Lecture No. 0176
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0176
Tape: New Version 02 46:40 ~ 47:41
Date: 2019-12-05 ~ 2019-12-08
Topic: Review the extraordinary opportunity of renunciation to practice Buddha Dharma
English Lamrim Volume 1, page 34
【All those fortunate ones who are unobscured by the darkness of partisanship,
Who have the mental capacity to differentiate good and bad,
And who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure
Should listen with one-pointed attention.】
Master’s discourse FengShanSi Version Vol 1 P54-L5 ~ P54-LL4
Very well! Let’s listen to the next section. Today, we will listen to Master’s short explanation of “who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure” in his newer version of Lamrim commentary.
[Newer version 02 46:40 ~ 47:41]
So now, what does this “wish” refer to? The verse “who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure” means we have obtained this hard-to-come-by human form of leisure; this human form of leisure refers specifically to the fundamental prerequisites for practicing Buddha Dharma. So now we are sitting here; many lay practitioners envy us even though they are endowed with excellent conditions. Why? For they lack the leisure, and they don’t have time or opportunity to apply meditation practice. This leisure [we monastics have] is highly precious! So in lieu of squandering the life, those “who have the mental capacity to differentiate good and bad” cherish it; they are truly endowed with virtuous roots. People who lack the virtuous roots have different perspective; they would look at us, “Well, you people sit there [all day long!] I would go out having fun! I would never ever do things like that! I definitely am not willing to sit there listening, writing, reading, and reciting.” Understandably, it takes a lot of prerequisites to listen to the teaching with “one pointed” attention. [01:16]
[In this newer version of Lamrim commentary, Master once again mentioned, “who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure”. [He] said, “we have obtained this hard-to-come-by human form of leisure; this human form of leisure refers specifically to the fundamental prerequisites for practicing Buddha Dharma.” Pay attention! [Why do] we need to practice the teaching according to Buddha Dharma? [It is] for the sake of ultimately eliminating suffering and attaining lasting happiness. [Now,] let’s examine our current states. Master said, “So now we are sitting here”; he was addressing specifically to the monastics, saying that, despite many lay practitioners are endowed with excellent [qualifications and] conditions, yet they envy us. [Why? That is] because they don’t have time and opportunity [to apply mediation practice]. [Take the monastics who have] studied the Five Great Treatises for 15 to 20 years for example; [they have listened] to the elucidation on every commentary in great detail, memorized whatever needs to be memorized, including the Fundamental Praise of the Five Great Treatises and many others, and spent time debating whatever needs debating. The principal focus and time of their lives are mainly devoted to studying, contemplating, meditating and debating. Master said, “This leisure [we monastics have] is highly precious!” He praised those who are endowed with virtuous roots for not squandering their human life of leisure and opportunity. [02:40]
We live in the monastery and what we do every day, [such as] listening to the Buddha’s teaching, attending the morning and evening sessions, reciting, and debating, etc, as time slips by imperceptibly, the power of faith that develops in our mental momentum every time we listen to the Buddha’s teaching; with each round of contemplation, we reap the fruits of [immense appreciation] after we apply what we have learned to counteract our afflictions, incorporating it in our mental continuum. The gratefulness and [deep] cherishment of being fortunate enough to have this rare opportunity to encounter such sublime and precious teaching of Master Tsong-kha-pa, and [further] apply meditation practice in such precious Sangha community! All these are hard to come by [and shall not be taken for granted.] Given the entire cyclical existence from the past until now, how many times did I have the opportunities to don the robes, encounter Master Tsong-kha-pa’s teaching, and on top of that, have faith in Master Tsong-kha-pa’s teaching so that I can listen to the teaching, contemplate on it, and meditate accordingly year after year? For us, from the [untraceable] past until now, how many times have we repeatedly been granted such opportunities? Such precious opportunities do not come by easily. From the moment we get up early in the morning, going to the prayer hall which is adorned with so many statues of Buddha; finding so many sutras and scriptures within reach, within our sight, and are readily accessible for study in our bookcase; accompanied by so many virtuous companions/monastics, learning and studying the same Buddha’s teaching, practicing and upholding the same precepts. Think about this in detail, how much merits have we accumulated, amassing how much of the qualifications/conditions for others to be envious of having such opportunities? [04:24]
The monastics and young novice monks in our monastery are striving hard at memorization, surmounting themselves on the path of listening and contemplation. After joining the monastery, they have a substantial number of sutras and scriptures to memorize. Whenever a monastic feels exhausted while studying, he must [learn to] surpass himself every time. On the path of cultivation, it is either [one] has never started, or has given up halfway through, while those who have already embarked on the path must also unshaking-ly persevere, then only they can maintain the initial/original aspiration until the end, and keep on memorizing the sutras and scriptures persistently over the years. Hence, finally internalizing the Buddha’s teaching into their mind stream/continuum. During this process, many of our monastics have trained and grown the strong willpower of listening and contemplation. Whenever it is the monastery’s final examination period, we would hear that monastics have [successfully] memorized a particular sutra and scriptures in completion, even to the extent of being able to memorize several hundred thousand of words each time. Besides the memorizing class, some monastics would memorize the text while walking from their bedroom to the shrine hall, before bed in an upright position; some monastics cherish every moment that they even memorize the texts once upon waking up to the knocking wood board (signalling the beginning of the day). [05:39]
The same applies for debate-learning. Devoting whole-heartedly, some monastics reflect upon standing, sitting, having meals, or even in the dreams while they sleep. By the time the monastery’s annual final examination takes place, every monastic put in their best effort to prepare the exam topics and questions, as well as anxiously getting themselves to be well-prepared to deal with the exam questions from others. During the exam, any unimaginable things can happen, because you will never be able to predict what sort of questions will be thrown out by others, nor you would be able to predict how others are going to answer the questions meticulously prepared by you. Whenever it is time of the annual final exam, the atmosphere among the monastics is indeed nervous, tense, yet joyous, because the most wonderful and brilliant topics/questions are bound to surface during the annual exam. At the same time, this is the moment that everybody gets to learn from one another, as well as encourage and motivate one another. [06:32]
Think about this, is such memorization a type of practice/cultivation? Is listening to Buddha’s teaching considered as practice/cultivation? Is debating also regarded as practice/cultivation? [Would you regard] every step you take, walking from the dormitory to the main prayer hall as going on a pilgrimage? We would try every means possible to travel to sacred places to pay respect to great masters, yet there are Buddha’s statues right in the prayer hall; there are scriptures right on the bookshelves, and even right on our desks. The path to eliminating suffering and attaining happiness is elucidated with exceptional clarity in the scriptures. Besides, there are excellent virtuous teachers tirelessly explaining the scriptures to us line by line, word for word, telling us how each commentary elucidates Buddha’s teachings, how the other commentators elaborated them with their annotations, and what valid concluding explanations are. [What’s more,] this lineage has never been broken, and it is very clear and lucid; it is right in our Sangha community! If we could make a bit more effort to reflect on it, pondering on the combinations of all the causes and conditions, then we would realize and experience that the human life of leisure and opportunity as described in the sutras and scriptures is inconceivably amazing! [07:30]
Therefore, Master next described [those who are not fully endowed with virtuous roots]. He said, those people would look at us - [these monastics just] sits in the monastery! They wouldn’t take such way of living a life for themselves, because they’d like to go everywhere having fun! [They] can’t sit still, for [their minds are habitually] scattering around [for eons]; they cannot stay focused; it is impossible for them to concentrate on the scriptures. They cannot concentrate on [the sublime practice of] listening, explaining, reading and reciting scriptures, as well as debating; Nor they are be able to develop profound understanding from reading, transcribing and debating over sutras and scriptures; they would not perceive these as the best and only approach to train and forge our mind to ultimately remove suffering and attain lasting happiness. [They] wouldn’t have such understanding; instead, [they] believe that there are some other ways to attain happiness and avoid suffering. [They] have let their mind attached and lingered to the other approaches, procrastinating, and even fixated on such approaches, assuming their approaches are the path to alleviate suffering and attain happiness. That is because they have not changed their perception. [08:30]
To change [one’s] perception, there is a need to discuss about thoughts and understanding/reasoning. Take the first lesson of our debating class on color for example. While discussing those debating topics, we would wonder if the discussion on whether the colour of conch is white could help resolve the afflictions in my mind stream. As is well known, the colour of white conch is white. However, according to Master Se-Tsang [Ngag-wang-tra-shi], the first lesson is indeed to use such commonly known matters to establish the proper reasoning. Why is it [critical] to establish the proper reasoning? Because the proper reasoning is the fundamental cure to eliminate the cause of suffering. From the Buddha’s viewpoint, ignorance is the root cause to all [sentient beings’] sufferings, and the sharpest [and only] tool to get rid of ignorance is wisdom of emptiness. Nevertheless, for ordinary people, it is impossible to attain the wisdom of emptiness from the experience gained via the five senses. On the contrary, [we] must apply logical reasoning and valid cognition to achieve reasonable inferences and conclusions, only then [we] can understand [the wisdom of emptiness]. Therefore, establishment of proper reasoning is of utmost importance to a practitioner! [09:34]
Despite Collected Topics is [only] the elementary course in the [whole] curriculum to study the Five Great Treatises, which is also the indispensable fundamental course to advance to the Five Great Treatises, it will subvert our mundane feelings, as well as the habitual tendency of our original way of thinking and reasoning. All the earth-shattering logic and reasoning will shock us and leave us stunned, leading us to suddenly realize that [our] usual state of lives are [in fact] muddle-headed in a daze. Through the mirror of [proper] reasoning, we will put in great efforts to identify the truth countlessly, [trying our best] to recognize and seek the truth from all conditions and [reach to] the pristine states of our minds! Day after day, [we] dedicate [ourselves] to diligently learn the proper reasoning of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and lineage masters, and imagine [ourselves] following their footsteps to overcome the flowing river of afflictions, and landing upon the shore of serenity, with the brilliance of compassion and wisdom. Such striving is very delightful! Hence, reflecting on Master’s praises that we are now endowed with this human life of leisure and opportunity, great joy and delight should arise within (us)! [10:45]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0176】
讲次 0176
标题 重新看待出家修行的非凡际遇
音档 新版 02 46:40 ~ 47:41
日期 2019-12-05 ~ 2019-12-08
广论段落 P2-L2 诸有偏执暗未覆……诸具善者专励听
手抄页/行 凤山寺版：第1册 P54-L5 ~ P54-LL4)
手抄段落 那现在的欲是什么呢......来听闻这个教法。
好！那我们来听下一段。今天想要听一下师父在新版《广论》里讲的“欲令暇身”的这一小段。
那现在的欲是什么呢？ “欲令暇身”，我们得到这个难得的有暇之身，这暇身是专门 指如法修行必须的条件。所以我们现在坐在这里，人家很多在家人，尽管他有很优越的条 件，他羡慕我们，因为他无暇，他没有时间、没有机会来修行。这是非常值得珍贵的！那白白地浪费，不让它白白地浪费，这些“具诸善者”，这些真正具足善根的人。不具足善根的人不一样，不具足善根的人看我们：哪，你们这些人！坐在这地方，我不会跑出去玩一下的？我不会去做这件事情的！我们绝对不会愿意坐在那里听、写、读、背，所以这个需要的很多条件。那么专心、努力地“专励”来听闻这个教法。 [01:16]
师父又一次提到了：“欲令暇身”。说：“我们得到这个难得的有暇之身，这暇身是专门指如法修行必须的条件。”注意！为什么要如法修行呢？为了究竟地离苦得乐。那么就观察一下我们现在，说：“我们现在坐在这里”，师父就针对僧团在讲，很多在家人有很多优越的条件，但是他羡慕我们，因为他没有时间、没有机会。譬如说学十五年、二十年的五大论，详细地听闻每一部论的解释，把该背的都背了——五大论的根本颂等等还有很多要背；还有需要辩论的，都拿时间来辩论，生命的主轴和所有的时间都是用来闻思修的。师父说：“这是非常值得珍贵的！”赞美这些具足善根的人，不让它白白地浪费掉这个暇满。 [02:40]
我们在寺院里面，每天听闻佛法、早晚课、背书、辩论......。时光荏苒，岁月流逝，我们每一次对佛法的听闻，在我们心续上产生的信仰的力量；每一次思惟，拿所闻的道理来对治烦恼、结合心续，内心中收获的那一分感动；那一分觉得值遇了大宝的教法，在这样一个大宝的僧团中修行的感恩和珍惜，这一切是多么地来之不易啊！在整个从过去到现在的轮回中，我到底有几次能够得到这样的机会，穿上袈裟、值遇宗大师教法，又对宗大师教法具有信心，可以经年累月地听闻、思惟、修行？这样的时光对我们来说，从过去到现在我们重复几次了？这时光并非随处可得。从早晨起来我们就会到大殿，有那么多尊佛像在殿堂里；有那么多经典就在自己的书柜里，触手可及、抬眼可见；又有这么多的同行善友，修学一样的教法，持守一样的律仪。仔细想想，这要累积多少资粮，聚合多少因缘，才能出现这令人羡慕的机遇啊？ [04:24]
我们寺院的法师们、小沙弥都在努力地背书，正在闻思的路上拼命地战胜自己。进入僧团之后，要大量地背诵教典。当一个僧人在学习过程中，感觉到辛苦的时候，要不只一次地超越自己。在修行的路上，要么是从来没有开始、要么是半途而废，而已经踏上这条路的人也必须矢志不移，才能保持初心坚守到底，经年累月地坚持背诵，把这些经典上佛陀的教言装入自己的心续。许多出家人，在这个过程中修链出闻思的毅力。每当到寺院大考的时候，我们总会听到又有出家人将哪部经典、哪部论著完整地背诵下来了，甚至能一次性地背诵数十万字。除了背书课堂之外，从寮房到大殿、走在路上背诵、睡前端坐在床上，乃至听到打板声睁开眼睛的时候，都有法师趁着这个时间在串背着经文。 [05:39]
学习辩论也是，当全心全意地投入其中的时候，有的法师站着也是思考、坐着也是思考，吃饭的时候也会思考，睡梦中也在思考。到全寺院一年一度的大考的时候，每个人也都倾心地准备了题目，同时也非常紧张地准备面对别人的考题。在大考的会上，任何想像不到的事情都会发生，因为你永远料不到别人会出什么题，也无法想到自己精心准备的题目别人怎么回答你呢？一到大考的时候，僧众们的气氛真是又紧张、又欢乐，每一次大考，都有最精彩的题目出现，同时也是大家最能相互学习、相互激励的时候。 [06:32]
想一想，这样的背诵是修行吗？听闻佛法是修行吗？辩论是修行吗？乃至从寮房走到大殿，每一步路是去朝圣吗？我们都想千辛万苦地到圣地去朝圣，那么佛陀就坐在大殿里，经典就在经柜里面，甚至在我们的书桌上。离苦得乐之道在经典里写得清清楚楚，而且有善知识不厌其烦地为我们讲一行、一个字、每一部论怎么解释、诸家的解释，还有汇总的解释是什么。这个传承从未间断，而且是如此清晰，就在我们这个僧团！如果稍加思考这一切所有的聚合，便会感受到教典中所说的暇身难得不可思议啊！ [07:30]
所以师父接下来又说：有的人看我们——啊，这些人就坐在这个地方！他是不会来做这些事情的，因为他想要到处跑呀！坐不住啊！没法收摄，不可能收摄在教典上，无法专注于听、说、读诵经典、背诵经典、辩论这些事情；也无法对于听闻、读写教典、辩论教典产生殊胜的胜解，认为这就是淬链我们内心离开痛苦、得到快乐的唯一方式，也是最佳方式。不会成这种见解，总认为有一些其他的方式可以达到快乐、可以离开痛苦的。一直让自己的心思留恋、拖延在那些其他方法上，甚至滞留在那些上面，以为那就是离苦得乐之道，因为他的见解是没有转过来的。 [08:30]
说到转变见解，就要谈到理路。比如说学辩论的第一课——颜色，讨论那些辩论题，我们会觉得：讨论白法螺是不是白色，对我心续的烦恼有没有作用呢？众所周知，白法螺的颜色是白色的，但是赛仓大师说，第一课就是要用这种人人都知晓的事例来建立正理的理路。为什么要建立正理的理路呢？因为正理的理路，才能破除痛苦的根本。佛陀认为无明是一切痛苦的根本，破除无明最重要的利器就是空性见。可是对于凡夫而言，空性不能用现量证得，一定要用理路，生起比量才能了解，所以建立理路对一个修行者来说至关重要！ [09:34]
虽然《摄类学》是学习五大论的初级课程，也是五大论必不可少的基础课程，但它会颠覆我们平常的感觉，还有原有的思路习惯。一切石破天惊的思路，会让自己和他人从惊吓到惊艳，让我们恍然觉悟到平常的生命状态糊里糊涂、浑浑噩噩。在理路的镜子中，我们会努力地去辨认真理的模样，无数次地去辨认、去探寻诸法的实相、心的本来面目！日复一日，精进地学习佛菩萨、祖师的理路，想像他们一样超越烦恼的大河，到达寂静、悲智纷呈的彼岸。这样的奋斗，是多么地令人欢喜呀！所以想一想师父对我们具足暇身的赞叹，我们要生起极大的欢喜心！ [10:45]