【Description】
Many people begin their journey of self-cultivation and Buddhadharma as a way to get rid of their worries and afflictions. However, during the self-cultivation process, afflictions and obstacles seem to intensify. Why? When afflictions appear, they block one’s state of purity, so why did the Buddha say that “Afflictions are the first step to Buddhahood?”
How should self-cultivators best deal with troubles and obstacles? Please listen to the teachings of Grandmaster JinBodhi, and you will understand the truth behind the idea of afflictions being an essential part of the journey to enlightenment.
【You will learn】
- The attitude required for facing troubles and challenges
- The reason why those who make true aspirations meet with more
【Featured aphorisms】
Only when one has dealt with real troubles can they attain true enlightenment.
If you want to be reborn, you must first experience the process of death – “first destroy and then rebuild.”
【Content】
Enlightenment is built upon reality. Humans need emotional afflictions, for without defilements, there would be no realization. I want to remind our disciples that without defilements, there is no possibility of enlightenment. Real defilements lead to real enlightenment, while false defilements lead to false enlightenment.
From the view of mundane society, we use right knowledge to address emotional afflictions, setbacks and disasters. After realization, we will have the confidence, methods and wisdom to resolve problems. We will live with confidence and greater energy. We will have more confidence to face problems. Many are stressed to death by problems. Everyone will encounter problems, whether you practice Buddhadharma or not.
Those who practice will definitely feel this. A practitioner who genuinely aspires to attain Buddhahood swiftly will encounter greater emotional challenges and setbacks. This is because in your past lifetimes, which could total more than 100,000, the sins you accumulated were so numerous that you could be sentenced to prison for eons. Today you want to be liberated and not be a prisoner anymore. You want to be freed from suffering and wrongdoing in this world, to be liberated. But your karmic creditors and the Lord of Yama want to imprison you here, to prevent you from being enlightened.
This Buddhadharma is so precious. When you wish to swiftly attain Buddhahood, and when you have such an opportunity, you will experience hardships. A person in his journey of rebirth will have to first experience the process of being put to death. Death and then rebirth. A great breakdown and then rebuilding. No breakdown, no rebuilding. It is like when we suffered a boil as a child. When the boil appeared, you felt itchiness. But you couldn’t break it. Some doctors said it wasn’t ready for treatment. When it is ready, a boil breaks open and oozes; then it is ready to be healed.
Likewise, when you are ready, you will experience death and rebirth. If the concept of death and rebirth is the birth of enlightenment, if this awakening is a new birth enabling you to let go of your greed and fixation, then it is known as the nirvana of the phoenix. In a common way, it is the process of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. Your past life was as a silkworm; by practicing well you will penetrate through the silk cocoon. The silk cocoon has many layers of silk which wrap you within it. When you are able to bite through the layers and free yourself, you turn into a butterfly. You are a phoenix.
Of course, before that you were a crow, a burnt chicken, not a phoenix. You need to practice until transformation. I wish for man to transform from greedy and evil to an enlightened Buddha. You need to die once or go through many deaths, like Xuanzang on his journey to the west. Even though he wasn’t killed, he endured 81 terrifying brushes with death before he became enlightened.