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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0304

Lamrim Volume 1:  : P40-L4 ~ P40-L11

Topic: Likewise if I lose my weapon of mindfulness, in fear of hell, I quickly retrieve it

Next, the discussion moved on to the topic of vigilance and mindfulness of upholding precepts. We should be clear what kind of precepts we have taken, how many stipulations? What condition would constitute an infraction? What is transgression? One should not commit transgressions as this will result in breaking the vows. When the vows are broken, the effect is miserable rebirth. At this time, we should repent. Therefore, mindfulness is critical while we are upholding the precepts. Take heed! Before the word “intention” [念头], there is a word “correct” [正] (referring to mindfulness), usually mindfulness and vigilance are placed together. Rinpoche considers mindfulness very important. Then, one of the Venerables asked: “While upholding precepts, is having mindfulness the first thing we should do?” I believed this Venerable already knew the answer. Sometimes, when we are in front of our virtuous teachers, we will ask the questions of issues that we already understood to validate it again. I am not sure if you have such an experience? I do have many, ask one more time, receive it one more time, [we] will obtain blessing one more time. [00′58″]

Rinpoche continued, pay attention, we must arise our mindfulness. Let me ask you a question first: is mindfulness very heavy? Mindfulness can just fly over and that’s done, why do we need to arise it? Does it take strength to raise things? Do we have to exert effort? For people who are strong, lifting stuff is a breeze. However, for those who are physically weaker, when lifting something heavy, they will need to exert extra effort. In the initial stage of strength training, when we do not have sufficient training yet, we need to exert great effort. That is why, when we start to uphold mindfulness, we would feel that even if we exert ourselves, we just couldn’t do it. It seemed to be a hefty load. However, being mindful is critically important, if we can’t remain mindful, it would just be impossible to even think of it. That is, we need to search for mindfulness, once we have found it, then we need to bring it over, hold fast to it, and arise it. [01′54″]

Rinpoche continued: “Vigilance is also very important!” What is vigilance? New students would often ask: “What is vigilance? What is mindfulness?” Take being attentive in class for example; what is it? Is this mindfulness? Then, you examine yourself with full attention: “Am I listening attentively?” Check your state of mind periodically; what would you call this? Vigilance. It is to check if your mindfulness is still at work. Vigilance, who does it keep an eye on? It is to keep an eye on mindfulness, right? So, vigilance is being observant, and mindfulness is what Rinpoche said here, just as described in the Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds: as the knife and sword used by the warrior in the battlefield. What does this analogy illustrate? Mindfulness. After we dropped the sword, pick it up right away. This is how mindfulness should be [applied]; as soon as mindfulness drops, we must pick it up immediately. [02′39″]

The Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states: “If you drop your sword in battle, out of fear, you quickly pick it up. Likewise, if I lose my weapon of mindfulness, in fear of hell, I quickly retrieve it.” [Vol. 2, P. 203] Here it comes, here comes the crucial point! What if mindfulness seems to be very weighty, we are unable to lift it, we can’t even find it. What should we do then? If we lose our mindfulness, that means the [precious] sword is lost, what should we do? “In fear of hell, I quickly retrieve it”, without mindfulness, we will fall to hell! We need to reflect on the sufferings of the three miserable realms, be fearful of descending to hell, then we retrieve the sword immediately. If we drop the [precious] sword in the battlefield, it should be retrieved right away. Otherwise, the enemy will grasp this opportunity and kill us. It is the same for mindfulness, once we lose it, we must reflect on the sufferings in hell or the miserable realms, we really have to be able to transform our mind. [If] You are reluctant to be mindful, [if] you are reluctant, how can you convince your mind? You have to contemplate on the sufferings in hell and the sufferings of the three miserable realms. [03′51″]　

You have contemplated over it once, but your mind ignores you; your attempt is futile! You continue to contemplate deeper. What did you think of? Transform [your mind]. That is, to have feelings about the sufferings in hell and the miserable realms. What does “feelings” mean? [It means from] the word “fear”, start to be afraid! Feel fearful and mindfulness is arose. Is this a kind of taming [the mind]? If we do not have mindfulness, then vigilance will not arise either. With mindfulness, we can then apply vigilance to inspect whether we have done it right or not, use it to analyze [our mental stream]. This is Rinpoche’s explanation of vigilance and mindfulness. [04′24″]

It seems to me, the teaching in this section, provides very brilliant instructions for us to work hard [in terms of our meditation practice], do you all agree? Arising mindfulness, we would think it is quite easy under normal circumstances. However, once we feel offended, we only want to vent our anger on that person who is annoying us. [At this juncture,] being mindful, we need patience or to recollect the merits of the Three Jewels, and pray to the gurus…. A moment like this, we would find it difficult to keep our mindfulness. What should we visualize at time like this? Here, it says: “In fear of hell, I quickly retrieve it.” This is one of the approaches. What else? “I should remain still like a tree” [The Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, Chapter 5, #50”], is this right? These are the feasible approaches provided in the Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds. [04′57″]

Most important of all, are we aware when we lose our mindfulness? Dropping the sword, some people still dash forward! Charging into enemy formation, still thinking they are pretty smart. They are no longer waving their [precious] sword [of mindfulness]. At this time, the enemy of afflictions will grasp this opportunity to destroy us, thereby planting the many causes of great suffering of descending to the three miserable realms. At this moment, we should be afraid of it. There is a saying [in the scriptures that], “Bodhisattvas fear causes” [Teaching #301]. Being afraid of the causes in this moment – in the moment we lose our temper, or we speak [whatever is in our mind] without restraints, we seem to derive great satisfaction from doing so. However, the karma of descending to hell is thus created. The offensive speeches, etc. these are created.  Once created, we should be alerted right away: “Wow! What I have done is a non-virtuous deed, and the consequence of doing so is downfall to the miserable realms! I have taken the vows; I cannot do this!” While thinking about these, have we successfully arose our mindfulness? Yes, we have already arose  it. Thus, we need to stabilize it, make it steady, and then we will be able to intercept our mental momentum from engaging in non-virtuous deeds, “I should remain still like a tree”. Now, we can see trees almost everywhere. When we see trees, will we just admire how pretty these trees are, looking so nice under the blue sky, or will we be reminded that is it possible for each tree to be a reminder for us. Our condition of upholding the precepts should be as steady as the trees. We should let our mind remain in the proper perception. [06′20″]

When we are holding grudges, we will begin to complain. Some people would turn their entire life into a ledger [keeping record of who owes them what, so on and so forth], flipping through the ledger whenever they are free and start complaining. Once the gate of the complaining river is opened, wow! It is very extremely outrageous; they would complain almost about anything. Complaining, complaining, and complaining, blaming everyone, bring nothing but immense unbearable suffering to themselves. Well, we all know that this human form is very difficult to obtain, and Buddha Dharma is hard to come by [yet, we have encountered both]. Therefore, we can also remember kindness upon these two points. At this juncture, are we able to arise  our mindfulness. We are given this human form, not for using it to complain, rather, we want to use it [this human form] for practicing on the Mahayana path, for upholding the precepts, for properly keeping up with the vows. [Why?] Because [if we keep] complaining and complaining, such verbal actions will cause infraction against the ethical discipline. [07′03″]

讲次 | 0304 (2021-02-25 ~ 2021-02-28)

标题 | 如是若失念，畏狱速提起

《广论》段落 | P5-LL4 ~ P5-LL3 成就定学……心中亦有所忆持者。

入门段落 | 第1册 P126-LL4 ~ P127-L11 师父，还有一个问题......大体是这样的。

(更新日期: 2022年4月8日)

00:00

接着讨论了一个持戒的正知、正念的问题。我们自己受了什么戒律要知道——多少条？什么样的状态下叫犯？什么是根本堕？根本堕不能犯，犯了戒律就没有了。戒律没有了，还会有恶趣的果报，这个时候要忏悔。那么行持的时候，正念就非常重要。注意！在念头的前面有一个“正”字，正念和正知通常都放在一起。仁波切会认为正念是很重要的。这个时候这法师说：“行持时是要把正念先提起来吗？”我觉得其实他是知道的，有的时候到了自己的善知识面前，好像自己了解过的东西再问一遍、再确定一次。我不知道你们有没有这样的经历？我是有很多的，再问一次，再得到一次，会得到一次加持。00:58

上师接着讲——注意——正念要提起来。我先问大家一个问题：正念很重吗？正念飞过来就可以了，为什么要提起来？提东西，费力否？费力否？大力士提东西是不费力气，但是力气不足的人提一个重东西，他是会费力气。当我们开始训练力量，训练不够的时候是很费力气的，所以一开始要提正念的时候，可能会觉得干提也提不起来，好像很重的样子。可是正念又很重要，正念不提起来的话，连想都想不到。就是我们要去找正念，找到之后把它拉过来，把它拉住、提起来。01:54

接着又说：正知也很重要！正知是什么呢？新学员常常说：“正知是什么、正念是什么？”比如说上课的时候要专心听，这是什么？是正念吗？然后你用你的注意力看：“我有没有专心听？”偶尔看一下，这什么？正知，看你的正念在不在。正知是看着谁的？看着正念的。对不对？所以正知就是观察，正念就是仁波切在这里讲了，好比《入行论》里边讲的：你在打仗过程中要用的刀剑。这是比喻什么？正念。剑要掉了之后，马上要捡起来。正念就是这样的，正念掉了马上要捡起来。02:39

《入行论》说：“战阵失利剑，惧杀疾拾取。如是若失念，畏狱速提起。”来了，那个点来了！正念好像很重，提也提不起来，甚至找不到，那怎么办呢？如果正念掉了，就是这个宝剑掉了，怎么办呢？“畏狱速提起”，没有正念会堕落地狱的！要去忆念三恶趣的这种痛苦，害怕堕落地狱，然后把这个剑提起来。在战场上宝剑要是掉了的话，要马上捡起来，否则敌人就会趁机杀掉自己；正念也是一样的，一旦失去，就必须要观察到地狱乃至恶趣的痛苦，真的要能够把这个心调整过来。你不愿意提，不愿意提，你怎么说服这颗心呢？就要去想一想地狱的痛苦、三恶趣的痛苦。03:51

想了一遍，那个心不理你，没用！你再去深入地想。想到什么呀？调整过来。就是对这个地狱、对恶趣的苦有感觉，感觉是什么意思啊？就“畏”字，开始害怕！害怕然后就提正念了。这是不是一种调伏啊？说如果没有正念，正知也是生不起来。有了正念，然后用正知来观察做得对与不对，用它来分析。这是仁波切在解释正知、正念。04:24

这一段，我认为是非常精彩的用功教授，诸位觉得呢？提正念，可能平常的时候我们会觉得好像很容易提的样子，但是一旦自己被惹到了，就只想对眼前那个惹你的人发脾气；提正念要忍耐呀，或者要忆念三宝、祈求上师啊......这个时候提正念就看起来有点困难。这个时候就要观想什么？这里边说：“畏狱速提起”。这是一个。还有什么？“如树应安住”，对不对？那都是《入行论》教给我们用功的方式。04:57

最重要的是：知不知道失去正念了呢？剑掉了，有的人还往前跑呢！还往敌阵里冲杀，还觉得挺厉害的，他挥舞的已经不是他的宝剑了。这个时候烦恼的敌人就会趁机毁掉我们，就会种下很多堕落三恶趣的苦因。这一刻应该畏惧它，所以说“菩萨畏因”。畏因就是当下，当下自己发脾气、口无遮拦说的那些，好像说得很痛快，但是地狱的业就造下了，恶口啊等等这些就造下了；造下马上要有一个心知道：“哇，这在造恶业，造恶业会堕落的！我是一个有戒律的人，我不可以这样做！”当想这些的时候，正念提起来了吗？已经在提起来了。所以再稳固它、稳固它，就会把那种造恶业的续流挡住——如树应安住。到处都能够看到树，看树的时候，只是在想这个树漂亮啊，在蓝天下很好看啊，还是会忆持到可能每棵树都会提醒我们：持戒的状态就是如树应安住，要让我们的心住在正念里。06:20

当我们的心进入怨气，就开始埋怨，有的人就是把一生变成一个帐本，没事翻一翻，就开始抱怨。抱怨的这个河一开的时候，哇！非常非常地夸张，什么都可以怨。怨、怨、怨，怨天尤人，自己苦不堪言。那么，我们也知道人身得来不容易、佛法遇到不容易，就这两点我们也可以念恩。能否这个时候也提起正念：给我一个人身不是用来抱怨的，我们要用它来修行大乘法，来持戒、好好地持戒。因为抱怨、抱怨，由于造口业就会犯到戒律。07:03