An Inspired Story--To Sweep Garbage Out Of Heart

The Chinese original author: unknow

Translator-editor: Tao Qing Hsu (A Buddhist at home;Taiwan; Since AD 1971-- ) 

In a Buddhist group, there is a little novice monk who decided to practice the Dao to follow the Buddha’s teaching and was assigned to sweep the floor in the courtyard. There were a lot of fallen leaves on the ground. The little novice monk always complained that there were endless fallen leaves every day and why the master assigned him to bear so much heavy work. Many years passed away, the little novice monk had grew to be a young man.

 

One day, he was still complaining while sweeping the floor. The master took a walk to beside him and watched him complaining. The master asked him, ”You have swept the floor for many years. Do you have swept “the garbage” out of the floor of your heart?” Then, the master smiled with mercy and went away. The young man felt confused and began to think what “the garbage” in the floor of heart is and why “the garbage” has to be swept out of the floor of heart. Then, the young man was thinking about this question while sweeping the floor every day.

 

Another day, there was a senior Buddhist monk who walked beside the young man and saw him take a rest under a tree. The senior blame him and said, “The sluggard! How dare you to be lazy. Why don’t you hurry up to sweep the floor clean? ” The young man was unhappy about this blaming and suddenly wanted to leave this group. After a period of time, the master came to beside him and saw the young man who was anxious while sweeping the floor with upset. The master advised him and said, ”Why don’t you “sweep” the worries out of your heart? ” Then, the master looked at him, smiled with mercy and went away. The young man suddenly seems to be inspired and began to diligently sweep the floor with the good mood.

 

Do you have been inspired from this story? Do you have swept “the garbage” from the floor of heart every day? What is “the garbage” in our heart? How to define “the garbage” in our heart? In a word, it means all the unpleasant things or all the worries which are resulted from our desire, love, greed, hatred or the stupid infatuation.  

Chapter 30: Depart far away from the desire-fire

(Chapter 30) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : 

Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 30: Depart far away from the desire-fire      

The Buddha said,” Those who act the Dao are such as putting on the dried grass, must avoid it, when the fire comes. When the Daoist people see the desire, they must depart far away from it.”

  

The desire-fire is the fire of desire, which means that the desire is like the fire (the fire of worries, the fire of greed or hatred), which could destroy anything in life and cause any damage. Mostly, the fire gives us the negative impression, because it might hurt us, including our life. In this chapter, the fire is based on the negative concept to be used as analogy. It is not only necessary for us to leave it away, but also necessary for us to "cease or extinguish the fire", which means to remove the negative mentality and emotion, such as the inside desire, greed, or hatred. It also means to remove the harm caused by the desire,  greed or hatred.  

 

Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese Character. Dao originally means path, road or way. The meaning of Dao is extended to be any system of education, including any teaching in any religion. Therefore, the meaning of Dao is very broad. In Buddhism, the Buddha also uses the original meaning of the character “Dao” as the explaining or the defining. That is when the honesty disciples want to practice the truth in life, what the principle is they can put it into the practice in real life. In a word, Dao is some truth, principle and method to enlighten self from the meditation by self and the practicing the teaching of Buddha. In other words, the truth and all the enlightenment from the self and the Buddha is also the Dao.

What is the difference between Buddhism and Daoism in Chinese?

 

To know the truth in life is not enough. As a Buddhist monk or a general person who wants to study the Buddhism, it is necessary to put the truth into practice, which is called to act the Dao. I use the word "acting-Dao”, "practicing-Dao" and “Dao-practicer”. Therefore, please do not mistakenly understand the Dao to be the Daoism. In Chinese culture, there is some kind of different between Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism). What is the difference between them? In a word, the appearance, form, method and the way of practicing the Dao is different. 

Meanwhile, what the nouns to be used to introduce and explain the gods is different. However, the goal that the truth they want to practice and to enlighten self is the same. Thus, the Buddhism and the Daoism could accept each other and there is no conflict. Furthermore, the Buddhism and Daoism could accept the other righteous religion, such as Christianity and Catholicism. Do you know why? In the emptiness in mind as if in the universe and as if in the sky and earth, there is nothing which could not be included.  

 

From the above explanation, here the Daoist people mean those people who practice the Dao in Buddhism. I call them as Dao-practicer. You could also use “Dao-practicer” instead of “Daoist people”. In this chapter, I hope that you do not mistakenly understand that the Daoist people mean those people who learn Daoism.

For the Dao-practicer, there are two kind of the desire which have to be departed from.

 

For the Dao-practicer, there are two kind of the desire which have to be departed from. One is the desire of the erotic and the other is the desire of the greed. The Buddha talked about the erotic desire and the greedy desire for many times in The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha. There are a lot of chapters to remind the honesty Buddhist monk to be cautious for the erotic desire and the greedy desire. I also explain it a lot in those chapters. The erotic desire is also one of the greedy desires, if we deeply perceive it, we can find it.

 

The Buddha said that the greedy desire is the source of suffering. For the masses, they do not have such perceiving and thus do a lot of harmful thing for the self and others. They could not understand the dangerous of the greedy desire, unless they have experienced the greedy desire in life, tasted the bitter consequence and suffered it.  Or, they have accepted the teaching of Buddha and thus have been beginning to think and perceive why the greedy desire is the source of suffering. 

 

In the world, there are a lot of harmful cases caused by the greedy desire or the erotic desire every day. In the history, there are also a lot of cases as said. Many people are followed to and turned by their own greedy desire and the erotic desire and thus to do harmful thing to others people. They might just see the self-interests or just self-enjoy the happiness in the present. However, they do not see the consequence which would harm self and others. There are many such similarly events, which we can find in the tyrannical and brutal government, or in any society, even in the environment which surrounds us. 

 

The greedy and erotic desire is the cause, which would link the many and complicated conditions coming from the outer environment. Then, such cause and conditions would let the person to do any harmful thing by violating its personal good self-nature, to harm the self and others people.

A news reminds us not only have to be cautious for our own greedy and erotic desire, but also have to be cautious for other peoples’ greedy and erotic desire, so as to avoid any troubles.  

Recently, in Taiwan, there is social news which attracts my attention. A couple married less than three months since they have known each other in the Internet. The female is 45 years old and older than the male for 7 years old. The female don’t get along well with the male’s parents. So, they move out from the male’s parents’ home. One day, the female find that the name of beneficiaries of her husband’s insurance policies is her husband’s father, she asks her husband to change the name of beneficiaries to be her name. But, the man doesn’t do that. Then, the female’s mood begins to change and she starts to deliberately cause trouble to the man. She accuses the man for doing the domestic violence to her and also threatens the man that she wants to spill gasoline on him to start a fire as fighting back.

 

In another day, this couple goes back to the male’s parents’ home. The female begins to deliberately make trouble to her mother-in-law, to threaten her with knife, to slap her face and kick her foot, and to throw foods to everywhere on the floor from the refrigerator. When polices come, she even accuses her mother-in-law to hurt her. All such badly behaviors are secretly recorded by her husband and the film is sent to the male’s best friend.

 

Finally, in the male’s parent’s home, the female indeed spill gasoline on her husband to start a fire, which cause the male severe burn and being sent to the ICU. Meanwhile, the female’s face is severe burned and ruined. What happened as mentioned above is less than one year since they married. And the man dies in the end after one month. 

 

From this case, we know that, it is not only men who would engage in domestic violence. Women would also do it. This case also lets us know that the greedy desire from others people can hurt us and our family, no matter they is male or female. In this case, we find that this man doesn’t be cautious for his erotic desire and indulge in and confused by this female. Meanwhile, He also doesn’t be cautious for the greedy desire from this female. And thus it brings the seriously trouble to him and his parents. For this woman, she doesn’t be cautious for her own greedy desire and thus she engages in the domestic violence to her family-in-law by violate her good nature, and thus ruins her happy life and her future. Therefore, we understand that we not only have to be cautious for our own greedy and erotic desire, but also have to be cautious for others peoples’ greedy and erotic desire. No matter the greedy and erotic desire is coming from self or others people, it would be possible to become the invisible fire or the real fire to burn us. Thus, we also know that the greedy and erotic desire is the cause of any violence. That is also  why we have to depart from it. 

When we depart from the cause, that is the greedy and erotic desire, any consequences would not be happened, no matter the outer conditions are.  

When the dried grass meets the fire, it would be burned. The Dao-practicer is as the dried grass, it is better for him to depart from the greedy and erotic desire, because the greedy and erotic desire is as fire which could damage self, just as if the fire burns the dried grass.

 

Even though we might not be the Dao-practicer, however, when we have seen a lot of damaged consequences as said, which would remind us to be cautious for our own greedy desire or the erotic desire. Furthermore, we also have to be cautious for the greedy and erotic desire coming from others people. We now understand that such desire is like fire. If we are wise, it is better for us to depart from it. When we depart from the cause, that is the greedy and erotic desire, any consequences would not be happened, no matter the outer conditions are.  

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

Chapter 28: A thought is as a horse, don’t indulge it.

(Chapter 28) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : 

Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

  

Chapter 28: A thought is as a horse, don’t indulge it.     

The Buddha said,” Don’t trust your thought. Your thought is un-trusty. Be cautious not to meet the erotic. Meeting the erotic would instantly incur the disasters. Having gained the Arhathood, you thus can trust your thought.    

Each day and each moment, from our senses such as eyes, ears, nose, tongue or body, we absorbing stimuli from various situations and information from the outside world, everything of this kind will inspire our thoughts. At this time, each of the thoughts is like a wild and untrained horse galloping around and it is difficult for us to control it.

When we have not yet trained our thoughts well, most of our thoughts are some kind of illusion, and we indulge it and dream it. This does not allow us to recognize the facts. Meanwhile, a lot of misunderstanding and harmful things is thus incurred. Unfortunately, the person may not necessarily have such awareness.

For people who are hungry for the emotions of men and women, when they meet the object they like in their hearts, their inner thoughts will begin to speculate on the other's thoughts, and start some fantasies of love between men and women. Unfortunately, the other party may not have this thought. If at this time, we ourselves cannot control our thoughts and feelings, not only will we have troubles ourselves, but we may also involuntarily hurt each other physically or verbally. The worse would make us crime.

Some people greed for the erotic. However, some people greed for the money. No matter greed for erotic or money, their thoughts are not controlled by themselves. All illusion is occupied on their mind. For instance, they will feel good about themselves and think that they will have the great power to control everything. Such unreal feeling would make them bully others, seize the interests of others, and finally make them into the crime.

Mostly, the erotic and money would lead us to the crime, if we let ourselves indulge it. That is why the Buddha said,” Don’t trust your thought. Your thought is un-trusty. Be cautious not to meet the erotic. Meeting the erotic would instantly incur the disasters.”

Some evil people would use erotic or money to lure you into crime, which are generally existed in some evil organizations. They even wash your brain so as to make you be agreed with their evil ideology. Under the circumstance, you even think what your thought is right and you have the faith about it. But, in fact, your thought is un-trusty.

So, we should be cautious not to meet the erotic. Meeting the erotic would instantly incur the disasters, which we have seen a lot in the news and movies.

In the chapter 27, we have mentioned how to train our thought and mind by some convenient methods. The most important is to understand the reason. Why we should train and control our mind and thought, which have mentioned a lot in the sutra of 42 chapters said by Buddha. The essence of Buddhism is to control our own inner thoughts and desires and not to indulge them. This is the best protection for everyone. Meanwhile, it is not only to make us peaceful in mind, but is to make the society and world peace.

“Having gained the Arhathood, you thus can trust your thought.” Arhat is Sanskrit and means that a person experiences the long-term practice to train and control its heart and mind to be steady and make its heart and mind very clear, clean and pure. Meanwhile, there aren't any un-pure desire and illusion in their heart and mind. At the same time, their Bodhi heart is established well. Bodhi heart means the heart of becoming Buddha.

In the status of Arhathood, their hearts are not affected and turned by the outside world. Meanwhile, they can generate any positive, right and good thoughts on the basis of no-thought. At the same time, any negative, wrong and evil thoughts would be naturally eliminated and turned into the positive, right and good thoughts by their own power.

Therefore, when we learn Buddhism and achieve the Arhathood, we thus can trust our thought. It also means that we will really do any positive, right and good thing to benefit self and others, when we are in such status.   

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

Blessed people do not need to take advantage of others to profit.

Author:Tao Qing Hsu

In observing numerous numerology, it is found that some people have insufficient luck, and their lives seem to be blessed, but in fact they have insufficient luck. The reason is that the desire is deep. In the "Miaohua Lianhua Sutra", the Buddha once stated: "Greedness is the source of suffering." The Buddha also mentioned that all beings take pleasure in greed and do not know that greed is suffering. This observation of human nature can allow us to perceive the motives of these actors, and even observe their future destiny. The destiny trend mentioned here is not only this life, but also the afterlife.

There are thousands of human desires, which are covered in various sounding reasons and arguments, and even use ridiculous and ridiculous legislation in an attempt to "legalize" their selfish desires and unwholesome motives. Maitreya Bodhisattva has a famous saying: "A big belly can tolerate things that are hard to bear in the world; when you open your mouth, you laugh and laugh at people who are ridiculous." But these uncomfortable things and ridiculous people happen every day. What's interesting is that these happen not only to ordinary people, but also to those who are rich and powerful.

Whatever the reasons for seeming to be rationalized, we will find that in fact, the motivation behind these attempts to rationalize their actors is nothing more than the desire to obtain personal benefits by taking advantage of others. And this behavior will even be done in the form of groups or political parties. Therefore, when we learn Buddhism, in addition to perceiving our inner greed from self-examination, and being cautious about what our greed is doing, based on this, and thus observing the behaviors of greed of all beings, we can naturally raise wisdom to help them and lead them towards the good side.

We observe that those who try to obtain personal benefits by taking advantage of people may achieve their temporary purpose, but when we look at them in the long run, we will find that these people's ending will be very tragic. Unfortunately, those who are miserable in the end are those who have no introspection and vigilance. If these people have such self-examination and vigilance, they will know that they have been reformed, and will automatically become good after repentance, so they will not go to a tragic life situation.

It seems that justice or legislation can safeguard justice and human right for the world. However, justice or legislation is artificial, it may be misused and distorted. It may even be misused by wicked people, using justice or legislation as a tool for authoritarian dictatorship and controlling the public for personal gain. Unfortunately, this happened in the current world.

The Buddha once mentioned that some of the beings on our planet are controlled by the devil, thereby deliberately destroying the goodness and justice of mankind. These demons are also a kind of celestial beings. They have some supernatural powers. They can control the human will through the power of supernatural powers to disrupt human civilization. And who is most easily controlled by these demons? Those who are greedy.

There is a civilized world 100 times higher than human civilization in this world, living in the same space as our human beings. Western scientists have recently stated that they have discovered at least 38 highly intelligent civilization worlds, and the wisdom and civilization of all beings in these worlds surpass humans.

The Buddha has revealed in the past that there are many different worlds in this universe of thousands of worlds. Many of the sentient beings living in these worlds have been verified as Bodhisattva fruit positions, and they are all highly intelligent sentient beings. At the same time, these highly intelligent beings can move in different worlds. How long does it take to move? It is the time for the forearm to stretch, which is one second, which is just an instant.

Therefore, the earth is just a small world in the universe, and in this small world, there live good and good beings who are just and can give others benefits, and greedy and vicious beings who take pleasure in encroaching on the interests of others. Interestingly, the highly civilized and intelligent beings of other worlds are actually not very involved in the human things on earth, but in fact, it does not mean that they do not intervene and assist. There are many kind-hearted beings on earth who often pray for world peace from God or Bodhisattvas. If the majority of people tend to be kind, they will help. If the human heart tends to be evil, they will persuade all beings to be good. However, if most people's hearts are evil, they will let humans eat the fruits of their own evil.

In addition to affecting the blessings of mankind, the good and evil of mankind will also affect the lifespan of mankind. In the Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha revealed that the human heart is pure and the life span of human beings can reach ten thousand years, which existed hundreds of millions of years ago. It is a pity that this does not exist in the five thousand years since mankind began to have historical records. Because people's hearts are becoming evil, their lifespan is gradually decreasing. At present, in the five thousand years of human history, human life span is only 100 years, which is the longest possible human life span. In fact, more than half of human life spans are less than 50 years.

It can be seen that most sentient beings are not blessed, so they infringe on the rights and interests of others to gain their own interests, not only to hurt others, but also to let themselves eat the fruits of their own evil. Some organizations and political parties even use lies, fraud, concealment, shirk their responsibilities, label others, arbitrarily convict people, intimidate, violence or kill people, and even let others commit suicide to achieve their personal interests. Such evil in the human heart is also a cause of shortened life expectancy.

The Buddha said that humans on this earth are living in a world of five turbidity and evil. There are very few good people who can learn the Dharma and learn from the Buddha. Unless it is the blessings accumulated over the ages and the long-cherished wishes of the world, human beings cannot encounter the cause of learning Buddha in this life, nor have they had the opportunity to meet the Buddha and Bodhisattva to teach the Dharma in person. Blessed people have many patron saints who personally come to support their daily needs. These blessed people do not need to encroach on the rights and interests of others and take advantage of others to make profits for individuals. This is not something ordinary people can understand. If we understand it, we know how grant our blessings are, so grant that we can share them with all beings. Therefore, instead of being a person lacking fortune and hurting all beings, it is better to expect to be a blessed person and benefit the world.

Chapter 22: Money and erotic incur the affliction

(Chapter 22) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : 

Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 22: Money and erotic incur the affliction

The Buddha said,” That money and erotic for people can not be abandoned are such as honey on the blade of one knife which is not enough to be the perfect of one meal; when a child licks them, it would cause the trouble of cutting tongue. ” 

Personal ignorance and greed bring the harm and trouble to the self and others.

There is no one who does not like money. There is no man who does not like erotic. For seeking and obtaining money and erotic, people do not care about morality and justice. They even do not care about their responsibility for their family members, the public, the society, or the country. Such things can be observed from the history and the news, even around our daily life.

The worse is that such things would cause the chain structure of accomplice. And people may use the legislation or protocol to hide their intention. And such legislation or protocol even is made between one country and the other country.

The evil retributions because of harming others through money and erotic are also truly existed.

What we have observed and seen is that those who want to maintain their own money and erotic always threaten A and bully B, even to lie and twist the facts. What surprise us is that someone is also willing to cooperate with those persons in order to maintain theirs own money and erotic, too.

For those people, they do not know and even do not think that doing so would bring them the trouble. That is because they indulge in the illusory enjoyment of the moment and forget any danger after the enjoyment.

When I am young, I do not understand why such things can be existed in the world. And most good people can not do anything to change it. There is also unbalance emotion in my mind in that time. But, when I deeply observe the history and news, even to my daily life, I find that the retributions for such things are also actually existed.

Many people are suffering because of tangling in chasing money and erotic.

Why the money and erotic incur the affliction? It can be spoken in two parts. One is the retribution in the present life. And the other is the retribution in the next life.

Many people are suffering because of tangling in chasing money and erotic, and they may thus harm others purposely. But, they may not have such self perceiving. Some people may lose job unwillingly, become poorer or go into the jail, even to die. Even though they have a life, they still have to suffer in their life.

Before their dying, they may have ever experienced threatening and panic, even to violence. That is the retribution in their present life. Unfortunately, they even do not know they would be died for such reasons. Once they have dead, their souls directly goes into one of the three evil ways and are suffering there. That is the retribution in their next life.

The fortune and nobility are pursued in the danger.

There is a Chinese saying, ”The fortune and nobility are pursued in the danger. ” Which means that, if people want to pursue the wealthy and noble life, they must have the preparing to lost their life and job, even to take the risk to make crime. Even though they may know that, they still will to risk it.

Why? In the history, the population in China is very large, the unfair is always existed in the society, and the generated wealth and the authority are so attractive. If they want to be the top or the wealthy person from the large population, it is not count on their merit and virtue, but any risk in life. And the money and erotic is the best tool to get the wealth and the authority.  

Money and erotic is sweet as honey. Everyone would like to taste it. However, most people do not know that the honey is on the blade of one knife and can not let us eat enough. Those persons are like the ignorant children to lick the knife's honey and let their tongue to be cut. In other word, they many become the stepping stones of those who desire to be the top and wealthy person.

Pursuing money and erotic is coming from the greedy nature and heart.

No matter the persons become the stepping stones or the persons who have step on the stones to be the top or wealthy one, pursuing money and erotic is coming from the greedy nature. Greedy nature is one of the three poisons which can harm the self and others.

Some evil people not only indulge in such poison but also use such poison to control or threaten others. And its spread damages are beyond our imagination, for example, the biochemical weapon damage. Such damage is global. It not only causes the large death of human beings, but also causes the huge economic loss. It is the Invisible poison and its harm is more beyond than the tangible poison.

In a country, the government may arrest suspect or held accountable who make a mistake because of greedy nature. But, in the international politic, there is no international law which can punish those who cause any large disasters and economic loss in the world because of their greedy nature.

What the Buddha has seen is the mind and true heart inside, not the decorated phenomenon.

The Buddha also observed about this. Any artificial law or agreement may be twisted, despised, fake, bias, or fraud. However, in Buddhism, the retribution through personal reasons and conditions are impossible to be twisted, bias or fraud. Why? That is because what the Buddha has seen is the mind and true heart inside, not the phenomenon which is decorated.

When we understand it, we know that we would not violate our good nature to do evil things. When we do not lie to self, we do not lie to the Buddha and the public.

The ignorant person may lie to the world. But, it can not lie to the Buddha. So, it is better for us to be a wise person and be humble front the Buddha.

When we have such common sense, we would not be bind in following money and erotic, and would not use them to do the evil things, and would never be exploited, controlled or threatened by others. Under the circumstances, we would be the true free person and make sure that our destiny is on the bright way.