Lecture No. 0146
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0146
Tape -
Date: 2019-08-22 ~ 2019-08-25
Outline: Foundation
Topic: Prologue – Veneration at the beginning of the commentary
English Lamrim Volume 1, page 34
Having proper aspiration every morning is very important; it equips us with a vigilant attitude towards whatever that can happen today or arising conditions we face, guarding our thoughts towards the practice of mindfulness in accordance with Dharma, and stop the erroneous thought. Why? For erroneous thinking will bring about nothing but suffering. By doing so, in the face of the arising conditions, upon discovering that the dormant affliction arises, we can immediately stop it; thus we will not tuck away the afflictive emotions. If we can’t stop it, then we are in a way stashing them inside. [00′34″]
Once we catch it in time, we will then need to deal with it. However, may I ask how are you going to handle the pent-up negative emotions? In a way, it is a kind of suffering! What shall we do so that we can address the daily afflictive emotions we have? In other words, how to handle such unpleasant emotions? We need to transform the way we think. But, how? There are many ways; listening to the Lamrim or the Global Lamrim teachings is one of the approaches; some classmates would do the 35 Buddha Repentance and afterward they would feel much relieved. Some monastics will serve and attend to the excellent teachers, and serve or take care of other monastics; for the lay practitioners, they can attend to their parents at home or serve the public. In any case, we have to redirect our thought process and have our mindstream settled on the virtuous continuum; that is, we have to divert our thinking from the momentum of erroneous thoughts to a virtuous momentum. Besides, the object of the virtuous momentum has to be very mighty; don’t just leave the afflictive emotions unattended, or when our mind is full of erroneous thought, we just leave it there and go straight to bed. Why? Because chances are the negative thoughts will multiply even in the dream. [01′24″]
Since we started discussing in depth on this issue, we have become more mindful of our intention when facing the arising conditions, and even the younger ones begin to be aware of this issue. Once we become more aware of this issue, we would contemplate this: who has the right to determine how I feel, be it suffering or happiness? In the very initial stage of meditation practice, we would find that it is the arising conditions or the other parties that are in control; that is, we would be pleased if someone expressed how great we were or how much they appreciated our effort; if what others said is not music to our ears, we would be upset. How we feel is completely in the hands of external arising conditions; our moods are fluctuating and are easily affected by external factors; we don’t have any control in whatsoever over them. [02′13″]
Currently, since we have not quite master the method to handle the arising conditions and are under the sway of our habitual tendency, it would be challenging for us to gain a bit of control over our mood. However, once we begin to accept the challenge, do not overwhelmingly hit back on ourselves [feel discouraged]. For instance, one setback we might have today is that when we realised and started to practice vigilance, it may be too late and the matter has gone out of control. At this moment, we should not severely criticize ourselves by chastising (with lots of labels): I am not good enough for meditation practice, my karmic debt is weighty, I am not smart, or my afflictions got the upper hand of me, etc. If we criticize and label ourselves in such a manner, then we are losing the focus. What we should do is not to digress from the subject, but rather continue to examine ourselves and to find the cause patiently. [02′49″]
Among hundreds and thousands of seeming setbacks we encounter, while facing the arising conditions, we would observe and analyze them, set them as precedents, and we would find: Well! Though I still can’t quite control myself in terms of spotting my afflictive emotions, my awareness of the affliction gets keener and sharper than before. The discerning eye to spot my afflictive emotions has become sharper, which allows me to see things with clarity. Moreover, I would notice that I am no longer justifying my afflictive emotions with many excuses; but quite the contrary, I find more reasons to practice mindfulness. To sum up, we should not give up easily and criticize ourselves when we realize we have many afflictions, and we still have lots of afflictions when we face situations. Why? Because now we are ready to embark on an expedition to conquer our afflictions – which have been accumulated since the beginningless times. [03′35″]
So, in the very beginning of our practice, we should encourage ourselves towards (having) positive attitude; despite the fact that being vigilant only lasts as short as one second, or regardless the fact that I only upheld proper thoughts for a few moments, and then I am back to my habitual erroneous thoughts. In spite of all these, those flashes of proper perception act as the luminous lights, the hope I can hold on in my hand. We should encourage ourselves by thinking in this direction. We must persist in the effort, instead of giving in to the habitual way of thinking, building up afflictive emotions with erroneous thoughts. However, how to achieve that? First, we have to be mindful and observant, and try to stop thinking erroneously; if we are unable to stop it, then catching it as early as possible will do. If we can’t stop it completely, at least we can partially stop it, which is in a way like reducing the intensity to make it less strong and thus weaken it. If we can do that, this progress we make is a step forward. [04′22″]
All in all, I hope every one of us can reflect on ourselves and sum up the progress we have made. If you find yourselves engaging in non-virtuous deeds during the day, or you notice that you are experiencing many effects of non-virtuous karma, then you can recite the 35 Buddhas Repentance once in the evening. If you do not have time to do it with full prostration, you can still accumulate immeasurable merits by just reciting it once. I highly recommend that you recite the 35 Buddhas Repentance once every day before going to bed. Persevere in doing it every day, and you will definitely notice some remarkable progress! [04′47″]
This is the topic that the monastic and I have discussed lately, and I offer this distinct discussion to you all, and hope all of you can benefit from it! [04′57″]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0146】
讲次 0146
科判 道前基础
主题〈皈敬颂〉造论宗旨
音档 -
日期 2019-08-22 ~ 2019-08-25
广论段落 P2-L1 故离智者欢喜道……故我心意遍勇喜
每天的晨起发心很重要，要让自己有一个警觉心：今天不管遇到怎样、怎样的境界，我的心都要朝着正念的方向去串习，要制止非理作意，因为非理作意会带来痛苦。当发现那个境界又来了，来了之后随眠的烦恼被搅起来了，发现之后立刻就停，这样就不会蓄积；如果停不下来就会蓄积。 00:34
如果及时发现了，需要处理一下。请问蓄积的这种不愉快的情绪，怎么处理啊？它是一种苦受啊！怎么把这个苦受处理掉呢？就是不太痛快的这种心情怎么处理掉呢？要转啊！怎么转呢？有很多种方式，比如说听《广论》、听全广是一种方式；有的同学是拜三十五佛，拜完就觉得很开心了；出家就承事善知识啊、承事僧众啊，在家就承事父母啊，或者为大众做一些事情。总之要从那个非理作意的续流转到一个善的续流上。而那个善的续流要很强，这个时候才放着，不要还在非理作意的续流上的时候你就不管、就休息了，因为它做梦可能都在增长。 01:24
所以这一段时间大家在探讨这个问题，尤其是小朋友都开始注意到这个问题的时候，就很小心对境造意业这个部分。一旦开始小心警觉这个部分的时候，我们会发现：到底苦乐的那个权利是放在谁手里的？我们一开始修行的时候都发现是境界做主、他人做主，如果他人说几句很欢喜、感恩的话，我们就会高兴；说几句不中听的话，就会不愉快。我们的心情是非常非常浮动的，非常容易被境界之风吹动，是完全没有自在的。 02:13
在完全没有自在的这种现状和习惯下，我们要得到一点主动权，通常都有一些困难。但是只要开始了之后，就不要一直打击自己，比如说今天发现我开始警觉的时候已经晚了、已经很难自控了，就不要接着又给自己贴一堆标签：我不能修行啊、我业障重啊、我笨啊、或者我烦恼盛啊......，一大堆标签就贴出来，这个时候就是跑题了。不要跑题，继续地观察，然后耐心地去寻找原因。 02:49
在上百起、上千起貌似失败的心对境的安立之中，我们会观察、会把它列为例子，我们会发现：欸！我觉察到烦恼的速度比以前要快了，虽然我还是控制不了，但是我觉察力变快了、变敏锐了，洞悉烦恼动向的这个慧眼已经变得很清澈了、看清了。然后我会发现烦恼不会有那么多理由，而正念却有很多理由了。总之，在看到自己烦恼很多，几乎是一对境就产生烦恼的时候，请大家不要轻易地打击自己。因为这就是我们开始准备出征了，要征服烦恼——无始劫来的烦恼。 03:35
所以一开始的时候要朝正向的作意鼓励自己，哪怕我有一念觉察，我有几念提正念，然后接下来全部都是非理作意，那几个正念就是光亮，就是我手中的希望，要朝着那个地方鼓励自己。一定要坚持下去，不要蓄积非理作意，不要蓄积负面情绪。怎么做到呢？先要觉察，然后设法停止；如果停不下来，能够越快觉察也好。如果停不下来全部，我可以停下来少部分，或者那个很浓的量变淡、没有那么强、变弱，这都是一个进步。 04:22
总之，希望大家能够朝着进步的方向总结自己。每天如果觉得造了一些恶业，或者你观察到有很多恶业，那么晚上就念一遍三十五佛。如果没有时间拜，念一遍也是功德无量。把三十五佛念一遍、忏悔一遍，然后再休息。每天持之以恒地做下去，一定一定会有收获的！ 04:47
把最近我们讨论的这个很鲜明的议题供养给诸位，希望大家也能从中受益！ 04:57