Knowledge Is Another Hindrance

 

Series 4: A Few More Instructions

 

Knowledge Is Another Hindrance

 

Sometimes, reading may also bring about cognitive hindrances. If a person who has read many books on Buddhist practice fails to turn what he has read into nutrition, what he has read may become fetters that hinder him from going beyond concepts and from experiencing the purity and simplicity of the true mind. What he should do is to forget the knowledge and break his obsession with the books.

 

If you want to make your mind-nature mature and liberated, the most important thing is to cut off the entangled mind. Entanglement is a knot that can’t be untied; an entangled mind is a mind with attachment. Therefore, you must cut of the mind of entanglement, relax your mind, and detach yourself from reputation, benefit, or any other thing.

 

When a financial crisis breaks out, not only small factories but some transnational corporations close down or face bankruptcy. What’s the use of past glory?  All is but a memory now. once it is gone, it is gone. Maybe it remains as a topic, but when people no longer have interest in it, it is nothing, not even a topic. It will be washed away completely by the ruthless storms of time. Many years later, the victims of that storm may recall the past incident and say, “It’s just like a dream.” What else is life, if it is not an illusory and impermanent dream?

 

After your house is knocked down because it is too old, what can prove that you have lived in it? When your car is to be scrapped because it has broken down, what can prove that you once owned it? Even if your house still stands there, rotting away day by day, is it is the same house as you bought? The car has more and more problems as you use it, can you feel the same sensation as you had when you drove it very fast on the expressway for the first time? 

 

When you understand these, you won’t be cheated by your deluded mind any more. On the contrary, when you are obsessed with these, you will be cheated by your deluded mind; you will think that your obsession can make everything eternal. This way, there will be more and more untied knots in your mind. Your mind must be like the sky, which can’t be polluted by ink. When your mind returns to emptiness, knowing that whatever is phenomenal is impermanent, your mind will no longer be defiled by the world.

 

We may summarize this principle in one sentence: It is not that there are entanglements to be untied, but that there is no entanglement at all; it is not that there are attachments to be shattered, but that there is no attachment at all; it is not that there are problems to be solved, but that there is no problem at all.

 

Why is that? Because, whether you are obsessed with it or not, the nature of everything is emptiness. Therefore, there is no entanglement, no attachment, and no problem in the first place. All the entanglements, obsessions, and problems are the result of the discrimination mind, which arises when you are deluded.

 

If a person thinks he is full of hindrances of karma, he will not only suffer a lot himself, but feel he will taint other people. this is due to his mistaken concept. There is on point in being pessimistic, because many things will change with the change of your mind. With a different mind, the world you sees will be different, and your choices will be different. If a person is pessimistic, he tends to give up before he reaches his goal. He would, from the very beginning, list many negative factors, and repeatedly give up and start from the beginning again.

 

Therefore, forget all concepts about pessimism or optimism. If they don’t exist in your mind, suffering is just an illusion. If you think suffering is real, then it is real, because you are deceived by your deluded mind.

 

Sometimes, what you think is a disaster is not necessarily a disaster; rather, it might be a great bliss. Just as we said before, suffering might be an aid. When a person’s mind-nature changes, his practice, his achievement, and what not, will change accordingly.

 

There are two kinds of achievements: one is supramundane achievements – perceiving one’s mind and seeing one’s nature is an achievement, and realizing the nature of emptiness is a great achievement; the other is mundane achievements, which are not ultimate achievements, because there is still something in your mind that you are attached to, because you are still obsessed with what you practice. Only when you break what you have gained from your practice and relegate it to emptiness, can you have supramundane achievements. Only when you get rid of and go beyond all names and forms and all concepts, include that of emptiness, only when you don’t care about freedom, can you achieve real liberation and great freedom.

 

Therefore, in front of real liberation, all names and forms and all concepts are hindrances, which are usually called cognitive hindrances. They are the fetters that hinder us from perceiving our mind and seeing our own nature and that restrict our soul. Sometimes, reading may also bring about cognitive hindrances. If a person who has read many books on Buddhist practice fails to turn what he has read into nutrition, what he has read may become fetters that hinder him from going beyond concepts and from experiencing the purity and simplicity of the true mind. What he should do is to forget the knowledge and break his obsession with the books.

 

Attaining emptiness gradually by starting from reading sutras is different from attaining emptiness immediately. The latter means surpassing concepts and experiencing emptiness. With differences in intelligence, knowledge and experiences, people differ in wisdom. As each person has different knowledge structures, their understanding is different; when cognition is different, hindrances are different.

 

Take pleasure for example. What is pleasure? To a driver, pleasure is going back home from long time driving and lying on the bed; to another person, pleasure is driving (a convertible, if he may choose) across an open country, braving the strong wind and with hair dancing wildly in the wind. You see, when experiences and the state of life are different, their understanding of pleasure is bound to be different. The same is true of the perception of emptiness.

 

As it is very hard to break a subtle nescience such as cognitive hindrances, we are not sure whether the emptiness we perceive when we think we have entered into enlightenment is real emptiness or merely moral indeterminacy in karma, or only emptiness, or mental sinking down, or bodily pliancy. At this moment, the confirmation of your fundamental guru is critical. Of course, there are a few practices that are meant to break such subtle nescience, but I won’t go into detail here.

 

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第四辑:再送几条锦囊妙计

 

知识是另外一种障碍

 

有时候，读书也会产生所知障。比如，有人读了好多关于修行的书，但这些书没有变成他的营养，反而变成他的枷锁，让他无法超越概念、体悟真心的纯净与质朴。那么就要把这些知识都忘记，把对这些书的执著也破除。

 

如果要成熟自己的心性并得到解脱，其中最主要的一点就是斩断纠结之心。所谓“纠结”，就如同绳子拧了一个解不开的结，“纠结心”就是执著的心。所以说一定要斩断这个纠结心，让自己的心放松，而不要去执著于名、利或者其他的东西。

 

金融危机爆发的时候，不只小工厂，连一些跨国公司都倒闭了或者面临倒闭，这时候，曾经的辉煌有什么用？一切只不过是记忆，一旦过去了，也就过去了。也许能够留下一个话题，但当再没人对它感兴趣的时候，它连一个话题都不是。它会被岁月的风雨无情地冲刷得一干二净。许多年之后，这场风暴的“受害人”们回忆过往，也许会说“就像做了一场梦”。人生何尝不是一场虚幻无常的梦？

 

房子旧了要拆，有什么证据证明你在那里生活过？车坏了要报废，有什么证据证明你曾经拥有过它？即使房子还没有拆，但是它在不断地腐朽，跟你刚住进去的时候越来越不一样，这还是你当初买的那间房子吗？车开久了毛病也越来越多，你还找得到当初开着它在高速公路上飞驰时的那种快感吗？

 

当你明白了这些道理的时候，你的妄心就再也无法欺骗你了。反过来讲，当你执著于这些东西的时候，就会被自己的妄心欺骗，你会以为执著的追求能让一切成为永恒，因此在你心中，解不开的结就会越来越多。所以说，你的心要像墨水染不了的虚空一样。当你的心归于空性，明白诸行无常，世界上的万物就不会把你污染。

 

我们用一句话来总结这个道理：不是要解开什么纠结，而是本来就没有纠结；不是要破除什么执著，而是本来就没有执著；不是要解决什么问题，而是本来就没有问题。

 

为什么要这样说？因为无论你执著它还是不执著它，一切都归于空性。所以，本来就没有纠结，本来就没有执著，本来就没有问题，而一切的纠结、执著、问题，只不过是你迷惑之后生起的分别心。

 

当一个人认为自己充满业障的时候，他就会觉得非常痛苦，而且觉得自己会污染别人，这一点就是“见地”的问题。所以说不要有任何悲观的东西，因为好多东西都可以随着自己的心念而改变。心不同，眼中的世界也不一样，选择就会不一样。如果一个人悲观，他往往不能坚持自己的理想走到最后，从一开始就给自己罗列出很多不利因素，然后不断放弃，无休止地从零开始。

 

所以说，不要有那种悲观或者不悲观的意念，当那种意念完全不存在时，所有的悲观就只是一种幻化。但是当他认为那种悲观是真实存在的时候，它也就真的存在了，因为他的妄心欺骗了他。

 

有时候，你自认为的那种灾难其实并不一定是灾难，或许它反而是一种巨大的快乐。就像前面我们曾经说过的，苦难也许就是一种助缘。当一个人的“心性”改变的时候，他的修行也罢，成就也罢，马上就变了。

 

我们说的成就其实有两种：一种是出世间法的成就，明心见性是成就，证得空性是大成就；第二种是世间成就，这不属于究竟成就，因为你心中还有一个牵挂的东西，你还执著于你所修的东西。当你把修成的那个东西也破除掉，一切归于空性，才能获得出世间成就。当你摆脱和超越了一切名相与概念，包括空性的概念都没有，连“自在”都不在乎时，才是真正的解脱，才是真正的大自在。

 

所以说，在真正的解脱面前，所有的名相与概念都是障碍。这种障碍，叫做所知障，它是干扰我们明心见性、束缚我们心灵的枷锁。有时候，读书也会产生所知障。比如，有人读了好多佛家书籍，但这些书没有变成他的营养，反而变成他的枷锁，让他无法超越概念、体悟真心的纯净与质朴。那么就要把这些知识都忘记，把对这些书的执著也破除。

 

要是我们从经典入手，渐次悟入，明白空性，它跟现证空性还是不一样。现证空性，就是超越概念，体悟空性。由于智慧、知识和经历不同，不同的人就有不同程度上的智慧差距。因为每个人的知识结构不一样，各自的理解也不同，“所知”不同，障碍就不同。

 

比如说，什么是“舒服”？司机觉得不用长时间开车，回家躺在床上休息就是舒服；但有的人则认为，在空旷的地方开车，最好还是开敞篷车，大风迎面撞来，头发在空中乱舞的那种感觉才叫舒服。可见，经历不同，生命状态不同，对舒服的理解也不同。对空性的觉知也是一样。

 

正是由于所知障这种细微无明是很难轻易破除的，所以，我们不知道自己认为悟入时见到的那种空性，是不是真正的空性，是不是无记？是不是顽空？是不是沉没？是不是生理上的某种轻安？这时候，根本师的印证就显得非常重要。当然，还有一些修炼方式是专门用于破除此类细微无明的，但我在此就不再赘述了。

 

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