Merging into the Totality

Yutang Lin


Chanting "Amitabha" and prostration reduce sorrows;
Mind gradually clears up and enjoys some peace.
Accumulating drip after drip but not piecemeal,
Merging into the totality to affect the whole scenario.

Comment:

For a beginner, despite his superior view and understanding of the Dharma, the practice of chanting, prostration, etc., can only gradually reduce sorrows and karmic hindrances to clear up the mind and bestow some peace. However, once the mind is a bit more stable and at ease, the practitioner should conduct the practices in accordance with the view and broadness of mind that encompasses the whole Dharmadhatu as one totality. Thus drip after drip of chanting and prostration would merge into the great mission of salvation of all sentient beings and become a link in the endless chain of Bodhi salvation. Otherwise, each chanting and prostration is only an act at one particular time and place, and the accumulation of such drip after drip could hardly yield a rampant torrent; how, then, could such practices affect the endless cycles of transmigration? Merging into the totality of the Dharmadhatu is the fundamental principle of practicing Buddhism. May dedicated practitioners all appreciate it profoundly!


Written in Chinese: June 26, 1999
Translated: October 9, 1999
El Cerrito, California


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