The Difference Between Monastic and Lay Life

First, let us discuss what a home is and what the concept of home means. A home: first, there must be a house where the whole family lives together in daily life. Second, there are family members—parents, a spouse, or children—who accompany one another and depend on each other. Third, there is a shared worldly life, such as eating and drinking, daily routines, entertainment, and so on. Fourth, there is common property and material goods as the foundation of shared living, with channels of economic income. Fifth, there are common life goals and rules.

When these conditions are combined together, they form a family. This applies only to the human realm of the desire realm in the Sahā world, because the desires of sentient beings in the human realm are heavy and intense, so they need houses to cover their sexual activities, lest others spy on them and mock them. In the beginning of the human realm in the Sahā world, it was devas of the second dhyāna heaven who descended to the earth. Because they greedily ate the richness of the earth, their bodies became heavy, and they could not fly back to their heavenly palaces, so they had to remain living on the earth and became human beings. The earliest humans were devas of the second dhyāna heaven, who had no marks of male and female. Later, as humans multiplied, emotions arose among them, and they greedily loved one another, and humanity then divided into male and female forms. When these men and women engaged in sexual activities together, at first they avoided being seen by others, and only later did they build houses, gradually forming families. From this, children came into being, and only then did families exist—thus the home appeared.

It can be seen that the home is inseparable from men and women, and inseparable from sexual activity between them. If there were no sexual activity between men and women, people would not form families, and there would be no children. The desire-realm devas, whose sensual desire is slight, have no families; even the humans of Uttarakuru in the north have no families. All the devas of the form realm have no marks of male and female and no sexual desire; they are all in meditative concentration (samādhi), so they certainly have no families, nor do they need to rush about everywhere to support a household, nor do they need sources of income. Therefore, the home applies only to the human realm of the Sahā world, and the matter of leaving home (going forth) exists only in the human realm of the Sahā world. Where there is no family, the question of leaving home or not does not arise; moreover, since there is no need for economic income and no need to rush about supporting a household, such beings also do not count as laypeople.

As for the Buddha-lands where Buddhas and Bodhisattvas dwell, they are all heavenly environments, even more sublime than the environments of the heavens. There are no marks of male and female, no worldly life, no need to toil for a living, and no worldly occupations; everything they do is for the benefit and joy of sentient beings—all is Buddha-work. Therefore, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have no need to manifest a so-called "gone-forth" appearance like that of the human realm of the Sahā world, no need to shave their heads and remove the "threads of affliction"—they have no afflictions—and no need to wear the gone-forth robes of the human realm of the Sahā world. Their material bodies themselves have no bondage, and neither Buddhas and Bodhisattvas nor sentient beings attach to the marks of the material body. Whatever appearance they manifest is a gone-forth appearance, not a lay appearance, because there are no lay affairs whatsoever.

We sentient beings of the human realm in the Sahā world cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the Buddhas of the ten directions, nor with all the bodhisattvas of equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment, nor with the bodhisattvas of the ten bhūmis, thinking that sentient beings of this evil world of the five turbidities need not manifest a gone-forth appearance, need not leave home, and are just the same as those who have gone forth.

In fact, for everyone living in this world, the difference between leaving home and staying at home is enormous. Laypeople are all burdened by worldly life and cannot extricate themselves; the limitations they face on the path of cultivation are very great. Many people are distressed by the burdens of worldly life and cannot devote themselves single-mindedly to cultivation. Even if they wish to leave home, they are held back by karmic conditions and cannot do so; some people leave home several times only to be pulled back by karmic conditions again. This is the true situation of the human realm in the Sahā world. We cannot fail to face this reality and ignore it, insisting that being a layperson is the same as having left home, with no difference—in fact, the difference is very great. Everyone should ask themselves honestly and should not put a tall hat on themselves, claiming to be the same as those who have gone forth.