Day 1 Purifying the Six Senses | The Sword of Wisdom

Purify the five eyes to achieve the five powers.
Only after realization can one comprehend.
To see the image in a mirror is not difficult.
How can one grasp the moon in the water?

What are the five eyes that Yung-chia speaks of? Briefly, they are: (1) Physical eyes, which we are born with; (2) Heavenly eyes, which can be acquired through one’s practice or as a result of one’s previous merit, and which enables one to see into the future and for great distances; (3) Wisdom eyes, which enable us to end the cycle of birth and death; (4) Dharma eyes, which help us see Buddha-nature and the Dharma body (when this occurs, a person is said to have had his Dharma eyes opened); (5) Buddha eyes, which are the perfection of the Dharma eyes.

It is possible to acquire the non-physical eyes, but first you have to purify your mind. If the mind is clear, it is possible to see things others cannot see even without use of the physical eyes. In the ordinary, scattered state of mind, however, what you see and what others see is relatively the same; that is, most people agree that a house is a house, a person a person.

The most basic training for a beginning practitioner is to try to purify the eye consciousness. Sometimes I ask people to look at things, or at people sitting across from them. I ask them to look attentively, but to refrain from identifying or categorizing the object. For example, in observing people, a practitioner tries not to perceive an individual as male or female, stranger or friend. To do this, one must refrain from using one’s memory, ideas, or any previous experience. Like a camera, one must look without discrimination. If one has been practicing well, it is possible to see things in this different way.

A couple of years ago I used this method during a retreat in upstate New York. I told the people to go outside and look at anything that caught their attention. One of the participants looked at trees so attentively that he did not feel he was a human being anymore. He had become a tree. When I told everyone to go back to the meditation hall, he did not move from his spot. I said, “It’s time to go. It’s very cold.”

He answered, “How can trees go anywhere?”

During a retreat in Taiwan, I told everyone to look attentively at the outside environment. A monk from Malaysia stared at a public cemetery in the distance. While he stared at the tombstones, I told him to drop his preconceptions and stop thinking about what he was looking at. Eventually, he stopped forming ideas, and he saw people in the stones. After the retreat, he went outside for another look, but it looked like an ordinary cemetery again.

I remember another retreat in which a nun from southern Taiwan participated. Blossoms from many different trees had fallen on the ground. When I told her to practice pure gazing, the nun saw that the trees and fallen blossoms were the same. She picked up the blossoms and placed them on the branches like hats. She felt happy doing this, because for her, the flowers and trees were identical. Other people who watched her had no idea what she was doing.

From the layman’s point of view, people would be considered abnormal if they thought they were trees, or if they saw people in stones, or if they thought blossoms and trees were one and the same. However, in the examples I have described, this is not the case. Because most of us make discriminations based on our preconceptions, our eye consciousness is static, dull and rigid. Our vision is selective, because of our memories, likes and dislikes. Since our minds are impure, our vision is also impure. If our minds were to become pure, then we could say that our vision would also be pure. What is seen by pure eyes is quite different from what is seen by impure eyes.

In the beginning of a retreat, when you look at other participants, you may think that this person looks weird, that one unfriendly, this one ugly and annoying. These thoughts do not lead to good feelings. But at the end of the retreat, people seem kind and lovable, and you feel close to them. The people have not changed; it is your mind and therefore your eye consciousness that have changed.

On retreat, and even in daily life, you should try not to rely on your eyes too much. If you must, then use them without discriminating. For example, when you sit down to eat, see the food as fuel for the body, and nothing more. Do not discriminate, wondering which foods are delicious, or which foods you prefer. When you work, do not think about whether you like your job or not. Just do it. Only with such a mind will your eyes be pure. With such discipline, the other senses can be purified as well, and you will not be swayed by the influences of the world around you.

What disturbs practice the most is the mind. The mind moves because of the outside environment. When the mind stops discriminating, it is like closing the eyes and ears to whatever is happening at the moment. In a similar manner, it is possible to close the eyes and ears to the past. If you can stop your mind from dwelling on past events, then the senses will be closed to the past as well as to the present. Progress is rapid when the mind is not affected by the past and the environment.

The stanza also speaks of five kinds of powers, which derive from proper practice of the five conditions: faith, diligent practice, one-pointed concentration, samadhi, and wisdom. The five conditions are essential for successful practice during a retreat.

Today I would like to talk about the first condition: faith. It is very important. First, you must have faith in yourself. You must believe that you can accomplish what others have accomplished before you. If you do not have faith in yourself, and you do not believe that you can benefit from the practice, then your interest will wane, and you will stop practicing. On the other hand, if you have faith that you can make progress and derive benefit from the practice, then you will be willing and ready to work hard. Second, you must have faith in the method. You have to believe that the method will lead you to the goal you wish to reach. Finally, you must have faith in the teacher of the method. You must be convinced that the teacher will not deceive you. You should have faith that he has experienced enlightenment himself and that he will guide you well.

Methods of practice were expounded by Sakyamuni Buddha, passed down through the centuries by patriarchs and masters, and now I am teaching them to you. You must accept the premise that Buddha did not deceive us. If he had been involved in deception, he would not have been a Buddha. It is unlikely that, throughout the centuries, every patriach and master has been deceiving us, and that the sutras and sastras are nothing but lies. Even today, though there are no living patriarchs, many people have derived genuine benefit from the practice. You should realize that you have come to this retreat because of your virtuous karma and your deep affinity with the Dharma. Therefore, you should have faith in yourself, in the methods of practice, and in the teacher of the methods.

Several people here have been on numerous retreats before this one. If a retreat is useless, then these people must be fools. Why else would they meditate for seven days instead of staying home during the holiday season and enjoying the company of family and friends? It must be that these foolish people have faith that they are gaining some benefit from the practice. At least for them, then, the first condition has been fulfilled.

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