Let Others Do It  

Yutang Lin

 

 

When someone intends to devote himself into Dharma practices
Relatives and friends often would try to dissuade him by saying
Need to look after yourself and family first
So many people are practicing Dharma and engaging in Dharma services
It wouldn't matter to have one less like you
It is fine to just let others do it

Intending to look after self-interests first
And the Buddhist teaching on practicing selflessness
Are back to back, running into opposite directions
Indeed, it is urging people not to practice Dharma
And that it is fine to regress and withdraw
People who uttered such sayings
Even if ordinarily they were considered as Buddhists
By thus thinking and saying
They had become people lacking faith in the Buddha

Only wishing to let others do it
Even though it is certainly virtuous and meritorious
       To let others attain enlightenment sooner
And yet for one who has given up Dharma practices and services
       How could such a being attain liberation from transmigration
Not to mention to become capable of helping others become Buddha someday

If everyone intends to let others do it
In fact, there are only very few who have devoted themselves to Dharma
Wouldn't it be rendering actual practices and propagation of Dharma
To dwindle gradually and eventually even down to complete extinction

The saying "Let others do it"
Is an expression out of lacking or forgetting Bodhicitta
It is not only unspeakably unspeakable
But also need to be eradicated from its roots
And be thrown away outside the Three Realms
So that it will return to its nature of nothingness

Written in Chinese and translated on December 5, 2011
El Cerrito, California