Blog » Sweet Dews Of Dharma Talks » 2010 » Repentance and Gratitude
Repentance and Gratitude2013-01-10
A talk by DM Heng Je at GSM on November 24, 2010
I really like to come to Gold Sage Monastery to attend the bowing repentance session. I am grateful to DM Yun and the other Dharma Masters for giving me this opportunity to learn. This morning, several people said to me, “Today is Sunday, the day of completion for the session. I’m so happy!” I’d like to pose a question, “Do you know who is happier?” (Answer: Our karmic debtors. Audience laughs.)
Really, there are over a thousand plaques here, so there are not only one thousand living beings here but many, many more living beings who are also very happy. I don’t know if you felt this when you came into the monastery. There was one year when the Venerable Master transmitted the Precepts for the Deceased at Qīngliáng Monastery in Taichung, Taiwan. That time, the Master had said that the Precepts for the Deceased ceremony was very much in accord with the Dharma. In the morning of that day, I felt that all the living beings in the entire monastery were all happy as could be. Today, I also have the same feeling. That’s why I would like to tell everyone here, those who have set up plaques, you all should bring forth great joy for these living beings.
In talking about the Venerable Master, I will tell you that the Master is with us at all times. I don’t know if you have had this experience or if you have this belief, but I hope that you all will believe what I say. Why do I say that? I will give you an example. When the numbers of plaques were gradually increasing, I was over there [editor’s note: Dharma Master Je was the weino, or proctor, for this Dharma Assembly.] and so tired I couldn’t even open my eyes. I was exhausted and a thought flashed through my mind: “Venerable Master!” After that, the situation improved. On Friday afternoon for the transference in the Rebirth Hall, I felt like I had no energy left and I thought, what am I going to do? I didn’t have energy to talk; there was no way I could chant tomorrow. So I asked the other Dharma Master if she could be the weino tomorrow. Afterwards, I realized that this was putting too much pressure on other people, so I earnestly begged for help from the Venerable Master. Fortunately, thanks to the Venerable Master’s blessings, I was still able to continue bowing the repentance here today.
Bowing the Emperor Liang’s Repentance is truly very good. At the beginning of the repentance, Dhyana Master Zhìgōng tells us that we should remember that life is impermanent. Impermanence means that when our time is up, neither time nor life will show any mercy. Therefore, the entire situation can change in an instant. If we think, I’m still young, I have a lot of energy left! And indulge ourselves and develop bad habits, then when we realize the reality of impermanence, we will know that we have used our time unwisely.
I would like to share a story about cause and effect. In Indonesia there was a fisherman named Dídí. His knees were lacerated when he was fifteen. When he was 36 years old, he started developing warts on his body. The warts were shaped like tree branches and they grew especially on his limbs – his hands and feet. He also had them on his face. His hands were like tree roots. A fellow Dharma Master had emailed me about this during the repentance but I didn’t check my email. When another Dharma Master told me about this, I couldn’t imagine what it was like. When I checked my email and saw a picture of it, I felt that impermanence is truly fearsome. We can’t predict what events will happen and when they will happen to us. This person’s story is also speaking the Dharma to us. This Bodhisattva wants us to know that we shouldn’t think that our security has any real foundation to it. We shouldn’t think that just because at this moment we are very healthy and energetic that we will still be in the next moment. Thus, when we bow in repentance, we should be extremely vigorous and sincere in repenting for all of our past harmful deeds.
The true benefit of bowing in repentance, as we are doing here, is that we can transform the nature of our minds. What is the method for transforming the nature of our minds? It is that we must believe in the Buddhadharma. The Buddhadharma teaches us that living beings mistake suffering for bliss, so we are all upside-down. Living beings are all upside down. We must first be able to let go of what we mistake to be bliss; only then are we able to truly start walking the path of cultivation.
What does it mean to mistake suffering for bliss? Take food and drink for example. We have just finished eating a lavish meal here. We all think that eating a lot of delicious food makes us very happy. But what happens when we eat too much? We feel bloated, we get fat, and we get short of breath. We have difficulty walking and we don’t sleep well at night. We don’t know how to eat. It is the same with clothing. In the summer, we want to wear light and thin clothes. In the winter, we want to wear thick and heavy clothes to keep ourselves warm. However, in the summer, when we see thick and heavy clothes, we get very afflicted because we feel that they are too thick and too hot. In short, things that we think are good can also become a source of affliction for us. When we think we don’t have enough, we unrestrainedly try to add to what we have, and this also gives us a lot of trouble in the end. We all think that having enough food and clothing will make us happy and content. But in fact, it is not really so. Happiness can also become an affliction—a cause of suffering.
When it comes to our beloved ones, we are even more unable to let go. During the holidays or New Year, we always have to be all gathered together. But do we know where we come from? When the ghost of impermanence comes, the person who was next to us is no longer there. So where did they go? We also do not know. This is what Dhyana Master Zhìgōng talked about. In Emperor Liang’s Repentance, Dhyana Master Zhìgōng tells us: “We must let it go and we must see clearly. What we rely on, cling to, and are attached to – none of these things can give us any certainty or assurance.”
Dhyana Master Zhìgōng also said: “Monastics give up soft and light clothes to wear ragged robes. They wear clothes that others do not want or clothes that are not good. Then they uphold the precepts, practice giving, patience and vigor, and cultivate to transcend this world. This is the path to liberation. Ordinary people, however, do not take this to be happiness. They think it is suffering. In reality, if in your daily life you can practice not being attached to things and just live according to the conditions that arise, this allows you to plant the seed for transcending this world. In the future, your wisdom will arise.”
I remember when I first left the home-life, my mother often said, “When people hear that you have gone to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, they all say that the practice is very hard there.” I said, “No, it’s not hard. I am happy every day. I don’t feel it’s hard at all.” However, there are many people who see us living this way and they think that it is a lot of suffering. Why is that? It is because they are not used to it, or they don’t see the benefit of living this way. We don’t wear fine or beautiful clothes. We can sit down anywhere and feel very much at ease. If you wear beautiful clothes, you will be afraid of people touching or bumping into you. You will definitely not be at ease. Just this example is enough.
Speaking of transforming our nature, cultivation is the process of transforming our nature. So what is most important? Everyone has their own perspective on this. After listening to the Venerable Master’s instructional talks, everyone has their own ideas.
Q: Does anyone want to tell us what cultivation is?
A: To get rid of faults and bad habits.
Cultivation is to transform all the bad habits that we created from beginningless kalpas.
This morning, when we reached volume 10 in the bowing repentance, we made vows for the six sense faculties. Why do we need to make vows for the six sense faculties? It is because we habitually like to think of our personal benefit in every thought. Making schemes for our personal benefit is our worst habit. This is why whenever we come to the monastery we hear the Dharma Master say, “Don’t talk.” We really like to talk and use our eyes to look around. Oh hey, long time no see. You’ve gained weight, you’ve lost weight, this and that, and so on and so forth. This is our habit. Several days ago while we were eating, the Venerable Master said in the lecture tape, “You shouldn’t start talking away as soon as you come to the monastery and thereby create karmic offenses.” Perhaps someone will respond, “I’m not creating any karmic offenses. I was discussing the Buddhadharma with people.” So why did the Venerable Master say that talking was creating karmic offenses? We must understand this clearly.
In cultivation, we first need to be able to recognize our faults. If we have done something wrong, we don’t want to lose face over it or feel too embarrassed to apologize. Recognizing your faults is the first step. Other things, for example, are gentleness and gratitude. At the same time, you need to use your time to do important things. So what is considered important?
Since it was Thanksgiving this week, I would like to talk about gratitude. This is because I feel that many accomplished people practice this Dharma door. Why practice gratitude? The power of gratitude is inconceivable; the power of gratitude is absolutely everything! If you want to accomplish wholesome merit and virtue, gratitude is very important to this. It is because each one of us is a magnetic field. When you radiate gratitude within this magnetic field, you resonate in harmony with energy of the same frequency outside. This will then attract more of this kind of energy to you. If you are unable to be grateful for all the things that have happened, this shows that you have an attitude of resistance toward everything that has happened. When you have this resistance, you may be not happy. You reject it and you say that you don’t want it. When you transmit this message of resistance and repulsion, then you will attract energy of the same frequency to you. How is that? When you have an attitude of opposition, it will definitely ensure that you will attract even more things that you don’t like, things that you resist or things that you reject.
So how should we use this principle of attraction? Do all of you here want to quickly start rebuilding Gold Sage Monastery? I think that you all definitely want this. If you all want this, then you should send out this kind of message. First, that we want it to happen. I want us to have a wonderful Buddha Hall, which can bring in and hold many people to study the Buddhadharma. Those who study the Buddhadharma will definitely be very calm and joyful. Their families will definitely be very happy and blissful. What will they do when they are happy and blissful? (Audience: protect the Dharma). They will protect the Dharma? I don’t know if they will protect the Dharma or not. (Audience laughs.) At the very least, they will flourish, right? Being happy and blissful is flourishing. Therefore, the expansion of Gold Sage Monastery leads to benefiting the community. Everyone should project this message: “I want to see Gold Sage Monastery quickly rebuilt.” This is the first part. The second part is that you should start to imagine having a spacious new Buddha Hall with adorned Buddha images. Then we will have a very pleasant place to bow to the Buddhas. It will be warm in the winter and cool in the summer and so on. Each of us must imagine this and then feel as though you are bowing to the Buddhas in this very adorned and spacious place. In this way, we should send out this message. Third is to practice gratitude. Be grateful for the blessings of the Triple Jewel. Then our wish will be fulfilled and our Bodhi resolve perfected.
Several days ago, an elderly couple was here participating in the session. The wife said, “I don’t have much time left, so now I recite the entire Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra twice each week.” She was very joyful when she said that and I was very much in admiration. Some elderly people when they get old, they say, “Oh! If didn’t watch soap operas what would I do?” But this old Bodhisattva, she knew that she did not have much time left. We should really use our time to focus on studying the Buddhadharma and cultivate. Thus, in the Emperor Liang’s Repentance, Dhyana Master Zhìgōng wrote, “The three paths are filled with terrible suffering. Suffering is bitter and difficult to bear. We bring all calamities upon ourselves by a single thought.” Everything comes from a single thought of ours. How can we cause our thoughts to be according to the Dharma? How can we cause our thoughts to create blessings and virtue? This is important. So, all Good and Wise Advisors, I hope that you can guard well and protect your minds. How can you use your time in a wholesome way? How can you use it on the right things? How to make a right decision? All of these are extremely important. If you can really guard and protect your mind and be mindful of your actions, then in the future you will not have any regrets and you will not need to repent or apologize.
Thank you all for your patience. My last reminder is that you all must have a good temper. Don’t get angry or upset. If you have a good temper then good fortune will come your way. When you get angry, many bad things will follow you. It is because you attract these bad things to come to you. Therefore, if you want things to go well for yourself, for your family, for your husband, for your children, and for everyone, then you must have a good temper. When you have a good temper, everything will be well.
