眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

Master Sheng-Ru Website Logo

Dharma Teachings

18 Oct 2018    Thursday     3rd Teach Total 927

All Worldly Dharmas Are Ultimately Unattainable and Cannot Be Possessed

When we eradicate the view of self, we come to recognize that the five aggregates are not the self. Since there is no self to begin with, there can be no possessions belonging to a self. Superficially, the objects of the six dusts may seem to be possessions, but these phenomena arise, cease, and undergo change; they lack autonomy and true independence, being entirely illusory. Therefore, they cannot truly be possessed.

Possession and use are merely illusory appearances, devoid of substance. Possession is the grasping of the seven consciousnesses, but consciousnesses are formless and without characteristics—how can they possess anything? For example, clothing: how can the seven consciousnesses possess clothing? Money: how can the seven consciousnesses possess money? Possessing a person: how can the seven consciousnesses possess a person? One cannot even possess one's own five-aggregate body, let alone possess another's five-aggregate body. As for possessing fame, gain, and profit: how could the seven consciousnesses possess fame, gain, and profit? It is fundamentally impossible. Therefore, the Buddha declared that all phenomena are illusory, utterly unobtainable; all phenomena are unobtainable. How can one obtain illusory things? Let us count on our fingers: throughout beginningless kalpas, what have we truly obtained? Consider just this very moment: what have we actually obtained? Merely the illusory sensations of one's own mind—where is there any real entity? Since beginningless time, each individual has merely been continuously clinging to their own illusory sensations, pursuing and finding satisfaction in illusory sensations. Where has anything ever truly been gained or lost?

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
PreviousPrevious

What Is Samadhi-Prajna Equipoise?

Next Next

Intellectual Disciples Are Not Mahayana Bodhisattvas on the Path of Seeing

Back to Top