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Lecture 5 Diligence is the Foundation of Subduing Demons
“Lecture 5 Diligence is the Foundation of Subduing Demons”
The fourth perception: laziness and degeneration, constant diligence, eliminating afflictions and evils, destroying the four demons, and getting out of hell.
In the world, no matter what you do, you must have the spirit of majesty, strength, and fearlessness. I will encounter many obstacles and tribulations when I start a business in society or practice Buddhism in Buddhism. If you hesitate, or if you slack off a bit, you will get nowhere. So in this passage, we want to talk about diligence as the root of subjugating demons.
“Laziness” means not doing our best to stop evil and cultivate goodness. Laziness is the fatigue of the root body, and laziness is the indulgence of the mind. Laziness is a disease of life, and the antidote to laziness is diligence.
The main purpose of so-called diligence is to make the good thoughts that have not yet arisen in us to be born quickly, the good thoughts that have been born to grow, the evil thoughts that have not yet been born to not arise, and the evil thoughts that have been born to be quickly cut off. This world is a world of Buddhas and demons. Those who are diligent can become Buddhas, and those who are lazy can fall into the world of demons.
Which of the past sages and sages achieved great achievements in Taoism without going through a great death? Let’s take the Venerable Analuddha of the Sutra as an example!
Venerable Anarud once dozed off during the Buddha’s Dharma lecture. The Buddha was very displeased with his disciples who were lazy and not diligent, so he woke up Anarud and scolded him, saying:
“Du Duu Ru sleeps well, inside the shell of a snail;
Sleeping for a thousand years without hearing the Buddha’s name. ”
After hearing the Buddha’s rebuke, Venerable Anarud felt very ashamed, and vowed that he would never sleep again, and that he would either walk or chant sutras every day.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t sleep for a day or two, but if you don’t sleep every day, your spirit will be overwhelmed, and your eyes will also be overwhelmed. After a period of time, Anarud is still diligent and unremitting, and his eyes are finally blind.
The Buddha was very sympathetic to him, and taught the blind Analuddha to practice Vajra Illumination Samadhi. Soon, Analydhis attained celestial clairvoyance.
Analuddha worked so diligently for the Buddha’s words, and if he could die like this, he would not be deceived by lust and laziness, and would not be enchanted by all the evil spirits. Students of Buddhism, listening to the scriptures and hearing the Dharma, and knowing the truth of all dharmas, this is the great wisdom of Manjushri Bodhisattva.
People are greedy for tranquility and pay attention to enjoyment, so they cannot be brave and diligent in cultivating the Tao. When the Buddha practiced in the past, he gave up his body to feed tigers, and cut his flesh to feed eagles. This kind of hard-working, hard-to-do, hard-to-be-bearable dedication to sacrifice is beyond the imagination of those who criticize Buddhism as negative!
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva said, “Thirty-two answers pervade dusty lands, hundreds of thousands of kalpas transform Jambudhas; thousands of places pray for thousands of places, and the sea of suffering always serves as a boat to save people.” Without the spirit of diligence, how can it be done? Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva – “Hell is not empty, vow not to become a Buddha; save all living beings, only to realize Bodhi”. Isn’t this the diligent spirit of great benevolence and great wisdom?
In the secular world, if someone advises you to play cards and gamble money, if you don’t play, he will call you passive; if you advise you to eat, drink and dance, if you don’t invite, he will call you lazy. The sage who practiced the bodhisattva way, in order to save all living beings and end life and death, his active and diligent spirit is really beyond the knowledge of a non-Buddhist!
Master Xuanzang traveled to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures. He passed through quicksand for eight hundred miles. He lost water on the way and almost died in the desert. But he would rather die in the west than live in the east. , how can this be? Master Huike paid homage to Bodhidharma Patriarch, Lixue broke his arm, and did not retreat from his original intention. If he had not had the heart to seek the Dharma diligently, how could he have come here? In Buddhism, the six perfections are based on diligence. Regardless of generosity, precepts, patience, meditation, and wisdom, if there is no diligence, it is impossible to complete the paramita.
According to the scriptures, diligence has ten benefits: one is not subdued by other powers, two is received by all Buddhas, three is admired by gods and other people, four is not forgotten after hearing the true Dharma, five is able to seek knowledge for the unknown, six is to increase eloquence without hindrance, seven If you can live in meditation, you will have fewer illnesses and troubles, less troubles, nine diets that are easy to digest, and ten, you will be like the blooming epiphyllum.
Diligence is like digging wood to make fire, don’t stop halfway, bodhicitta is easy to generate, and constant diligence is really hard to maintain, no matter what you do, if you don’t have perseverance, diligence, and perseverance, if you stop halfway, you will definitely not receive any benefits. I often hear people say: “Five minutes of enthusiasm”, without constant diligence, how can you succeed if you do things with five minutes of enthusiasm? To make the effort last, we must have Mr. Kong Ming’s spirit of “bow to the best, and die after death”, and the spirit of “only ask about hard work, not about harvest”. Otherwise, the heart that only seeks quick success, or the heart that hopes for quick profit, will retreat when the goal is not achieved, and become discouraged when encountering setbacks. Those who do things with no beginning and no end, no beginning and no end, just don’t have the spirit of perseverance
There is a fable in the scriptures that a parrot saw a mountain forest on fire. The fire was very fierce. Of course, the fire-fighting methods are useless, but this parrot is still diligently working hard to fight the fire.
At this time, the Vulcan in the sky knew it, and said to the parrot:
“Parrot! The fire is so big, how can you put out the fire with a little water in your mouth? Isn’t this futile?”
The parrot replied: “It is everyone’s responsibility to fight the fire. I know that my strength is very small, but I have to do my best!” The parrot’s words are very ordinary, but the parrot’s ambition is extraordinary. His diligence and bravery moved the gods to extinguish the fire in the mountains and forests for him.
In the Forty-Two Chapters, there are six chapters that talk about how people who learn the Tao should be diligent. There are three types of diligence: one is diligent in wearing armor, the other is diligent in virtuous methods, and the third is diligent in liking sentient beings. The so-called armored vigilance is said in the “Forty-two Chapters” that ascetics are like one person fighting with ten thousand people, putting on armor and going out in battle, it means that if you are timid, you will retreat halfway or fight to death; if you are diligent and brave, you will not be afraid. In the previous state, you can put it to death and then live again, destroy all the demons and get the fruit of the Tao. Putting on armor and striving hard means that one must have a fighting spirit in one’s practice.
Putting on the armor and being diligent is to eliminate evil, but in the process of being diligent, you must also complete the good deeds, which is called the diligence of the good deeds. This means that no matter whether you are a monk or a monk, you should not be too hasty or too slow in practicing good dharma, and everything should be based on what is appropriate. Because if you are anxious, you will retreat from reaction, and if you are slow, you will retreat from laziness. It’s like playing a qin. If the strings are loose, the sound will stop, and if the strings are tight, the sound will stop. So don’t be too slow in practicing goodness, and don’t be too hasty, both slowness and haste will make mistakes. The first meaning of Buddhism is to be in the middle way!
Li Pak sentient beings are diligent, which means that Buddhists should show great compassion and save all living beings, but there are countless beings in the three realms. If they are not diligent, how can they practice the ambition of saving lives? Only with infinite compassion and great aspirations can we be diligent and never retreat.
In the process of cultivating the Tao, we are often prone to the problems of exhaustion of the body and indulgence of the mind. This is because we have not yet understood the preciousness of time and life. We live in time, thinking that if today is over, there will be tomorrow, if we don’t do this year, we will see next year, if we don’t cultivate in youth, we will still be old. In this way, we waste time in the leisurely time, and finally fall under the habit of laziness and dependence.
If you know the preciousness of life, time and years will not come again, and keep impermanence in your heart, you will not stay for a moment, hesitate for a moment, and sincerely go to the Tao.
In the past, the Buddha asked his disciples:
“How many lives are there?”
“In a few days!” Disciple A replied
“I don’t know!” The Buddha disagreed, and asked again:
“How many lives are there?”
“In the dining room!” disciple B replied.
“I don’t know!” The Buddha still didn’t think so, and asked again:
“How many lives are there?”
“Between breathing!” disciple C replied.
Human life is in the air. The Buddha was very happy when he heard it, and praised:
“Excellent! You know it!”
People can realize that life is in the breath, and dare to slack off in cultivating the Tao and doing good deeds? As for cultivating the Tao and doing good deeds, don’t you hurry up and complete it?
Diligence means being pure and not miscellaneous, and advancing without retreating is called progress. The purpose of being diligent is to “break down afflictions and evils, subdue the four demons, and get out of hell.”
“The universe lasts forever, and the afflictions last for an endless period.” The inherent ignorance and afflictions linger in our hearts, preventing us from transcending samsara and getting rid of life and death. To learn Buddhism, the biggest thing is to eliminate afflictions and evils. Anxiety is what troubles the mind and the body. Afflictions are more powerful than thieves, robbers, and bandits. “It is easy to catch the thief in the mountain, but difficult to catch the thief in the heart.” The uneasiness and pain in life are all caused by troubles.
The so-called 84,000 Dharma-doors in Buddhism are nothing more than to cure the 84,000 afflictions. Treat greed with the concept of impurity, anger with compassion, ignorance with wisdom, arrogance with selflessness, doubt with righteous faith, and evil views with right view. Summing up many afflictions, they are the six fundamental afflictions of greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, and evil views. In addition to these six fundamental afflictions, there are also twenty additional afflictions.
The root affliction, like the root of a tree, is the root of all afflictions. Among the twenty kinds of follow-on afflictions, there are ten kinds of small follow-up afflictions, two kinds of medium follow-up afflictions, and eight kinds of large follow-up afflictions. The ten minor afflictions are anger, hatred, enmity, falsehood, treachery, flattery, arrogance, persecution, jealousy, and selfishness. There are two kinds of afflictions in the middle, that is, without shame and without shame. The eight major afflictions are unbelief, slack, lethargy, lethargy, restlessness, loss of mind, lack of correct knowledge, and distraction.
The reason why we are unable to recognize our true nature is because of ignorance and afflictions that cover our bright mind; we live in danger and fear because of the disturbance of afflictions. The commander-in-chief of all these afflictions is the ego, and because all beings are attached to the ego, all afflictions will follow. “If you want to learn Buddhism, there is no self first.” If you can cultivate to the state of no self, that is the state of no worries.
“Ego” is the root of life and death troubles; “no self”, how difficult it is! If self-attachment cannot be eliminated, afflictions and evil cannot be broken. The method to eliminate afflictions and evils: start with diligently studying the three perfections of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and then recite the holy name of Amitabha Buddha. “Afflictions” will gradually be eliminated, and our original face will automatically appear.
When the afflictions are eliminated, the devil must be cast down. A demon is a demon who can do bad things to good people and cut off the wisdom and life of all beings. Those obstacles, disturbances, destruction, temptations, and those that can kill are called demons. Demons, demons with sensuality, lust, money and profit outside, and demons with greed, anger and troubles in their hearts, without the spirit of subjugating demons, they cannot cultivate the Tao.
Demons are everywhere in the world, and the worst demons are still hidden in our hearts. The Bodhisattva Wei Tuo in the monastery stands facing the inner world with a vajra subduing demon pestle in his hand. It can be seen that subduing inner demons is more important than subduing external demons.
Buddhism is declining day by day, but Shaolong Buddha, there are too few people who continue the life of Buddha’s wisdom, and there are too many devil descendants who wear Buddha clothes and eat Buddha food, and in the name of believing in Buddha, sell Tathagata. To be a true child of the Buddha, one must have the spirit of challenging the devil today! In the era of the end of Dharma, go to Sheng Shiyao, the Tao is one foot high, and the devil is one foot high. I hope that today’s orthodox Buddhists will follow the example of Bodhisattva Wei Tuo, hold the magic pestle in their hands, and subdue all the devils that block the way!
The scriptures say “subdue the four demons”. The four demons are: 1. Demons of affliction – refers to the demons whose habits such as greed, anger and ignorance can annoy the body and mind; , the three dead demons-referring to the demons who can cut off the lifeline of human beings, and the four heavenly demons-referring to the heavenly demons who can do bad things and good deeds, such as the demon kings in the world of desire and freedom.
It is said in the scriptures such as “Small Shamatha and Contemplation” and “Qi Xin Shu” that the method of destroying the four demons is to recite the holy name of Amitabha Buddha, or to recite the three refuges and five precepts, or to recite the “Prajna Heart Sutra”. The Buddha, sitting on the vajra seat under the bodhi tree, also became enlightened after he cast down demons!
When the afflictions that exclusively create evil are broken, and all the demon kings that disturb the Tao are subdued, you will be able to escape from the cycle of life and death, and escape from the prison of the five yin and three realms.
The five yins refer to the sentient and physical body of the five aggregates; the yin, which is covered by righteousness, is because form, perception, thought, and consciousness can cover the true Buddha-nature of sentient beings; the three realms refer to the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.
The five Yins are like a gathering of suffering, and the three realms are like a house of fire. Our human body and the world are impermanent and unreal, which is equivalent to an unreliable prison. Only by “breaking the afflictions and evils and subduing the four demons” can we “get out of the prison of the underworld”!
All sentient beings are diligent in cultivating the Tao without slacking, abandoning the bodies of the five shades, and after breaking free from the prisons of the three realms, they will attain the dharmakaya of permanent residence and be at ease. That is a bright, liberated, and stable world!
