Date: 07/13/2024 07/14/2024
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Otto Huang
Dharma Talk
Like Six Different Animals
Once, the Buddha was in the Jetavana garden southeast of the city of Shravasti and spoke to the monks, saying:
“Monks! Ordinary people, due to the six sense bases interacting with six objects, give rise to various kinds of suffering. When afflicted by suffering, they become angry and abusive, just as someone diseased, with ulcerated skin, walks through a thorny thicket and feels the pain of every prickly branch and sharp leaf, cursing as they go. For the heart of an ordinary person is like that diseased, ulcerated skin.
Monks, whether entering a village or a forest, when perceiving objects, remind yourself that these are hurtful thorns, and know how to guard and maintain discipline, or fail to do so.
What does it mean to fail to guard and maintain discipline? When ordinary people perceive objects through the six senses, they develop attachment to what is desirable and aversion to what is undesirable, allowing greed and hatred to continue unchecked. They do not understand the misfortune this causes, and even if they do, they cannot stop it. Such lack of discipline and guarding lets each of the senses pursue its desires unchecked, like six animals—a dog, a bird, a monkey, a snake, a crocodile, and a wolf—released from a post, each immediately running to its preferred habitat.
What does it mean to guard and maintain discipline? A noble disciple who has practiced and realized the truth does not generate desire for what is liked nor aversion for what is disliked when perceiving objects through the six senses. They clearly understand the dangers and are able to renounce them, preventing any further development of greed and aversion. Such guarding and maintaining discipline involve being constantly aware and maintaining right mindfulness and right wisdom when perceiving objects, just like six animals tightly bound to a post by a hunter, unable to break free.
Monks, the six animals represent our six senses, and the post that binds these animals represents mindfulness directed towards the body. Monks, you should practice mindfulness of the body, cultivate it diligently, stabilize and perfect it, making it the foundation of your practice, a vessel that carries us to the far shore of liberation.”
