Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey)
Ltd.
Removing Relativistic Delusion
John D. Hughes
Recorded
Teachings
Buddhist Discussion Centre
(Upwey) Ltd.
33 Brooking St
Upwey, Victoria
Australia
3158
A.C.N. 005 701 806
A.B.N. 42 611 496
488
Phone: (03) 9754
3334
Fax: (03) 9754 3334
email: wbu@bdcu.org.au
Disclaimer
Teacher: John D. Hughes
Date of recording: 26/6/88
Transcribed by Frank Carter
Checked by Leanne Eames & Lainie Smallwood
CD Reference
26_06_88T6S1i
File Name: 26_06_88T6S1i_JDHtranscribe.rtf
5 Day Meditation Course
Recording Title: "Removing Relativistic Delusion"
So you’re sitting very well now. That's excellent. We find out that the, that we have confidence in the goal. That the goal is to become a fully enlightened fruited Arahant and at that point, that's it. That is the completion of the Buddhist training at Arahant fruit. After that, you pass away and you have perfect peace forever because you have, if you like you, the only thing, there isn't a Self anymore and you’re just knowing the citta, knowing the citta, which is perfect.
However, between that point which will come and the present there is some practice to be done, some learning to be learnt, some understandings yet to arise and so on. Because you requested to be taught quickly then the energies can come up and you can endure. Now as Jane* found out in the last meditation, there is a meditation where you swear that your whole body is broken and then when you come out of the meditation suddenly the body is like refreshed. It is absolutely beautiful.
And that is the experience of anyone who’s ever practiced the Buddha Dhamma at a higher level, past, present or future. So we find out we can endure incredible types of negative kamma and of course that is the way we meditate them off. Because the mind is, in other words we take, negativities come which would have tormented us for thousands of lifetimes and finish. And then we find we're happier and better.
So in training anything, if you train a horse, the horse has to practise running, again and again and again. And that's the way it is. Now, so the Buddha is called, one of the Pali epithets for the Buddha is called, roughly translated it’s something like, trainer of tameable men. Use, don't be sexist-although the text says man it means women as well. Buddha, in Buddha's day women came to levels of enlightenment too.
But the Buddha, if you're training a horse, you do your part, the horse does the horse’s part. The teacher does the teacher’s part, shows the way, you jump over the hurdles if you like, or dissolve the hurdles, or whichever way. As long as your mind understands: you requested to be taught so you're taught. So you've got no control over the agenda or the technology of the teaching. That is in the, if you want to use the word duties, if you like. That's the duties of the instructor. Just as the horse can't set the agenda for say training, the rider must set the agenda, or the trainer must set the agenda.
The horse might like doing certain things which it does well, but you train it in the things it does badly. Because you don't let the horse take control of the agenda. Similarly, Tsong Khapa on the method of determining the view, identification of afflictional misknowledge, lists in the texts other methods of doing the same thing but says this is the method that he is teaching. So there are other ways of obtaining the same objective but this particular one is a systematic track in a very condensed form and that's why it needs confidence.
So this self habit, in the Jewel Rosary, he quotes many writers, in the Jewel Rosary which is written by Nagarjuna, great scholar, he states this. Nagarjuna states that “as long as there is the aggregate habit”, the five groups, the mind body habit, “so long will there be the "I"” or ego habit. “That is, that egoistic views will not be reversed as long as the truth habit about the aggregates”, or the five groups which you are, mind body, feeling, consciousness, “is not”.
“In the Four Hundred”, that's a text by Aryadeva, it states, "Just as the body sense is to the body”, the body sense is to the body, so the body senses, if you like, adhere to the body. The seeing consciousness is the seeing consciousness of your body. It is not the seeing consciousness of someone else. The hearing consciousness is the hearing consciousness of your body, the touching consciousness is the touching consciousness of your body, the smelling consciousness is the smelling consciousness of your body.
So your, those sense bases and of course the mind is taken as the sixth sense, your various sorts of consciousness, various sorts of memories, feelings and so on, are uniquely yours, they are no one else’s. And they, that aggregate of four mental formations plus body, that's what you are. Always changing. So Aryadeva says, “Just as the body sense”, the five ordinary senses plus mind, “is to the body”, your own body, “so delusion adheres to everything”. Once you have delusion, no matter what you throw it at, whatever you throw the delusion at, there it will be.
It’s like a blind man. If he looks North he can't see, if he looks South, a blind man if he looks North he can't see, if he looks South he can't see, if he looks up he can't see, if he looks down he can't see. A blind man is blind to everything. Similarly, a deaf man. If he is deaf he can't hear in the Easterly direction, he can't hear in the Westerly direction, he can't hear in the Southerly direction, or any direction.
Now if you have got a delusion mind, if you've got a delusion on your mind, whatever you look at, wherever you are, you will see with delusion. It stands to reason. “Just as the body sense is to the body, so delusion adheres to everything. And thus, when delusion is conquered, all afflictions will be conquered. Just by, the misinformation, when the delusion is conquered the ignorance is gone. Every piece of misinformation that you've generated through an infinite number of lives vanishes like that. Therefore, it is very worthwhile, no matter how difficult, to come to hear the powerful meditation instructions on the breaking forever of the delusion.
So “Seeing relativistic origination delusion will not occur”. Now
relativistic origination delusion occurs like this. There are two people,
say there are two people, one is your best friend and one is your worst
enemy. Suppose, for the sake of argument, both are equally greedy.
Suppose you have two, there are two people. Go and have a rest Leila,
you need a sleep. Rest on Julie's bed, you’re tired. You've got two
people. One is your best friend, whoever your best friend is; one is your
worst enemy. Suppose they each have some fault. Suppose one is, they are
both equally greedy. You say of your best friend "Oh, my best friend’s
greedy but it's OK" But the same greed on your worst enemy you see, “My
enemy is the greediest person I've ever seen".
There is a phenomena that you can see the defilements on your enemies at full volume whereas you can't see the defilements of your friend at full volume. You're always making allowances for your friend. That is relativistic. It's a relative thing. You say my enemy is much, much worse in defilements than my friend, and yet suppose they were equal.
If your friend had one pimple on your friend's face and your enemy had one pimple on your enemy’s face you would say of your friend, "Oh here it will soon go away". However with your enemy you would say, "Look, ugly, ugly, ugly, one pimple". Relativistic--the same stimulus produces a different result on your mind. All that means is you can't see things fairly. You're not being fair. You can't be fair when you have a delusion on your mind.
Your enemy, maybe a hundred thousand lifetimes ago, could have been your Mother and you loved her. Your friend, fifty thousand lifetimes ago, could have been your murderer, and now you love your friend. Because we change in our relationships. So this relativistic idea is an affliction.
So Aryadeva says, "Seeing relativistic origination, delusion will not occur” when all the afflictions are conquered. In other words, when the delusions stop, the delusion that adheres to everything stops, and it is this very practice that you are doing now. This is the cutting edge to get that result.
So it is only, I was talking to Venerable today, he said to me, I said, "They are doing good". He said, "Yeah, not too far now" meaning soon you will come to the next level of wherever you're at. Good success, now. “Thus, here”, here, here now, here ... “ehi” in Pali, “ehi” meaning here, “with all one's effort”, with full intensity, “one should teach just that message”. So Aryadeva's teaching is like this. Aryadeva, great being says, “Teach this”.
Just with intensity, a teacher must teach with intensity and let the mind of the meditator cognate level after level of meaning in this until perfect. This should be taught again and again with great power, the full power of the teacher’s mind will strike your mind on this message. Very powerful teacher.
And this is what Aryadeva says; "Just as the body sense is to the body so delusion adheres to everything and thus when delusion is conquered all afflictions will be conquered. Seeing relativistic origination delusion will not occur. Thus, here, with all one's effort[s], one should teach just that message” alone. No other message.
Now, to what minds is this message being directed? It is not being directed to the ego mind. The ego mind can do whatever it likes because this is not the target of the teaching. It is to the self habit mind, which is the kammic resultant because of all the good things you've done you can get like that.
“The context here is the identification of that "delusion" which is one of the three [great] poisons ... ” Hate, greed and ignorance are the three great poisons. Separate minds. There's a mind with hate, a mind with greed and a mind with ignorance. They are three separate minds. They're not the same mind, they are completely separate. So this is, we are talking about ignorance which we'll translate as delusion, the same. So the target here is the mind with ignorance. Not the ego mind. The ego mind can strangle itself as far as I'm concerned, not interested. The target area is the mind with the ignorance.
So “The context here is the identification of the delusion which is one of the three poisons and hence equivalent to afflictive [misinformation].” There are three bits of trouble sources and they subdivide into other minds. The first trouble source is the mind with hate. Loving-kindness will fix that up. The second is the mind with greed. Generosity will fix that up. But the root base of all the troubles is ignorance. So that's the, the ignorance is the attack point.
Now, “To get rid of that misknowledge he declares”, Aryadeva declares “it is necessary to understand the import of the profound relativity, which happens when the import of emptiness …”, this, everything is empty of characteristics, that nothing has self nature. The import of emptiness “arises as to the import of relativity”. So when you see, you see everything is empty, empty of its nature. Your feelings don't know they’re feeling, they just come. Your memories don't know they’re remembering, they just come. Your happiness doesn't know it’s happiness, it just comes, your unhappiness doesn't know it’s unhappiness, it just comes. Whatever comes, comes. No thing that arises knows itself, it has no self nature. It is empty of a Self.
So when you're feeling happiness, the happiness isn't feeling anything
in particular because happiness is just a mental configuration. It doesn't
know itself. Unhappiness doesn't know unhappiness. They are mental
objects, mental constructs floating around coming and going. And
they
are all empty. Empty of what? Empty of any notion of their own nature. So
happiness doesn't know it is happiness. Unhappiness doesn't know it’s
unhappiness. Whatever feeling you've ever had, doesn't know that feeling,
that mental construct doesn't know itself. Because there's no self to know
it. It’s empty.
Now when something's empty, it is not a Self. The metal objects are not Self, they're anatta. They're not Self. If a little boy who was deaf, dumb, blind and stupid came and kicked you in the shins you wouldn't feel too bad about it. You’d say, "Oh, he didn't know, he didn't know he hurt me. He was deaf, dumb, blind and stupid, he didn't know. He just ran into me. I might have been a door or a tree or anything”. Therefore your unhappiness doesn't know itself, it is absolutely empty. Therefore don't try to do anything about it. It will pass away. It is empty. It is Sunyata, it is empty of knowledge. Now when something is empty it has no intention to harm you.
Your happiness had no intention to make you happy, it just came. Your unhappiness had no intention of making you unhappy. Your jealousy had no intention of making you jealous. Your hate had no intention of making you hateful. Your greed had no intention of making you greedy. They're all empty. Empty of any inherent existence. Therefore, since they are empty and mean you no harm, you shouldn't have an ego mind that turns those harmless negative things into active harm.
You should destroy the ego-centred mind, which is already unreal we explained, and cognate that this fantasized ego, all it’s doing is making harmless things like unhappiness, jealousy, anger, hate, things that don't intend to harm anyone, activating them and turning them into real weapons. So when your unhappiness come, it is like a dead weapon however, if you grab it and you seize it and you use it to beat someone else, you turn it into a sharp weapon of unhappiness. It is your ego mind that is the root ignorance. Break the ego mind and then whatever comes, comes, and you will always be content. So that is the point there.
The relativistic things depend on picking up weapons of hate saying, “I hate that person”, “I love that person”. If they are both equal you will exaggerate the virtue of one person and down play their bad habits. However, if you've got equal love for everybody and you won't pick up anything because you never made an ego mind, or you broke an ego mind, then you can look at enemies and friends with equanimity.
It is quite true without any doubt that there is a hierarchy of beings. An Arahant is superior to other people, and angry people are inferior to pleasant people. But it doesn't matter. They are driven by ignorance, by ego minds, who pick up these harmless things. So what happens at that point; the energy of unhappiness is quite pleasant. There is no pain. So one of the blessings of an Arahant is the pain stops. There is only peace, because they have smashed the ego that turned the neutral things into angry weapon.
So “Therefore one must interpret afflictive delusion according to Chandra's explanation in the Four Hundred Commentary as the reification of reality in things. This system was lucidly proclaimed by Chandrapada following Buddhapalita's elucidation of the intentions of the Holy Ones”. The Buddhas intend you to be liberated, happy, peaceful and come out of suffering. The only reason the Buddhas become Buddhas is to teach people the way out of suffering.
When you stop picking up your unhappiness you have attained the next level of enlightenment. When you stop picking up your jealousy you have attained the next level of enlightenment, and so on. There is no need to. Just as a poison will not hurt anyone unless you administer it to them, the poisonous nature of your negative kamma will not hurt anyone or yourself unless you administer it to yourself or throw it at other people.
Now an ego mind gone means it won't do any harm. Ahimsa, non-violence
if you know Sanskrit. Take rest there and we’ll see how you went.
Buddho Dhammo Sangho.