Lecture No. 0264
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0264
Lamrim Volume 1: Pg 36L5
Tape No | 4B 21:58 ~ 23:15
Date: 2022-08-03
Topic: How the teacher upholds the precepts is one of the fundamental qualities we pay attention to when we look for virtuous teacher
Very well! We will continue listening to the next section.
So, Master Atisha served as an exemplar. Since he thoroughly understood the sequence of practice, he would never say, “Ah, renunciation is for Hinayana practitioners, so we Mahayana practitioners don’t need to abide by the Hinayana precepts.” You can tell from his biography that he abided by the Hinayana precepts so rigorously that not even a speck of transgression was allowed to happen! Only with the Hinayana precepts as the foundation could he receive Bodhisattva vows and then the Vajrayana vows, which required an even more solid foundation of abiding by the relatively preliminary precepts. Nowadays, practitioners have become much worse than before: many Mahayana practitioners would say, “Well, I am a Mahayana practitioner, so there is no need to receive Hinayana precepts.” Some Vajrayana practitioners are even more debased by assuming, “Anyway, Vajrayana is the best; Vajrayana practitioners can drink alcohol, eat meat, and get married. As a matter of fact, Vajrayana is the supreme among all.” Alas, how could the authentic teachings possibly be like this? [00:40]
Thus, with proper understanding, we would know this: on the one hand, self-benefiting is indeed very important; on the other hand, in case someone has erroneous views, with this proper understanding we acquire, we can base our judgment on it so that we won’t go awry. This point is equally important! So, the text begins by explaining the greatness of the author, so we know how to rely on virtuous teachers; at the same time, we may also learn from this example so we won’t be tricked by the absurdity happening nowadays. So, this section is about self-benefiting, while the section below [V.1 p. 40] is about benefiting others. [01:24]
Great! Let me ask you a question; Master said, “We won’t be tricked by the absurdity happening nowadays.” What does the absurdity refer to? Did Master illustrate it with an example? Yes, he did, didn‘t he? What is your answer? The word “absurdity” mainly refers to our erroneous perception interms of ethical discipline. Some practitioners consider renunciation to be the Hinayana practice, and they may ignore the Hinayana precepts because they boast about being Mahayana practitioners, right? However, this was not what Master Atisha demonstrated. Master Atisha abided by the Hinayana precepts very rigorously, correct? So much so that not even a speck of transgression was allowed to happen. With the Hinayana precepts as the foundation, he further received the Bodhisattva vows and then Vajrayana vows. The absurdity here refers to the erroneous view that Vajrayana is great that they can drink alcohol, eat meat, etc. Master said, “How could the authenticteachings possibly be like this?” Thus, we should not hold such a view about Vajrayana. [02:27]
As we all know, Vajrayana practice builds its foundation on renunciation, Bodhichitta, and studying the wisdom of emptiness. Thus, the requirement of Vajrayana vows is very strict and much more meticulous than the precepts of Mahayana and Hinayana. It is not that once we have attained the more advanced level of meditation practice, then we can do away with the precepts! Thus, regarding the “absurdity,” we can say that people recklessly misinterpret the precepts and their failure to act in accordance with the ethical discipline is what Master said “absurdity.” [02:51]
As we learn from the Lamrim, when we are looking for virtuous teachers for our Buddha Dharma study, we must pay attention to one of the fundamental qualities of the virtuous teacher – how this teacher upholds the precepts. This is the basic and the most important quality. Why? This is because ethical discipline will enable the practitioner to step on the right path to renunciation. Only with ethical discipline can we learn self-discipline! The basic spirit of precepts is self-discipline; we can obtain inner tranquillity after taming the afflictions! Thus, if the teachers we want to rely on don’t even have this basic qualification, there is no benefit whatsoever we can gain by closely relying on this teacher. So, is there an exemplar for us to benchmark when looking for a virtuous teacher? The exemplar should be exactly like what Master Atisha demonstrated. [03:24]
Thus, as for those absurd phenomena, we can at least have the proper understanding – the attitude towards such precepts upholding is wrong, and we wouldn’t take that route for our training. While seeing people with such an attitude, we would have proper perception and won’t be carried along. Perhaps we can help out, like introducing these people to the Lamrim so they will no longer have such erroneous perceptions. [03:47]
Hence, Master introduced to us the Life of Master Atisha, and with such short duration, he brought up the importance of ethical discipline – starting from explaining what Master Atisha demonstrated, to guiding us to see that the most basic principle of learning the Buddha Dharma is to apply it for self-introspection, self-discipline, and self-purification. May I ask, what does it mean by self- purification? What is there to be purified? It is to purify afflictions, including rectifying our habit of constantly wanting to discipline others, right? When we start with our mind training, we tend to pick on others; whatever others do or say, we can always find ways to nag at or criticize them. And while we are nagging at others, rarely it is with a compassionate attitude. More often than not, we harbor anger, arrogance, and various other negative emotions; in short, whatever it is, it rarely aligns with compassion. [04:35]
If we nag at others while harboring such negative, fault-finding attitudes or even strong hostility, itdoes no good for self or others; worse yet, we create the karmic deed that will cause us to descend to the miserable realms. Therefore, Master reminded us time and again – after we have studied the Buddha Dharma, we definitely should be mindful about the steps we are taking; these steps we are taking have to be very steady and firm! Such steady and firm steps come from applying the standard of the Buddha Dharma for self-discipline. Then, you may argue, “If it is for self-discipline, then how can I help others?” Actually, if every member in the entire group is working on self-discipline, there won’t be too many issues within that group. The problems will arise mostly because some people don’t follow the guideline of self-discipline; instead, they are always picking on others and judging others with the teachings they heard. Then, the conflict is sure to arise. [05:16]
So, why is it that Master mentioned [in Teaching #262] “mistaken perception” and “constant dissension”? That is because we have not applied the Buddha Dharma for self-purification; everyone is bickering on each other, which is very disturbing. If we can apply the teachings for self- purification, having a harmonious environment would not be a problem. Why? Because when the problem arises, we would always search for solutions inwardly ”Ah! I might be wrong over such andmsuch aspects. “ Once we become very humble and gentle, this adamant dissension would not easily occur. [05:42]
In Master’s Lamrim commentary, though Master introduced to us the Life of Master Atisha, he actually gave us the advice to rectify our latent habit of picking on others and criticizing others. Such habits will do us no good, whether we are just ordinary beings; it will create much negative karma that will eventually cause us to descend to the miserable realms. Why? Because the world we see from such a perspective is really awful! If we don’t have the eyes to look for beauty in the world, what we see will be nothing but ugliness in life, namely, everyone else is inferior to me, or even horrible; we can’t see anything beautiful in life! [06:21]
Then, how can we discover beautiful things in life? To start with, we have to shift the attention from looking outwardly to being mindful of what we are saying and what we are thinking. We can even look at our facial expressions in the mirror: are we aware that we frown frequently? Have we noticed that we usually talk to others impatiently or very bluntly? Are we aware that the manner we speak is very rude? Do we show respect for others? All these require our introspection; otherwise, there is no way we would be aware of them. You know, in our life the persons we are least familiar with are ourselves; with our eyes looking outwardly and our mouth talking about others throughout our entire life, we couldn’t possibly get to meet the true self. So, the minimum requirement of emulating the Buddha is that we need to become used to self-introspection, or the so-called “living at the present moment.” Whose present moment is it? Living at the present moment means that we should know what kind of karma we are creating at this given moment through our own body, speech, and mind. [07:20]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0264】
讲次 | 0264 (2020-10-08 ~ 2020-10-11)
标题 | 寻觅善知识，持戒是最基本的德相
《广论》段落 | P3-L5 获得功德事理分二……如理修行获证功德事理。 今初
音档 | 4B 21:58 ~ 23:15
手抄页/行 | 第1册 P125-L1 ~ P125-LL4 ( 2016 南普陀版：P125-L2 ~ P125-LL3 )
手抄段落 | 所以大师就是个典型的例子……在第六页上面是利他。
(更新日期: 2022年8月3日)
00:00
好！下面我们接着听。
所以大师就是个典型的例子，他由于这个次第很明白、很清楚，所以他绝对不会说：“啊，这 个出离心是小乘的，所以小乘戒不管。”你看，他对小乘戒守得这么严密啊，那一点都不能错！然后在这个上面才能够建立菩萨戒，然后再，密乘更是如此。现在是更糟糕了，很多人学大乘的，哎呀，我是个大乘的，小乘不要；学密乘更是糟糕了，反正是密乘最好，又可以吃酒，又可以吃肉，又可以结婚，说起来最高的。唉，真正的教法哪里是这个样的！00:40
所以这个地方我们能够正确地认识，有一方面固然自利很重要，一方面万一有人弄错了，你认识了这个，你去衡量的话，大概也不会走上错路去，这一点也是非常重要的！所以一方面固然是说明造者殊胜，让我们晓得怎么去找善知识，一方面从这个例子当中，也让我们明确地认识，不要被眼前莫名其妙的这种事情所骗。那么这个是自利，下面呢，在第六页上面是利他。01:24
好！那我提一个问题，师父说：“不要被眼前莫名其妙的这种事情所骗”，这个莫名其妙的事情所骗是指什么呢？这里边有举例子吗？有，是吧？你们的答案是什么？“莫名其妙”的这一点，应该主要是指对戒律的看法，比如说他认为这个出离心是小乘的，所以小乘戒不管，他自诩为学大乘的，对不对？但是阿底峡尊者的示现不是这样的，他对小乘戒守得是非常非常地严密，对吧？一点都不能错。然后在这个基础上建立了菩萨戒，然后才密乘戒。这里边莫名其妙的事情就是那种看法，说：密乘好啊，又吃酒、又吃肉这种看法。师父说：真正的教法哪有这个样子的！对于密法不要持这样的看法。02:27
大家都知道密法是在出离心、菩提心的基础上，还要学习空性，所以密乘戒是要求地非常非常严格、越来越精细的，不是到上面反而抛弃戒律，不是这样的！所以这个“莫名其妙的事情”，我们在这里边可以理解为对于戒律胡乱地解释，还有那种没有在持戒的行为，就是莫名其妙。02:51
这里边有告诉我们：修学佛法寻觅善知识的时候，一定要注意善知识最基本的一个德相，就是他对戒律的持守，那是最基本的德相。因为戒律是轨成出离之道，我们才能够学到律己呀！戒律最基本的精神就是律己，然后降伏烦恼得到清凉啊！如果连这个基本功都没有的话，我们靠近他是不会得到利益的。那我们寻觅善知识有什么范本可以依靠吗？其实就像阿底峡尊者示现的这样。03:24
所以我们对于那些莫名其妙的这种现象，至少内心里可以有个正确的认知——对戒律这样的态度是错的，我们也不会去走这样的路。看到有这样的人，我们也知道心里有个正确的看法，就是不随逐。也可能还可以帮忙一下，比如说让他学一下道次第，学了之后就不会有这样的看法了。03:47
所以师父给我们介绍《阿底峡尊者传》，就用这么短的时间强调戒律的重要性——从阿底峡尊者的示现，到我们学佛最基本的就是一定要学会拿这个佛法的标准来衡量自己、来律己，先净化自己。请问什么叫净化自己呢？净化什么？净化烦恼，也包括净化我们一直要管别人的这种习惯，对不对？一直上手就要说别人，什么事都要说别人、批评别人。而说别人的时候很少是怀着慈悲心，多半都是怀着嗔心、慢心、很多各式各样的心，总之可能很少相顺于慈悲心的。04:35
这样负面的、观过的，甚至造很强烈的嗔心的业，我们去说别人其实对自他都完全没有好处，会造堕落的业。所以师父再再地提醒我们：当我们学习了佛法，千万注意到脚下的路，脚下的路要走得踏实！这个踏实的路，一定是拿佛法的标准来律己的。那你说：律己的话怎么帮人呢？其实这一群人中如果大家都律己的话，是不太会有大的问题的，就怕有人不拿标准律己，老去说别人，以法绳人，这样的话就会有矛盾产生。05:16
所以师父为什么说：“诤论、斗诤坚固”呢？就是这个佛法没有拿来净化自己，你说我、我说你，大家就乱了。如果都拿来净化自己的话，和合也不会有太大的问题，因为遇到问题了我们总会去寻找：啊！可能是我哪里哪里有些问题。一旦变成这么谦虚柔和的态度，人们也不容易斗诤坚固。05:42
师父在《广论》里——现在是讲《阿底峡尊者传》——在字里行间都是在规劝我们要改掉老是看别人、说别人这样一个习惯。这样的习惯对于一个凡夫来说、对一个初业行者来说不是好习惯，会让我们造很多堕落的业，因为看出去的世界实在是太糟了！没有一双会寻找美的眼睛，看到的都是丑陋的，都是不如自己的，甚至是恐怖的，看不到美好的东西！06:21
那如何能够看到美好的东西呢？要先把这种一直在看外面的目光，先移回来注视自己在说什么、自己在想什么。甚至看一看自己的表情，知道自己常常皱眉吗？知道自己跟别人说话常常声音太大，或者对别人讲话不是很客气吗？知道自己说话很失礼吗？没有尊重别人吗？这些都要自己看了自己才知道，不然也不知道。因为我们这一辈子最大的陌生人就是自己了，眼睛长在外面、嘴一辈子都说别人，没法跟真实的自己相遇。所以学佛最起码的一个要求，就是要学会习惯性地看自己，就是所谓的“活在当下”，谁的当下啊？自己的身、语、意正在造什么业自己要知道。07:20