Converging to Bodhi

Yutang Lin


The staring eye moved a little would lose the target;
The remaining time so limited, one needs to concentrate.
Converge all things to Bodhi while engaging in salvation;
Even in hustle and bustle there is no departure from Bodhi.

Comments:

While engaging in Dharma practice one should be aware of whether oneself is concentrating on the practice or not. The slightest deviation into worldly matters or personal relations or disputes would be lost. The remaining time is too limited so that, unless one is concentrated on the Dharma, there could not be significant advancement. However, concentrating on Dharma practices does not mean to remain lifeless in solitude. If one could converge all sight and sound, speeches and actions toward the salvation activities of Bodhi, for example, to pray for speedy recovery of the victims upon hearing news of accidents and to pray for rebirth in Buddha's Pureland upon learning of someone's death, then even while hustling and bustling about one is not in the least departed from the right path. A practitioner should decide on whether to stay in solitude so as to cultivate concentration on Dharma practices or to engage in worldly ways so as to spread the teachings upon appropriate occasions, based on the extent to which the practitioner has harmonized the teachings and the behavior.

Written in Chinese: February 18, 1999
Translated: September 11, 1999
El Cerrito, California


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