In Buddhism, the Four Devils are:

1. The Three Poison consciousness: Greed, Hate, and Stupidity
2. Worry
3. Fear of death
4. Other peoples’ Three Poison consciousness

We receive these devils and create suffering for ourselves. They block our vision like dirty sunglasses block our eyesight. The main difference is that we forget that we are seeing the world this way.

Cleaning your sunglasses is easy; stopping the Four Devils from attacking us is much harder. The class was asked what they do when the Four Devils strike. A summary of their techniques are presented below.

Be patient or forbearing without action

It’s a sign you are out of harmony. If you are feeling suffering that is not bad, it just means you are blind to something. So follow these two steps:

1. Observe the situation logically.
2. If you can’t be objective, then stay distant. Do not be controlled by the situation; patiently observe until you are calm and aware. Don’t fight it.

Being patient without action means not falling into any situation too deeply.

Distract yourself by being positive and then observe

First step: Distract with something positive

• Spiritual music
• Spiritual discipline (training body, stretching, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, read philosophy)
• Follow a positive habit that brings you joy: eat ice cream, watch a funny TV show
• Show care for others (don’t be stuck in your personal situation)
• Bow to Buddhas and/or bodhisattvas
• Share time with spiritual people
• Read/observe philosophy

Second step:

• Observe the cause

Directly enjoy what you’re doing

Put more energy into something positive right now so you don’t get lost in the negative feeling

Clean your space

Take care of plants, clean your house and car. Cleaning helps you concentrate to make yourself more pure.

Be aware of your stupidity

Be aware that you have been living with stupidity for a long time, so you will still be doing stupid things. Right now, there is some stupid habit or incorrect calculation, so clean that out.

Clean the ego that blocks you seeing clearly

I can recognise that I am getting attacked by one of the Four Devils because I feel suffering. I also know from observing myself that I have a habit to protect my ego. The next step is to make sure I’m not trying to protect that ego. By talking to others, I can become aware of other people’s view, allowing me to see more through philosophy.

But the root is still there. How can I stop the root from producing new shoots?

Move away from forbearance. Don’t accept things in life that are out of Spirits or don’t have any good meaning. So to clean out the Devil and become positive, directly create spiritual karma, something valuable, something that has meaning. Create that cause every moment.

Where does that habit to protect ourselves come from?

It comes from taking “I” too seriously.

Example

Telling a joke that no one finds funny. My ego says, “They don’t know that it’s funny” but maybe it’s me who doesn’t know it’s not funny.

What is the best solution to clean out the Four Devils?

Be positively aware whether your choices are in a spiritual direction or not. That will give you right result.

You can’t run away from causation. Either you are creating spiritual karma or you are not. When you are not, the Four Devils will come. You have created the cause and you get the result of devilish karma. You become psycho because it never ends. You keep creating non-spiritual karma so you keep getting Four Devils.

Technique

Step one: When you realise you are the one that falls into devilish karma and blindly create it, you allow the Four Devils into you. Clean out that part of you; don’t allow yourself to be stuck in that habit.

Step two: The same energy that is lost in that negative power can be used to create and build up spiritual karma and spiritual habits. When you do both at same time, the result is perfect every time.

Through wisdom, through compassion, through natural willing heart, pure intention, pure thinking, pure speaking, and pure action, the outcome will always be perfect.

Finally, don’t let the feeling choose you: you choose the wisdom to follow.

This post is taken from a talk by Forever Wisdom Forest on 27 October, 2013 at the Sydney dojo.