a buddhist perspective

Often, we may have done various good deeds but continue to be ridiculed and looked down on by others. Or, we may have suffered serious illness, poverty, or other misfortunes with one life worse than the previous one. Why does this happen? Our serious misdeeds have been reduced to a form of light retribution, manifested in the present lifetime. In other words, to be in this situation means that our heavy transgressions have become lighter!

As the Diamond Sutra says, we may be poor, disgraced, or deserve the path of hell because of past transgressions. Thus, we will suffer poverty and disgrace in this lifetime. But when we accept and practice, we will eradicate our transgressions and eventually reach Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. Thus, we are able to transform bad karma with one single thought of enlightenment.

Furthermore, the sutras tell us that when we are performing the deeds of a bodhisattva, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas will constantly support and help us. If we encounter obstacles and difficulties when performing these great deeds, it is because of our negative karma being too great. If we can just persevere and diligently perform the deeds to increase these merits and virtues—without discrimination or attachments—we will overcome the present suffering and receive innumerable benefits and good fortune. Act willingly to accord with misfortune. To dissolve our debts we need to repay them with calmness, without any trace of hatred or grievance. If we feel hatred, then the debt of the next lifetime will be much greater than it was in this one.

Therefore, we must not be discouraged in the face of adversity. Living Buddha Zhangjia said that Buddhas and bodhisattvas have arranged everything in our lives. Hardships and adverse conditions, no matter how severe, have been arranged by Buddhas and bodhisattvas as well. The purpose of these adversities is to gradually eliminate our negative karma until we accumulate merits and virtues. Also, Buddhas and bodhisattvas help practitioners raise their level of practice and to achieve attainment. Why would the Buddhas and bodhisattvas wish us ill? True practitioners are precious to them. Understanding this principle, we will patiently, and even gladly, endure hardships without feeling discouraged.

Once we have proven the truth of the Buddha’s teachings for ourselves, we will be able to understand that any failure, no matter how big or small, is the caring arrangement of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. But those who do not understand this principle will, in the face of misfortune, begin to raise doubts in the Buddhadharma. They will blame the Buddhas and bodhisattvas for not protecting and guiding them, thus slandering the Triple Jewels. Thus, they commit even greater transgressions. How would they not fall back?

The Buddha told us, that we should thoroughly and deeply understand the teachings in the sutras so that we will not feel helpless when crises arise. Regardless of good or bad circumstances, we ought to remain calm. Bad times serve to eliminate our karmic debts.

Do good times present any benefit? If we do not have deep concentration and wisdom during good times, we will fall back. Why? Because our minds will have given rise to greedy thoughts.

So attaining good fortune may not be good for us! When good fortune arises and we do not enjoy it, but rather we share it with others and thus benefit all sentient beings, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas will in turn bring us more good fortune. But, when we do not have a certain degree of deep concentration and wisdom, they will not immediately bring us good fortune. Why? They know that it would only harm us. They will allow us to suffer a little more because hardship is good for our practice. From this, we realize the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have provided us with unwavering care and guidance for which we need to be grateful. This is something most people are unable to understand.

If you come to France in April, you will not see any sunflowers. But in July, the area around Plum Village has so many sunflowers. Where are the sunflowers in April? If you come to Plum Village in April and look deeply, you will see sunflowers. The farmers have ploughed the land and sown the seed, and the flowers are just waiting for one more condition to show themselves. They are waiting for the warmth of May and June. The sunflowers are there, but they have not fully manifested.

Look deeply at a box of matches. Do you see a flame in it? If you do, you are already enlightened. When we look deeply at a box of matches, we see that the flame is there. It needs only the movement of someone’s fingers to manifest. We say: “Dear flame, I know you are there. Now I shall help you express yourself.”

The flame has always been in the box of matches and also in the air. If there were no oxygen, the flame could not express itself. If you lit a candle and then covered the flame with something, the flame would go out for lack of oxygen. The survival of the flame depends on oxygen. We cannot say that the flame is inside the box of matches or that the flame is outside the box of matches. The flame is everywhere in space, time and consciousness. The flame is everywhere, waiting to manifest itself, and we are one of the conditions that will help the flame to manifest. However, if we blow on the flame we shall help the flame stop showing itself. Our breath, when we blow on the flame, is a condition that stops the manifestation of the flame in its present form.

We can light two candles from the match and then blow out the flame on the match. Do you think the flame from the match has died? The flame is not of the nature to be born or to die. The question is, is the flame on the two candles the same flame or two different flames? It is not the same and it is not different. Now another question: is the flame of the match dead? It is both dead and not dead. Its nature is not to die and not to be born. If we leave the candle burning for an hour, will the flame remain the same or become another flame? The wick, the wax and the oxygen are always changing. The part of the wick and the wax that is burning is always transforming. If these things transform, the flame must change too. So the flame is not the same, but it also is not different.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh, no death, no fear

In the Earth Treasure Sutra, we see that it is difficult to save sentient beings who have already descended into the hell realms. Earth Treasure Bodhisattva has great wisdom and great extraordinary abilities, thus he can help the sentient beings in the hell realms to even reach the Western Pure Land. But, because of our habitual behavior, when we are able to move up to the heaven realms, we continue to commit wrongdoings. And after life in the heaven realms has ended, we will again fall into the hell realms. But to Earth Treasure Bodhisattva it is as if we have returned after only having been gone for a few days!

Once in the hell realms, as we experience continuous suffering we will be unable to cultivate. Thus, our hatred and resultant negative karma will increase and become more binding. The sutras clearly explain this for us. From this, we can begin to understand how difficult it is to help sentient beings who have descended into the hell realms.

When can we be helped?

After we have committed wrongdoings, but before we pass on and descend into the hell realms. During this time, we must awaken so that through feelings of intense remorse and fear, we will diligently forgo thinking, saying, or doing anything that is bad and only do that which is good. In this way, we will maintain purity of mind. And in this way, we can change our present conditions and transform a bad situation into a good one.

It would be even better if we could bring give rise to the great Bodhi mind. If at the moment of death, we sincerely regret as we recite “Amituofo” one to ten times and we seek birth into the Pure Land, we will be reborn there. And we will do this even though we had been about to go to the lowest of the hell realms. We will be born in the Pure Land as non-retrogressive bodhisattvas, beings who will never fall back in their practice. Once there, we will have the opportunity to return to our world to help those whom we have an affinity with to transcend the hell realms.

It is said that bodhisattvas fear causes while sentient beings fear effects. So, bodhisattvas fear negative effects and take steps to avoid creating any negative cause. In doing so, they eradicate their debts—the karmic obstacles created from their previous wrongdoings. They also accumulate perfect merits and virtues until they reach the state of buddhahood. Whether worldly phenomena or the teachings of the Buddhas, nothing is beyond the law of cause and effect. Everything is empty and unreal, an eternally impermanent element. But the law of cause of effect is unchangeable and real, an eternally permanent element.

Cause and effect are closely related as they coexist mutually. A cause becomes an effect, which in turn results in another cause. From this endless cycle, we can see that a particular cause is not fixed. Neither is a single effect the only effect. The combination of cause and effect forms a continuous cycle, the cycle of rebirth.

Bodhisattvas are awakened, understanding beings and are therefore well aware that every single cause produces an effect. Because of this, they are mindful of their every thought, word, and action. They understand that a negative cause will become a future negative karmic effect, which they themselves will have bear.

Unlike bodhisattvas, sentient beings do not understand the principles and the realities of life. The little knowledge that we may have is limited and vague, far from complete. So, we carelessly commit causal actions and do not understand, when the effects occur later, why they happened. It is then too late for regret. Cause and effect are continuously played out all around us. If we are unable to connect the events, it is because we are not mindful. Rather we are impulsive and careless, not yet truly understanding.

For our own sake, we should not want to create any more bad causes but, instead, only cultivate those that are good. This is what the ancient masters and patriarchs tried so hard to encourage us to do.

 

For something to happen, we need the right conditions. What do I mean by conditions?

To attend college, I need the right conditions: study, good grades, and money to pay the tuition. To advance in my career, I need the right conditions: hard work that places me above the average, a supervisor who values my efforts, and an ability to get along well with my fellow employees. To be reborn in the Pure Land, I need the right conditions: faith, vows, and practice.

How do we create the right conditions?

We work hard planting the right seeds.

We figure out what is the cause that will bring about the wished for condition. And then we do the hard work of planting those causes, just like we work hard at planting and then nurturing seeds if we wish to have a garden. Sure we can watch the birds dropping seeds and see seeds being blown onto our barren plot of ground, but just watching this happen won't make a garden.

We need to carefully choose and then attentively and diligently tend our seeds. We need to make sure they are safe from adverse conditions like not enough water or too much sunlight or the onslaught of hungry insects. We don't wait around for someone else to wander along and do all the planting, watering, and weeding for us because if someone else does all the work, it will become their garden. Wonderful for them, but it will leave us still without a garden.

The law of cause and effect assures us that if we plant the cause, we will have the result. There is no doubt about this. Be assured that it will happen. Exactly when, I do not know. But I do know that without planting the cause, we will not have the conditions we wish for. Also, the more causes we plant, the better our chances for quickly getting the wished-for conditions.