One Who Always Sinks

“Oh good man! In this All-Wonderful River of Great Nirvana, there live seven kinds of living beings. It starts from the first - which always sinks - to the seventh. Among these, some sink and some come up.

We speak of one who always sinks. This refers to one who hears this be said: 'This Great Nirvana Sutra states that the Tathagata is Eternal, Unchangeable, and is Bliss, the Self, and the Pure; that it ultimately does not enter into Nirvana; that all beings possess the Buddha Nature; that the icchantika, the slanderers of the Vaipulya Sutras, those who have committed the five deadly sins, those guilty of the four graves offenses, all will carry the Way of Enlightenment; that the Srotapanna, Sakrdagamin, Anagamin, Arhat, and Pratyekabuddha unfailingly will attain unsurpassed Enlightenment’. Upon hearing this, such a person does not believe, but thinks to himself: 'This Nirvana Sutra is one that belongs to the tirthikas and is not a Buddhist Sutra’. This person then moves away from the Way, and does not give ear to Wonderful Dharma. Sometimes, it may happen to hear [the Dharma], but it cannot have a good thought. It may think, but not a good thought. As it has no a good thought, abides in evil. Abiding in evil has six ways, which are: 1) evil, 2) non-good, 3) defiled dharma, 4) the valuation of 'is', 5) worry in heat [that is, becoming hellishly hot with worry], 6) receiving evil results. This is to sink.

Why is it sinking? When a person has no a good mind, when it always commits evil, when it does not practice the Way, we call this 'sinking'.

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 41 - On Bodhisattva Kasyapa 2.

one who always sinks.mp3