Tonight we mention a Great disciple called Revata.
Revata, this name represents a constellation, which is the stars in the sky. This was because his parents, before having him, had prayed to the stars, then they gave birth to Revata.
Beside meaning constellation, Revata’s name also means “False Combination“. This “False Combination” name was given to him by Shakyamuni Buddha.
Revata, as Master Lianzu mentioned just now, was a practitioner of meditation, he enjoyed meditation.
Recently, I also enjoy meditating a lot. However, if one enters meditation too deeply, one will sway unsteadily from side to side.
In the past, I did not believe that during meditation one would doze off, sway unsteadily from side to side, or can’t remain still. People are too tired, too exhausted, some people when they meditate they would immediately enter “fourth samadhi level” [formless realm]. Not only do they meditate into it, they will also snore! (Laughter from audience)
Previously when I entered into meditation, it was somewhere between wakefulness and sleep.
True concentration is somewhere between wakefulness and sleep.
The recent meditation has been slightly shaking here and there, it seems to be too “deep”. There would be a sudden jolt and one would be woken, this could be due to being too tired.
True samadhi can have many states of attainment.
For example, this disciple of Buddha, Revata, once entered samadhi at an empty pavilion, like a mountain pavilion, he entered samadhi there.
Actually, mountain pavilions, temples, or other desolate places often harbor many ghosts. However, we at Leizang Temple don’t have any, so don’t be afraid.
Revata was once meditating at a mountain pavilion when he saw ghosts on entering samadhi.
One big ghost and one small ghost were in the pavilion. The big ghost and small ghost were carrying a corpse. The two of them were arguing over who would get to eat the flesh, both wanted the thigh!
It seemed to be the better part. The two ghosts were fighting and could not resolve things. Seeing a practitioner meditating nearby, they thus asked Revata to be the judge.
Actually, Revata thought to himself that ghosts are unreasonable by nature. Since they do not follow reason, no matter how one judges the matter, they would probably still continue to argue afterward.
However he had no choice and thought that one should sympathize with the weaker party as people naturally feel compassion for the weak. He then said “Then let the small ghost eat the thigh.”
The big ghost was of course dissatisfied and his anger turned into rage and he wanted to eat Revata.
So sometimes, the referee ends up getting beaten half to death.
If you see two bulls fighting, do not try to step in and break it up. Otherwise, both bulls might turn on you, and then you would be in deep trouble.
Revata got into trouble because he interfered in that dispute. As a result, a big ghost began to eat him. The big ghost first took one of his arms and ate it.
Seeing that Revata had been injured because of his attempt to act as a mediator, the small ghost felt sympathy for him. It took an arm from a corpse nearby and replaced Revata’s missing arm.
Then the big ghost ate his left arm, and again the small ghost quickly replaced it with a corpse’s arm.
Next, the big ghost ate Revata’s head, and the small ghost immediately replaced it with a corpse’s head.
Finally, the big ghost removed both of his legs and ate them, and the small ghost again replaced them with the legs from a corpse.
Finally the big ghost and small ghost left, and Revata had also emerged from samadhi.
He had witnessed these scenes while in samadhi, but now that he was out of samadhi, he was a different person. He had originally Revata’s face, but now his entire body, including his arms, legs, and face, had changed, becoming someone else entirely.
Next time, if you all become another person during meditation, it must be because you all have been eaten by a ghost.
Next time, if I become a different person during my meditation, you all won’t recognize me.
In reality this is a very terrifying thing.
Revata often walked around and asked others “Where is the original me?”
He frequently asked people, “Where am I?”
You all don’t believe such a thing!
Let me tell you, some people’s face isn’t actually their face, because their face is actually their buttock!
I’ve heard that beauty salons love to use buttock flesh to attach to the face. Now beauty salons offer facelifts, cutting away the skin on one side and pulling up the wrinkled skin. Since they can do facelifts, of course they can also do skin grafts. The finest and whitest part is, of course, the buttocks. So what you think is their face isn’t actually their face. It is their buttocks. Skin grafts, this transformation, is all like that. A person isn’t necessarily entirely themselves.
Thus Revata was constantly asking people, “Where am I? Who am I?” because he didn’t recognize the corpse!
Suddenly he became that “dead person,” and he asked, “Who am I? Who am I really?”
The original Revata was gone, now there’s a new Revata. Who is this new Revata?
He went and asked people, “Who am I?”
This is very good and perfectly understandable! You all can also often ask, “Who am I?”
Oh dear! When I was young, I was very thin in pictures and looked quite handsome. Now I look at myself in the mirror and often say “Who am I?”
That’s why I’ve been dieting a lot lately, because my belly is just too unsightly. So, you sometimes need to ask yourself, “Who am I?” because you didn’t look like this before.
Do you look the same when you’re young as you do now?
Absolutely not!
Therefore, Revata’s issue is also our issue, it is not just Revata’s issue.
A disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha heard Revata frequently asking, “Who am I?”
He exclaimed, “Wow! This person is extraordinary, his power is immense!” So he took Revata to see Shakyamuni Buddha.
Revata asked Shakyamuni Buddha, “Who is this body of mine?”
Shakyamuni Buddha replied, “This body of yours was originally someone else’s corpse, not your own.”
Then Revata immediately…wow!
He felt it, he understood, he was enlightened! In an instant, he was enlightened!
Revata knew that the flesh, bones, and all the material things in his body came from his parents, and were “really not his true self.”
Because of this enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha gave him the name “False Combination,” meaning a false combination.
So, we’re all renting houses.
We’re happy in a prettier house, and unhappy in an uglier one. Some houses are sturdy and strong, while others get hay fever, constantly catching colds and runny noses, and then there’s a hole to dig there…
Ugh! Let’s not talk about it.
So, we all should think of it this way. We’re currently “living in this house.”
One day a typhoon, a fire, a flood, or a sudden earthquake will cause it to collapse. When the house collapses, you can’t find a new house. You have to move house, and this moving house is then “going back to your old home.”
What is this house made of?
It’s made of “earth,” “water,” “fire,” and “wind”, these four things:
The body is made up of these four things. And who is the owner?
The owner is what Buddhism calls “thought consciousness.”
Our cultivation is about cultivating this owner, not about applying powder or paint to our faces.
You think putting on some powder or growing a beard makes you look good?
That’s just superficial paint.
Applying rouge is like drawing a door frame on a doorway, growing a beard is like weeds growing inside a house.
This is a type of illusion, all a type of illusion.
Because there are these illusions, Shakyamuni Buddha thus bestowed upon him the name “You understand all kinds of illusions, and thus know that you are a false combination.”
Today after we understand this situation, we will know what is called “true self?”
What is called “false self“?
When your “house” becomes worn out and you have to move, you should be able to move to a better place, that is the purpose of our cultivation. You should not end up moving to something worse.
Originally, your house is quite nice, upright and well-formed. But after moving, it turns into something with horns, or something with four legs, or something round like a tube with no legs at all. Some even “move” into something that flies, or something that lives in water forever, or even into something like a bug that bites people.
Therefore, I hope in the future when one moves, move to a better house, move to a more beautiful house. We cultivators of Buddhism, women become more beautiful and men become more dashing. This is also hoping that if we are reborn as humans in the next life, we will move to a better looking one and have better interpersonal relationships. For those who are not coming back for a next life, might as well move to Western Pure Land.
This Venerable Revata, because he had realized “Who am I?”.
He was called “Venerable of the Stars.”
He frequently entered into deep meditation and was known as “Foremost in Undisturbed Mind.”
I remember once when I was discoursing the dharma I talked about this:
A teacher once asked us, “What truly belongs to you?”
If you answered, “I have many things that belong to me,”
My teacher would then say “If they are yours, bring them out to show me.”
We often can’t bring it out!
We would say “These things are not ours, but at least my heart is mine!”
Now, your heart isn’t necessarily yours.
There was a heart transplant recipient in Taipei, he didn’t have his heart and received someone else’s. Wow! Where is your heart?
Honestly, I haven’t had a heart for a long time.
Someone asked me, “Why don’t you have a heart?”
Because my heart was stolen by heart-stealers long ago!
My ex-girlfriend told me, “I don’t want anything from you, I just want your heart.”
There was no way around it, I had too many girlfriends, and I had to give them many hearts! Too many girlfriends meant dividing my heart among them, so now I’ve become someone “without a heart.”
So the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were right, even your own heart isn’t yours, isn’t it?
Nowadays many ladies are specifically after your heart. They say, “You want to give me money? I don’t want it, I just want your heart.”
Therefore, even your heart isn’t yours. It is thus clear that all tangible things in this world do not belong to us.
Revata understood this, very clearly, which is why he was called “Foremost in Undisturbed Mind“.
I know this even more clearly because I “have no heart at all!“
Om mani padme hum.