|
Mindfulness of the heavens is a gate of Dharma illumination; for it gives rise to a wide and big mind. 念天是法明門、發廣大心故 This week we come to the sixth and final item in the set of six types of mindfulness. There’s a reason that mindfulness of heaven (sometimes translated mindfulness of the gods) is the last on the list: it’s only if you have faith in the Three Treasures, exercise generosity and keep the precepts that you can be reborn in a heaven realm. This week’s gate statement is the culmination of the previous five. In a traditional view, we’re being encouraged to keep our eyes on the prize, to maintain awareness that if we do the right things, a good result will follow. If we live upright and wholesome lives, we’ll be reborn in a better place filled with peace and happiness, or we’ll leap free from the wheel of birth and death and enter Nirvana. In the Hindu version of this teaching, we will be one with Brahman and escape the control of demons. It will be useful here to review a bit of Buddhist cosmology—a bit only, because all of the planes and dimensions very quickly become quite complex. It’s helpful to think of realms or worlds as the beings that make them up rather than as particular places. A realm is determined by the perceptions and responses of its beings and sustained by their karma. If somehow all the karma of the beings of a particular realm exhausts itself and they cease to be, then their realm disappears as well. You may be familiar with the rokudo 六道, or six realms of samsara: devas or gods, humans, animals, asuras (fighting gods), hungry ghosts and hell dwellers. How beings transmigrate through these realms is dependent on causes and conditions, namely the first five of the mindfulnesses we’ve been discussing. Buddhist cosmology also includes thirty one planes of existence that are classified into three realms, or trailoka: the formless realm (Ārūpyadhātu), the form realm (Rūpadhātu), and the desire or pleasure realm (Kamadhātu). Moral conduct and engagement with giving can land one in the desire realm, while landing in the form or formless realm depends on the development of meditative concentration. Beings in the formless realm have attained a particular state known as the Four Formless Absorptions, They don’t have any shape or location and are made up entirely of mind, and without any physical form, they are unable to hear the dharma. The realm of form, on the other hand, is made up of beings that have physical form, though that form is subtle and not visible to beings in the realm of desire. These beings are not pulled about by pleasure and pain. Those in the desire or pleasure realm are still bound by their karma and subject to the suffering that comes with desire and clinging that arises from the senses. The rokudo falls within this realm. Within the rokudo, the highest realm is that of devas or gods existing in something we might call higher heavens. Those beings have long lives, various powers, and enjoy aesthetic pleasures. If you’ve led a wholesome life, you may land in one of these realms based on your positive karma—but eventually that karma will exhaust itself and then it’s off to a lower realm. The lower heavens include the asuras, or fighting gods. (Why are they fighting? Because they forgot themselves, got drunk, and were thrown down from their original heavenly home, and now they’re fighting to regain their lost kingdom, forever unable to break through the forces of those who guard it.) Then come the earthly realms, which include humans, hungry ghosts and animals. In the human realms, beings are capable of moral choice and have some say in their own destiny. Because it’s a place of both pleasure and pain, it makes practice uniquely possible: the development of wisdom and compassion that enables liberation. Thus birth in the human realm is a considered a precious opportunity. While hungry ghosts and animals are within the earthly realm, their perceptions and experience of it are quite different from those of humans. Hungry ghosts wander forever in search of sensual fulfillment, occupying for the most part deserts and wastelands. Animals of whatever class, kind or size that are able to feel suffering make up the animal realm. Finally there are the hell realms, characterized by the most extreme suffering based in fear and helplessness. Unwholesome karma is what lands one here until that karma has completele unfolded; then, in a parallel with the heavens, it’s off to one of the higher realms on the basis of earlier, more positive karma that had not yet come to fruition. There are myriad hell realms, each centered on a particular kind of torment. You don’t have to believe in a literal rebirth in order to take something useful from this cosmological set-up. We transmigrate around the rokudo moment by moment depending on our mindstates and responses to what’s happening. I have a successful day at work and I feel like a deva. Then I make a mistake and take some criticism, and I’m an asura. I arrive at the dharma center and feel fortunate to have access to the Three Treasures, and then can’t decide where to stop for lunch on the way home. I’m driven by my need for sleep, and then feel disressed when I look at my calendar and to-do list and know that I’ll be burning the midnight oil this week. If we pay attention, we can see that no realm is really unfamiliar to us. It’s important to see that while devas are in a heavenly realm, they’re still caught in samsara. They eventually use up their various merit and succumb to aging, illness, and death, and must eventually take rebirth in other realms, which may be pleasant or otherwise according to the quality and strength of their past karma. They come into existence based on their past karma and they’re as much subject to the natural laws of cause and effect as any other being in the universe. Devas are not always especially knowledgable or spiritually mature. In fact, they can be quite intoxicated by sensual indulgences, and none are considered worthy of veneration or worship. A deva is not a “god” so much as any being enjoying longer life and a more generally comfortable and happy existence than humans. They have no real concern or contact with the human world, so these are not beings to which one prays for intercession, for instance. Nonetheless. devas and heavens remind us of two things. One is that acting skillfully and compassionately in the world leads to wholesome consenquences. The other is that being intoxicated or caught up in sense pleasures, even in heaven, still leads to suffering because these things aren’t permanent. In the next moment, we’re reborn in a hell realm when our toys are taken away. In the Mahanama Sutta, the Buddha starts by teaching about mindfulness of Buddha, dharma and sangha, then tells Mahanama to reflect on his own virtue and generosity, covering the first five mindfulnesses. Next Buddha tells him to cultivate conviction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment. These are five mental factors that have to become dominant in the mind for awakening to occur; they appear over and over in the early texts. These are the characteristics that got devas reborn in heaven realms. Buddha says Mahanama should recall that those characteristics present in the devas are also present in him: At any time when a disciple of the noble ones is recollecting the conviction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment found both in himself and the devas, his mind is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight, based on the [qualities of the] devas. And when the mind is headed straight, the disciple of the noble ones gains a sense of the goal, gains a sense of the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. In one who is joyful, rapture arises. In one who is rapturous, the body grows calm. In one whose body is calmed, experiences ease. In one at ease, the mind becomes concentrated. (1) Certain helpful, wholesome qualities got the devas into heaven, and we can cultivate those same qualities so they are present in us. This leads to liberation from the three poisonous minds of greed, anger and ignorance. After each of the forms of mindfulness, the Buddha indicates how we should work with it. In the case of devas, he says: Mahanama, you should develop this recollection of the devas while you are walking, while you are standing, while you are sitting, while you are lying down, while you are busy at work, while you are resting in your home crowded with children. Walking, standing, sitting, lying down, known as the four postures, is another way to say "all the time." Buddha said our zazen flows through all four postures and through the transitions between the postures. In other words, we are to practice in every waking moment. Now let’s look at wide and big mind, the second half of this week’s gate statement. Magnanimous mind (daishin) is another term for this, and it’s one of the sanshin (three minds) for which our temple is named. The other two are kishin (joyful mind) and roshin (nurturing or parental mind). In the Tenzo Kyokun, Dogen says: As for what is called magnanimous mind, this mind is like the great mountains or like the great ocean; it is not biased or contentious mind. Carrying half a pound, do not take it lightly; lifting forty pounds should not seem heavy. Although drawn by the voices of spring, do not allow your heart to fall. The four seasons cooperate in a single scene; regard light and heavy with a single eye. On this single occasion you must write the word "great." You must know the word "great." You must learn the word ‘great.” (2) Magnanimous mind is about non-discrimination. There are lots of metaphors in our tradition about non-discrimination, such as a monk’s mouth is like an oven, or the ocean accepts all rivers. Non-discrimination is not engaging in judging, labeling, accepting and rejecting, but seeing and acknowledging everything clearly. Magnanimous mind is deeply understanding that there is nothing outside of our lives or the Buddha way. It’s seeing all of reality just as it is. As soon as we start rejecting parts of our lives or ourselves, we’re putting constrains and limitations on something that’s actually limitless. Now we can start to see the connection between cultivating the qualities of heavenly beings and giving rise to magnanimous mind through developing conviction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment.
If we have faith in the Three Treasures, live an ethical life, study the dharma, practice generosity and use good judgement that comes from our insight into the true nature of reality, we will give rise to magnanimous mind—the mind of nondiscrimination and inclusivity. Now these are the things that got the devas into heaven, and we could decide that that’s what we want too as a result of our practice—and that’s when we have to remind ourselves of the real nature of devas, who are considered inferior to buddhas. They aren’t omniscient; their knowledge is inferior to fully enlightened buddhas, and they especially lack awareness of beings in worlds higher than their own. They also aren’t omnipotent; their powers tend to be limited to their own worlds, and they rarely intervene in human affairs. They aren’t morally perfect, while they may lack human passions and desires, some of them are capable of ignorance, arrogance and pride. It is, indeed, their imperfections in the mental and moral realms that cause them to be reborn in these worlds. Heavenly realms are not an escape from samsara. Devas are still transmigrating around the rokudo. Our practice is to surpass even the devas in seeing nonduality and taking action on that basis rather than on the basis of a heavenly reward. Okumura Roshi writes, The first level of morality is to do wholesome actions expecting to be reborn in heaven, or having fear of being reborn in hell because of doing something bad. Both result in remaining within the six realms of samsara. The second level is to expect to attain enlightenment, be free from samsara and reach nirvana by doing what is good or compassionate and avoiding evil. These two levels are still dualistic, and we should go beyond these two—samsara and nirvana should be one. That’s what the spirit of the precepts is trying to do—to get us to go beyond the duality between samsara and nirvana. We try to do good things, but not because we expect to be reborn in heaven or to gain some good thing, not because we are afraid to be reborn in hell, and not because we wish to reach nirvana. The good deed is just for the sake of actualizing reality, and it’s the same as our practice of the zazen of just sitting. (3) Samsara and nirvana are both right here. and there’s no special place to get to and nowhere else to go, because nothing is outside of reality or the Buddha Way. If that’s disappointing, consider that we don’t have to wait until the end of our lives to get to a heavenly realm. Just like all the other realms in the wheel of samsara, heaven is right here —there’s no waiting. Once we stop picking and choosing as a means of shoring up the small self, we reach heaven right in this moment. For the devas, their heavenly realm is still part of samsara just as it is for us, so heaven isn’t an ultimate goal for either of us. There’s no long term advantage in aspiring to become a deva. We’re just trading one realm of samsara for another. Instead, this dharma gate is advising us to keep the devas in mind both for the helpful qualities they’ve cultivated and for their dharma position as beings that have not been liberated from samsara. We can emulate them in cultvating magnanimous mind, but we do that right here in this day to day world. We don’t wait until we get to heaven someday. Questions for reflection and discussion
Notes
(1) The version of the Mahanama Sutta to which this discussion makes reference is found here. (2) From Okumura Roshi’s article for the Dogen Institute, Four Seasons of Accord. (3) from Okumura Roshi's forthcoming book on the precepts, to be published by the Dogen Institute. Comments are closed.
|
About the text The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko has been talking about the gates one by one since 2016. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
January 2025
|
RSS Feed