Issue 287

No Affliction Heaven. In this heaven, beings are not afflicted by delusions of views and delusions of thoughts. Both delusions are severed. What are afflictions from views and thoughts? Views come from greed upon encountering states. Thoughts arise from discriminations resulting from unclear understanding of principles. These are the delusions of thought. Without the delusions of view and delusions of thought, they do not have that type of heated afflictions. They have neither suffering nor bliss. In a state where both suffering and bliss have perished, they do not have a mind of contention, so their afflictions disappear. Without afflictions, they attain refreshing coolness; hence, it is called No Affliction Heaven.

No Heat Heaven. Heat refers to heated afflictions. That heaven is very refreshingly cool. It is devoid of heated afflictions.

The Good Views Heaven. What does this mean? Those in this Heaven enjoy views that are vast and far. They can see a long ways away.

Good Manifestation Heaven. This heaven has a kind of transformation that is subtly wonderful, manifesting all the joyful states.

Ultimate Form Heaven. All the heavens described above are heavens of the Form Realm. This one now is the Ultimate Form Heaven.

Maheshvara Heaven. Maheshvara is Sanskrit; it means Great Ease. The Maheshvara god has eight arms, three heads and rides on a great white ox. He thinks he is very much at ease. The Maheshvara Heaven is also called the Heaven of Great Ease.

Of the aforementioned ten heavens, the No Thought Heaven is where heretics and heavenly demons live. Together with the other nine heavens, they form the Fourth Dhyana Heavens. Fourth Dhyana is also called the Ground of Purity from Renouncing Thoughts. Earlier, we said that the pulse stops in the First Dhyana, the breath stops in the Second Dhyana and thoughts stop in the Third Dhyana. In the Fourth Dhyana, thoughts are renounced. The Ground of Purity from Renouncing Thoughts abandons thoughts.

. . . and so forth, up to the Heaven of the Station of Neither Thought nor Non-Thought. The Heaven of the Station of Neither Thought nor Non-Thought includes the Heaven of the Station of Boundless Emptiness, the Heaven of the Station of Boundless Consciousness, the Heaven of the Station of Nothing Whatsoever, and the Heaven of the Station of Non-Thought. In the Heaven of the Station of Non-Thought, even consciousness is gone, hence, “non-thought”. Neither thought is not nothing, there is still some thought, not necessarily no thought whatsoever. This is the Heaven of the Station of Neither Thought nor Non-Thought.

All the multitudes of the heavens, of the dragons, of the ghosts and spirits, all came and gathered together in the palace of the Trayastrimsha Heaven. There are a great number of them.

Moreover, from the other lands and from the Saha World, sea spirits, river spirits, stream spirits, tree spirits, mountain spirits, earth spirits, brook and marsh spirits, sprout and seedling spirits, day spirits, night spirits, and space spirits, heaven spirits, food and drink spirits, grass and wood spirits, etc., all came and gathered together.

We have talked about all those many heavens, ghosts and spirits, gods and dragons, etc. and yet, we are not done. Moreover, from the other lands…other lands refer to the other worlds, and from the Saha World: Not only the ghosts and spirits from the other worlds are present here, but also those from the Saha World, all gathered together here.

Sea spirits, river spirits, stream spirits…All these places have water. In the Dirghagama Sutra, the Buddha talks about where the oceans, rivers and lakes come from. In the world, there is the sun. The sun has heat energy that generates heat. When heat is generated, there is sweating. Rivers, streams, lakes and oceans are all the results of sweating. It is not only people that sweat; all beings sweat, including the earth and the trees. Wherever the sun shines upon, there is heat energy, called heating.

Profuse sweating in this world creates a lot of water, forming streams and rivers. Water pervades all places throughout space and the Dharma Realm; there is water everywhere. For example, the Shurangama Sutra describes how dew water appears in a crystal platter held toward the sky on a full moon night. This proves that water exists everywhere. Although it is everywhere, there are times when we do not see it because there is the essence of water but there is no physical form. In a similar way, people have the Buddha nature but we do not see the Buddha nature, we only see the physical body. Water has its nature, it has the characteristic of moisture. Mostly places are very humid, which proves that water exists everywhere. Fire also exists everywhere.

The nature of fire and water work together rather than in conflict. Why is it that not all areas have water? Heaven, earth and water are interlinked. The Four Heavenly Kings have a pearl for avoiding water. Without this pearl, water would inundate the whole world. This is why water is not everywhere. When explained, this principle is very wonderful.

What are oceans/seas? The Chinese character for ocean/sea (海) can be explained through the character 晦, which means darkness. Meaning to say, it is very dark inside the ocean/sea. When you open your eyes while submerged underneath, you cannot see anything. You cannot see what’s in it. Oceans are huge, but you can’t see what’s inside, neither do you know its depth, width, and expanse. This, is the ocean/sea. It also implies its gigantic scope, as well its darkness and obscurity. There are many spirits in the oceans and seas. The Dragon King is a sea spirit. Among the sea spirits, there is one called Hai Ruo and one called Yang He. Hai Ruo is a sea spirit categorized as a beast and not as a worm. It has 18 tails, eight legs, eight heads and it has a human face. This is the highest-ranking sea spirit. There are many other spirits. If you see any of them while meditating, do not be afraid. Sea spirits came to make offerings to you. Do not be frightened by their grotesque appearance.

How do you explain river? What is the difference between river and ocean? Rivers are larger than streams, oceans are bigger than rivers. Rivers are very wide but not very deep. Streams are not as wide as rivers. Oceans are big; they are the masters of the myriad waterways. All the rivers, streams and lakes end up in the ocean. No matter how many rivers flow in, the ocean can take them all, undaunted. It takes in the myriad waterways. Rivers are different, they have to expand to other areas; oceans do not flow towards other areas. The Chinese character for river implies impartiality or imperial tribute. All the goods produced along the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River and Hanshui River are offered as tributes to the Emperor.

There is a little-known way to describe the stream. It implies the “palm” of the hand. When the stream is calm and has no waves, it is like the palm of a hand, the still water like a mirror. The aforementioned stream spirits, river spirits and ocean spirits are all water spirits.

There are also tree spirits and mountain spirits. The Chinese character (山) mountain may be explained as production or birth because things grow in the mountains. It can also imply “imaginary” in the sense that it shoots the seeds of myriad things without hitting the target.

Earth spirits. Earth is implied as “the bottom”. Being at the bottom, it can grow all things and carry all things.

Brook and marsh spirits. The Chinese character for brooks also means penetrate, meaning that brooks can go through soil and other places that are originally without water. Marshes are also places with water.

Sprout and seedling spirits. What are sprouts? Vegetation that grows to a certain height is called sprouts. Seedlings are seeds when they are being planted into the ground. As a part of the harvest, they are pits.

Day spirits. Spirits in charge of the day.

Night spirits. Spirits in charge of the night. The divide between day and night is midnight. After 12:00 midnight, it belongs to day; after 12:00 noon, it belongs to night. Although the sun is not officially out at midnight, yang energy has already arisen. This is why people tend to have lustful desires from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. because the yang energy emerges. If you do not have lustful desires, it will turn into wisdom. Go down one direction, it turns into wisdom; go down another direction, it turns into lust. This is similar to the forked road that leads to either the Abundant Fruit Heaven or the No Thought Heaven. By maintaining proper thoughts, you go the direction that aids your wisdom; going the other direction will fan your desires. After 12:00 noon is the start of yin. Lust develops at night too. If you don’t go down the path of lust, you would be moving toward the path of wisdom. There is a forked road in the midst of both yin and yang. It is up to you how you will walk.
Space spirits. Who are they? Space spirits refer to “shunyata” in Ananda’s verse in the beginning of the Shurangama mantra. “Even if the nature of shunyata melts away, my vajra-like supreme resolve would still remain unmoved.” When listening to sutras, do not just let what you hear go by thinking that you are not being greedy, even for the Dharma. Not being greedy for the Buddhadharma, you better not be greedy for worldly dharma either. If you are not greedy for the Buddhadharma but are greedy for worldly dharma and sit around counting your money all day, then that is a problem too.

Heaven spirits are the spirits in the heaven.