IMPERMANENCE
After the “initial faith,” the next concept to be discussed should be “impermanence.” This world is impermanent. In fact, not just this world, everything in our lives is impermanent. In Buddhism, “impermanence” is the most frequently discussed idea. Padmasambhava asked us to give the idea of impermanence some sympathetic consideration. You have to know that the span of a human life is very short. Our assembly here today was brought on by some very subtle causes and conditions and will only last a very short while. Very quickly people are brought together and very quickly people are dispersed. Buddha Shakyamuni has very clearly explained the condition of “impermanence.” Birth is definitely followed by death. If one is living, one is inevitably walking towards death. A good health will eventually deteriorate. When the Buddha was in his old age, his health was poor. A perfectly healthy body can also become unhealthy. Death follows birth, withering follows flourishing, and dispersion follows assembling. We have gathered together for this extraordinary occasion but, in a few days, we will go our separate ways. In the future, such assemblies at the Rainbow Villa will probably take place only once or twice a year and the teachings will probably focus on internal practices, with the enrollment of students numbering forty, fifty or, at most, one hundred. This time our talk is open to more students, but the next time, there will only be fewer. Therefore, one can say that this is the second and last time for an open seminar here at the Rainbow Villa. In the future, a student will need to submit a dissertaion before being admitted to the classes. This assemblage will only last a moment, as all assemblies will inevitably be followed by dispersals. This is “impermanence.”
I have given an example earlier of how I used to be able to eat almost any kind of food. I used to have a tremendous sweet tooth. I loved to eat all kinds of sweet cakes, including the Japanese style and Taiwanese style cakes. I loved cakes stuffed with sweet bean paste, my favorite was the kind of big, round wedding cakes popular in Tainan area. In the past, whenever Mrs. Lu happened to see me eating the cakes, she would always be alarmed by how fast I could gulp down a big chunk of those cakes. She would say, “You shouldn’t eat anymore.” As soon as she said that, I would immediately consume two more pieces in a row. (audience laughter) I had this personality trait of self-determination and would not listen easily to others. If someone asked me not to eat anymore, I would deliberately eat a little bit more. When we were invited out for dinners, we were served desserts at the end which would include pastries, fruits, or a sweetened soup. In the past, whenever this sweet soup was served, I would always help myself to a second bowl when I finished the first bowl. (audience laughter) When Mrs. Lu, who was sitting next to me, noticed that, she would say, “How could you eat two bowls?” Then I would eat a third bowl. (audience laughter) But you should know that, when you exceed your limit of sugar consumption, “impermanence” beckons you, you cannot eat anymore because your blood sugar level is too high! Then you have to refrain from sugars. So I tell everyone, don’t be stubborn. When you exceed your amount of food consumption, “impermanence” will signal you to stop. Then you have to obey quietly. Well, when I realized what was happening to me, I decided to defend myself against these chemical imbalances by practicing some chi exercises. Fortunately, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas care very much for me and they told me that practicing certain chi exercises would be enough to help me.
Generally speaking, many people have illnesses. I also have illnesses! You can tell others about this, it doesn’t matter. I am not afraid of others talking about me. Many spiritual cultivators feel that they cannot be ill, as if illness signifies a loss of spiritual power. (audience laughter) Actually I have had many illnesses, such as diabetes, heart problems, hypertension, dermatitis, and also cancer (laughter), bone cancer! Very severe illnesses! And there was also, I remember in the past, athlete’s foot! These were ailments I have had in the past! (audience laughter) I remember when I was small I even had polio for a while. I still remember that, for a while, I was limping on my way to grade school. I also suffered from a skin illness where both of my legs looked like red bean Popsicles with red beans-like bumps all over them. I also have rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, and imbalance of kidney and bladder functions. You know when your bladder muscle is weak, you become incontinent (audience laughter). There were also bony spurs, stomach pains, and many other problems related to the stomach. I also have suffered from respiratory problems and bronchitis. It’s not that type of bronchitis, though. (The term “bronchitis” in Mandarin sounds like the term for being “henpecked.”) It is the real kind of bronchitis. And there was allergic rhinitis and red eye. (audience laughter) My red eye disease was healed by Kuan Yin Bodhisattva and this I remember very well. My ears were often congested and I had to clean out the wax every three months. (audience laughter) This is true. That was why I liked to visit Taiwan because one can obtain the service of having one’s ears cleaned out. I visited Taiwan every three months in order to have my ears cleaned out. This side of my temple hurts and my cerebellum isn’t that highly developed (audience laughter) I will probably get the Alzheimer’s disease in the future. With Alzheimer’s disease, the brain shrinks somewhat. Sometimes, the corners of my mouth would crack and become inflamed, and my tongue would be scraped, making eating quite a chore. There were also nosebleeds. When I first arrived in the United States I had a very serious nose bleed problem, as well as allergic dermatitis.
Where is Master Chang Jen? You noticed that he looks as if he has gained quite a bit of weight recently. Why? This is because he has been poisoned! (audience laughter) After coming down with a flu and ingesting a mixture of several different kinds of cold medicines, his skin became red all the way from the soles of his feet to the top of his head! The redness has now disappeared, but his face and body are still very much swollen. This is toxic reaction.
Why am I now so obese? I used to be very skinny, so what has caused me to gain all this weight? My younger sister was a saleswoman for a product called “Eagle Brand Three Ocean Nutrient Formula” and after I started taking that nutritional supplement, my appetite was greatly increased. That supplement induces great changes in one’s body chemistry, which is tantamount to poisoning one’s body. Therefore obesity can be attributed to many factors. One factor is the accumulation of excessive water in the body, another is the body has been poisoned or chemically changed, still another is that one’s consumption of calories exceeds it expenditure, as in the case of Master Richard Yan. I think he belongs to the last condition of over-consumption of calories. (audience laughter)
Do I have any tumors inside my body? I do. When I cure someone of a big tumor, a small tumor will grow inside me. This is due to “supercedence”! The number of small tumors correlates exactly to the number of tumors I have helped to get rid of others, but I will maneuver my internal chi to eliminate these small tumors. When I cure someone of cancer, I will get cancer myself. Therefore I have many kinds of cancer in my body. I have had bone cancer and several of my intimate disciples were aware of this. But then I gradually eliminated the cancer. When I cured someone of a bony spur, I found myself come down with a bony spur and it was very painful. I had to do practice to grind it off. I also have had stomach cancer, and all kinds of cancer except uterine cancer! (audience laughter) When I conducted the Healing Fire Ceremony in Hong Kong, for three consecutive days I experienced hundreds of different kinds of illnesses. Wouldn’t you say that this was a miracle? During those three days and nights I was in a stupor and did not eat any solid food at all. Many people witnessed this and were puzzled at the time. Why was Grand Master starving himself and refusing to eat his favorite foods? Was he demonstrating his transcendental powers? No, I was not. I was really unable to swallow anything except water. For three days and nights I was doing the task of “supercedence.” Because of this supercedence, I was able to make the child with polio and muscular dystrophy stand up from his wheelchair, the man with the crooked spine stand up straight, and the tumor disappear from the baby! To effect such healing, I had to take over their illnesses during those three days and nights.
The human body is a transitory phenomenon. If fact, impermanence is the fundamental essence of existence. Can things remain unchanged forever? Is there a norm that stays unvaried forever? Why do high official start practicing Buddhism? Why do generals start practicing Buddhism? I have said before, general are often arrogant fellows but, in their old age, they start to see the shadows of ghosts. The people they have killed come back to haunt them. They have no choice but to practice Buddhism.
Has anyone been to the Buddha Light Temple at the Kuan Yin Mount in Pu Li in Taiwan? That was the residence of Dharma Maser Reverend Lo Kuo who was one of my teachers in the scriptural schools. He had given me the refuge name of Tao Yen and Mrs. Lu the name of Tao Hua which sounds like “sweet flower” in Taiwanese. (audience laughter) When I visited the temple, I learned that many of the monks there were retired generals who had nonetheless held on to some of their old habits. Why did these high officials and generals turn, in their retired years, to Buddhism and live as monks? This is impermanence! No matter how high a position one occupies, one must eventually descend from it. Even the president, who is the highest ranking official, has to someday come down from his position, let alone minor officials. Likewise, rich men could become impoverished while poor men could become prosperous. This is impermanence! The generals who had assembled there at the temple to do their practice were still quite set in their old ways. When the kitchen failed to buy any hot chili peppers, the monks started hitting the tables and causing a racket. The old soldiers wanted hot chili peppers for every meal and they just did not feel good without them. Considering the fact that they had been generals, it was amazing that they did not have the dining tables overturned. The feng-shui at the Buddha Light Temple is not very ideal, the monks there always fight with each other and once a nun was beaten to death by the monks. Reverend Lo Kuo himself did not know much about feng-shui. When I went to take a look at the geomancy, I found that the temple was standing on land that is known as Fire Star Dragon in geomancy terms, which is associated with very hot and dry air. That is why people living in the temple cannot help but have hot and irritable tempers.
It is impermanence when retiring high officials and generals turn to Buddhism, when rich people turn to Buddhism in their old age, and when healthy people turn to Buddhism when their time comes. Many married couples have taken renunciation vows together to do Buddhist practices. Do you think the affinity between two people can stay forever unchanged? That is not always possible! There is of course much love and affection in newlyweds, but some love relationships last a very short time. Just a week into their marriages, some couples are already fighting. They might call each other “darling” in the morning but in the evening they are heading towards divorce. This is the phenomenon of impermanence.
That is why Padmasambhava has asked us to consider and experience impermanence. If one often contemplates “impermanence,” one will sprout a strong faith and grow confident in the Buddhadharma. Why is it that I am able to extricate myself from all the worldly troubles? Because I am mindful of impermanence! I am mindful that, although I have been healthy in the past, my health might deteriorate one day; although I have a good life now, there might be a day when I will become very miserable. Our True Buddha School is growing and flourishing now, but there might be a day when…The Tathagata himself had said that Buddhism would only flourish in India for five hundred years. This is impermanence. Why would the excellent Buddhadharma only thrive for five hundred years in India? This is due to impermanence.
The transience of health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, prestige and anonymity, and within human relationships enables us to experience the impermanence inherent in all worldly phenomena. It is due to this constant awareness of impermanence that I am able to sprout and maintain my faith. After profoundly experiencing impermanence, one will find that the whole phenomenon of the Universe is a state of Emptiness. Due to the penetration into this Emptiness, one may rest in peace and tranquility. The fundamental nature of all phenomena is impermanence! So how can one be perturbed and upset by any problems? When one day the originally wealthy you suddenly become poor, it will of course trouble you! But, as long as you are mindful of impermanence, you will rise above the trouble. When the previously healthy you suddenly become stricken with a grave illness, you have to be aware of impermanence, then you can rise above the trouble. You have been the executive of a company, but suddenly your job is taken away from you; you will not grieve. You must know that all phenomena of the world are inherently transient. When you penetrate deeply into this impermanence to experience it, you will not feel that you have gained or lost anything. One has to understand this truth before one can transcend worries and troubles.
Because of the impermanence in the worldly phenomena, we have to search for the Supreme Wisdom. That is what gives meaning to our lives. Why do you think we are practicing the Buddhadharma? It is because of impermanence. Because of impermanence, we want to seek the meaning of life. The most meaningful thing in life is to practice the Buddhadharma and do spiritual cultivation. Apart from this, each of us is in a state of transitory change, so why compare oneself to others? What is there to be proud of? Why be so arrogant? Everything is constantly changing. There is a Taiwanese saying, “A family’s prosperity does not last three generations.” In fact, sometimes prosperity does not even last one or two generations. Do you think you have really made a lot of money? Do you think you have really built yourself a big mansion? Didn’t I give an example of this the other day? A man is building a mansion for himself and his family. While the mansion is still being built, the “demolition man” has already arrived. The owner is so happy when the mansion is finished! Subsequently, inside that mansion his wife gives birth to a child who turns out to be the demolition man. The child has come with the intention to dismantle the whole building. This is impermanence! So, do not be too overjoyed when you build a big mansion; neither should you grieve when the mansion is demolished.
Do not feel elated because the Buddhist religion founded by the Buddha is thriving, or sad because it is crumbling and disintegrating. In the future, when tens of millions, or hundreds of millions, of students come to take refuge in this True Buddha School, you need not be happy. Neither should you be sad when all students run away and not even one stays behind. At the beginning of this talk I described my grief a little overzealously. Actually there is no need to have any grief. I was trying to convey the state of my mind when this most precious practice, which is labor of my love, is offered to others and others turn it down. If fact, to a truly Enlightened Being, there is no such thing as gain or loss. He is in a completely sovereign and satisfied condition.
The Buddhadharma emphasizes understanding and experiencing the “impermanence” because it is the portal to liberation from neurosis and worries. If one cannot penetrate “impermanence,” one will not be able to generate a spiritual faith and confidence in the Buddhadharma, and thus rise above neurosis and worries. Therefore Padmasambhava asked me and all the Tantrayana students to carefully and intimately experience the “impermanence” and to grow a staunch faith. Only by contemplating “impermanence” is one able to generate faith and confidence. Only through experiencing “impermanence” can one rise above the concepts of gain and loss. If today many people were to slander you, insult you, and take advantage of you, would you be able to stay mindful of “impermanence”? This is a world fundamentally devoid of a “norm”! A “norm” does not inherently exist! When you remain calm and unperturbed, you reach realization and are able to truly transcend troubles and worries. Otherwise, without penetration into “impermanence,” how can you transcend worries and troubles? You will always be troubled and bound by emotional afflictions and your suffering will never end.
For example, I feel that my ability to attain self-mastery and become sovereign, my contentment with the world, and my decision to return life after life to this samsara, are a direct extension of this realization of impermanence. If one realizes impermanence, one will have no fear. If one has not realized impermanence, one will always have problems. This is why practicing the Buddhadharma can lead us to liberation from neurosis. We can take a look at the Great Zen Master Lotus Pond who has written the word “Death” above his headboard. “Death” is to die, all must die. I am not cursing everyone to die, but there is a principle which is absolutely inviolate – that all of us, including you and I, will eventually die. A hundred years from now, we will all have passed away! Can one live as long as the turtle? Can one live as long as the pine trees here at the Rainbow Villa and remain standing tall for several thousand years? Just any piece of rock or any one of the trees will outlive us! Understand “impermanence” from this. The Zen Master Lotus Pond wrote the word “Death” as a daily reminder that he would die the next day and that he had to maintain faith and confidence and to vigorously keep practicing the Buddhadharma here and now. This is why one has to be mindful of impermanence. How does one enter into the doorway of the Buddhadharma? Through “faith and confidence.” How does one sprout this faith and confidence? By being mindful of impermanence!
The phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, death, and suffering are all transient. Do not be solely concerned with making money, one also has to give some consideration to Truth. Let me tell you, many people have deviated from the path of cultivation when they gave in to the temptation of money! Money and fame have caused many to deviate from the path. The Tathagata has taught us to not become too enamored with fame or profit and he has compared money with poisonous snakes. In his time, the Buddha used to instruct us to “not look at ladies with our eyes or touch money with our hands.” But nowadays people are not touching money, they are embracing money! It is miserable to become entangled and trapped by money. I have said before that there are two great powers in this world. The first is the power of the Tao, the Buddha, the Tathagata, or the Buddha Nature – the greatest and most expansive power – which penetrates and encompasses the whole Universe. The second is the power of money! And you must not place the importance of money above that of the Tao, the Buddha, or the Buddha Nature; otherwise you will be trapped and cannot become liberated. To attain liberation, you must place the importance of the Tathagata first. Modern men would fare much better to have a more indifferent and reasonable approach towards money. One should never take money from others by force or trickery. Understanding impermanence will enable one to understand about money. After all, being wealthy is not always a blessing! Sometimes it can be a nuisance. Additionally, misuse of money can create evils and turn into one’s own karmic hindrances one can create.
In the past the Buddha stated that money, like poisonous snakes, can bring about similar disasters. If you don’t have money, no one will scheme to take it away from you! Today your wealth can increase the risks to your life. This money that you own is the poisonous snake at your side! Think this over, Buddha’s words do make sense, don’t they? Because you have money, others will think about how to take it away from you! If you were penniless today, would anyone be scheming about you? They couldn’t wait to run away from you. (audience laughter) Let me tell you, even the ghosts are afraid of the poor. (audience laughter)
Although the practice of the Buddhadharma requires one to enter deeply into the treasury of Buddhist scriptures, it is quite impossible to ask one to read all the twelve sections contained in the Three Buddhist Canons. Everyone of us lives in the world for a limited time only, so only those who are totally dedicated to the path can go and read all of the Buddhist works. Besides, even if one finished reading them all, one might not necessarily understand them or be able to penetrate their meanings. Even if one is able to read through the classics, one might not be able to gain anything useful out of them. Therefore, in today’s discourse of An Overview of the Buddhadharma, I will concentrate on the main points: Faith and Impermanence. After one generates this faith and confidence, the next step is Comprehension.
Amituofo
Lotuschef
Pure Karma
True Buddha School
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