(Continued from issue #288)
Instructional talk given by Venerable Master Hua
(5) The Dharma Realm of Gods
The Six Desire Heavens and Brahma Heavens,
With five precepts and ten good acts,
Planting seeds that have outflows,
The turning wheel is hard to stop.
The Six Desire Heavens and Brahma Heavens: The six Desire Heavens are the heavens of the Desire Realm. The Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm are called the Three Realms. Right now, we are underneath the Heaven of the Four Kings, which is one of the six Desire Heavens. The heaven that we see directly above is the Heaven of the Four Kings, ruled by the Four Great Heavenly Kings. This heaven is located halfway up Mount Sumeru.
The people of ancient China knew that there’s a supreme lord, but did not know about the Buddha. When Emperor Tang of the Shang dynasty was making offerings to the heavens, he used a black bull as an offering to the supreme lord. Emperor Tang’s name was Lu. Out of respect for the supreme lord, he humbly said, “Small kid Lu dared to use this black bull as an offering to the Supreme Lord. I beseech thee that if I have committed offenses, let the offenses rest with me and not with the citizens. But, if the citizens committed offenses, let their offenses rest with me.” He earnestly told the Supreme Lord that if he made mistakes, the citizens should not be blamed, and if the common folks of his country committed offenses, the responsibility should rest with the Emperor for not having taught them well.
The ancient sages would always blame and chastise themselves. Nowadays, people point at others to blame. Even clearly knowing they are at fault, they’d still say, “Oh, I didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s all his doing.” “It’s his fault, so why are you blaming me?” “God, you’re really unfair! Why is that person so rich, while I’m penniless? Why is he so honored, while I’m lowly?” They damn heaven and curse at people, but never admit of their own wrongdoing. They only look for the faults of others. The ancient sages always acknowledged their own faults.
The second heaven is the heaven of Lord Shakra. It is situated in the center, with eight heavens to its east, eight heavens to its west, eight heavens to its south, and eight heavens to its north, a total of thirty-two heavens surrounding it. That’s the second heaven in the Desire Realm.
The third heaven is the Suyama Heaven. The beings in this heaven are extremely happy, singing from morning to night. What do they sing? They sing, “How happy I am!” They are happy in the six periods of the day and night. Suyama means “time period,” because every time period is joyful.
The fourth is the Tushita Heaven. Tushita means “blissfully content.” The gods are constantly happy and satisfied. Since they are always content, they are always happy. From morning to night, they have no cares or worries, and no afflictions. This heaven is also called the Heaven of Contentment, because the gods are constantly content and happy, with no worries or afflictions.
The fifth is Blissful Transformations Heaven. The gods can obtain happiness by transformation. When they think about clothing, clothing appears. When they think about food, food appears. Freely performing transformations, they are extremely blissful.
The sixth is the Heaven of Comfort Gained Through Others’ Transformations. Originally these gods had no happiness of their own, so they take the bliss of other heavens and transform it into their own. Why do they do this? It’s because they’re unprincipled. They’re just like bandits in the human realm who seize the wealth and possessions of other people for themselves, not caring whether others live or die. Many celestial demons and their retinues can be found in this heaven.
The Six Desire Heavens and Brahma Heavens. What we have discussed above are the six Desire Heavens. The Brahma heavens refer to the Great Brahman Heaven, the Heaven of the Brahma Multitudes, and the Heaven of the Brahma Ministers. They cultivated the five precepts and ten good acts, thus earning the blessings of being born in the heavens. However, these good roots have outflows. Hence, “Planting seeds that have outflows, the turning wheel is hard to stop.” Since they plant these seeds that have outflows, it is difficult for them to end birth and death. One must cultivate the causes for transcending the world if one wants to get out of the turning wheel of samsara.
(To be continued …)