Translator’s Note:
The title of this sūtra, “mà yì” (罵意), is not easy to understand. Since the Buddha should not be understood as “scolding” or “reviling,” the character 罵 here should be taken in an extended sense, as “strict” or “earnest”; alternatively, the title may be understood as referring to a direct analysis of mind.
The contents of this sūtra are rather miscellaneous. Most of its length concerns ānāpāna and meditative practice; some passages are excerpts from the Vinaya, while others deal with karmic retribution.
This sūtra was first included in a catalogue of the Buddhist canon in the early 6th-century Collected Records on the Production of the Tripiṭaka (T2145 出三藏记集). However, that work does not record the identity of its translator. Later, in the mid-to-late 6th-century Chronicle of the Three Jewels Through Successive Dynasties (T2034 歷代三寶紀), it was attributed to An Shigao, a Parthian prince active in the second century. If this attribution is accepted, then roughly four hundred years elapsed between the translation of the sūtra and its inclusion in a canonical catalogue. Moreover, the sūtra does not seem to have been widely circulated at the time. It is therefore conceivable that the text as we have it today contains omissions or passages in a disordered sequence.
In addition, An Shigao’s translation style is such that the Chinese wording is sometimes extremely obscure and often highly elliptical. When translating scriptures, An Shigao also frequently incorporated his own explanations, and scribes copying the text sometimes treated these comments as part of the main text. For all these reasons, in this English translation I have sometimes had to translate according to the general sense of the passage rather than render the Chinese text word for word.
Translated in the Later Han Dynasty by the Tripiṭaka Master An Shigao from Arsacid
The Buddha has strict admonitions concerning minds. All the insects throughout the ten directions, I have eaten them all; all the insects throughout the ten directions have also eaten me. Why, then, do I not know shame? I have been a mate to all the insects throughout the ten directions; all the insects throughout the ten directions have also been my mates. Why, then, am I unable to give rise to a mind of remorse? Having long revolved in birth and death for an incalculable span of time, one should cultivate and train the capacity for the Noble Path, and should not continue the habits of animal karma. To commit sexual indulgence has five kinds of faults: first, it dissipates wealth. Second, it causes one to fall into circumstances of fear and alarm. Third, it makes one afraid of officials. Fourth, it brings encounters with hostile calamities. Fifth, after the end of life, one falls into hell.
From form and food the body is obtained. In becoming human, one has nothing to fear but obtaining the body of an animal, or being reborn in hell or among hungry ghosts. A person who cultivates the Path cuts off the hair and beard, lives by begging for food and endures hunger, leaves home and relinquishes wealth, does not let the eyes look recklessly, guards the six sense faculties, and avoids evil conditions, all for the sake of escaping the root of suffering. Moreover, the arising of a single evil thought may produce calamity for hundreds of kalpas. It is like planting one grain of rice and obtaining hundreds and thousands of grains of rice. Rice has no consciousness, yet it can still often multiply ten thousandfold. How much more so the thoughts of a human being, which possess consciousness; one fears that their increase is more than this.
When a person sits quietly and cultivates the Path, if he sees insects in the sea, or all other things, these are appearances of insects and things from former lives in the water. If what he sees are birds and beasts, this shows that over many lives he was mostly among birds and beasts, and in this present life the conditions have arisen. Therefore it is said that sin continues on without interruption, and whatever is seen is the manifestation of sinful karma. One should realize that at some time in a former life, one dwelt together with these insects and things in hell.
Past sins have caused the present decline; present sins have not yet brought about actual calamity.
Evil actions have their own father and mother: delusion is the father of evil actions, and craving is the mother of evil actions. Good actions also have their own father and mother: the scriptures on the Thirty-seven Factors are the father of good actions, and the Six Pāramitās are the mother of good actions. There are also father and mother in another sense: the Buddha is the father, and the Dharma is the mother. To follow the words of the Buddha and act in accordance with the Dharma is to conduct oneself as one would toward father and mother.
When a person falls into hell, and the hell-ghosts are holding clubs and about to beat him, if that person at that very moment thinks, “The ghosts too will perish; they will not last forever,” then, with this thought, he will immediately attain release and be born in the heavens.
There are six matters that cause the Dharma to become hidden and disappear. First, not respecting the Buddha. Second, not respecting the Dharma. Third, not respecting the Saṅgha of fully precepted Bhikṣus. Fourth, not respecting people of wisdom. Fifth, not regularly teaching others to cultivate the Path with diligence. Sixth, making judgments and criticisms about the sages. Not doing these six things is what causes the Dharma to increase.
One should not create sinful karma amid blessed happiness; rather, one would do better to create blessed karma amid sinful suffering. Those who study the Buddha’s teaching, if they do not practice the Path or recite the scriptures, are creating sin amid blessing. When a person has illness, is constrained by officials, encounters disasters of flood or fire, or loses wealth, yet harbors no worry, this is creating blessing amid sin. One should not create sin amid blessing. When burning incense, scattering flowers, or riding in a carriage, if one acts affectedly and is arrogant and unrestrained, this is creating sin amid blessing.
Killing karma has nine levels, and its karmic fruits accordingly differ in heaviness and lightness. One would rather kill a thousand ants than kill one fly; in this way, one should compare them successively, up to the relative gravity of the sin of killing one human being. If one kills a larger living being, the offense one incurs is also greater. Building one hundred Buddhist monasteries is not as good as saving one person’s life; saving the people throughout the worlds of the ten directions is not as good as guarding one’s thoughts for one day. When a person obtains a wholesome thought, the blessing from it is vast and difficult to measure.
If one gives wealth to an evil person, in the future there will arise conditions with that evil person, and one will then suffer affliction. If one gives wealth to a good person, blessed reward will follow. Nor should one accept the wealth of an evil person; in the future, if one then goes against him, affliction will be added upon affliction. One would rather accept the wealth of a good person and then give it to a good person than accept the wealth of an evil person and then give it to an evil person. One would rather oneself give wealth to an evil person than accept the wealth of a good person and then give it to an evil person. One would rather accept the wealth of a good person than accept the wealth of an evil person. When a person gives rise to an evil thought, he should cut it off; when he gives rise to a good thought, he should also cut it off. An evil thought is the thought of hell, animals, and hungry ghosts; a good thought is the thought of gods and humans. All of them should be cut off.
There are five kinds of Māra whose arising disturbs a person’s mind and prevents him from attaining the Path. First is the heavenly Māra. Second is the Māra of sin. Third is the Māra of formation. Fourth is the Māra of affliction. Fifth is the Māra of death. A person cultivating the Path, in the midst of practice, should be aware of these five kinds of Māra.
There are five matters that even all Buddhas of the ten directions cannot restrain. First, forgetting the experiences of former lives. Second, life, according to karmic retribution, moving and being reborn into a better realm. Third, the stopping and dissolution of the lifespan. Fourth, the lifespan necessarily aging. Fifth, the lifespan necessarily dying. Regarding these matters, no one can restrain them.
When people live in the world, there are four kinds of circumstances. First, the mind harbors good, and blessing and happiness follow. Second, the mind harbors evil, and calamity follows. Third, the mind harbors good, yet calamity follows. Fourth, the mind harbors evil, yet blessing and happiness follow.
What a person possesses and thinks about will, as consciousness ceases, also cease together with the body, and the conditions he sees will also cease. The reason actions and calamity, or blessing and happiness, continue to arise in later lives is like planting a fruit tree: this year its fruit has already ripened and fallen to the ground, and in later years it will bear fruit again. Sin is like a tree; through the condition of repeatedly directing the mind and perfuming it, evil karma will continually bear fruit.
Regarding the good and evil that people do, four kinds of spirits know it. First, the earth spirits know it. Second, the heavenly spirits know it. Third, other people know it. Fourth, one knows it oneself.
There are three conditions that obstruct cultivation of the Path. First are formations. Second is experiencing the result. Third is calamity. Doing evil deeds is formation; when the fruit has arisen, this is experiencing the result; when one undergoes the result, this is calamity. There were five sons from the households of butchers. When evening came, they returned home and cultivated the Path. After their lives ended, they fell into an evil realm. When evening came there, they enjoyed the pleasures of the five desires, but when morning came, they again suffered the evil retribution of punishment by the five poisons.
There are two kinds of people who can receive the words of the Buddha: people who already attain wisdom and people of dull faculties. There is no third case. This is like strictly upholding the precepts: then the various evil actions do not appear.
After a cultivator of the Path has finished transmitting and explaining the Buddhist scriptures, and receives offerings, there are four situations. First, if he practices the Path with one mind and lacks food and drink, he may accept offerings from others. Second, if he has always been poor and possesses nothing at all, he may accept offerings from others. Third, if his own provisions are sufficient, he should not accept further offerings from others. Fourth, as for the physical body of a cultivator of the Path, as long as there is enough to eat and drink, he should be content and should not receive excessive offerings.
As for what others say, if it accords with the scriptures and the Dharma, one should accept it; if it does not accord, one should not accept it. It should also be this way when listening to the scriptures. When one explains the scriptures to others, even if there is something that disturbs their minds, there is no offense. Why is this? Because the original intention in explaining the scriptures is not to disturb their minds. Although explaining the scriptures may disturb their minds, it is like someone who has taken poison and would die, but after being taught to take an antidote, he does not die. The Buddhist scriptures are like an antidote.
There are four situations in which a cultivator of the Path cannot be burned by fire, and weapons cannot be applied to him. First, he is protected by the power of the Buddha. Second, he has attained the Samādhi of Cessation. Third, he has attained the Fourth Dhyāna. Fourth, he is single-mindedly directed toward the Path and does not think of birth and death.
When the Buddha was in the world and went to a person’s home, the host tightly shut the doors and was unwilling to let others see the Buddha. In a later life both his eyes were blind and dark, and he would see nothing at all. Therefore, wherever the Buddha walks, one should be glad to show it to everyone. To light lamps as an offering will bring the attainment of the heavenly eye; one will also be able to see very far, and will also obtain radiance. To light candles as an offering will bring good eye sockets. To make offerings with sesame oil ointment will bring good pupils. To make offerings with fire enables one to know the truth. Through these conditions, one obtains good eyes. To make offerings with lamps will bring, in later lives, vessels and implements made of gold, silver, jewels, and precious things.
When people come and speak of evil matters, confusing and disordering one’s mind, this is the work of Māra, and one should be alert to it. This is like a good person obtaining evil parents; it is the manifestation of sin. When a person of Māra comes to revile one, it is like the wind, and the ears should avoid it. This is an evil wind. If one does not avoid it, then instead one is struck by the evil wind, and five kinds of sin will arise. These five actions will cause a person to fall into an evil realm.
When entering an assembly of many people, there are four kinds of people whom one should ask to leave. First, if what he discusses does not accord with the Dharma and can only disturb people’s minds, one should ask him to leave. Second, if one sees that what he says is incorrect, and he does not listen when stopped, one should ask him to leave. Third, if one sees that his conduct is incorrect, and he does not accept instruction, one should ask him to leave. Fourth, if the questions he asks are not in accord with the Dharma, one should no longer discuss matters with him, but should ask him to leave.
In places where those who practice in close attendance gather, when fleas, lice, insects, and ants bite people, there are four conditions. First, by former destiny they must undergo this sinful retribution. Second, Māra comes to disturb them and does not wish to let them attain the Path. Third, they did not first choose a clean place. Fourth, they are unable to maintain a mind of equality.
There are eight kinds of people who cannot be trusted. First, greedy people. Second, jealous people. Third, angry people. Fourth, frivolous people. Fifth, officials. Sixth, people with divided intentions. Seventh, enemies. Eighth, women, officials, water and fire, snakes and vipers, and sharp knives: these should not be approached or touched. If one comes near them, one’s life will be in danger.
There are five kinds of people who love the Buddhist scriptures. First, those who want more people to know that they possess scriptures. In most cases, they do this to increase self-conceit and covet fame. Second, those who inwardly feel that they ought to receive and uphold the scriptures, yet seldom put this into practice, and who themselves do not understand their meaning. Third, those who intend to rely on the scriptures in order to obtain offerings from others. Fourth, those who, whatever the scriptures may be, wish others to receive it from them, because they regard themselves as teachers. Fifth, those who seek the scriptures for the sake of escaping birth and death and obtaining the Path that delivers the world. To such people, scriptures and the Path may be entrusted.
There are five kinds of people who study the scriptures. First, those who wish to hear many scriptures. Second, those who wish to accumulate much merit. Third, those who wish to understand the meaning of the scriptures. Fourth, those who wish to explain the scriptures to others. Fifth, those who wish to cut off birth and death.
There are five kinds of jealousy. First, if one shares a single teacher with others and always wishes the teacher to favor oneself rather than the others, this is jealousy over exclusive possession. Second, if one thinks discriminatingly, “Although I have become a human being, I have nevertheless been born into a family of low status,” this is jealousy over birth. Third, when one sees that others are wealthy and then wishes to be equally wealthy, this is jealousy over resources and possessions. Fourth, if one only wishes oneself to possess profound Buddhist scriptures and does not wish others to possess them likewise, this is jealousy over the scriptures. Fifth, when one sees that others have handsome and proper features and always feels that oneself is inferior to them, this is jealousy over form. If one commits these five kinds of jealousy, one cannot attain the Path.
A cultivator of the Path should not sink into five kinds of dispute. First, disputing over the Buddha. Second, disputing over the Dharma. Third, disputing over the precepts. Fourth, disputing over the scriptures. Fifth, disputing over the sages. A cultivator of the Path should not dispute over whether this exists or does not exist, or whether that exists or does not exist.
There are five kinds of mistaken views that are stubborn and difficult to transform. First, the firm view of the body as self. Second, the firm extreme view. Third, the firm wrong view. Fourth, the firm attachment to views. Fifth, the firm attachment to precepts and prohibitions.
There are seven kinds of lustful thoughts. First, seeing colorful garments. Second, hearing the sound of jeweled bracelets and ornaments. Third, hearing the sound of women speaking. Fourth, imagining, thinking of, and speaking about women. Fifth, seeing with the eyes. Sixth, thinking of matters between husband and wife. Seventh, intending to violate. If one has these seven kinds of lustful thoughts, one cannot attain the Path.
There are five kinds of causes and conditions that lead people often to forget. First, forgetting because of bodily causes. Second, forgetting because one’s thoughts are numerous and confused. Third, attachment to love. Fourth, attachment to views. Fifth, the cause of one’s own former destiny, that is, in a former life one troubled others and frightened them with decisive words. There is also forgetting because of fatigue, that is, the mind is weary.
Drinking wine is drinking one quarter of poison. Drinking water is obtaining one quarter of the energy of the heavens. Lying down is obtaining one quarter of death. Speaking good words is obtaining one quarter of birth in the heavens. Speaking evil words is obtaining one quarter of birth in the hell.
The king of hell had a wife, and when her younger brother died, he was to enter hell. The woman said to the king, “Do not let my younger brother enter hell.” The king said, “Then you stop him for me.” Her younger brother was just about to go in, and the woman said, “This is the gate of hell; you must not enter.” Her younger brother said, “There are many good things in there,” and then walked straight into hell. When people are drawn along by sin, it is like this.
Someone directly took another person’s plow yoke and used it, without reporting this to the owner. Only after he had finished using it did he think of returning it. The Buddha said, “One should not do this. This is theft.” That person said, “I am willing to make a gold yoke as repayment.” The Buddha said, “The sin of theft has not thereby been removed.”
When people uphold the precepts, this is filial obedience, and it repays the kindness of their parents. Why is this? By not killing, all beings obtain long life. By not stealing, all will be wealthy. By not engaging in sexual misconduct, not being disorderly, and not deceiving, all will be trustworthy. By not drinking wine, all will be pure. At times, one’s parents may sink into these evil matters; because one upholds the precepts, they will obtain peace and stability.
When keeping the fast and staying overnight in a Buddhist monastery, one must not sleep or lie on the rope beds, couches, stools, desks, or bedding of those who have left home. All of these are violations of the precepts.
When people invite a cultivator of the Path to their home, if the cultivator of the Path has not yet eaten, they should not ask him about the scriptures. If the cultivator of the Path explains them at that time, the host incurs sin. Only after the cultivator of the Path has eaten may they ask about the scriptures and the Path.
To dwell in a Buddhist monastery without upholding the precepts or cultivating the Path is not as good as casting oneself into a boiling cauldron, for in the cauldron only this one body is burned. If one dwells in a Buddhist monastery without upholding the precepts and cultivating the Path, in the future countless bodies will be burned.
A cultivator of the Path should also explain the scriptures. If others come to ask about the scriptures, he should not put them off or refuse them. When people are respectfully presenting offerings to a cultivator of the Path, they should not ask about the scriptures; afterward, they may ask. When a cultivator of the Path is receiving offerings, he also should not explain the scriptures; otherwise, there is sin.
There are five causes and conditions for which a cultivator of the Path may not go to accept an invitation. First, if one person has been invited and that person does not come, another person should not go in his place. Second, if another person has been invited and that person does not come, the first person should not go in his place. Third, if the first person has been invited and has declined on account of some matter, and then the host goes to invite another person, that other person should not go. Fourth, if a cultivator of the Path comes from afar, and the donor does not promptly go to invite him, but comes to invite him only afterward, he should not go at that time. Fifth, if the person who requests the scriptures is near an enemy, and the place of invitation lies between them, one should not go.
Why does one sleep? It is in order to cause consciousness to cease temporarily. Cessation has three levels. First is the cessation of the formations of birth and death. Second is the cessation of the formations of cultivating the Path. Third is that consciousness no longer urges on the causes and conditions of birth and death, because consciousness has ceased.
Moreover, there are three causes and conditions by which people like sleep. First, eating too much. Second, drinking too much. Third, sorrow. There are also three further causes and conditions. First, the body rests. Second, other thoughts are especially strong, and after rising one will again experience these thoughts. Third, craving attachment to the sensation of sleep.
When a person lies down, there is thought, there is consciousness, there is lifespan, there is life, there is inhalation, and there is exhalation. In one day and night, there are altogether thirty-six thousand five hundred breaths. Small children also have this many. There are eight kinds of practice that can remove sleep. First, eating little. Second, sitting quietly. Third, standing. Fourth, walking meditation. Fifth, reciting the scriptures. Sixth, looking at the stars. Seventh, washing the face. Eighth, cultivating the contemplation of white bones. If sleep still cannot be dispelled, one should think of various good matters. Once consciousness has changed, one should again concentrate on cultivation. Because one wishes to obtain merit, the fruition of the Path, and collected concentration, one thinks of other matters, and sleepiness naturally disappears.
There are those who obtain merit by the body. There are those who obtain merit by speech and by thought. There are those who obtain merit through emptiness. There are also those who incur sin by the body. There are also those who incur sin by speech and thought. There are also those who incur sin through emptiness. To obtain merit through emptiness means that in a dream one obtains gold, silver, precious treasures, nobility, wealth, and happiness. This is obtaining wealth through emptiness. To incur sin through emptiness means dreaming that someone comes to kill people or violate people. This is incurring sin through emptiness. If by speech one teaches others to do evil, or urges others to kill, then in the future, through these causes and conditions, one will often be beaten by others. This is committing sin by speech. If by thought one creates causes and conditions for oneself and thereby feels the fruit of being harmed and killed by others, this is sin of the mind.
The reason people have good and bad dreams is that they long for food and drink, yet have no food, only appetite; therefore they dream of pleasing food and drink. When the mind wishes to kill people, one therefore dreams that people come to kill oneself. All of these have causes and conditions, whether from a former life, a future life, or the present life. Dreams in the first half of the night concern matters recently thought of by day and by night.
The good and evil things done in dreams are all due to consciousness, and their objects are also consciousness. It is like someone directly taking an object, looking at it for a while, and then hiding it away. Although he does not see it again, once consciousness of the object arises, it is no different from seeing it. What one did in a former life itself becomes the object of one’s thoughts in this present life.
The reason a person, after death, sits up again is that while alive he liked to pretend to be a ghost in order to frighten people, or when he was ill in the world he said to those beside him, “Wake me.” Therefore, after he has already died, he sits up again.
There are four causes and conditions for falling among nāgas. First, giving many gifts. Second, much anger. Third, looking down on others. Fourth, self-conceit and arrogance. These are the four causes of becoming a nāga. By relying on the first circumstance, one obtains blessed reward; by relying on the latter three circumstances, one obtains the body of a nāga.
The Vinaya says that the various horned animals have horns because in former lives they liked to wear horns and horizontal hairpins, regarding these as fine; therefore in the present life they grow horns and obtain the body of an animal. Sometimes their colors differ because in former lives they wore colorful garments, gave rise to evil intentions, craved them, and regarded them as fine; therefore they obtain this sin.
Parrots with red beaks and red feet are so because in former lives they liked colorful garments and red lips. Women who like wearing long skirts fall in later lives among wild pheasants and obtain long tails. These are all what they delighted in former lives; in the present life they accordingly obtain the retribution.
When humans and animals have many sores and scars on their bodies, this is because in former lives they used wood or bamboo to pierce the mouths of living fish or animals; in this present life they therefore obtain this sinful retribution.
When animals see people, some are joyful and some are angry. This is because in former lives the two were good to each other, and so when they meet in this present life, they are very joyful. If in former lives they could not live together harmoniously, then when they meet in this present life, they are not pleased.
To become an animal is evil blessing. When it obtains food, it is joyful; this is evil joy. That is to say, because in a former life that person rejoiced when doing evil deeds, he obtains such an evil blessing. There are three causes and conditions by which animals do not obtain fine food. First, not fit for their habits. Second, the exhaustion of wholesome blessing. Third, the force of sinful retribution.
Animals also crave forms, sounds, fragrances, tastes, and what is fine and smooth. They also speak and converse with one another. It is only that they cannot do so in the way human beings speak.
When a woman has a beard, it is because in a former life she came from among sheep, chickens, or ducks; therefore she has a beard.
Fish and turtles cannot make sounds because in former lives they interrupted other people’s speech. Fish are not born immediately; only after seven days are they truly born. This is like grasses and trees that have been placed in a dry place for four, five, or ten years, and only when they receive water are they able to grow. The reason fish have many offspring is that many people do evil, and because their sinful retribution is the same, they are born together.
Those who delight in anger, jealousy, delusion, and sexual misconduct, and who do these four things, will fall among monkeys. Those who do things restlessly and cannot keep to their proper place will also fall among monkeys. People who delight in becoming prostitutes will fall in later lives among birds, insects, and monkeys. Those who delight in learning the karma of killing and conducting sacrifices will fall in later lives among sheep. Why? Because they severed the heads of other beings. Those who in the present life are flayed have this because in former lives they liked to rob people and strip away others’ clothes and bedding; therefore they obtain such calamity. To be reborn as a worm also comes from robbing people in former lives, stripping away others’ clothes and bedding, causing them to suffer cold, and making them crowded around the fire. Therefore in this life they obtain such calamity: they spit silk and wrap themselves up, suffer cold and die by entering boiling water and fire. Those who are deluded and delight in killing become pigs in later lives. Those who frighten people become deer in later lives. Those who have much greed and crave fine food become flies in later lives. Those who like beating people become donkeys in later lives. The reason donkeys have long ears is that in former lives they liked to twist other people’s ears. When animals like to tear and bite people’s ears, some do so because in former lives they were conscripted as petty soldiers. Why? When one soldier passes on a message, all the other soldiers make sounds along with him. Likewise, when one donkey brays, the other donkeys also follow and bray. Those who owe debts and do not repay them become oxen. There are two causes and conditions for oxen having split hooves. First, owing debts. Second, liking to wear wooden clogs and regarding them as fine. There are two causes and conditions for horses having hooves in one whole piece. First, owing debts. Second, liking to wear wooden shoes and regarding them as fine.
In former times, there were six companions who together fell into hell, suffering boiling in the same cauldron, each wishing to speak of his original offense. The first person uttered only “ṣa,” the second only “na,” the third only “te,” the fourth only “ce,” the fifth only “ku,” and the sixth only “dhara.” The Buddha saw this and smiled. Maudgalyāyana asked the Buddha, “Why do You smile?” The Buddha said, “There are six companions who together fell into hell, suffering boiling in the same cauldron, each wishing to speak of his original sin. The water in the cauldron boiled and churned, and they had no chance to speak in full—each only uttered a single word before following the swirling of the boiling water downwards. The first said ‘ṣa,’ meaning, ‘Six trillion years in the human realm amount to but one day in hell—who knows when I shall be freed?’ The second said ‘na,’ meaning, ‘There is no fixed limit; I know not when I shall be freed.’ The third said ‘te,’ meaning, ‘Alas! I ought to have lived well in the past; thus unable to control my mind, I was foolishly greedy, not knowing contentment—what use is there in regretting now?’ The fourth said ‘ce,’ meaning, ‘I conducted my household affairs without honesty, so that my own property came to belong to others, ending in this painful plight.’ The fifth said ‘ku,’ meaning, ‘Whoever can rescue me from hell, I shall never again violate the Buddha-Dharma or the precepts; thus I could be reborn in the heavens and have joy without bound.’ The sixth said ‘dhara,’ meaning, ‘At the start I had not thought things through—like a man driving a carriage astray into a wrong path, breaking the axle and regretting too late.’”
The Buddha spoke of four frontier passes. From this world up to the Sixth Heaven is the frontier pass of death. From the Seventh Heaven up to the Eighteenth Heaven is the frontier pass of emptiness. From the Nineteenth Heaven up to the Twenty-third Heaven is the extraordinary frontier pass. From the Twenty-fifth Heaven up to the Twenty-eighth Heaven is the frontier pass of liberation. To pass beyond these four frontier passes is the essential meaning of liberation. The greatest blessed reward does not go beyond the Twenty-eighth Heaven, and the greatest evil retribution does not go beyond Avīci Naraka. All other calamities and sins are within these. From one matter the three poisons arise; from the three poisons there are the three evil realms. If there were no three evil realms, people would all already have attained the Path. From the great Avīci Naraka, up to the Sixth Heaven is one realm. The beings from the Seventh Heaven to the Nineteenth Heaven all cultivate the Four Immeasurable Minds, and this is another realm. The beings from the Twenty-fifth Heaven onward cultivate impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and not-self, up to the Twenty-eighth Heaven, and this is another realm. If one does not surpass the Twenty-eighth Heaven, the three poisons have not been entirely removed; one will still descend to become human and will go back and forth within the three realms. The essential instruction for seeking release is that one should extinguish thought.
From the great Avīci Naraka up to the Sixth Heaven is the Desire Realm. From the Seventh Heaven up to the Nineteenth Heaven is the Form Realm. From the Twenty-fifth Heaven up to the Twenty-eighth Heaven, the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-perception, is the Formless Realm. From Avīci Naraka up to the Twenty-eighth Heaven is the realm of birth and death. Beyond the Twenty-eighth Heaven is the Unconditioned Realm. Those who cut off craving and lust can be born in the Form Realm. Those who cut off anger do not enter the realm of thought. Only those who cut off delusion can attain release. The three realms have three places. First, from Avīci Naraka up to the Sixth Heaven is the place of craving and lust. Second, from the Seventh Heaven up to the Nineteenth Heaven is called having formations and having form. Third, the upper levels of the Fourth Dhyāna Heavens are the dwelling places of Noble Ones such as Anāgāmins, and from the Twenty-fifth Heaven up to the Twenty-eighth Heaven, the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-perception, is called having formations and being without form. There are three places of falling into the turning cycle of birth and death: what is called having formations and having form, which is like firelight that can only be seen but cannot be grasped; together with the place of craving and lust and the place of delighting in form, these make three places. Naraka, animals, and hungry ghosts also have craving and lust, each following its own wishes.
What is the essential point of the Path? There are three kinds of roots. There is the root of evil. There is the root of good. There is the root of the Path. Hell, animals, and hungry ghosts are the root of evil. From humans directly up to the Sixth Heaven is the root of good. From the Seventh Heaven upward, coming forth from the Twelve Gates of Meditation, is the root of the Path. When one has already reached the Twenty-eighth Heaven but cannot attain liberation, there are three causes and conditions. First, there is craving. Second, there is delusion. Third, there are thoughts. Therefore, one cannot attain liberation. After passing beyond the Twelve Gates, one should make the vow to remove thoughts. If the three poisons are not cut off, one cannot be liberated upward, because they have not yet been cut off completely. What is the reason one is born in the Twenty-eighth Heaven? In one’s former body, when one was in this world, one did not crave the body, and one dispersed the thoughts. By cutting off the seven external matters, one can ascend to the Sixth Heaven and receive blessings. By cutting off the three internal matters, one can ascend above the Eighteenth Heaven. The four places from the Twenty-first Heaven to the Twenty-fourth Heaven belong to the Anāgāmins.
Among those who practice the ten good actions, some are born in the First Heaven, and some are born in the Sixth Heaven. Because there are differences in how much good they have done, the places are different. Among those who practice the ten evil actions, some enter hell, and some enter the paths of animals and hungry ghosts. Because there are differences in the heaviness and lightness of the sins they have committed, the places are different. Practicing good yet receiving evil retribution, and practicing evil yet receiving good retribution, happens because within good there is a small evil, and within evil there is a small good, so minute that it cannot be seen. If there were no small evil within good, one would not again fall into an evil realm. If there were no small good within evil, one would also not come out from the evil realm. The utmost evil does not go beyond Avīci Naraka, and the utmost good does not go beyond the Twenty-eighth Heaven. If one does not awaken to the presence of subtle thoughts, one cannot attain liberation.
All living beings are able to be born in the heavens and among humans because they practice the ten good actions. The reason heavenly beings are able to be born by transformation is this: formerly, when they were in the human realm, they did not crave form and awakened to the impurity of foul discharge; therefore they were able to be born by transformation. But if one has that intention, one will again be born from a woman’s womb. There are five causes and conditions by which the gods are able to be born by transformation. First, not approaching women. Second, not giving rise to intention. Third, not wishing to obtain the body of a child. Fourth, delighting in sitting alone. Fifth, not liking to attend to worldly matters. If one does not crave attachment to the body, one will also be able to be born by transformation.
When a person’s lifespan is about to end, he should guard the mind and be mindful of the breath. To guard the mind and be mindful of the breath means to concentrate on inhalation and exhalation; in this way, he will be born in the First Heaven. Through mindfulness of breath, he should contemplate the body as having thirty-two things, namely: hair of the head, body hair, teeth, bones, skin, flesh, and the five viscera. These eleven matters belong to earth. Tears, mucus, saliva, pus, blood, fat and marrow, and urine. These seven matters belong to water. The movement of warmth and heat, and the digestion of food. These two matters belong to fire. The winds within the body are of twelve kinds. These thirty-two things all come from earth, water, fire, and wind. What is earth? Human birth depends on grain and vital essence. Grain is earth, thought is the seed, and vital essence is water; they combine and become the cause of the body. Seeking a single garment and a single meal is for the sake of nourishing the vital breath and maintaining the master’s body. Because the human body is originally nonexistent, sooner or later it will perish and cannot remain forever. After attaining the Path, one knows that this body is not the body. Reflecting that the human body will soon die and decay, and that consciousness is the seed of rebirth, one should then guard the mind with one-pointedness. Deluded people do not guard the soul, vital spirits, and consciousness. They merely nourish and protect the four appended branches, are deceived by form and flavor, take the body to be the self, constantly calculate and compare, do not know revulsion, and follow every craving for food and taste that arises from the body. Thus they fall into suffering, going back and forth in birth and death, unable to escape. They invert root and branch; the soul and spirits depart into emptiness and proceed toward a good path or an evil path. After the body dies, it falls to the ground and decays day and night. It too was originally without anything at all; it was only because thoughts arose and moved that it transformed into being. After death, the body all returns to the great earth. All things are the same; they all pass away. This is impermanence. People do not reflect for themselves; in their minds they think of ten thousand matters, and they are never able to guard the one mind. This is suffering. After the body dies, it can only be abandoned. The ten thousand things one thinks about are also like this; they too will all perish. Having busied oneself in this way for one round, one is born again, and with birth one again experiences suffering, planting actions of good and evil while not knowing one’s destination. This is not-self. This is what a cultivator of the Path should cut off. If people do not know the four impermanences, they will never attain the Path.
One should reflect on one’s own body, observe the various signs of death and decay, and know that people and things are all empty and without anything possessed. Then the mind rests securely in cessation, and one obtains joy. After obtaining joy, the mind becomes peaceful. Without departing from the five faculties, the mind is concentrated. This is called cultivating the Path.
When one reflects upon this body oneself and knows that it possesses nothing, one accomplishes mindfulness of the body. In the same way, with regard to feelings, mind, and phenomena, one should observe them as one observes in mindfulness of the body. The mindfulness spoken of here, when observing feelings, is to observe feelings arising and then ceasing. When observing mind, it is to observe thoughts such as craving and desire arising and then ceasing. When observing phenomena, it is to observe that thoughts, mental application, consciousness, and all inner and outer phenomena can be extinguished and are not truly existent. This is the four foundations of mindfulness. When the mind can come to rest, it can be guarded; when it can be guarded, it can contemplate clearly. Therefore the Buddhist scripture says, “When cessation and contemplation are practiced together, this is attaining the Four Truths.”
Therefore the Buddha said, “Sit quietly alone, and contemplate your own mind and intention.” What is called contemplation means contemplating how to extinguish form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. What is called “one’s own cessation of intention” means not allowing the mind to run after external objects, but settling the mind in inner observation. Constantly practicing this true mark of “what is as it is,” seeing the Path is precisely seeing this “what is as it is.” Because one practices in this way in meditation, one can personally see it for oneself. Therefore the scripture says, “When a Bhikṣu is able in this way to establish cessation of intention inwardly, only then has he truly guarded cessation.”
One should first observe one’s own mind and contemplate how to extinguish false thoughts. As soon as a thought arises, one brings it back to one’s own mind, guards this mind, and does not allow the mind to go beyond the body and chase after external things. For a cultivator of the Path, mountains and rivers, vessels and objects, fame and profit, affection and love, and everything external are all called external objects. When a thought moves inwardly, this is called contemplation. If one wishes to make the conscious mind cease chasing after false thoughts, one should constantly be mindful: all things will decay and perish, all are impermanent, all are not possessed by me; nor am I these things.
While alive, one should urgently be mindful: when I die, what can I take with me? What can be taken along is only good karma, one-pointed concentration, and delight in reciting the scriptures and recollecting the true Dharma. Therefore the Buddha said, “This alone is yours and can be taken along; everything else is not what belongs to the self.”
In the mind one should clearly know: whatever kind of affection and love there may be, in the end it will be separated, and each thing will disperse and decay. To recollect these things only disturbs people’s minds and increases their sinful karma. What matters is to let the body return to guarding purity and proceed toward the Path of Nirvāṇa.
With a concentrated mind, the Buddha contemplated the nine destinies and reflected that the four kinds of form would all be extinguished. Four or five days after a person dies, the body stinks and decays, and its color turns purple and bluish-green. After five or six days, fresh red pus and blood come out from the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. Afterward the flesh breaks down, worms arise in the intestines and stomach, consuming what remains of the body’s flesh; the skin decays away, and the bones are exposed in a pale white color. After a long time they again turn black and become ash and dust. Earth, water, fire, wind, and space are all not things I can command as I wish. Since innumerable lives past, you have also been a wife and a servant to others; you have also been an animal, an ox, a horse, and an insect, toiling painfully and bearing heavy debts. You have also been slaughtered and flayed by others, your bodily flesh cut apart, stewed, roasted, fried, and boiled. In this present life, having become human, you again take others as wives and servants, and you also take and use animals, oxen, horses, and insects, slaughtering, flaying, cutting, and roasting them, stabbing and chopping them as you wish. After your own body dies, you will again experience all of this. O cultivator of the Path, when you see that a person has died and his breath has ceased, that he has no awareness, that the body is stiff, stinking, decayed, and repulsive, and that merely thinking of it makes you afraid and unwilling to look, why do you not give rise to fear? Why do you not exhort and arouse people to be born in the heavens, and onward to the Path of Nirvāṇa?
The Buddha knows the various realms of birth and death in the nine destinies, and that ultimately they are all empty and without any entity that can be grasped. Therefore he teaches people to return to the one mind. Those who cultivate should hasten to extinguish false thoughts. In regard to all states, they should not give rise to the view that there is some other real thing. In this way, they can penetrate the deep solidity of things, and even those deep and subtle attachments will appear clearly within contemplation. Although all things are present, the mind does not grasp them; therefore seeing is as though not seeing.
As for desire and craving, one should contemplate their impermanence and decay. When lust arises, one should contemplate it with its antidote, contemplating the body as impure and what is loved as finally subject to ruin. When anger arises, one should be mindful of equality and loving-kindness, knowing that both oneself and others are within impermanence and suffering. When delusion arises, one should be mindful that all conditioned formations are originally not lasting. Only the unconditioned dharma is peaceful and secure, that is, Nirvāṇa in peace and stability. If people do not know that all things are impermanent, they will never be able to leave craving and attachment, and thus they also cannot leave the path of the preta. Everything in the world is like a dream. In a dream, one sees food and drink as fine and pleasing; when one wakes, they have perished and are no longer seen. Everything in the world is like this. Where there is birth, there is death; where there is formation and abiding, there is decay and ruin. In the end, all returns to emptiness. What, then, is there to crave? A person’s wife and property are also like this. Why? When a person obtains wealth and profit in life, the whole family gathers together in joy, like flying birds flocking together; yet all of this is impermanent. Once separation occurs, they too change and are no longer seen. Even if wealth and property were permanent, a person would still have ten thousand anxieties, worries, and fears, and within birth and death, each day his sinful karma would increase. A wise person restrains himself and has few desires, seeking only a single garment and a single meal. From quiet concentration of thought, he cultivates and does not seek outwardly. He firmly settles intention in cessation, constantly guards purity inwardly, cuts off craving and seeking, and is mindful of emptiness and stillness.
Question: “In cultivating the Path and guarding the mind, where does the root begin?”
The answer says: “When heaven and earth were first formed, people descended to the human world from the Fifteenth Heaven, and their lifespans originally had no premature end. Later they fell into the five paths of birth and death. The root of this arose from the six declines.
The human mind and intention were originally pure and good, without craving, and without feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Later they were deceived by the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth: the eyes first chased after forms; the ears listened to sounds; the nose smelled fragrances; the mouth and tongue knew flavors; and the mind then gave rise to various thoughts. By thus creating ten kinds of actions, the five aggregates were formed. Intention became consciousness, and when it joined with the six faculties, it became the six declines. From this, good and evil actions were created, and karmic seeds accumulated. Thus I came to have the cycle of old age, sickness, death, and birth.
In seeking the Path within the five paths, one does so in order to cut off birth and death. Therefore one must guard one’s own mind and intention and bring them to rest: when the eye faces form, it must stop; when the ear faces sound, it must stop; when the nose faces fragrance, it must stop; when the mouth faces flavor, it must stop; when the body faces what it likes and what it touches, it too must stop. This is the practice of cutting off the six declines. Then one observes that body and thought finally return to decay, and one sits in meditation to extinguish the intention that climbs after conditions. When one recognizes the Path, the five aggregates are completely extinguished. Knowing that all things are originally without reality, that mindfulness too is empty, and that perception too is empty, one can go directly toward the gate of Nirvāṇa.
Those who are able to guard the mind need to know that intention is the leader of consciousness. Therefore the six declines are a great calamity and the root from which the cycle of the five paths arises. A person who cultivates the Path diligently reflects and himself guards the four establishments of mindfulness. He must bring wrong thoughts to rest, while also observing: where do my own intention, discernment, and thoughts run? If people wish to extinguish false thoughts, discernment, and ideation, they should practice at all times. This does not mean cutting off all bodily actions, but making the three matters of body, speech, and mind stable. When the three matters are stable, the five aggregates and the six declines can come to rest. The three kinds of concentration are as follows: when the mouth no longer craves to know flavors, this is concentration of the mouth; when the body no longer chases after tactile feeling, this is concentration of the body; when false thoughts no longer scatter and fly about in the mind, this is concentration of the mind.””
There are four kinds of illness of the mind. Among them, when delusion is abundant, the five aggregates are abundant. When the five aggregates blaze intensely, the mind and intention become scattered and cannot cultivate in stability. When they cannot be stable, anger arises; following this, lustful thoughts arise, and when one cannot control oneself, one falls into delusion. Therefore, in cultivating the Path, one must cut off the five aggregates and cut off the various sufferings and afflictions born from uneasy feeling and many desires. The teacher said, “When the body is unwilling to cultivate, it is because the body is weary and has endured too much hardship. When the mind is unwilling to cultivate, it is because they are unwilling to be mindful of death, decay, suffering, emptiness, and these truths.”
Question: “What is the root?” The teacher answered, “Not giving rise to doubt and being complete in faith: this is the root.”
Question: “What is direction? What is object? What is practice?” The teacher answered, “When the mind no longer turn toward external objects, this is ‘direction.’ When thoughts no longer turn and chase after things, this is ‘object.’ To act in accordance with the Dharma and in accord with right intention is ‘practice.’”
Question: “What is the field? Who is called the field?” The teacher said, “You should not think that only you yourself have mind and intention, while householders who farm fields have no mind and intention. Nor should you think that householders are not awakened because they have no intention of awakening. Awakening and non-awakening are both in intention. Lust too arises within intention. Why? Because if people do not awaken, they gradually draw near. That renunciants have no fields is precisely for this reason.”
Question: “In the realm of the Buddha, is there, after all, intention, or is there no intention?”
Answer: “It is like this: originally, there is no real body and intention. It is only that beings themselves create and themselves grasp. It is like seeds of the five grains: if originally there were no seeds, sprouts would not be produced. Human life is also like this. Originally there is no real and unchanging seed, yet because causes and conditions come together, it seems as if there were life, body, and mind. It is also like kindling fire: the flames burn up; when the firewood is exhausted, the flames cease. If people themselves observe that this body is not a true body, then the other things also cease within the mind.”
Someone challenged, saying, “Since originally there is no intention, what intention is there to guard?”
The teacher replied, “Precisely because it originally has no entity, it can be guarded. If what were extinguished were something originally truly existent, then, on the contrary, it could not be guarded.”
The teacher said, “Cultivating the Path has four essential points. First, guard the gates of the many sense faculties. Second, know that the body is not the body: thoroughly know that this body is not the true self, and thereby no longer love and cling to this body. This is the gate for transcending the human realm and being able to ascend to the realm of the Sixth Heaven. Third, know that mind are impermanent; then mind no longer turn toward external objects. This is the gate for being able to reach the realm of the Eighteenth Heaven. Fourth, even attachment to ‘emptiness’ is extinguished. This is the gate for being able to leave the realm of the Twenty-eighth Heaven. Because attachment to ‘emptiness’ is also extinguished, one can truly follow the Great Path.
Therefore the scripture says, ‘Those who cultivate the Path and are able to awaken can attain release.’ What is called awakening is awakening to suffering, emptiness, not-self, and impermanence. What is called attaining release is passing beyond these four gates. After attains the first dhyāna, one reborns in the Seventh Heaven. Although there is still a body, it is only like a shadow. Why? Because through cultivating the Path, attachment to a truly existent body has been broken.
How should one contemplate the body? One should observe the head, hair, and brain. Contemplate that the hair originally has nowhere from which it comes; it is made by fabrication and transformation, and in the end it will rot and fall away. The brain is like congealed rice gruel; all of it will stink and decay. The eyes are only cavities; the fluids inside them will all flow away and become empty. The ears are only cavities, full of filthy water seeping out. The nose, mouth, saliva, and mucus will all flow out, disperse, and decay. The tongue, throat, lobes of the lungs, liver, and heart: inside the heart is foul blood. The gallbladder, diaphragm, and spleen are joined to the stomach; the kidneys are joined to the spine; in the stomach there is the flavor of digested food. In the large intestine there is feces; in the small intestine there are openings, and urine is discharged. The lower abdomen will swell, decay, and rot. In the intestines and stomach, feces and urine are mixed together and poured through them; these stinking places are repulsive. Below there is the flesh of the buttocks, the two calves, and the two feet; the flesh is exhausted, and the sinews and veins decay. The bone-locks loosen section by section and fall away. The bones of the calves are stark white. The thigh bones are like wheels. The hip bones are connected with the spine. The shoulder blades are connected with the elbows, arms, and hands. The skin also decays away, loosening section by section and falling away. The neck bones are connected with the skull. Blood and flesh are exhausted, and in the end all becomes ash and dust.
All living beings that wriggle and breathe, once the breath departs and does not return, pass away at once. The body becomes rigid and no longer moves. The fire element departs, and the body becomes cold. The wind element disappears, and breathing ceases. Fluids flow out from the nine openings; this is the dispersing of the water element. No longer taking in food is the return of the earth element. After three or four days, the color turns bluish-black. Pus and blood flow out from the mouth, nose, ears, eyes, and the other nine openings. Muscles, bones, and flesh rot and decay; the intestines, stomach, five viscera, limbs, and joints all return completely to ash and dust. One should contemplate in this way: all things are like this, and one’s own body is also like this. All are extinguished and return to emptiness. Exhalation is empty, and inhalation is also empty. In this way, one can draw near to the Path.”
Dharma Torch 