Everything Comes From the Mind (5)

8/12/2019 Everything Comes From the Mind (5)

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Issue no. 33 Back to Content

By Vajra Master Pema Lhadren

Translated by Various Disciples

Excerpt of Last ChapterThe cycle of karmic existence is the interactive function in terms of

Causes and Effects by the different tractions of various causes

and conditions. In fact, all the phenomena of the cycle of karmic

existence are true phenomena, and they all t in well with scientic

explanations. There are three key points in the formation of the cycle

of karmic existence.

1. The cycle of karmic existence is thecontinuously circulatingLaw of Causes and Effectand which has no beginning and no

ending to it. It is a kind of natural law.

2. The composition of everything in the universe and of the

numerous kinds of bodily structures is due to the matching of

causes and conditions together, and these make up the vessels

for the cycle of karmic existence.

The Karma of Killing The Mental Strength Different Interpretations of the Mind by Buddhism and Other Religions

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3. The cycle of karmic existence appears when

there areappropriate causes and conditions for

its existence, but the true nature of it is basically

Emptiness.

In theAgamas Sutra, the Lord Buddha had

informed us of the true principle through which we

can understand that all sentient beings are ending

up with beginningless lives and deaths, which keep

on transmigrating without ending, and yet they do notknowing the reasons for their sufferings.

The meaning behind this is that: all sentient beings,

from time immemorial, had countless previous

lifetimes, and they keep on transmigrating with births

and deaths. Yet, they never knew the reasons for

their transmigrations, neither do they know how to

escape from such kind of sufferings. After the Lord

Buddha had attained his Perfect Enlightenment (that

is, the attainment of Buddhahood), He understood

very well this phenomenon, and so He informed usabout this. He hoped that all sentient beings would be

able to understand this phenomenon, and would thus

give rise to the thought of trying to become liberated

from such kinds of bondages and start practicing

on the Holy Dharma. The Lord Buddha was not just

telling a story in order to cheat you to practice the

Dharma. In fact, there is no such a need to do so.

The Lord Buddha had only informed us of what he

had understood to be the true phenomenon of the

worldly existence.

The Karma of Killing

It was mentioned in theEkottar-Agama Sutra (in

Sanskrit; or Anguttara-Nikaya in Pali) that:the Lord

Buddha told all the monks to have a merciful mind,

and should never kill any lives!Why did the Lord

Buddha asked all of us not to kill any living beings?

It is because all those lives that you have killed must

have some kind of relationships with you. Otherwise,

they would not have been transformed in such a state

as to be killed by you. If not have been

your parents, they might have been

your brothers and sisters, in

their previous lives.

Hence , you shou ld

refrain from the killing of

lives, because your act of

killing would give rise to the

negative karma which

would be fo l lowing

after youcontinuously

and endlessly like a

flowing river, and that

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you would be in continuous and endless tortures.

Hence, you should not do such acts of killing any

longer, not only because for yourself, but also for all

other sentient beings. It was because when these

sentient beings were killed by you, they would give

rise to a strong emotion of hatredness, which would

lead to other tractional forces that would continue

on endlessly like a flowing river. As a result, both

parties would be in great pains. This kind of tractional

forces originated from the mental strengths of

hatredness that came from those sentient beings

whom you have killed earlier.

The Mental Strength

In order to explain that everything comes from the

mind, we have to talk about the importance of mental

strength. Since the cycle of karmic existence

composes of strong tractional forces, which would

subject all of us to its bondages, to be drawn into,

and under the control of, the tractional

forces of the Law of Cause and

Effect. So, are there any forces

that can counteract such kind of

tractional forces in order that we can

be released and be liberated from this

cycle of karmic

existence?

Yes, there is !

That is the kind of

force which we called as the

mental strength. This is the only kind of force that

can help you to be released and be liberated from

the cycle of karmic existence. Hence, when you

repeatedly request for blessings, without making

use of the main cause within yourself in order to

train your own mental strength, it is, indeed, very

foolish of you to do so, simply because only this

mental strength would be helpful to yourself.

The bringing about of ones mental strength comes

from the function of ones own mind. If one can

know how to arouse the strength of ones mind,

then it can then help to bring about the kind of

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counteracting force against the tractional forces of

the cycle of karmic existence, in order to liberate

ourselves from this cycle of karmic existence. Since

this kind of force is coming from the function of ones

own mind, and that is why it is called the mental

strength, and is also a sign of everything comesfrom the mind. Furthermore, the tractional forces of

the cycle of karmic existence are, in fact, originated

from the combinations and permutations of countless

mental strengths, thus constructing a grand design

and blueprint of everything comes from the mind.

Different

Interpretations of theMind by Buddhism and

Other Religions

Other religions often called the mind after death as

the soul or the spirit, but Buddhism does

not agree to, nor allow the usage of, this

term. Why? What are the reasons for it?

This is because spirits are those sentient

beings who belong to another realm of

existence. What other religions called

as the spirits has not been dened as

to whether they have been reborn or not.

Hence, they would call all those which

are invisible and non-materialistic

as spirits, including those lives

that have not yet been defined as

either with forms, or without forms.

Because of this

k ind of unclear

definition, we are

not sure if these

sentient beings

in question are in

a fixed form, or

have been reborn

or not. Hence, this

kind of definition

t h a t h a s b e e n

adopted by other

re l ig ions cou ld

not be used for

comparison with

that of Buddhism.

The mind that was mentioned by Buddhism is

something that does not have its material structure

and is thus invisible to the human eyes. It can

penetrate into all kinds of spaces, and its capacity

can be boundless and limitless.

Take for example, the idea of having one thought to

enclose the three thousands means that the three

thousands of the countless numbers of the entire

universe can be within ones own mind. Hence,

it is totally boundless and limitless. Unless, you

act like the Monkey King (in the Classical Chinese

novel of the Journey to the West) who have set

a limit for himself. When setting a limit for oneself,

then it is already the beginning of an act of self-containment... (To Be Continued)

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Everything Comes From the Mind (5)

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