Issue 306

What’s more, the views of an ordinary person could sometimes be wrong. Ordinary people cannot fathom the realms of sages. Bodhisattvas of the First Ground do not know the states of those of the Second Ground, and so on up the line. Bodhisattvas on the Tenth Ground do not know the states of the Bodhisattvas on the Ground of Equal Enlightenment. Arhats of the First Fruition do not know the states of Second Fruition Arhats. When you haven’t acquired true wisdom, do not give rise to a mind of slandering the Triple Jewel, do not speak of the faults of the Fourfold Assembly. Even though people seem to clearly be in the wrong, you should not speak of it. You just do what is good. Do not be like a camera that goes about photographing others but never photograph or examine itself.

Speaking of this, it brought a recollection of Dhyana Master Zhi Gong during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty. Dhyana Master Zhi Gong would eat two pigeons every day. The cook assumed that the birds must be delicious, and one day he ate the wings of one pigeon and brought the rest of the dish to Dhyana Master Zhi Gong. After he finished eating, Dhyana Master Zhi Gong asked the cook, “Why did you eat my pigeons?”
“I didn’t!” answered the cook.
“Oh? Then take a look!” said Dhyana Master Zhi Gong. He opened his mouth and two live pigeons emerged. One of the birds flew off, but the other had no wings.
“If you didn’t, how come this one has no wings?” asked Dhyana Master Zhi Gong.
In both cases the men ate pigeons. Dhyana Master Zhi Gong ate the chopped up and cooked pigeon, then spit it out alive; the cook, on the other hand, could not do it. Dhyana Master Zhi Gong’s state was one of ‘eating and yet not eating.’

Then, there’s Dhyana Master Ji Gong at Ling Ying Monastery in West Lake, Hangzhou. Dhyana Master Ji Gong was known for eating dog meat and drinking wine. Every day, he was drunk. One look at him and people knew he was a drunken monk. However, the truth is that in his state of drunkenness, Ji Gong taught and transformed living beings everywhere.

Once there’s a Buddha image that needs to be gilded with gold, so he told the abbot, “I will gild this Buddha image. Don’t ask other people to do it.” The abbot agreed and then waited. After some time and not seeing any action, the abbot asked Dhyana Master Ji Gong, “You said you are going to gild the Buddha image with gold. It’s been a while and you haven’t done anything.” The Dhyana Master replied, “Okay, I’ll do it.” That night, he drank his wine as usual and waited until everyone was asleep. Then he approached the Buddha image and began spewing forth pure gold to gild the image. He worked on gilding the Buddha image and was almost done except for a small portion on the crown of the head. His spewing sounded like spitting and prompted the abbot to reprimand him, “How could you spit at the Buddha image?” Dhyana Master Ji Gong immediately stopped and left.

Next morning when the abbot inspected the Buddha image, he saw that it had been fully gilded except for a small spot on the crown of the head. A goldsmith was asked to complete the job. Although the work was done, the quality of the goldsmith’s gold was no match to that of Dhyana Master Ji Gong. This shows how inconceivable the states of arhats are.

People who believe in Buddhism should not speak of the faults of the Fourfold Assembly. If the person you criticized is an ordinary person, it may not be that bad. If the person you criticized happens to be a sage who has certified fruition, then you incurred an offense, and you will fall into hell.

People slander the Triple Jewel because they do not have faith. There are some factors why they don’t have faith. Sometimes, it is due to their association with bad company—people who do not understand Buddhism and hence slander the Buddhadharma. Associating with such people, they were eventually influenced by their bad habits and follow suit slandering and destroying the Triple Jewel.

Sycophants and fools also slander the Triple Jewel. Sycophants are those who flatter in the hope of gaining favors. They are also called bootlickers. These people have minds that are crooked; they engage in flattery to get what they want. They are stupid, but they think they are smart. They are filled with overweening pride and self-conceit, just like the five thousand bhikshus who left the assembly during the speaking of the Lotus Sutra. Having a tiny bit of cleverness, they look down on others and think nobody measures up to them. Because of this, they don’t believe in the Proper Dharma and slander the Proper Dharma, thus blinding the selective Dharma vision of living beings.

Living beings originally have the selective Dharma vision. So, what is meant by blinding the selective Dharma vision? It is like gouging out their eyes and causing them to lose their selective Dharma vision. People who caused others to lose their selective Dharma vision will have to undergo the retribution of being disabled or incapacitated in the future. They may be deformed and crippled, without arms, hands, or legs and not be able to walk. They may have tongues but are unable to speak. Why are they mute? You need to pay attention to this. The mutes in this world are those who slandered the Triple Jewel. People who slander the Triple Jewel fall to hell, where they spend two hundred million years of hellish retribution. After which they are born into the realm of animals, maybe a horse, cow, sheep, chicken, dog, etc. After two hundred million years as animals, they may be reborn as humans, but they will be disabled. Either they will have no eyes, therefore blind, no ears therefore deaf, or mute even if they have tongues. In general, their six faculties will be impaired and their appearance ugly. They undergo this kind of suffering because they slandered the Triple Jewel in past lives. Such suffering is limitless. After death, they will fall into the Relentless Hells. This is the retribution for slandering the Triple Jewel.

And do not venerate sutras…We should pay attention to this. All sutras must be regarded with respect. The  Diamond Sutra states, “Wherever there is a sutra, there is the Buddha.” Sutras are the Dharma-body of the Buddha, toward which we must be very respectful. Area where sutras are placed must be organized and clean, and without acts of defilement. Sutras should always be placed above other printed materials. Otherwise, it is disrespectful. In addition, Buddhist sutras must be placed on the side where we lay our head and not on the side where we lay our feet. Otherwise, it is disrespectful. The bed where we sleep on is the most unclean spot, remember not to put any sutras there. We should respect Buddhist sutras and Buddhist books in the same manner we respect the Buddha. Not respecting the sutras is equivalent to not respecting the Buddha, and tantamount to slandering the Triple Jewel. The karmic offense of shedding the Buddha’s blood, slandering the Triple Jewel and disrespecting sutras are the same. The retribution of such actions is one falls into Relentless Hell where for thousands of billions of eons they will seek escape in vain. It would be impossible to exit the hells even after a very long period. Hence, you should remember very well this section of the sutra, for it is very important, extremely important. Buddhists certainly must be respectful of the Triple Jewel and sutras, and must not shed the Buddha’s blood.

If there are beings who usurp or harm the property of the Eternally Dwelling, who defile Bhikshus or Bhikshunis, who commit sexual acts within the Sangharama, or who kill or harm beings there, they will fall into Relentless Hell where for thousands of billions of eons they will seek escape in vain.

If there are beings who usurp or harm the property of the Eternally Dwelling… If is a function word that denotes in the event of. Eternally Dwelling refers to the wayplace. There are four kinds of Eternally Dwelling: 1. Permanent Eternally Dwelling, 2. Eternally Dwelling of the Ten Directions, 3. Current Eternally Dwelling, 4. Current Eternally Dwelling of the Ten Directions.

What is Permanent Eternally Dwelling? This wayplace is fixed and continuous, where monastics permanently reside. A wayplace is where the Sangha lives. To usurp and harm the Eternally Dwelling is to make use of the food, drink, and possessions of those permanently dwelling in the wayplace. Lay people who live in the temple should make donations. Whether you live in the temple for a few days or a period, you should offer monetary contribution. If not, you are usurping the Eternally Dwelling, and in the future, you will fall into hell. When you live in the temple, you should offer monetary compensation commensurate to the amount you would pay if you lived elsewhere. This way, you are not usurping the Eternally Dwelling. That’s why I tell my refuge disciples not to commit this offense wherever they go and to always support the wayplace.

To usurp and harm the temple refers to exploiting the resources of the temple and causing the resources to dwindle. If you cannot augment the resources of the temple, you should at least not deplete them. People who do not understand Buddhadharma think they are getting a bargain by living in a temple for free. Due to lack of understanding, this may be acceptable. But after having learned Buddhadharma, you should certainly not usurp and harm the wayplace. This principle holds true for both laypeople and monastics. As a monk, whenever I stay at any temple, I will pay half of the estimated cost for spending the night at a hotel, e.g., I pay three dollars for an approximated cost of five dollars. Wherever I go I do this unless I have absolutely nothing, then that is okay. If I do have something, I will not usurp or harm the property of the Eternally Dwelling. Even monastics should not usurp or harm the Eternally Dwelling.

The Eternally Dwelling is like the great earth. It is where the great multitude lives. If you caused the great multitude to have no food, that’s an offense. If I alone starve to death, that’s fine, but I cannot cause the monastics who dwell in the temple to have no food for sustenance. There is an adage ‘People regard food as heaven.’ Unlike my little disciple who can do without food, everybody needs to eat. If you caused them to have no food to eat, then you have usurped and harmed the Eternally Dwelling. For those who have studied the Buddhadharma, whenever you live in the temple, do offer a monetary donation. Even if it’s a little less than what you’d pay elsewhere, at least you have done your best. If you took off without giving any at all, you have usurped and harmed the Eternally Dwelling.