(Chapter 35) 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 35: Once the filth is cleaned, the brightness is
existed.
The Buddha said,” As if a person forges iron to remove the dross,
and then to be the utensil, the utensil is thus refined and good, the person
who learns the Dao removes the filth in heart, his practicing is clean and pure
accordingly.“
The Dao means the
Dao in Buddhism. Learning the Dao in Buddhism is as if a person forges iron to
remove the dross. Iron ore is burned by fire with high temperature and then the
dross is emerged and removed. The left iron is more pure, and is continuously
beaten by hammers with thousand times. A utensil of steel is hence completed.
Such utensil is
refined and good and it is so perfect and can be used well, as if a person who
learns the Dao makes himself to be a useful person, and to shoulder the
inheritance of Dharma (Buddha-law), so as to make sentient beings liberate from
their suffering, and hence to make them reach the blessed place which is
established by themselves with their self-effort. Such blessed place is not
elsewhere, but in their heart. In other word, at this moment, where they live,
the place is the blessed place. That is because their pure heart is in there.
What is learning
the Dao in Buddhism? In a word, to truly see the Buddha-nature by self and to
be able to freely apply it is the process and goal for learning the Dao in
Buddhism.
A person learning
the Dao is as if the process of forging iron to become steel and to become the
useful utensil. This person has to experience the strict life training so as to
remove his evil thought, and to wear off his bad habit. The strict training in
life is as if the iron ore is burned by raging fire in the stove with high
temperature. It means that the training in life is very strict, hard and even
suffering. Only experiencing such process, the pure mind and the determined
belief can be made.
Whatever the
place is, where we live is as if a stove with fire to burn the iron ore and then
to hammer it with thousand times, which can train our mind and character, when
we learn the Dao. Through contacting people and any events, our evil thought
and behavior would be gradually removed in the daily life. The strict training
in life is not to isolate oneself in the crowd, and then to close oneself, but
to place oneself in the crowd so as to train the self-mind to be open, integrity, honest, upright
and pure, and to train the self-heart to be soft and compassionate, so as to
train the self-will in learning the Dao to be firm.
The person who learns the Dao removes the filth in heart, his practicing
is clean and pure accordingly.“
The filth is as
if the dross as mentioned above, when it is removed, our heart becomes more
pure and can tolerate any attacking from outside, such as humiliating, any
negative thought or evil action. Such process is as if iron ore without dross
can stand the beaten by hammers with thousand times.
What is the filth
in heart? That is, to someone or to anything or to any events or to any
circumstances or to any relationships, a person has the mind of the greed,
hatred, resentment, stupid infatuation, arrogance, suspicion, jealousy, flattering,
cunning, lie, brutality, despising, selfishness, or the insidious. In a word,
it is the mind of the greed, hatred and the stupid infatuation. All of these
are the negative states and emotions and able to drive the person to do
anything to harm the self and others. That is why we define these states and
emotions as the filth in heart. Our original heart is as if the white cloth, it
is so white, bright and clean. There are no negative states and emotions in
there. When it is stained by many black spots, we think that it is polluted to
be black. This concept is that the heart with filth is the polluted heart.
When we are
embryos, our heart is very clean and bright, which is in the state of
emptiness, and is no thinking. However, when we are born to the world and are
infant, our mind are beginning to be stimulated and influenced continuously by
the outside environment, which stimulate our various thinking and make us
generate any different emotion. If we are lack of the correct guiding and
self-perceiving, we are easy to generate any negative thought, emotion and
behavior, even the evil or the distorted thinking and action to harm self and
others. In such process of growing and living, we say that our heart is
polluted and full of filth.
In such
circumstance, when we treat people and deal with anything, we will no longer
use our original sincere heart, but any polluted heart. When we use our
polluted heart to treat people or deal with anything, we even do not know that
we maybe harm others, or ruin anything, or break any good event, or even to
harm the self in the end. Why? Our original heart without filth is as if the
clean and bright mirror, which can make us view self clearly, and is also as if
the clear eyes, which can make us see the truth distinctly. In such
circumstance, we can keep our mind clear and make us calm down to do anything
right. However, our heart with filth is as if the mirror with the thick dust, which
cannot make us view self, and is also as if the blinded eyes, which cannot make
us see any truth. In such circumstance, how can we assure that we cannot do anything
wrong?
As if we want to
remove the filth on the white T-shirt by washing it, we want to remove the
filth in our heart, when we learn the Dao. When we remove the filth in heart, our
thought become clear, our mind become pure, and our behavior become correct, our
practicing in the Dao is clean and pure accordingly.
What is the
benefit for us? We then understand that each one’s original heart is the same,
which is clean, clear, pure and bright. Whatever the self or others, the heart
is gradually affected and polluted by the environment. Therefore, the heart
becomes dirty and dark. No matter our heart is bright or dark, it is the same
heart. What the difference is whether our heart is polluted or not. When we
understand the nature of the heart, we thus can tolerate any another heart
which is outside of us and is without any wisdom and bright. At the same time,
when we remove the filth in our heart by self and we can further guide another
polluted hearts outside of us to be clean and pure. This is one of the
processes to learn the Dao in Buddhism.
There is a
saying, “It does not need to go far away in order to pursue the mountain of
spirit, because it is in your heart.” Mr. Dharma said, ”I originally pursue the
heart, not the Buddha, because I completely know that there is nothing in the
emptiness of the three realms. If you want to pursue the Buddha, but you only
need to pursue the heart, because the heart itself is the Buddha.”
The mountain of
spirit is the heart, in which there is nothing, because the heart itself is in
the state of stillness and emptiness. Under the circumstance, all is generated
deriving from it, including the heart of precept, stability and wisdom, and the
heart of the greed, hatred, and the stupid infatuation. That is, the emptiness
contains the all existence. The still heart contains the all. Such heart is no
boundary.
In a word, the
heart with darkness and filth is the un-inspired heart and the un-enlightened
Buddha. The heart with brightness and wisdom and without filth is the inspired
heart and the enlightened Buddha. Whatever the heart is, the Buddha-nature is
in the heart. That is why a Bodhisattva said to the masses, “All of you are the
Buddha in the future.” One day, when your heart is inspired and you see the
truth, you are the Buddha.
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.
