Dharma Torch

Translated in the Western Jin by Tripiṭaka Master Zhu Fahu

The Buddha said, “Those who do not study day and night, who in old age still do not cease from sensual desire, who upon gaining wealth are unwilling to give in charity, and who do not accept the Buddha’s teachings—these four kinds of unrestrained mind will in turn come back to harm oneself. Formerly there were those wealthy and powerful ones, arrogant and self-exalting, indulging without restraint; kings and emperors, and the foolish people of the world, knew only that the days and nights passed swiftly, yet did not perceive that life was nearing its end. They were constantly filled with anger, domineering and cruel, self-righteous, given to indulgence and pride, greedy for wealth. Where are they now? They did not delight in the Sūtras and the right Way. They detested hearing of matters by which they harmed themselves. They indulged their thoughts and followed their own desires, were dissipated without measure, and did not restrain themselves. When it came to such a time, they did not perceive hunger or thirst, and could not reflect for themselves that the nine apertures of the body are like sores, places of foulness and impurity. In walking, standing, lying down, and waking, through all kinds of affairs, they planted the roots and shoots of many sufferings and afflictions. They slighted the great Dharma and did not understand the principle of receiving a body. When decline and illness arrive, one’s appearance changes. The pleasures of the five kinds of sense desire cannot be possessed for long. When lying sick in bed, one is disturbed and uneasy. When death suddenly arrives, the body will decay. How could it last for long? Death and birth do not cease; the evil destinies do not come to an end. One’s own lifespan, death and birth, suffering, affliction, sorrow, and calamity are all brought about by oneself.

“Looking at it from this, what, then, is a human being? Lust, beautiful forms, games and pleasures, singing, dancing, entertainers and courtesans, how long can they last? They are as brief as a breath. A person of wisdom and clarity changes his own aspiration and duty, maintains the purity of his own body, and knows that everything in the world finally returns to emptiness and nonbeing. Suppose that when songs are sung and plays are performed, people do not feel joy and do not take delight in them; the singer would then feel ashamed. The deluded and inverted multitude always delight in music and performances. When illness, sorrow, and calamity arrive, only then do they grieve and lament. In times of ease and security, the myriad affairs are tangled and confused. They do not make long-term plans for themselves. They have already summoned every kind of sinful karma, and disasters respond like an echo. They cannot distinguish what causes and conditions have made them like this. The body is like a painted vase, filled within with impure things, a place of foulness, pus, and blood, like a leather bag wrapped around impurity. Not knowing that the inner and outer body will finally return to extinction, they constantly adorn it with colored powders and cosmetics, thinking themselves upright and peerless in appearance, not perceiving that the nine apertures are like sores and diseases, flowing with impure matter. People of this kind are entangled in nets and cannot contemplate themselves.

“Just like an illusion, it suddenly no longer appears. Only practitioners of the Way, seeing worldly people so deluded, know that they are always attached to themselves. Carefully contemplating all the clamor and disturbance, they see that people merely use their throats to argue over insignificant matters. Calamity comes forth from the mouth; a thousand disasters and myriad sinful karmas turn back and entangle oneself. Some harm one another, and resentment, hatred, vexation, and anger form enmity. All of this arises from greed and desire, from pursuing profit and craving. The multitude of deluded people respond to one another like thunder sounding together. They do not recognize the reality of the meaning of the Way, nor the delusive disorder of worldly falsehood. Decline, old age, and death suddenly arrive, and they cannot be free. If benevolent, worthy, and wise people can understand that wealth and possessions are not things that remain constantly, and that they suddenly come like violent wind and rain, like lightning, like a dream, like an illusion, like mist, then they will know that when the condition of impermanence arrives, it is what people do not delight in. From beginning to end it is like a chain, binding and following them, so that they cannot escape from the prison of the five aggregates and the six declines.

“They are not filial toward parents, teachers, and elders. They distance themselves from the right Way and wisdom. They greedily cling to their own flesh and bones, and their licentious bearing does not cease. The six matters of ear, eye, nose, mouth, body, and mind only plant causes of disaster and affliction, more numerous than all the grasses and trees planted beneath heaven. The mind of affection and love is broad and long, surpassing rivers and seas. From birth until old age, in the end the myriad affairs are tangled and confused. Although one may have an appearance that is upright, beautiful, and lovely, one ought to observe with a peaceful bearing that all is impermanent, suffering, empty, and not self. Yet instead they are deluded and inverted. They themselves see the benefit of what is deviant and perverse, sink into the five tones, conceal their dispositions within, and cannot gather in their thoughts. Roaming and indulging in the four directions, they create worldly expedients. Not for even a moment or a clepsydra do they preserve right mindfulness. In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, they do not maintain auspiciousness. May they be able to subdue the one mind and exert themselves to remove the many sufferings of hardship and danger. Do not be like an infant, unable to distinguish the beautiful from the ugly, and not knowing that excrement and urine are impure.

“Diligently cultivate Vigour and cast away evil karma without remainder; then you can be freed from affliction, birth, old age, illness, death, decay, and ruin. Reflect for yourself: from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to the Heaven of No Perception, all beings turn within the three places and have the difficulty of flowing on with beginning and end. Having aroused the mind to study the Way, one recognizes the Way but cannot truly penetrate it. Greedily attached to oneself, with thoughts scattered and dissipated, one again falls into the six sense faculties. One should truly reflect and calculate, face birth and death with a right mind, and no longer come and go in saṃsāra. Only then can the continual flowing on from beginning to end be cut off. People greedily attach themselves to forms and flavors, and all kinds of desires do not cease. Instead, they fear the precepts and prohibitions. Many doubts and anxieties are not dispelled. Thought after thought, they cling to permanence and see only what is before their eyes. For this reason, they revolve without ceasing in the five destinies and then obtain yet another body. Cut away the six sense faculties and sever the five aggregates, and cultivation can become peaceful. When seeing those who are attached by greed, reflect upon yourself. If you do not accept the six entrances, then there will be no sorrow or fear. Because there is nothing to fear, you enter the bodhimaṇḍa and are able to proceed toward the gate of wisdom. Those who study the Way are hesitant and undecided; their thoughts are not single-minded and constant. Sometimes they advance and sometimes they retreat. Therefore this gives rise to delusion, and their coming and going in birth and death never ceases.

“To speak by means of a parable: suppose people had once been enemies of one another, and later became reconciled, even becoming extremely close. Formerly one was an ordinary person, but later again became frightened and timid. Though one’s mind had already inclined toward the right Way, midway one again turned against it and regressed, and again fell into the six entrances. This is just what is meant. One again falls into the suffering and affliction of birth and death in the five destinies, drinking bitterness and eating poison, swallowing one another up, not avoiding relatives and friends, not distinguishing clan, family, or status, and unable to awaken by oneself. The majestic Buddha and sages see these things and pity beings for losing the Way. Therefore they extend the four equal minds, loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, pitying and grieving for the myriad people and the multitude of beings. If one is unable to see the various kinds of beings, one should at least harbor one part of aspiration, and it must not be changed.

“Suppose someone wishes, with a mind of utmost sincerity, to seek liberation. He should reflect in accordance with reality and practice the Way with one mind. Do not say, ‘My family and relatives have affection and attachment.’ You should know that all things are impermanent. This body has been temporarily borrowed and used. Through the convergence of causes and conditions, beings meet and remain together, but in the end they all must part. Long-enduring sorrows and afflictions turn and become causes for one another. The myriad things return to emptiness and nonbeing, and none of them is something I can possess. One who can understand the principle of emptiness and nonbeing is then able to liberate the people throughout the world in the ten directions. Those who cultivate the path of karma do not doubt generosity, do not harbor anger in their minds, and abandon the mind of greed and attachment; causes and conditions are all cut off. A practitioner of the Way observes matters that can and cannot be practiced, and inwardly examines himself, as if they were dreams and illusions. Again, to speak by means of a parable: it is like an army going out on campaign. A million soldiers rely upon a renowned general in order to repel the enemy. A practitioner of the Way subdues his thoughts, controls his intentions, cultivates the Dharma teachings, upholds the great Way, follows the precepts and prohibitions, and makes his bodily karma and mental karma pure and white. He broadly spreads kindness and virtue, gives virtue and benefit, removes anger, pride, extravagance, contention, and litigation, and practices the Way with dedicated refinement, not allowing these to become obstacles. His aspiration is wholly set upon the rules and traces of practice. Just as a commander leads the soldiers, he must first rectify his own mind and then personally put it into practice. When both body and mind are rectified, there is nothing lost. Since there is already nothing lost, there are then no companions of the same kind. He attains the Way and transcends and departs, heroic and fierce beyond compare, and only then knows the dignity of the great Way.”

“It is like the various things worldly people do, each different from the others. There are those who serve heavenly spirits, and various ghosts and spirits pf earth, water, fire, wind, the sun and moon, mountains and rivers. There is never any benefit in this. Therefore they still circle within birth and death and cannot escape from the nets and prison. They only wish for long life, peace, happiness, and freedom. Even if they live to be a hundred thousand years old, what is there worth praising? In the end they will die. To cultivate the Way and practice the Way for one day is better than a hundred years of long life. They do not reflect on impermanence, but instead are greedy, loving, and attached, saying that there are parents, brothers, wife and children, and relatives both within and without. When illness suddenly arrives, they lie upon the bed exhausted and weakened, and tell their relatives, ‘Share a little of this pain for me.’ All say that they cannot. Only then will the sick person awaken.

“You think the five kinds of relatives will be of benefit to yourself. They work diligently to make a living for you, provide abundantly at all times, and cause the body to follow along after greed and desire, binding oneself and harming oneself. Being anxious and mindful of the nine kinship groups obstructs and neglects wholesome conduct, and ruins and disturbs the mind for the Way. When old age, illness, and death come, one bears them alone. Good and evil, suffering and happiness, are also borne alone. There is no one who can take one’s place. Those who have not attained the Way all have thoughts like these and are unable to practice generosity. Those who uphold the great Way and practice virtue, who are able to give in generosity, in this life and in later lives, long abide in peace and stability. This becomes provisions for liberation from birth and death. Life after life, they are noble, wealthy, and abundant. They can obtain carriages, elephants, horses, dwellings, gold, silver, and treasures beyond reckoning. Parents, brothers, wives and children, and acquaintances all receive kindness, obtain peace, and become secure. When there is a person who practices generosity, those nearby rejoice accordingly and obtain immeasurable merit. How much more so the donor himself? With his own hands he considers and gives in generosity. In the places where he is born in later lives, merit and virtue follow his own body and repay him, just as a shadow follows a form and an echo responds to a sound.

“That which is not covered by the five aggregates is called Nirvāṇa. The Nirvāṇa has no five aggregates, and there are no sun, moon, stars, wind, cold, brightness, or darkness. It is neither false nor real. There are no years or ages, and old age, illness, and death are removed. Just as there is no echo, there is no longer a body of the five aggregates, and one accords with the Way. This is true long life, constantly obtaining peace and stability, enduring for a long time without limit, with happiness difficult to measure. It is not something worldly people can understand. People of wisdom know these things, distinguish them, and explain them; then they can realize the Way of the Buddha, the True Thusness. Fools do not cultivate the Way. They only calculate for themselves and lead to old age, illness, and death. The karma of harm brings many kinds of suffering, just like planting the five grains and then making oneself eat them. Good and evil are like this; each person receives the fruit. Since one has already planted the causes of suffering and affliction, one should not fear them, and yet one fears old age, illness, and death. The body made of the four great elements, cannot avoid these calamities. Water and fire, thieves, enemies, creditors, and government authorities, these various matters are likewise feared, yet one does not perceive that this is suffering. The root of suffering arises from here, yet instead one pursues cravings and desires. Human life in the world creates such matters of sorrow and suffering. This is not given by heaven, nor is it made so by the Way. From the actions that were originally present, one naturally obtains such retribution.

“People study the Way and seek to liberate from the world is exceedingly easy and not difficult, and it also does not require toil, service, or hardship. One need only constantly be diligent in one’s own thoughts, diligently seek the Way, faithfully accept the sacred teaching, and courageously subdue the mind and intention; then one can obtain clear wisdom and receive precious and beautiful fruits. This is like the might of a lion, before which all beasts invariably submit. Again, it is like worldly people who cannot understand suffering as suffering, just as a pig living in a pigsty does not know stench as stench. Again, it is like a moth plunging into a lamp flame. Foolish people follow what their minds delight in. As soon as they see what is deviant, licentious, and indulgent, they throw themselves into the prison of love and desire. They are greedy for and attached to birth and death, yet do not know that they are afflicted and harmed by birth and death. They think themselves free from sorrow and anxiety, lofty, surpassing, and beyond all others. Vainly taking elegant steps, gazing in the four directions, and staring with wide eyes, they do not know the signs of heaven, earth, sun, and moon, yet wish to advance and withdraw, to seek and devise techniques for making a living. They only wish for clamor and disturbance, competing to be called noble, greedily longing for a name of glory and prominence. Proud, powerful, self-indulgent, they wish that all people would take refuge in them and submit to them, that their majesty would be imposed between heaven and earth, and that others would fear them. They hope to receive reverent service, and they consider themselves completely fulfilled in the present age.

“The Buddha saw that the myriad affairs beneath heaven were all within what is unworthy and unwholesome. One should emulate the Way in transforming and guiding others, and abandon the defiled and humiliating practices that discarded by the former sages. Worldly people are pitiable. Frightened and uneasy, they pursue benefit. Their desires are many, and they greedily seek wealth. They greedily long for nobility, power, smooth enjoyment, and abundance. They proliferate and become attached to the five desires, winding around within the worldly path, powerless to free themselves. They are like prisoners in a prison, closed in and locked by cangues, chains, and the five kinds of punishments. How could they save and liberate themselves? Suffering indeed! People of this kind have their minds and aspirations wholly within birth and death. They are like a cartwheel, endless and without conclusion. If they can cut off the making of these things and remove the many desires, it will be like opening a prison gate and letting a bird escape from a net. Those who study the Way, but remain attached to relatives, wives, children, and such, will become deluded and cannot reach Nirvāṇa.”

The multitudes who had come to the assembly heard the Buddha speak in this way. They all, with one mind, renounced the secular world, distanced themselves from attachment, and diligently cultivated. After paying homage, they departed.