Three Steps to Safeguard the Mind
Step One: Avoiding Pungent Food
“Ananda, all beings in each category are suffering from all twelve categories of mental distortions. In the same way that eye floaters may confuse true vision, disordered mental activities can completely obscure the True Mind. Since you wish to realize the Samadhi state of the Buddhas, you must gradually follow three steps in order to eradicate all the fundamental factors that cause mental distortion and delusion. Like cleansing a pot used to store poisonous honey, you must scour it with hot water mixed with the ashes of incense. Once the pot is clean, you can use it to store divine honey dew.
“So, what are the three gradual steps? The first is to eliminate all contributing factors that could make the problems worse. The second is to truly observe the precepts and cut out any wrongdoing. The third is to firmly seal off outflows.
“What are the contributing factors then? Ananda, in this world, the twelve categories of beings cannot sustain themselves without taking nourishment in one of these four ways – by chewing, by touching, by thinking, or by being aware. This is why the Buddha says that all beings must eat to live.
“Ananda, in order to live all beings must take good nourishment, and they may die from taking poison. Beings who wish to enter Samadhi should avoid eating pungent plants, either cooked or raw, which may arouse sexual desire or stir up bad temper. Otherwise, even if they can expound on the Twelve Divisions of the Pali Canon, all the gods will stay away from them because they smell so bad, while hungry ghosts will be around them all the time licking their lips for the pungent smell, and their blessings will become less and less in the presence of ghosts.
“When consumers of pungent food practice Samadhi, they will not be protected by the Bodhisattvas, gods, sages, and good spirits of the ten directions. Demon-kings will then seize the opportunity to disguise as Buddhas and to speak false Dharma, denouncing the precepts and praising lust, anger, and delusion. Such people will then become the retinues of demon-kings when they die, and once they have exhausted their blessings as demons, they will inevitably fall into the Unrelenting Hell. Therefore, Ananda, seekers of Bodhi must forever avoid eating the five pungent plants. This is the first step on the Path.”
Step Two: Upholding the Precepts
“Ananda, beings who wish to enter Samadhi must firmly uphold the precepts, completely rooting out sexual desire, alcohol and meat consumption, and cook food with fire rather than eating raw. Ananda, if practitioners do not put an end to sexuality and killing, it will be impossible for them to transcend the Three Realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm of formless). They should regard sexual desire as a poisonous snake or a vengeful thief, gain total control of their bodies by observing the four or eight prohibitions, and master their own minds by following the Bodhisattvas’ regulations on purity.
“Through upholding the precepts, one will not commit killing, stealing or other wrongdoings, which in turn create karma that leads to endless cycles of suffering. Through cultivating Samadhi in the state of purity, one will naturally see the worlds of the ten directions with the physical body given by their parents, without relying on the celestial eye. They will see the Buddhas and hear the Dharma in person, receiving the sagely instructions, acquiring great transcendental powers, gaining clear knowledge of their past lives and traveling the ten directions without any difficulty or danger. This is the second step on the Path.”
Step Three: Sealing Off Outflows
“What is sealing off outflows? Ananda, through firmly observing the precepts, renouncing sexuality, and maintaining purity, a practitioner no longer has outflows in response to the external stimuli coming from the six sense-objects. As one stops chasing after the objects, their attention is reversed and redirected to the inner ONE source. Thus, their six faculties are no longer paired with the six objects, and therefore no longer functioning in six separate ways. Instead, now the six faculties become one unit. All the worlds of the ten directions become as clear and pure as a bright moon in crystal. Both the body and mind will then experience such perfect bliss, such purity and equality that bring about complete peace. The perfect wisdom of all the Tathagatas is now revealed. The practitioner thus attains the stage of Patience with No Arising, in which they will abide peacefully and progress successively through all the subsequent stages, until eventually they reach the state of Sage. This is the third step on the Path.”
阿難如是眾生一一類中。亦各各具十二顛倒。猶如揑目。亂花發生。顛倒妙圓真淨明心。具足如斯虛妄亂想。汝今修證佛三摩提。於是本因元所亂想。立三漸次方得除滅。如淨器中除去毒蜜。以諸湯水并雜灰香。洗滌其器後貯甘露云何名為三種漸次。一者修習。除其助因。二者真修。刳其正性。三者增進。違其現業。
云何助因。阿難如是世界十二類生。不能自全依四食住。所謂段食觸食思食識食。是故佛說一切眾生皆依食住。阿難一切眾生。食甘故生。食毒故死。是諸眾生求三摩提。當斷世間五種辛菜。是五種辛熟食發婬生啖增恚。如是世界食辛之人。縱能宣說十二部經。十方天仙嫌其臭穢咸皆遠離。諸餓鬼等因彼食次。舐其唇吻常與鬼住。福德日銷長無利益。是食辛人修三摩地。菩薩天仙十方善神不來守護。大力魔王得其方便。現作佛身來為說法。非毀禁戒讚婬怒癡。命終自為魔王眷屬。受魔福盡墮無間獄。阿難修菩提者永斷五辛。是則名為第一增進修行漸次。云何正性。
阿難如是眾生入三摩地。要先嚴持清淨戒律。永斷婬心不飡酒肉。以火淨食無啖生氣。阿難是修行人。若不斷婬及與殺生出三界者無有是處。常觀婬欲猶如毒蛇如見怨賊。先持聲聞四棄八棄執身不動。後行菩薩清淨律儀執心不起。禁戒成就。則於世間。永無相生相殺之業。偷劫不行無相負累。亦於世間不還宿債。是清淨人修三摩地。父母肉身。不須天眼。自然觀見十方世界。覩佛聞法親奉聖旨。得大神通遊十方界。宿命清淨得無艱嶮。是則名為第二增進修行漸次。
云何現業。阿難如是清淨持禁戒人心無貪婬。於外六塵不多流逸。因不流逸旋元自歸。塵既不緣根無所偶。反流全一六用不行。十方國土皎然清淨。譬如琉璃內懸明月。身心快然妙圓平等獲大安隱。一切如來密圓淨妙皆現其中。是人即獲無生法忍。從是漸修隨所發行安立聖位。是則名為第三增進修行漸次。
Buddha Mind 