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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0145

Tape: -

Date: 2019/08/19 ~ 08/21

Outline: Foundation

Topic: Prologue – Veneration at the beginning of commentary

English Lamrim Volume 1, page 34

Greetings to all! [I am] very pleased that we can study Lamrim together again. Today [I] would like to take a moment to share with everyone on a topic that the monastics [and I] have been frequently discussing lately: the issue of building up afflictive emotions. Speaking of building up or accumulation, [we can] build up or accumulate many different types [of things], for example, accumulating wealth and knowledge, just to name a few. Nobody is willing to accumulate or build up afflictions and tribulations. However, affliction can be accumulated inadvertently. Once such negative emotions are pent-up, when they gradually grow stronger or when they are intensely stirred up and challenged by [baleful] arising conditions, [these pent-up furies] would unleash themselves, ripening into more severe sufferings [that do us harm]. Hence, afflictive emotions should not be [stored] and accumulated. [00′50″]

[If we] examine our daily life, [we] might find there are plenty of minute unpleasantness. For instance, [we might] overhear someone saying something not to our liking, or we find the way some people handling of matters to be inappropriate or unreasonable, so on and so forth; there are all sorts of matters, be it large or small that make us in one way or another, unhappy. [We] sometimes let these negative emotions passed through as if they were gone; sometimes we don’t want to cause the other party [any] problem, so [we choose to] tolerate and endure it. Will these ways of handling [our negative feelings], whether to endure, to hold them inside ourselves, or diverting [our attention from them], stop the afflictive emotions from getting more severe? We all have similar experiences: we can choose to put up with [those annoyance and unpleasantness] for once, twice, thrice… and so on; however, up to a certain point, we would explode in anger; by then [only did] we realize that, all of a sudden, we become unbearably furious. Though in reality, the tipping point may only be something very minor, or very trivial, but somehow it may become the last straw – and the pent-up negative emotions we have been stuffing inside ourselves for so long [eventually] burst out. [01′48″]

Based on such potential condition, [we brainstormed and] came up [with one solution]: whenever the afflictive emotions arise, we should weaken them right away with the spear of proper perception, [proper mindfulness and vigilance]. How to relieve the afflictive emotions instead of accumulating them? For instance, on any given day, we should [try to] detect what the so-called “afflictive emotions” are, meaning when [we] begin to feel upset. When such feelings arise, should [we ignore them by] covering them up? Suppose, Ah! A snake has [sneaked] into the house; we can either cover it up with a piece of cloth or pay no attention to it; however, by doing so, does it mean the danger is gone? [02′28″]

In terms of mind training, we should be mindful of those afflictive emotions from early morning. For instance, while taking refuge in the Three Jewels and making Mahayana aspiration, we should sincerely and earnestly pray and supplicate to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and pledge that, “Throughout the day, I must not engage in non-virtuous deeds like “the ones I will definitely bear the consequence for what I have done and accumulated”; because [I] will have to endure the suffering in the future.” Then how can [I] catch it in time to know that right now I am having the afflictive emotions? How to cultivate such good habit of catching it immediately? It involves getting ourselves mentally prepared in the morning: thinking that in any given minute, I may encounter various types of arising conditions such as this or that… It may be impossible for us to imagine beforehand what will happen each day, but what we can do is to be prepared; [that is, we can] arm ourselves with the armor of proper perception and proper awareness to fend off the piercing/attack from the arising conditions. [03′20″]

Getting ourselves mentally prepared, we would know: “Ah! Look, here it comes again!” What is coming again? That arising condition is there again. At the same time, we would notice our erroneous thoughts like feeling sorrowful, being upset, and feeling lonely, or many negative emotions are surfacing out. [Feeling] these emotions surfacing, we can stop them; once [they are] stopped, [we] should examine [ourselves]: is it the arising condition that causes me such negative feelings? Or is it [because of] the erroneous thoughts I have in my mind? Usually, the arising conditions and our erroneous thoughts go hand in hand. The primary reason for us feeling more and more suffering originates from [our] mind; Else, [if we] completely attribute [how we feel] to the arising conditions and other people, then we will never be in control of our own life, let alone directing our life toward happiness. [04′08″]

Therefore, [we] should examine [ourselves] to see if we are advancing towards the path of erroneous thought. When we say: “You are having erroneous thought again!” it seems like a negative remark to ourselves; however, [it] is a wake-up call. If [we can] notice that we are having erroneous thoughts, then [we] should think about its consequence - erroneous thoughts would [lead us] to engage in non-virtuous deeds, consequently [creating more] suffering not only to ourselves but also harm other people. Hence, by thinking this way, [we] will do our best to either stop the mental momentum of the negative thoughts, or to weaken it. [04′39″] 

Then, the way to prevent afflictions from continuously building up like a reservoir, is to intercept their flow! How to do that? That is, whenever facing the arising conditions, [we] should not increase the afflictions by thinking erroneously. Because there are [way too] many sufferings, unsatisfactory outcomes, unfulfilled desires, and many troublesome matters, so on and so forth, in one’s life. Many of these [unfavorable] arising conditions are not what we hope to face. Sometimes [the arising conditions would take us by surprise; they] just happen so abruptly and unexpectedly; there are all sorts of unsatisfactory occurrences. Thus, how to be mindful so that the burning fire of anger will not burn down our forest of merits? Being vigilant while facing the arising conditions turns out to be extremely important. [05′32″]

While discussing this issue, we would find that first holding back the urge to fight back or retaliate is [one possible approach] when facing the arising condition; for instance, don’t lash out [indignant] speech at the other party; don’t glare “daggers” at the others, either; [instead,] withhold such emotions first. However, [even they’re held back,] afterwards, are [we] able to truly dissolve these negative emotions in [our] mind? Perhaps it would evolve into another feeling of upset, chest discomfort, or sulking, and by such way [these negative emotions] stay within ourselves. [Now,] by stuffing the afflictive emotions inside [ourselves, we] are not handling them properly; because sometimes [deep] inside our mind, [we are] actually mumbling to ourselves, in other words, [we] are still thinking erroneously, which means our mental momentum or our habitual reaction still does not stop, even though we have restrained ourselves physically and verbally. Though it has taken [us] tremendous efforts not to act on our afflictive emotions physically and verbally, only by further stopping [ourselves] from [streaming along] the erroneous thoughts can we truly not build up the afflictive emotions, right? [06′30″]

So, how to safeguard [ourselves] from [those erroneous thoughts]? [We need to] obtain the proper perception and know how to stay mindful and vigilant from the sutras and scriptures we have studied. Thus listening to the teaching each day becomes very crucial. Why? Because only when we have input large quantity of positive energy, like the proper perception and being mindful, that we are able to erect a Dharma mirror on each of our six sensory faculties to reflect upon ourselves; thus when facing the arising conditions, [we] can spot the existence and working of our erroneous thoughts, and identify them clearly as erroneous thoughts. What to spot and identify? That is, we are aware of our own ongoing thought process, and [we] can catch our erroneous thought right after it begins [to work]. Some people [only] sense the working of the erroneous thoughts until much later; however, [after they have caught it,] what were the earlier erroneous thoughts about? Some wouldn’t remember the initial erroneous thoughts at all, while others could remember them clearly. In any case, the earlier we catch them, the better. The ability to spot our erroneous thoughts with Dharma mirror comes from listening to the teaching – studying the scriptures, being mindful of the proper awareness, and then obtaining the proper perceptions; that is the way we acquire the proper perception. Hence, this skill requires constant practice. [07′35″]

讲次 0145

科判 道前基础

章节 向无始劫来的烦恼出征

标题 提起对烦恼的警觉心

音档 -

日期 2019/08/19 ~ 08/21

广论段落 P2-L1 故离智者欢喜道……故我心意遍勇喜

大家好！很高兴又到了我们研讨《广论》的时间。今天想利用一点时间，跟大家讲一下最近常常跟法师们讨论的一个主题，就是关于烦恼蓄积的问题。谈到蓄积，有很多种积累，比如说积累财富、积累知识；没有人愿意累积烦恼和痛苦，但是烦恼在不经意中是会累积的。累积了这种东西，慢慢地变强或者被境界很强烈地挑战之后，就会成熟为猛烈的苦受，所以烦恼是不可以累积的。 [00′50″]

观察一下我们每天的生活，会发现可能有很多小小的不愉快，比如说听到了别人说一句不中听的话，或者别人做了一件你觉得不太合理的事情，乃至林林总总的、大大小小的一些不好的心情。这些不好的心情有的时候就好像让它过去了，或者为了不给别人造成麻烦就自己忍了。这种忍的方式，或者放着的方式、转移的方式，是不是让那种烦恼不再增长呢？大家都会发现忍一次、两次、三次，乃至第几次的时候就会有一个爆发，就会发现自己突然很生气了。但是实际上那是一个小小的境界，可能就是最后那根草，然后原先忍耐的东西全部都跑出来了。 [01′48″]

基于这种状况，就讨论到烦恼应该是随时出来就要随时用正念之矛让那个烦恼削弱掉。那么怎么样让烦恼不要蓄积，而是疏导它呢？比如说这一天的生活之中，我们要发现什么叫[烦恼]，就是开始不愉快了。那在这个不愉快的时候用盖的行不行呢？比如说：啊！屋子里边进了一条蛇，然后你拿个布给它盖上或者不注意它，是不是危险性就消失了呢？ [02′28″]

对于我们的心来说，可能一早起来就要对烦恼处于一种警觉的状态，比如说皈依发心，要认真地、殷重地祈求佛菩萨，说：[我这一天二六时中，一定不能作『作已增长烦恼』的那种恶业，因为将来会忍受苦果。 ]那么怎么样去及时地发现我在生烦恼？怎么样养成立刻、立刻就发觉的这种良好习惯呢？就是早晨要有个预备，就要准备一会儿我可能会碰到这样的境、那样的境......。可能我们没法想像这一天到底会遇到什么事情，所以我们只能准备，着上正念、正知的铠甲，准备去忍受境界之刺。 [03′20″]

对于有准备的心来说，我们就知道：[啊！看，那个又来了！ ]什么又来了？那个境界又来了。同时也发现自己的非理作意呀、感伤啊、沮丧啊、孤独感啊，或者很多负面的东西也都涌出来了。涌出来的时候，我们可以让它停止；停止了之后，要去观察一下：到底是境界那方面出问题呢？还是我心中的非理作意在出问题？通常都是两者配合。让我们变得越来越痛苦的作用力，还是要以心为主，否则全部都交给境界、交给他人的话，那我们的生命永远将失去掌控力，朝着快乐的方向是不可能把握到的。 [04′08″]

所以要看一看是不是自己在朝着非理作意的方向了。当我们说：[你又非理作意了！ ]好像是一个对自己的负评，但是却是一个发现。如果发现自己在非理作意的话，那就想想非理作意的结果——会造恶业，造恶业的结果就是自己会痛苦、他人也会遭殃，所以这个时候就要把非理作意的续流想办法停下来，或者让它变弱。 [04′39″]

那么如何让烦恼不要像蓄水池一样一直蓄积的办法，就是截流啊！如何截流呢？就是在每一次心对境的时候，不要再用非理作意的方式增长烦恼。因为人生有很多的痛苦、不如意、求不得等等，诸多的麻烦，很多的境界不是自己希望遇到的，有的时候是很突如其来的，有的时候是意想不到的，种种不如意。那么如何提起警觉的心，不要被瞋恨的火烧掉了自己的功德林呢？对境的时候能够提起一个警觉的心，就变成是非常重要的事情。 [05′32″]

当大家讨论到这个问题的时候，会发现我们用忍的，就是对境的时候先不要发作，比如说不要对别人口出不敬，也不要用眼睛瞪别人，先把这些忍了；但忍了之后，是不是在内心里真的能够消融掉呢？可能又会变成一种不愉快、胸闷，或者生闷气的方式，就把它留下来了。留下来那个东西并没有好好地处理，因为它有的时候在意念上其实还在自言自语，或者说自己内部还有一个声音一直在非理作意，续流还没有停下来，但是身、口是防住了。身、口防住了也是一件很不容易的事情，但如果能进一步地把非理作意的意乐部分能够防住，才能够不蓄积烦恼，对吧？ [06′30″]

那么如何去防范呢？从我们听闻的教典中会得到正念、正知，所以每天的听闻就很重要。为什么呢？因为当我们有了很大量正念、正知这样的正能量的输入之后，才能会在六根的门头竖起一面明镜，在对境的时候照到非理作意的存在，能够照清楚这就是非理作意。照清楚是什么？就是我们能够觉察到意念的正在进行式，非理作意一开始，然后就觉察到了。有些人是非理作意一段时间觉察到了，可是前面的非理作意到底是什么？有人记不清楚，有的人能记得很清楚。总之越早追踪到它越好，而追踪到它那面明镜一定就是从闻法上得来的——闻法、忆念正念，然后获得正知，这样得来的。所以它是要常加训练的一个功夫。 [07′35″]