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Compassionate Sympathy for Sentient Beings
Yutang Lin
Disciple Fang Xin (Relax) asked for my calligraphy
To
serve as her maxim
Her last name in Chinese is Min
So I wrote Ci Min Zhong Sheng
Compassionate
Sympathy for Sentient Beings
Fang Xin mounted and framed it
Hung
it on the wall of her living room
And looked at it often to awaken
her mind
People in the world all have
sufferings
If mind is trapped within one's own
sufferings
Then there is no way out
And no date of escape from
suffering
When a Dharma practitioner is
enwrapped in personal suffering
It should be used as an opportunity
to comprehend
That
all sentient beings have sufferings
And
their sufferings are often much more than one's own
Thus transmuting experiences of
suffering into
Root
source of compassionate sympathy for sentient beings' predicaments
Thereby simultaneously extinguish
one's inner sufferings
And
transform them into tranquility and clarity
Mind's eye suddenly opens
And compassion and sympathy becomes
deeper and wider
Compassionate Sympathy for Sentient
Beings
Is
not just a slogan
With one's own inescapable
sufferings
It
is inseparably intertwined
And yet it has the deep
significance and function
Of self-help escape from suffering
And further universal salvation to all beings
May all comprehend its superior
applicability
And may we all strive to attain
such Bodhicitta
Written
in Chinese and translated on February 12, 2011
El
Cerrito, California
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