New book: https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Self-Library-Wisdom-Compassion/dp/1614297959/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1653580994&refinements=p_27%3AHis+Holiness+the+Dalai+Lama&s=books&sr=1-1&text=His+Holiness+the+Dalai+Lama

  • I like this v much
    .
    In the Questions of Adhyāśaya Sūtra (Adhyāśayasaṃśōdana Sūtra), the Buddha makes this point in a dialogue with a disciple (CTB 161):
    “For example, during a magical display, a man sees a woman created by a magician and desire arises in him. His mind becomes ensnared with desire, and he is frightened and ashamed in front of his companions.
    Rising from his seat, he leaves and later considers the woman to be ugly, impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless.
    O child of a good lineage, what do you think? Is that man behaving correctly or incorrectly?”
    “Blessed One, he who strives to consider a nonexistent woman to be ugly, impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless behaves incorrectly.”
    The Blessed One said, “O child of a good lineage, you should similarly view those bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, laymen, and laywomen who consider unproduced and unarisen phenomena to be ugly, impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless.
    I do not say that these foolish persons are cultivating the path; they are practicing in an incorrect manner.”
    Here the Buddha emphasizes that if we contemplate nonexistent objects of attachment as ugly, impermanent, empty, and lacking a self-sufficient substantially existent I, we are missing the point.
    There’s no use contemplating the impermanence and so forth of nonexistents; if we understood that these things did not exist to start with, our attachment to them would vanish. Meditating on the attributes of coarse true duḥkha is like discussing how to dispose of wilted flowers in a hologram or how to shave the moustache off a turtle when such flowers and such a moustache do not exist.
    To attain liberation, realization of the ultimate mode of existence—the emptiness of inherent existence of both persons and phenomena—is essential. Saying phenomena are unproduced and unarisen indicates that they are not inherently produced and do not inherently arise, although they are produced and arise conventionally.
    ~HHDL

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  • HHDL :
    To review the causal sequence of saṃsāra: the elaboration of grasping inherent existence gives rise to distorted conceptions—erroneous thought processes—which, in turn, provoke afflictions. Afflictions lead to the creation of actions that bring rebirth in saṃsāra and its attendant duḥkha.
    To give a rough analogy, self-grasping ignorance and its elaborations are like the unscrupulous boss of a company producing faulty products; conceptualizations and distorted concepts are like the salespeople who exaggerate the qualities of the product; afflictions are like our signing the contract; and karma is all the actions we take afterward.
    What ends this chain of events? The realization of the emptiness of true existence. Bringing an end to elaborations involves dismantling all grasping of an objectified basis (T. yul gyi ngos nas yod pa) of persons and phenomena, all grasping of persons and phenomena as having an inherent, independent essence.

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  • From HHDL new book :
    The Development of Afflictions in Daily Life
    Although afflictions often arise quickly in our mind, seeming to come out of nowhere, they develop through a sequential process. To have the notion of I, one or more of our mental or physical aggregates must appear.
    Based on this appearance, a valid sense of I arises. This I exists by being merely designated in dependence on the aggregates. Observing this mere I, ignorance erroneously grasps it to exist inherently. That grasping is the view of a personal identity grasping I (ahaṃkāra).
    Based on that, the view of a personal identity grasping mine (mamakāra) arises when we think, “This is my body. These are my thoughts.” The object of the grasping at mine is the sense of “myness,” the I that makes things mine; it is not the body or the thoughts themselves.
    Grasping the body or thoughts to be inherently existent is self-grasping of phenomena, not self-grasping of persons.
    Tsongkhapa says (FEW 43):
    . . . the observed object of an innate awareness thinking “mine” is that very “mine.” It should not be held that your own eyes and so forth are the observed object.
    The body, intelligence, table, and so forth are examples of “mine” because in ordinary language we say, “This body is mine. This table is mine.”
    But the observed object of grasping “mine” is the mine that is the owner, and not the body, intelligence, or table.
    Once the I is grasped as inherently existent, attachment, anger, and other destructive emotions quickly follow, because we want to give this I pleasure and protect it from pain.
    These mental factors arise very quickly, one right after the other. If our mindfulness is sharp, we can observe this process and thwart it. Otherwise, these afflictions control us.
    Grasping the inherent existence of I and mine are erroneous minds. They are not present every time we use the conventions “I” and “mine.”
    When we casually and calmly say “I’m walking” or “This is my book,” grasping I or mine is not present. This way of apprehending I and mine differs greatly from the self-grasping that is present when we arrogantly think “I am famous,” or greedily say “This is mine.”

    3 Comments


    Yasmin El-Hakim
    even if one knows very well that this I as an existing person with its body and thoughts is a card house is merely a false identification, even then this feeling of an I is there 🤦‍♀️


    Yin Ling
    Yasmin El-Hakim yes it takes patience and determination 🙂


  • Yasmin El-Hakim
    Yin Ling there is much patience and determination here 😇

Found out I wrote this 10 years ago

XX,

谢谢您的叮咛。我在写给YY其中所要表达的是正见的重要性,因为唯有正见才能突破一切法相的妄见妄执,所以要真正无相就要有正见。

在我写下第一篇文章(2010年六月)时,的确还有这个"执着于虚空法相"的现象。但因为不断地舍去法相的执着,而不去肯定一个"虚空相",渐渐地体会到觉性随缘而行,随物而应,因为不特意去肯定一个"虚空相",在日常生活只是保持无为无作的自然觉照觉知。

但是后来,觉悟到法印之无我(2010年十月),才彻底断除一切执着于我体的迷惑妄见妄执。

以前就是因为执着于一个我体,甚至于执着觉体为我体,才有"虚空相",或是内外、能所的执着,这都不离我见的范围。也就是说:妄见执着于个人身心为我是一种我见,妄见执着如虚空的觉为我体也是一种我见,妄见执着于一个不分内外的觉体为不变的我也是一种我见。

但自从觉悟本来无我,就没有这种的迷惑执着,也不见觉体为虚空相的我体,也不见有内外、能所、体用之别。觉性遍满一切但无我,若觉悟本无我,不再见觉有我体,自然不再落入"清净无染的虚空法相",也自然不会再去肯定一个我(甚至虚空相的我体),不再去守住一个我体或法相。

因为觉悟没有三者:观者在观所观,也就是说,没有"无形象如虚空的觉体""在看着""虚空内的景色/念头/声音"等等,而是看到景色时只有看到景色,并无三者,这即是觉性觉知/佛性,不再去守住"无形象如虚空的觉体"的法相。因为没有能所,看到最遥远的山都只是自觉/清净觉知而已,完全没有内外或距离,所以山河大地尽是法身,觉性不限于"虚空相",觉不是"无形相的虚空相"而是完全空性无体可得,所以现在生活看物做事只是自然看物做事的"",无我,也无虚空法相,自然只是觉性觉知,空性了知,不假造作。

因为一切法相都是一种我见/邪见,所以在我体会中正见非常重要,而觉悟了二空,破除妄见执着,自然能突破一切法相。

....

YY,

你所说的我都认同,但是"没有被东西绑住,但仍有觉知的状态"并不是我所说的法印之无我或觉悟正见。觉悟到本来没有我是觉悟而断掉错误的知见迷惑,并不是体会到一个"没有被东西绑住,但仍有觉知的状态",虽然你觉悟到原来"绑着你"的都只是自己妄想出来的,本来就不实在的,所以顿时能解放对自己妄想中"在绑着我"而造成的"累",这虽然也是重要,但并不是我所谓的断除我见,也不是我所谓"本无我"/"法印之无我"的意识,而"愿意为道场和众生牺牲"虽然是一种很大的理想和愿望,莫就是佛教,而只是自己的一种愿行(比如一个人可能有很大的愿行,但还是不懂佛法,所以大乘注重愿力但不代表有愿就已经是菩萨或懂得了佛法,而非佛教徒也可能有些很乐意为众生牺牲,但他们可能完全没有接触过佛教或佛法)。而做事要周到,要做应该做的事而不是自己要做的事,这都是非常重要的,这是每个人--不管佛教徒还是非佛教徒都是要学习的,这一点我的父亲虽然不知道很多佛法但做事都很周到,而我也向他学习,但这种人生基础虽然是重要的,是每个人都应该要学的,但不代表就懂得了佛法或是"理事无碍"。

而你说"小乘者虽能无我相(住于觉体,理上无碍)",在我所知和体会,小乘的无我相不只是见到而住于觉体,而只是见到觉体不代表完全彻悟人我空,就比如我第一篇的文章那时已经见证觉体,也已经体会"没有被东西绑住,但仍有觉知的状态",但是到后来我在如Bahiya Sutta观行时才突然证悟到人我空,彻底断除我见。而Bahiya因为佛陀那时的开示顿时就证得阿罗汉果,所以我想小乘的体悟就是要证悟人我空。

这时连一个"镜子"和"影子"的比喻都不使用了,因为完全没有照者/所照,一切即是了了分明的觉性觉知,但不是一个了了分明的我体在照物。后来对万法缘起性空如梦幻泡影又有更深的体悟。这个二空显真如就佛陀在迦罗迦经(Kalaka Sutta)所说,“比丘,如来在看物时,不立有所看的东西,不立一个不被看的东西,不立一个还未看的东西,不立一个观者... 在听时... 在触时... 在思时(都是如此)。因此,比丘,如来同样对一切可见,可闻,可触,可思的现象都是‘如'。我也告诉你:没有其他的‘如'是更高上或更崇高的。” 但是这个"不立"不是"不要想"而已,而是要证悟人法二空的真理,因为不妄见而显真如。禅宗有个公案,雪峰曰:“要会此事,犹如古镜-胡来胡现,汉来汉现。”玄沙闻之曰:“忽遇镜破如何?”曰:“胡汉俱隐。”玄沙曰:“老和尚足跟犹未点地在!”健代曰:“胡汉现成。”

所以在我经验中,见到了觉体,还要体悟“觉”,而了悟“体、根源”/"一体"只是一种“习见”。破“体,根源”的习见障碍而更进一步了解“无我”。因为我们的习见不能让我们突破我体执着或对"觉"产生的法相/我执,而了悟觉的真面目。圣开师父的"如鸿飞空空无际,似刀割水水无痕"非常重要,但是"不执着"也有不同的程刺,所以要真正不留痕迹,唯有破除一切我见我执,包括对"觉"的我执我见,这么样子才能觉性觉知,空性了知,不然执着在一个我体,都还是执着,那个"一体,根源,镜子"都也是法相我相执着,留下痕迹。破了这种我见我执,在于所证悟的正见正觉落实在生活,自然在行住座卧就能体会到"如鸿飞空空无际,似刀割水水无痕"。

就如我已经说了,无我并不是一种"清净的状态",而是诸法本来如此的法印,完全不是状态,境界,清净,等等。如果体悟到法印之无我,这不是一种要保持住的清净境界,而是每时每刻,行住坐卧都能体会/应征的真理,不管是在待人处事,在忙碌中,或是静坐,有念或无念,都还是如此的真理。听声音时本来就只有听到声音的清净觉知,没有听者,只有看到景色,思想,做事等等的缘起法,并无觉者,观者,思想者,作者,本来没有我,无能所,无内外,而一切当下都是清净觉知。

就比如"没有圣诞老人"/"天空没有花"是真理(但有些人妄见有空花,有圣诞老人),如果一个人想要保持一个"没有圣诞老人的清净状态"就代表他完全不明白那个真理,因为哪里有一个清净境界可守?"圣诞老人","没有圣诞老人的清净境界"都是妄想!因为本来就没有圣诞老人,哪里须要求一个特别"没有圣诞老人"的境界呢?"无我"也是同样的道理,如果真正证悟这个道理,是完全没有理事的障碍的,因为理即是事,事即是理,而不能在事外找到一个清净境界叫做"无我"。事中本无我,无我所,这是真理,在人事物外并非能找到一个"无我"之境,而且诸法万物皆是空性无体,色即是空,空即是色,色不易空,空不易色,而不是在人事物外有另一个空,或在人事物外另有一个佛性(性相本一如,就如我第二篇文章就有提到,在相外/用外并无佛性可言),所以才能理事圆融无碍。如果人法二空之理和事物是两样东西,那么修这个并没有用。

现在因为没有那么多我和我所的执着,因为本来就无我,而万法万事都是空性无常性、如梦幻泡影的,所以对待善恶得失的一切事物都看得比较淡,平静欢喜地面对人事物,不执着有一个"我",也不执着得失,所以做事就是随缘而作,随缘而了。我也是在学习,所以也只能以有限的经验分享。所以觉悟无我并不是要保持一个出世间的境界才"不被绑住",而是要在世间每一时刻都解脱,所谓的正见没有理事障碍,而是理事不二(理本来就不离事,离开了人事物并无理可言,只是看众生在事中迷不迷),所以要在人事物,行住坐卧都要有正见的落实。



p.s. I want to add on to the above: not just have
正见 but directly realize, 证悟见。No self as a dharma seal and emptiness are not just mere concepts, they are a living truth that can be realized and then tasted in every moment. This living truth once seen becomes a natural state, effortless without entry or exit.


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