(Continued from issue #284)
Instructional talk given by Venerable Master Hua
(3) The Dharma Realm of Those Enlightened to Conditions
The holy sages enlightened to conditions
Doze high on mountain peaks alone.
Springtime’s flowers wither in the fall
In a cycle of twelve interconnecting links.
The holy sages enlightened to conditions: Those who become enlightened when a Buddha is in the world are called Those Enlightened to Conditions. Those who become enlightened when there is no Buddha in the world are called Solitarily Enlightened Ones, because they get enlightened by themselves. They like to doze high on mountain peaks alone. Springtime’s flowers wither in the fall: They observe “the blooming of hundreds of flowers in the springtime, and the falling of yellow leaves in the autumn,” and awaken to how the myriad things naturally come into being and then cease to be, in a cycle of twelve interconnecting links. They contemplate the twelve links of conditioned co-production:
1. Ignorance: They contemplate to see where ignorance comes from, and why it exists.
2. Activity: With ignorance, there is activity, and then there is manifestation. With manifestation, there is consciousness.
3. Consciousness: Consciousness refers to discrimination. Activity refers to conditioned dharmas. When conditioned dharmas arise, thoughts of discrimination arise. With thoughts of discrimination, trouble comes.
4. Name and form: Name and form are the trouble. Name brings the trouble of name, and form brings the trouble of form. Name and form are the trouble, and the trouble is name and form. To talk about this matter is even more troublesome. Before I mentioned it, there was no trouble. But the mere mention of it brings trouble. Before I talked about this, you weren’t even aware of it, so you didn’t have that many troubles. Once I speak of it, since you don’t understand, you have the trouble of not understanding. Because you have this trouble of not understanding, you wish to understand. With the wish to understand, the six sense organs come into being.
5. Six sense organs: The six sense organs come about because you wish to understand things; that’s why the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind arise. Why do the six sense organs come into being? Because of the desire to understand. But who would have known that the more you try to understand, the more muddled you get. The more muddled you become, the less you understand. That’s the six sense organs.
6. Contact: Contact refers to touching or encountering. When we don’t understand, we go seeking encounters everywhere: east, west, north, south, above and below, just like a fly that keeps bumping into the wall. Why do we seek encounters? Because of our desire to understand.
7. Feeling: After we touch something, there is feeling. Before we run into difficulties, we feel very comfortable. Once we encounter difficulties, we feel very uncomfortable. When no one criticizes us, we feel very happy. But if anyone says something bad about us, we get upset. That’s feeling.
8. Love: When we have feelings, love and attachment arise. Why do people feel insecure? It’s because of love. Once there is love, there is also hatred, or detestation. We like and cling to favorable situations, but detest adverse states. Why do we feel happy? Why do we feel unhappy? It’s because we have feelings of love and hate. Hate refers to dislike and loathing. Because of these, our troubles increase day by day.
9. Grasping: When we see something we like, we want to grasp it. What is grasping? It is the action motivated by the wish to obtain something. Because you are fond of something, you wish to obtain it.
10. Becoming: Once you obtain it, you have satisfied your desire. Why do you want to fulfill your desire? It’s because you want to possess things. With that wish for possession, “becoming” occurs.
11. Birth: Because of becoming, you want to possess things. Once you want to possess things, there is birth into the next life.
12. Old age and death: With another birth, there is also old age and death again.
These twelve links of conditioned co-production are cultivated by Those Enlightened to Conditions.
(To be continued …)