Now I will talk about “the form-body is ignorance”.
“Form”, in this instance, refers to everything we can see and own in the Human Realm – the physical things of the world.
“Body” refers to our physical bodies, while “ignorance” is about our bad habits that stem from our own ignorance.
When you know nothing, this kind of emptiness is called ignorance. When I talk about bad habits stemming from ignorance, I refer to the unwholesome habits that are left over from the primeval soul’s incomplete cultivation over thousands of years. And that’s not good for anyone.
No dharmas possess self-nature, and I refer here to all Buddhist practices – all dharma. This world is also known as the Dharma Realm, which is empty – it does not have a self-nature at all. When a human is reborn, what can they truly possess? In this world, you will have nothing, and you even will have lost your inherent nature. That is because after you were born, your inherent nature was completely contaminated by the countless rebirths of your previous lives.
In this life, you are no longer the original you – you’ve lost your original, inherent nature. It’s just like when you grow up, you are no longer the innocent child you once were. Think about it: in this world, where can you find your inherent nature?
Inherent nature may be lost, but Buddha’s Seed comes from conditioned origination. This Saha World is itself the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. In other words, if you can transform the Saha World with your thinking, it will become the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Buddha’s Seed is the seed of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In practising Buddhism, we call the earliest thing the Buddha-nature. It’s Buddha’s Seed; the primeval soul of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas which stems from conditioned origination.
Confucius said: “People at their origin have natures of fundamental goodness”. The nature of fundamental goodness referred to here by Confucius is our own nature at the origin. It is benevolent; the Buddha-nature. However, children born these days essentially no longer possess their original nature.
In this life, you are known by your name, but in your previous life, your name was something else entirely. Think about it: after countless deaths and rebirths over an immeasurable period of time, here you are today. Can you say you are still the original you?
If someone is unable to control their joy, anger, sorrow and happiness, it renders them incapable. They will lack the ability to be the master of their destiny, and in that way are no different to animals. For instance, a person who cannot control themself may strike fortunate times and become extremely happy, and then experience extreme grief in unfortunate times. That’s an indication that they have no control over their emotions, and an expression of the saying, “all dharmas have no self-nature”.
I often talk about observing the precepts. Why should we? The answer is that by observing precepts, we can block all the outflows of worldly blessings and merit-virtues earned by cultivating the mind. For example, you may have done many good deeds today, but in the process said something offensive to someone. What that means is that all the benevolent and meritorious deeds you performed today are flawed, leading to a great deal of outflow.
Once, I said that when you have just finished reciting Buddhist scriptures, your energy field is very good. But if you start to chat with people and you do so recklessly, you will create outflows of merit-virtues gained from the earlier recitation.
Many people are unable to let go of their grandchildren. They worry about them every day, they work hard for them, and they get upset in the process. These people may already be so old and yet still so constantly concerned about their descendants. Instead, they should spend more time thinking about how much longer they can live for, and take responsibility for all the offences they’ve committed in the past. Then, they should repent properly, repaying those karmic debts in order to be free.
But how do you know what offences you have committed in the past? Simply examine the retribution that you are undergoing. If your health status is poor when you’re getting old, it means all the people you’ve wronged and all the karmic creditors in your life are coming after you, giving you constant nightmares when you sleep. If that sounds like you, you should repent properly for all the offences you’ve committed in the past.
Moreover, if your descendants are more capable than you, then what is the point of leaving your wealth to them? And if your descendants are inferior to you, then leaving your wealth to them is for what purpose? If your descendants are unappreciative of you, regularly making you angry and upset as they muck around gambling or get drunk all day long, then what is the point of leaving your wealth to them? Just to make it easier for them to commit more offences? In the end, that actually harms them! Rather, you should leave behind virtues – that’s better than anything else.
If parents fight constantly with one another, what do they leave to their child? If the child has good prospects, they will not care about your wealth. If the child is not good, and they are inferior to you, what’s the point of giving them your wealth? The more wealth you leave will only create more potential confrontations among your children, like legal action against each other over their inheritance. Only proper fathers and mothers know what they should leave to their children.
Everyone will encounter tribulations and calamities. When it happens, it’s an indication that the time is ripening for us to cultivate our minds. Why did I say that? Because when there’s suffering, people should think of praying to Buddha and reciting Buddhist scriptures.
Only when a person is suffering will they become diligent. Only when a person is poor will they strive with determination for progress. Only when a person’s health is poor will they want to train their bodies. It’s a typical human shortcoming: people only start to think about what to do when something is about to occur. So no matter what it is, be sure to plan ahead and make preparations. You must think about the consequences from an early stage.