing blindly and training aimlessly” is formed, one would carry on such a habitual tendency for many lifetimes, and it is very hard to change. Therefore, right here, our short-sighted vision of not considering the future rebirth is widened. We must consider the impact of this habitual tendency on our future lives from a broader perspective. If we observe our life from this perspective, these habits of ours now are no longer trivial matters. Under the influence of the negative habit formed, the impact is not only on this lifetime of ours but also on the infinite lifetimes. [08′06″]

讲次 0110

科判 道前基础

主题 〈皈敬颂〉造论宗旨

音档 3A 00:04 ~ 02:25

日期 2019/04/18 ~ 04/21

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 P67-L1 ~ P68-L1　( 2016 南普陀版：第1册 P67-L1 ~ P67-LL1 )

手抄段落 上面我们讲到造论的宗旨......就多生多劫，真可惜！

上面我们讲到造论的宗旨。为什么要造本论呢？他的目的，他希望什么呢？那么我们已经简单地说明了一下，今天继续下去。说现在啊，这个现在不是单单我们目前，就是宗喀巴大师时代，离开我们现在已经有五百多年、快六百年了，就是那个时候的状态，究实说起来，这佛法实际上的传承的情况，要比我们好现在太多、太多，可是那时候的局面如何呢？说已经是这样——讲修行的人不要多听闻，不要多懂道理，而道理本身是告诉我们为什么要修行，如何去修行。你必须了解了为什么要修行，这个力量会推动你去修行；然后推动你去修行，更进一步告诉你如何修行；以及修行过程当中，对、错、结果的验证等等，这个都是要事先理论上了解了，你才能够去做。现在你都没有这个条件，你请问怎么修得好？结果呢就产生了讲修的人虽然想修，却不一定得到正确的结果，通常我们说盲修瞎链，弄了半天哪浪费了一生时间，实际上这种恶习养成功，就多生多劫，真可惜！ [02′21″]

好！这一段师父说在宗喀巴大师的时代，离现在已经五百多年了，快六百年，那个时候已经有了想要修行却不重视闻思这种状态了。师父又强调了一下说：为什么修行的人却不要多闻呢？应该要多闻的，因为这个道理本身就是告诉我们为什么要修行，这个道理应该就是教理。 [02′52″]

[如何修行]、[为什么要修行]，这个力量会推动我们去修行，而且进一步会告诉我们在修行的过程中[对、错]还有[结果]。注意！ [结果]这里边出现了什么？ [验证]，都是要事先教理上了解的，然后才能够去做。这个[对、错、结果的验证]等等，其实这件事还是满重要的。 [03′19″]

就像我们听闻的时候，很多人听了之后，会发现听完的结果是不一样的。最简单的例子：你交代一件事情，交代完了之后，那个人马上就出去做了，做完了回来之后，你发现[欸！好像我不是这样跟你说的。]他说：[我就是按照你说的这样去做的。]如果你把你的想法告诉给十个人，让十个人分头去做，可能十个人做出的样子都是不一样的。所以就提出了什么？一定要去验证，我听到的和你讲的是不是一样的？而且结果出来也会说：[欸，这是不是你要的结果？]比如说要一个橘色，我正好眼睛看不清楚，我就拿了一个红色给你，我认为这就是橘色，但是不知道自己眼睛是有毛病的，那就是我认为的橘色。所以这里面有太多的个人的习气，会发生听闻的过失、思惟的过失，会发生对教典的扭曲，这部分是需要善知识来简别的，结果也是需要的。 [04′17″]

有的时候自己觉得很好，但是可能善知识就会说这个东西是要舍弃的；有的时候是感觉到很欢乐的一个觉受，善知识不让你耽着；有的时候可能是一个很苦的差事，但是自己的善知识会让自己去扛起来。所以不是以自己的感觉为主的，而是应作、不应作，对、错，这些是有一个验证的标准的。最大的标准就是恶事千万别做，善事多多做，甚至很小、很小的恶都不要做，很小、很小的善也都不要看不起它，要去做。 [04′54″]

还有一个最明显的，师父又提出，师父说了这四个字，前面说是照妖镜，在这里面说是[盲修瞎链]。盲修瞎链的盲字，是对什么盲？很显然是对修行的路看不见。那么修行的路径是谁指示的呢？佛陀，佛陀明了修行的路，为我们宣说怎么修行；祖师、菩萨解释佛陀的教诫，让我们更明了修行的次第、结果的验证等等，所以一定要学习教理，学习了之后要懂得教理，依照教理指示的去修行，而最好的为我们诠释教理的就是善知识的教诫。所以教理和善知识犹如眼目，在修行的时候不能不重视教理和善知识，更不用说舍弃教理和善知识了！所以不盲修瞎链最重要的点，就是亲近善知识、如理听闻。 [06′13″]

盲修瞎链的过患到底有多大？弄了半天浪费了一生时间。师父在这里又说了一句：[实际上这种恶习养成功，就多生多劫！] [06′31″]

看看！在此处师父又把我们的生命拉长远了看。我们常常局限在此生，很多时候来生是不会想到的，但是师父常常在对我们讲法的时候会提到[多生多劫]，他会在一个无限宽广的生命的旅程中，去看我们此生的这个习气对未来的影响力——就是业力的影响力。就好像我们骑脚踏车一样，你用力地踩、用力地踩脚踏车，踩完了之后当你不踩的时候，这个势头还会向前去、向前去，它叫惯性，它会向前去的。 [07′23″]

所以一旦养成盲修瞎链的习惯，他就是很多生都是这个样子，很难改。所以这里边又把我们不去想后面、后世的事情的这个眼界，在此处又拉远了一下，一定要考虑我现在的这个习惯对很多生、很多生以后的影响力。所以这样看起来，这个习惯就不是一件小事了，它影响的不仅仅是此生，而是那么长远的生命都会被这样的恶习影响。 [08′06″]