The Wisdom Light of "Non-outflows"
| All the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Worthy Ones and Sages of the Sangha have a great wisdom light which is unsurpassed.
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All
the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Worthy Ones and Sages of the Sangha have a
great wisdom light which is unsurpassed. Their wisdom is free of
outflows and inexhaustible.
People have outflows because they
have ignorance. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have no outflows, because they
have no ignorance. Being ignorant means not understanding anything. It
means being muddled, and not being able to tell right from wrong, or
black from white.
The biggest outflow is the outflow of
desire. If you have thoughts of desire, it's as if your wealth and
treasures are always getting plundered by bandits. It's like wood which
becomes infested with termites, making it useless. It's also like
delicious food to which manure is added, making people throw up for
three days.
Someone says, "But everyone has thoughts of
desire!" That's exactly the reason we must cultivate. We have to get
rid of thoughts of desire before our inherent wisdom can come forth.
Thus, the state of "non-outflows" is the extraordinary treasure sought
by cultivators.
Everyone should pay close attention. Why is
the spiritual power of Elimination of Outflows one of the six spiritual
powers? Elimination of Outflows means to have no outflows and to be
totally free of desire, as in the saying, "Cut off desire and cast out
love." If you can cultivate until you attain mastery, you will
experience a sense of freedom and ease. But if you don't put an end to
love and desire, and are always controlled by ignorance, you will do
upside-down things and be ill at ease all day long, because your
thoughts of desire are acting up.
All Good and Wise Advisors!
You should especially apply effort in this, return to the source,
recover your original face -- at that point, you will attain an
inexhaustible wisdom which comes forth incessantly. No matter how much
you use, it will never be exhausted.
Each of you must bring
forth the resolve for Bodhi -- only then can you smash through the gate
of birth and death. You must look within yourself and ask your
conscience: Why do I believe in the Buddha? Why did I leave the
home-life? Why don't I cultivate after leaving home? Having left home,
why do I still have so many idle thought? Don't bypass these questions.
You should think them through clearly! Then you'll be able to leave the
Triple Realm, end birth and death, and attain the bliss of Nirvana.
Talks on the Dharma Vol. I, p. 117
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