The first great sickness of a practitioner of spiritual cultivation is the poison of anger.
This anger comes either from clinging to the notion of self or from clinging to the notion of others; the six desires and seven emotions are all wrapped up in this word “anger,” and a thousand faults and ten thousand wrongs all arise from anger. Anger is the karmic fire of ignorance, one of the three poisons. Within, it burns oneself; without, it burns others. It burns the spark of the spiritual root alive until it dies; it burns the body of the Law alive until it is ruined. The six fu organs cannot be regulated and eased, and the five zang organs cannot be at peace. When the ears hear others curse me, anger rises from the heart and fire is born from the liver; fierce flames meet a wild wind, and the ear faculty that could hear and listen suddenly shuts its door and blocks its aperture—this is called a deaf person. When the eyes see others insult me, anger rises from the heart and fire is born from the kidneys; fierce flames meet a wild wind, and the eye faculty that could see suddenly shuts its door and blocks its aperture—this is called a blind person. Simply because of what the ears hear and the eyes see, angry words suddenly burst from the mouth; fire rises from the heart and qi is born from the gallbladder. The angry qi in the gallbladder fears neither heaven, earth, and the divine spirits above, nor good and evil and the law of the realm in between; it longs to curse the other to death with a single word and to humiliate him to death with half a phrase. Such a mind seeks only its own satisfaction and does not guard against harming itself, and the tongue faculty that could speak and talk suddenly shuts its door and blocks its aperture—this is called a mute person. This deaf person has no ears: though there be the five tones and six pitches, reed pipes and reeds playing in turn, simurghs and phoenixes singing together, he cannot enjoy them. Even if curses come like thunder and mockery like drums, he can only endure them. From then on his spiritual root is destroyed—how is he different from a beast? The blind person has no eyes: though there be the light of the five colors, gold and emerald shining, clouds and rosy mists dazzling, he cannot enjoy them. Even if a thousand charms and a hundred graces, beauty like a flower, a crowd insults and a mob bullies him as though pulling a puppet on strings, he can only endure it. From then on his spiritual root is destroyed—how is he different from the underworld? The mute person has no speech: though he has a thousand sorrows and ten thousand sufferings, he cannot tell them to anyone; a hundred concerns and a thousand plans, he cannot bring them out of his mouth. Toward others he has only the gestures of his hands and what he knows within; sweetness and bitterness are hard to express. Once struck by illness or misfortune, in hardship, suffering, and vexation, even his parents cannot know it, and his wife and children cannot understand it. Though he carries strategies in his breast, he is a castaway; though his brush runs like dragons and snakes, it is in the end the speech of an incapable man. Hated by others and ashamed of himself, how is he different from the birds, flocking together with the beasts—and where does it all come from? The root of this sickness comes wholly from being unable to subdue the angry mind. And being unable to subdue the angry mind comes from being unable to endure insult. The bodies of all living beings in the world are formed of blood and qi. The root of anger, this karmic fire of ignorance, was planted long ago, before beginningless kalpas. So when things go as the mind wishes, the mind rejoices, not knowing that joy turns into an enemy. When circumstances go against the mind, the mind flares into anger, not knowing that anger is the root of calamity.
Assembly, you have left home, originally for the sake of birth and death; if the root of anger is not cut off, the poisonous dragon will attack the root of heaven. You seek to leave the world, originally for the sake of nature and life; if the root of anger is not extinguished, the fierce tiger will roar in the cave of the moon. Nature then turns into a poisonous dragon, and in indignation gives rise to the fire of anger, and the fire bursts out and burns the body. Life then turns into a fierce tiger, constantly breathing poisonous qi, and when the qi is urgent the true is lost. Not understanding birth and death is all due to heavy anger; not establishing nature and life is all due to strong fire. That the six senses cannot be gathered in and the five organs of sense cannot be used is all because the angry mind has not been cut off.
If you wish to cut off the root of anger, first remove evil thoughts.
Assembly, what are evil thoughts? Being unable to endure insult is an evil thought. As long as an evil thought remains in the mind for a day, one is still an evil person for that day. How can an evil person enter the Tao? Assembly, the mind of a person who cannot endure insult has never been subdued; he is just like a poisonous dragon or a fierce tiger, knowing only how to insult others and not tolerating insult to himself. Loving to be strong and to win, he seeks attention and shows off his power before others; contending for fame and seizing profit, he counts himself a hero of the world, a champion and a gallant. His warm heart can serve the crowd, but he does not know that one who can save people is sure to be able to kill people. With his schemes and insight he is used to deceiving people, not knowing that in harming another he harms himself. Living beings are deluded and do not awaken; they have not thought deeply or considered far ahead: if one’s own family kills one’s own family, in the end one is still harming oneself. Assembly, when you go to insult others, you should at once turn and think of others insulting you; when you go to deceive others, you should at once turn and think of others deceiving you. His mind is the same as yours; if you insult him, he will insult you. Assembly, this word “insult” covers a great deal. Suppose one commits adultery with another man’s wife, heedless that her husband is disgraced, her children and grandchildren are disgraced, her ancestors are disgraced, and her whole clan is disgraced. Suppose another man commits adultery with your wife: you burn with anger and great wickedness arises, and you think, “This man has committed adultery with my wife—what is left of my face? If people hear of it, not only am I humiliated, but the family name of my parents and descendants and the virtue of my ancestors are all ruined; how can I let him go?” Then you want to take up knives and spears, stirred by the fire of anger and the thought of killing. You never think: if his insulting me is like this, what about my insulting him? If in this life one’s wife and daughters are violated by others, there must have been a cause in a former life: in a former life one violated others’ wives and daughters, and so in this life one’s own wife and daughters are violated by others. This is the inevitable cause and inevitable effect for human beings.
Assembly, having heard these words, each of you must never give rise to a lustful and licentious mind. I tell you all: the nature and life of living beings all come into existence from lust and desire. If the lustful mind is not removed, the root of birth and death is not cut off. The physical body is formed because of lust and desire; if you wish to escape the physical body, first remove lustful thoughts. If you remove lustful thoughts, a body of the Law is born within the physical body, and only then can you be freed from birth and death. These are my true words; do not let them pass as idle talk.
Recently there was a precept disciple, a man of very strong aspiration to the Tao in ordinary times, who happened to go out begging for food with his alms bowl and came to a rice shop to beg for rice. The master of the shop was delighted and invited him into the inner hall to sit, kowtowed and offered him a meal, and also placed one qian of broken silver in his bowl. As he was leaving the hall, the man’s wife suddenly came out from the corridor. The two saw each other before she could withdraw. The precept disciple, having seen the wife, thanked him for the meal and left. That night, during seated meditation, his thoughts ran to the wife and he pictured her face, and a thought arose; he subdued it at once, repented, and lay down. Suddenly he dreamed that he himself died and entered a womb again, grew up, and married a wife, beautiful in appearance, and husband and wife lived in harmony. One day, when he had gone out and not yet returned, he saw a Taoist begging for food on the road; delighted, he brought him home, kowtowed, and offered him a meal, and called his wife out from the corridor to meet him. From then on he made offerings to him regularly. One day he found the Taoist in the room trying to have intercourse with his wife; the wife would not submit, and the Taoist tried to force her. At the sight he was enraged, rushed in with an axe, and killed the Taoist. Then he suddenly woke, his heart full of anger and resentment, seething with indignation. Suddenly he recalled that the face of the Taoist in the dream who had tried to violate his wife was that of the master of the rice shop he had met during the day, and the wife was the woman he had met in the corridor of the rice shop. Sweat poured over his whole body; reckoning the whole thing through, he immediately turned his heart around and repented of himself.
Assembly, this precept disciple was a beginner in the work; though his observance of the precepts was firm, his power of concentration was not yet steady. So what he saw by day he thought of by night, and suddenly a deluded thought arose; once the deluded thought stirred, it entered his dreams and became a scene, and in that scene the retribution appeared plainly.
Assembly, if a lustful thought in the mind must be repaid even in a dream, how much more if one actually commits a lustful, evil deed—will one not receive retribution in the next life?
Or again, there was a practitioner who never let a deluded thought out and never gave rise to one. When others humiliated him, he did not harbor it in his heart; struck, he did not strike back; cursed, he did not curse back; he thought only of his own faults and did not acknowledge the wrongs of others. One day, as he was walking along the road carrying his pack, a donkey came along carrying rice. He stepped aside for the donkey, but the donkey suddenly butted its head into his side and knocked him to the ground, seized his sleeve in its mouth, tore it to shreds, and went off. That night as he sat in meditation, he awoke within that scene: in kalpas long past, he had once been born as a donkey and was slaughtered by a man; after death he became a man again, and that man became a donkey and was slaughtered by him; he was then reborn again and became a butcher, killing oxen for a living. From then on he reformed and repented, and after three lifetimes of repentance he had now become a man again. This donkey was the ox he had killed in a former kalpa. Angry because he had once skinned it in a former kalpa, it tore his sleeve to shreds and went off in anger. At once, in visualization, he saw himself as the ox, and the donkey turned into a man who took a knife and skinned him, with every kind of pain, and he harbored thoughts of revenge in his heart. From then on he was freed; the two enemies were reconciled, never again to feel anger, and would meet life after life to cultivate the Great Tao together. The next night he suddenly dreamed of a man in white who thanked him, saying: “I am the donkey you met on the road the other day. In past kalpas we formed a bond of enmity and retribution. Now I have been repaid and we have been reconciled, and both of us are freed. From now on I am released from suffering and reborn among humans; I have come especially to tell you. You may come to such-and-such a place to meet me, and I ask you to deliver me.” With that he left. The next day, following the words of the dream, the practitioner sought out that place. The family there was rejoicing as if some happy event had taken place; when he asked the neighbors, they all said that a baby boy had been born in that family the night before. The practitioner was greatly awed; he secretly noted the name and vowed to save himself first, and then save others.
Assembly, it was only because this man’s root of enmity from past kalpas was resolved in this life that he himself resolved to accept every insult, resentment, suffering, and hardship, and so subdued his mind.
Assembly, you must hold the knife of the precepts in your hand, its edge gleaming, and use it to kill only yourself, not others; wear the word “endurance” on your body like a suit of armor. When you meet with beatings, curses, and humiliation, even the punishments of the law of the realm, lawsuits and slander, being struck by lightning or burned by fire, drowned by floods or robbed by bandits, seized by wolves or bitten by tigers, harmed by insects or poisoned by disease, perverse words and wrongful talk, vicious tongues and slander, ruin of your reputation, destruction of your things, the cutting up of your body, and harm to your life—all of these come from past causes, fixed calamities that cannot be escaped. You can only accept them with a peaceful mind, following heaven and according with the Tao, repaying your old debts; never again give rise to thoughts of repaying resentment with anger and hatred, or of your own unwillingness to submit. You should rather reflect: if I am deceived by him, it is surely because I once deceived others; if I am oppressed by him, it is because I once oppressed him. Suffering punishment and hardship, harm and disaster, all come from former lives; one reaps what one has sown. The evil karma of the past then dissolves as the mind does. Naturally the six desires do not arise and the three poisons are extinguished; body and mind are light and healthy, temperament is calm and harmonious, suffering and vexation are healed, and enmity is reconciled. Whatever debts of enmity there are, from beginningless time up to today, I wish only to repay them; only by harming oneself to benefit others is there liberation. Then one returns forever to purity, neither born nor extinguished, with a perfect reward body. Otherwise, if you will not repay the debts of former kalpas, and will not yield to the humiliations of this life, then the retribution of the next life will naturally not let you go. How then can this body be saved, how can this mind become empty, how can this Tao be cultivated? If you cannot endure even a few words, how can you be freed when birth and death come to their end?
Assembly, with endurance, the fire of ignorance is extinguished, and naturally the five organs are clear and pure. With endurance, the water of the Flowery Pool arises, and naturally the six fu organs are regulated and eased. With endurance, the other person’s mind is satisfied, and naturally he repents and is at peace. With endurance, my capacity is broad and tolerant, and naturally my heart is wide and great. When someone insults me and I do not take it as an insult, the insult returns instead to the other. When one insults another, the other bears the insult and is sure to repay it with insult. Enduring insult, the mind is calm and the qi harmonious; the fire of the liver does not arise, and it is transformed into the Heavenly Worthy of Green Florescence who saves from suffering. Enduring insult, the heart and spirit are compassionate and good, and are transformed into the Southern Dipper that dispels calamity. Enduring insult, the fluids of the lungs do not dry up, and are transformed into the sweet dew of the Jasper Pool. Enduring insult, the essence of the kidneys is not depleted, and is transformed into the numinous spring of the sea of qi. Enduring insult, the earth of the spleen does not become dry, and is transformed into the proper qi of the Five Phases, and the knife-point measure of Wu and Ji is produced of itself. Enduring insult, the body of the Law does not leak, and is transformed into a solemn and wondrous form, bright, upright, and great, appearing before one. One who can endure for the sake of the state will surely benefit the court. One who can endure for the sake of the family will surely benefit his own flesh and blood. One who can endure in his person will surely benefit his essence and spirit. One who can endure in his mind will surely benefit his nature and life. One who can endure for the sake of the teaching will surely benefit his fellows in the Law. One who can endure can receive benefit. One who cannot endure has a mind that is not empty, a spirit that is not numinous, qi that is not strong, capacity that is not great, a heart that is not open, merit that is not complete, conduct that is not full, vision that is not penetrating, thought that is not deep, wisdom that is small, blessings and virtue that are shallow, and a foundation that is thin; he hears the Tao without understanding it, practices the Tao with obstruction, and is hated by others, envied by others, loathed by others, a vexation to others, and despised by others. In the hidden world ghosts reproach him; in the visible world there is the law of the realm. The roots of enmity from many kalpas remain, and the retribution of the next life grows deeper. The sea of suffering still raises its waves as before, and the river of desire still stirs up its billows. Even side doors and heterodox ways are no more than asuras, demons, and ghosts; when the fated calamity comes, they still receive retribution.
Assembly, if you will not endure the insults of others, who will endure yours? If you will not, and others will not, will you not repay each other life after life, contend with each other kalpa after kalpa, harbor grievances generation after generation, and suffer in body after body, with no end in sight?
Assembly, listen: august heaven has no favorites; it assists only the virtuous. Have you not heard that tolerance makes virtue great? Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch. Among you, the assembly, the worthy and the foolish are not equal: there are those who value wealth and lose virtue, and there are those who value virtue and make light of wealth. Contending for wealth is one form of being unable to endure insult, and lust and anger are to be judged in the same way. Not taking wealth improperly is merely one’s duty and what one ought to do—nothing remarkable. Only giving one’s own wealth to others, not taking what one is entitled to take, preferring to lose face rather than lose virtue, preferring to harm oneself rather than harm others, losing and losing again—and even that is nothing beyond one’s duty—only this is the star of wealth thoroughly emptied. Seeing through the workings of lust, not giving rise to anger, giving one’s concubine to another without resentment on either side—only this is the lustful mind thoroughly emptied. Able to endure everything and accept everything, not rejoicing at honor nor becoming angry at insult; not letting the mind arise dwelling on any form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma, on any eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind, on any mountains, rivers, or great earth, on any plants, trees, or insects—then the light of wisdom shines forth and the body of the Law is perfectly accomplished. The work of enduring insult is called subduing. A person who can subdue his mind can become an immortal or a buddha, a sage or a worthy. One who cannot subdue his mind can become a ghost or a demon, a goblin or a beast. For such people the fierce fire in the cave of ignorance has not died out, and the oil cauldrons of the black hell are just coming to the boil; a mass of enmity and karmic sin, evil causes from three lifetimes—for many kalpas and many lives they cannot understand the Tao. They are deeply to be pitied.
Assembly, you must awaken fiercely and at once, quickly remove the notions of self and others, and urgently awaken to the causes of birth and death. Enduring insult subdues the fire of anger; in emptiness the body of the Law appears. The seven emotions vanish with the thoughts; ten thousand blessings remain in body and mind. When sinful karma has been fully repaid, only then is one a person beyond the kalpas.