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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0241

Lamrim Volume 1:  P35 – LL3~P36L1

Tape: 4A 13:24 ~ 16:03

Date: 2020-07-20 ~ 2020-07-22

Topic: : It is not the fault of external objects, but the fault of our consciousness

In discourse 239, Master stated in the 2nd paragraph, “In other words, we should recognize that all the arising conditions we ordinary beings face are perceived through ...” Master centered on the arising conditions; he continued saying that “the arising conditions we ordinary beings face are perceived through our ignorance and deluded consciousness, and in turn, we create various karma.” What does this statement mean? Ever since we began our study of Buddha Dharma, we have encountered the issues of the mind and the external conditions we face. Here Master again mentioned “ignorance and deluded consciousness;” that is, before we thoroughly tame this mind of ours, it is enshrouded by ignorance. With this deluded consciousness covered by ignorance, we, while facing external conditions, will engage in all sorts of contaminated karmic deeds. [01′02″]

And Master said, “Now, [by studying Buddha Dharma], we come to understand why we have such contaminated sufferings in the cyclic existence;” why is that we will have such contaminated sufferings in the cyclic existence? Remember what Master said? He said, “All is due to our misperception of the arising conditions; it is not the fault of external objects, but the fault of our consciousness through which we misperceive the external objects. So, in fact, this is what we should understand, recognise and realize.” Master followed by talking about “knowledges.” What are those knowledges for? They are to help us invert our ignorance and deluded consciousness into wisdom. Thus our understanding of the arising conditions is no longer based on our deluded consciousness. Why? Because we have clearly understood the arising conditions, the contaminated suffering of cyclic existence is removed. [01′59″]

The excerpt from Master’s teaching is very profound. Master gave us such an incisive comment so many years ago. Actually, we should copy down the following comment on a notebook and keep reflecting on it until we know it thoroughly by heart – becoming very familiar with it - “It is not the fault of external objects, but the fault of our consciousness through which we misperceive the external objects.” Regarding all of our contentions about who’s right and who's wrong, if we focus our attention on the external conditions, thinking that’s how the problems arise, and neglect our mind, in fact, the issues of the external conditions can never be thoroughly explained and resolved, because of our deluded consciousness. [02′44″]

So what is wrong with this consciousness? It seems that the issue of the external conditions is unrelated to how I posit my impression on it; namely, the external conditions already are in itself problematic, and they are unrelated to how I perceive them. However, what Buddha Dharma teaches is that the mind and the external conditions – the external conditions that our mind faces – are closely related, so tightly correlated that the major cause of happiness or suffering can be definitely ascribed to our mind. The focus of Buddha Dharma is not about trying to fight against or fuss about the external conditions or fight to the bitter end by turning the whole world upside down. Instead, it is about a rationale analysis operated in our mind and the wrestle over what to adopt and what to cast aside in our mind as if two strongly built persons are wrestling against each other; it is an internal combat over our own perceptions. [03′40″]

The reason why this topic is profound is when our mind is full of turmoil, running riot along with the external conditions, what exactly should we do? Pacify the external conditions or the inner turmoil in our mind? As indicated in the Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, “Wearing just the leather of your sandals is like covering all the earth.” [V.2, P.153] If there is thorny earth, by using a shovel, how could I level the entire thorny earth? Why not wear a pair of shoes to fix the problem? So, are we constantly mindful of putting on our shoes? Or, do we tend to put the shoes on and taking them off arbitrarily and then forget about it? Such is our habitual tendency. Whenever something happens, we would strongly grasp on the issues of the external conditions and totally neglect that this consciousness of ours requires continuous analysis and reflection on our part before we make any judgment. We tend to make judgment about the external conditions directly. For example, we may blame the other party for the fault or determine what's right and who’s wrong. When we spend a lot of time and energy addressing the external conditions, this mind of ours seems to become a stranger to us, totally unrelated to us. If we live with this and keep doing so for a considerable amount of time, we will find ourselves very unfamiliar with our own train of thought. [04′55″]

For example, what’s our usual way of reaction to an arising condition? If we don’t analyze ourselves long enough, it is impossible for us to identify a pattern, nor are we aware of the 1, 2, 3 sequence of our behavioral pattern, like what the first reaction is, and the sequential steps we would take. Nor we are aware of how we come to the final step. However, if we monitor a certain habit of ours for a long time, we will know: Oh! That’s how it starts, goes on, and ends up! When it appears again, we would immediately recognize, “Ah! Here it comes again!” However, if we put our entire focus on the arising conditions whenever something happens, then the external conditions would induce great turbulence in our minds. In such huge emotional turmoil, it is difficult for us to analyze the situation rationally and find the proper solution to the issue. Without feasible solutions, everyone fiercely argues [as to who is right or who is wrong], causing great discomfort. Worse still, despite feeling uncomfortable and painful, everyone still insists what he or she said makes more sense. [05′40″]

Hence, when facing arising conditions, we would produce an inverted perception about the arising conditions with this deluded consciousness of ours. Such inverted perception seems to make many things sound reasonable, real, and so true right in front of our eyes; however, it can’t survive the scrutiny of logical reasoning. If we examine thoroughly with reason, our inverted perception won’t sustain for too long; we cannot support our claim with sound reasoning. It is just like the question I asked the monastics the other day; I asked them, “Which one is more powerful, compassion or hostility?” With many years of studying the scriptures, we definitely would all reply, “The compassion is more powerful!” May I ask, what are the grounds for your answer? What makes you say that compassion is more powerful? At that time, the venerables backed up their statements with sound reasoning. You all can think it over; which one is more powerful? What are your grounds for saying one is more powerful than the other? [06′32″]

Actually, regarding the topic of how to train our mind when facing the arising conditions, Master reminded us repeatedly throughout his entire Lamrim commentary. If you all can put what Master said here in your mind and constantly ponder on it, we will be more capable in shifting our attention from looking externally to examining ourselves internally. And when we start examining ourselves more inwardly, at first, we might find, “I can’t see anything there!” However, if we can catch a bit of what is going on in our mind, we would find it very intriguing; our mind is much more fascinating than a movie or mythology! Why? Because there is definitely something, we have never noticed before, probably something we have never exerted any effort to examine since the beginningless eons. [07′08″]

It is like there is no way for us to find out how deep the ocean is or how many marine organisms and lives are out there. If we scuba-dive to the very deep sea and turn off all the lights we bring along, we would think, “Now I am enjoying being in the pitch darkness!” However, after we turn off all the lights, we would discover the world under the sea is luminescent; namely, many fishes are bioluminescent! Some fishes emit a red glow; others produce green, transparent, or all sorts of glows with various colors, as if the deep sea was like the festive streetlights, with lights glowing everywhere! And we would notice how spectacular the world under the sea is! [07′41″]

So, with the capability to examine ourselves more inwardly, we can search for what lies behind every perception we have, on what grounds we have such perceptions, and why we would think of it this way. And then, we keep examining one perception after another, its concomitant behavior, and what the causality between the perception and the behaviour are? We keep exploring inwardly, searching and investigating, like we are searching for the coral reef deep down in the ocean: beautiful corals and all sorts of hard-to-imagine eye-catching fishes. Yet, our mind-exploration is much more intriguing! Why? Because our mental capacity, to a certain degree, seems to be inexhaustible, we can keep exploring inwardly! [08′12″]

With the study of the scriptures and under the guidance of our excellent teachers, if we can shift the energy we expend on the external conditions to examine our minds, we would naturally and gradually notice vast scenery. We would be able to see: Oh! My huge potentials are hidden deep inside my mind; as long as I shift my focus and my tendency of looking outwardly to explore my mind inwardly, I would be able to discover my inner potential! That kind of potential will enable us to spot the cause of an issue as long as we stay composed to examine ourselves. By identifying the cause of the problem and removing it, we won’t need to argue with others over the external conditions to the bitter end. Why? Because ultimately, it is this mind that will make us feel refreshed, peaceful, joyful, and contented. Understandably, all we have to do is to pacify this mind. What a simple and straightforward way! Yet for immeasurable eons, we have tried every possible means and struggled with so much hardship; little have we put effort into working with this very mind of ours. [09′10″]

The guidance from Master was just a few lines of words! Yet, for such a profound and key point of practice, we won’t necessarily get it even if we spend who-knows-how-much money and time traveling afar, trying to beseech such precious advice. And even if we receive such precious advice, it does not necessarily mean that we can understand it. But now we have learned the precious advice Master gave us through these few lines. If we can hold it dearly, contemplate on it day and night, delve into its meaning, entranced with the exploration of the meaning, thinking: “I am within the issue, and this issue is within me”; if we keep such inner exploring and into a state of union with our mindstream, we would definitely have an incredible appreciation for the advice from these few lines! Then, we are not just entering the Buddha Dharma doorway; we will definitely deepen the inner exploration of our mind. Moreover, we would discover that meditation practice/ cultivation is actually very interesting, and how fascinating my inner exploration is. We will not feel bored when we have nothing to read today. All we have to do is look into our own mind and cross-examine it with the scriptures we have studied. Thus when we examine ourselves so diligently, naturally, we will discover the delight and joy of meditation practice/cultivation. Once we have discovered the fun of meditation practice/cultivation, who can stop us? To advance on the path from such joy to more blissfulness, who can make us turn back? So we must strive for it! [10′24″]

讲次 0241

标题 不是外境有错，而是我的识有问题

音档 4A 13:24 ~ 16:03

日期 2020-07-20 ~ 2020-07-22

《广论》段落 P2-LL4 ~ P2-LL3 今初　总此教授……即是菩提道炬

手抄页/行 第1册 P103-LL2 ~ P105-L4　( 2016 南普陀版：第1册 P103-LL2 ~ P105-L4 )

手抄段落 最后呢有了前面这个……最后圆成一个佛果。

师父在第二段说：“换句话说前面那个境，就是说我们应该了解我们所对的境，我们凡夫所对的境”，一直在说这个境。“我们凡夫所对的境，依我们的无明妄识所对，造种种业。”这句话是什么意思呢？当我们开始学习佛法的时候，我们总会遇到心和境的问题。这里又谈到“无明妄识”，就是我们这颗心在没有进行彻底地调伏之前，它是被无明所障蔽的，一旦是无明所覆盖的这个妄识，它对境的时候就会造种种染污生死的业。01:02

然后师父说：“现在呢，我们了解为什么会有这个染污生死的痛苦”，为什么会有染污生死的痛苦呢？记得师父说什么吗？师父说：“就是所对的境是不认识，那么不是外面的境有错误，而是我们能认识这个境的这个识本身有问题，所以这个实际上还是就我们应该了解的，所以应该把这个东西认识。”接着师父就讲到了“智”，那些智是做什么？就是把这个妄识全部翻过来变成智，那么对境的了解就不是妄识所对了，因为他已经清澈地了解了境之后，染污生死的痛苦就清除掉了。01:59

这一小段话所蕴涵的道理是非常地深刻的，在那么多年前，师父就讲出了这么精辟的一段话。这段话其实应该拿个本把它抄下来，把它在内心里背到滚瓜烂熟，非常非常地熟悉。“不是外面的境有错误，而是我们能认识这个境的这个识本身有问题。”所有是是非非的争论，如果我们都去讨论外境的问题，而忽略了对内心的关注，实际上外境的问题也解释不清楚，因为那个识有问题。02:44

那么这个识的问题到底是出在哪里呢？就是看起来那个境上的问题跟我的心对它的安立是没关系的，境本来就有那样的问题，和我现在怎么想是没关系的。但是佛法恰恰把心和境——心正在对的那个境，它们俩联系得是非常紧密的，甚至快乐与痛苦最主要的原因绝对是归咎于内心的。它不是一直在境上挣扎、境上计较，在境上你死我活、天翻地覆；而是内心的这种理性的观察，还有是与非的这种搏斗，就像两个很强的人在搏斗一般，它都是在内心的这个见解上自我拼搏的。03:40

那么这个问题之所以深的原因就是：当我们的心开始随着境剧烈地波动，我们到底是平外境、还是平内心呢？在《入行论》里说：“片革垫靴底，即同覆大地。”如果地上有荆棘的话，拿一个铲子，我岂能铲平大地上所有的荆棘呢？脚上穿个鞋不就可以了吗？那么是不是每时每刻我们都会想到应该穿个鞋呢？还是随穿随扔，就会忘记？因为就是习惯！但凡有什么事发生，我们一定会去强烈地执着境上的问题，然后完全地忽略了我们这个识是有待于继续观察思考再裁决的。我们就直接定义境，比如你的错，或者定义是非在上面。而大量的时间和精力都去讨论境的话，这个心就好像变成了一个陌生者，和自己毫不相关的人，活了很久之后，其实最不熟悉的就是自己的思路。04:55

比如说：我们对一个境通常都是怎样反应的？不去长久地观察，你是找不到规律的，也不知道一、二、三步骤是什么，也不知道结尾是什么。如果长久地对自己的某一个习气观察，你就知道：哦！开始是这样的、中间是这样的、结论是这样的。那么当它再度出现的时候，你就知道：啊，它又来了！但是如果在每每发生事情的时候，我们所有的注意力都扑在境上，境就会引生内心的这种波涛。在这种强烈的起伏状态中，我们很难理性地去观察事情，很难去找到这个事情的处理方案。解决方案找不到，大家在一起争得心里都不太舒服了，甚至都很痛苦了，都觉得自己说的是有道理。05:40

所以我们这个妄识，当有什么事情发生的时候，它就会对这个境有一个颠倒的认知。这个颠倒的认知看起来是那么真实、那么有道理、那么地现前，但是它经不起正理的观察。正理的观察，观察一会儿之后它就靠不住了，找不出一个真正的理由。就像那天我问大家一个问题，我说：“慈悲和嗔恨，哪个力量大？”当然我们学过教理的都说：“慈悲力量大！”请问依据是什么？为什么你说慈悲力量大？那时候法师们就给出了很多理由。你们也可以想一想，哪个力量大？你有什么理由去说它是大的、它是小的？06:32

在心对境的这个问题上，师父会在整本《广论》里数数地提醒我们。如果大家能把这一段话放在心上常常去琢磨的话，我们观察的那个力量就会转向于内心。当我们转向于内心的时候，可能开始会发现：什么都看不到！但是当你看到一点点苗头的时候，你就会觉得很有趣，我们这个内心比看一部电影、看一部神话精彩！因为绝对是你没看过的东西，可能是无量劫来没努力过的东西。07:08

就像海底能深入到多远？海底有多少生物、有多少植物，我们也没法知道。如果潜入到很深的海底的话，把你带的灯全关掉，你想：现在我享受黑暗时刻吧！可是你带的灯全部关掉之后，会发现海底世界是有灯的，很多鱼会发光！有的鱼会发红光、有的绿光、透明的光、各种颜色，简直是像灯饰大街一样，全部都是灯！然后你就说海底世界好美呀！07:41

但是我们的心里那一个、一个思路它所带来的力量，你去寻觅它的依据，它为什么这么想？然后你去找，一个思路连着一个思路，然后连着一个行为，这中间是为什么？你一直去探寻、探寻、探寻，就好像我们在深入海底去找珊瑚礁一样，美丽的珊瑚，还有各种难以想像的漂亮的鱼，比那个实在是有趣太多了！因为心在某种程度上，它的能量好像没有穷尽的样子，你可以一直去寻找！08:12

一旦我们透过教理的熏习和善知识的引领，把百分之百扑在外境上的那个力量收回来看一看内心的话，我们自然会看到无限的风光。可以看到：哦！原来我巨大的潜能都潜藏在内心里边；原来我转动我的思想、转动我的观察，将方向瞄准内心，我就可以发现我内在的潜力！那种潜力是你静下来观察自己，一定会找到原因，找对了原因，把那个原因去掉，就不用在境上跟人家争得你死我活了。因为最终清凉的是这颗心、平静的是这颗心、愉悦的是这颗心、满足的也是这颗心，所以平定这颗心就可以了，这是一个多么简洁的方式！但是无量劫来，我们就是要这么辛苦地上天入地地折腾，却没有在这个心上下功夫。09:10

就这几行字啊！就这几行字，可能去求法花多少钱、走多少路，也未必能求到这几行字、也未必能懂得这几行字。所以，就算是跟师父听法听到这几行字，如果能够抱着这几行字昼也思考、夜也思考，进入那种如痴如醉的探索状态——我就在这个问题中、这个问题就在我中，进入那种合一的探索内心的续流，我们一定会对这一段文字产生非常非常不可思议的感受！那就不仅仅是佛法入门，一定是一个对内心的深入。然后我们就会发现修行是这么有趣的事情，我自己是这么有趣的事情，我就不用今天没有看个东西就觉得无聊。你看自己呀！你看自己的心，然后再对照经论。所以，我们这样努力地去观察的时候，自然会发现修行的乐趣。一旦发现修行的乐趣，谁能让我们停止呢？从乐趣胜乐的这条路，谁又能让我们返回呢？所以我们一定要加油啊！10:24