Freedom (自由)

There was a general who kept his pet parrot in a cage. Everyday the parrot kept screaming, “I want freedom! I want freedom!” A soldier felt sorry for the parrot and so he decided to free the bird one night. He opened the door of the cage to free the parrot. To his surprise, the parrot chose to remain in the cage. It continued to scream “I want freedom! I want freedom!” The soldier decided to take the parrot out from the cage and let it fly away. He was finally satisfied and went to bed. On the following day, he found out that the parrot had returned to the cage and it continued to scream, “I want freedom! I want freedom!”

I have always been advising you folks to go read books, because I want you to think about the teachings you learn from the books and apply them in your practice. There are many answers awaiting your own discovery. It is useless for me to tell you the answers. So what if I tell you about the Western Blissful Pure Land? You will continue to doubt what I said, for you have been so used to living in a cage! There is everything in the cage: food, shower, warmth, everything. You have been staying in a cage far too long that you simply cannot imagine what it is like outside the cage – you are too afraid of leaving your cage. Although you have been told that the world outside is free, you are still feeling afraid. So, you continue to yell, “I want freedom!” but you will not dare leave your cage, leaving your comfort zone.

Birds could be stranded in a cage for the rest of their life, so too are you stranded in the Six Realms for eons. You are just too comfortable. When you are a child, you have your parents protecting you, loving you and giving you all you need. When you are an adult, you have a family and a spouse who takes care of you when you are sick and shares your problems. When you are old, you have your children taking care of you. You are just too comfortable with what you have. You are just like a bird, living in a cage for your whole life; you have never experienced the world outside the cage, so you will be afraid of leaving. You will choose to remain in the cage and scream “I want freedom! I want freedom!” You would rather remain in the Three Realms and grumble everyday, grumbling to your spouse, your kids and your parents. You will merely complain in this world that “I want freedom! I want freedom!” But when you are actually given the freedom, you will feel too afraid to leave the world that you are familiar with behind. So, you will remain in this cage forever – this cage is the Six Realms of Cyclic Existence.

How is the world outside the cage? You will never be able to imagine how it is, no matter how hard I try to describe it to you, for you must experience it yourself. Birds ought to fly in the sky freely because the sky belongs to the birds. They should not be confined to such a small space in a cage. Similarly, the universe belongs to us but unfortunately we are too contended remaining in the cage of the Three Realms. Actually we all agree that a cage offers no freedom.

Sakyamuni Buddha told us that the world is full of sufferings. Whether you know it or not, the world is full of sufferings. But often you do not think that those are sufferings, instead you view them as fun and lovable. Sakyamuni Buddha told us that those things that you thought were fun and lovable do not last, they will be followed immediately by immeasurable pains. The problems of birth, aging, sickness and death are more than what you can deal with; no matter what you end up getting, you are just not able to solve these problems.

Dharma Sister Bik thought it was fun to join the kids in their rope skipping game, but she ended up hurting her leg. What does it tell you? You are old now! This is one of the problems in this world. There are numerous other problems: you have no big house, you have no sports car, you have no promotion, you have no appreciative bosses, and you just can’t get what you want… So, Sakyamuni Buddha told us that this world is, in fact, an ocean of sufferings.

Master Nan Huai Jin said that we pay to suffer when we go for a sauna bath. It is hot in the room and the massaging actually hurts. Somehow we enjoy such sufferings. There are numerous other problems in this world such as sickness, cancer, rebellious kids etc. But who among us can let go? None. Everyone clings to the cage, like the bird, and yell, “What a pain! What a pain! I want freedom!”

Grand Master has already told us about the most supreme teachings of enlightenment. But how many of us dare go out? None. Because no one knows what is the world out there. Everyone is afraid of loosing his current possessions, “If I let go of this and take that, what if that turns out to be not what I had wanted?” So, everyone clings to the cage firmly and continues to create his karma, and continue to live in the Three Realms of Cyclic Existence. What a pity!

This is indeed an interesting story. How many people are willing to let go of what they have in this world? Leave the cage and seek his freedom and happiness in the sky? None. So, you will continue to remain in this world then, and continue to live in the cyclic existence. What else can the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do? They can’t do anything. The decision is yours to remain in the cage or to leave the cage. The decision does not lie with me, nor Grand Master or the patriarchs; it lies in you.

Look Inward (向内看 )

Actually, the issues do not exist externally but within you. When your inner mind is pure, you will see a pure world externally. On the contrary, when your inner mind is defiled, you will see a defiled world externally. It is liken to a person wearing a pair of tinted glasses, when the tint is yellow, he will see all things in the external world appeared yellowish. Actually, it is you who are wearing a pair of glasses tinted with your own lust, hatred, ignorance, ego and suspicion, that you saw the shortcomings of others without realizing your own problems.

As long as you continue to find faults in others, you are actually the one at fault. Do not find fault in others for you will not be able to free yourself from the cyclic existence. If you remain egoistic and short-tempered, you will jump high, scold and humiliate others madly when your problem is being pointed out by others; that clearly demonstrates the sense of hatred in you. So, I think it is very important for us to look inward for self reflection.

A cultivator should practice the teachings of Compassion and Emptiness. Although the quality of both Compassion and Emptiness exists in us, it is obscured by our own karmic obscurations accumulated since time immemorial. That is the reason for one not being able to free himself from the cyclic existence. If you continue to find faults in others and accuse others of being wrong, but never do self reflection and realize your own mistakes, it only reflects your own problems. So, I hope you will remember this point: we must learn and practice with humility.

No one dares to claim that he has read the vast collection of Buddhist scriptures (三藏十二部). What had been recorded is only a small fraction of the Buddha’s teachings; Sakyamuni Buddha actually had much more to say. So, please learn with humility. Do not get agitated and scold others when others try to give you constructive feedback. That is not the right behavior of a cultivator. A cultivator is a humble person. When others point out your mistakes, you should thank them instead. If a master or a spiritual guide point out your mistakes, you ought to be even humbler but not get angry. If I pointed out your ego, you become angry and scold me from head to toe, you are just a commoner. Frankly, you don’t even understand the basic teachings of Buddhism. So, be a true cultivator and observe the precepts strictly, if you want to make it in your cultivation. Do not just pretend to be a cultivator when your inner world is completely dark. I hope you will heed my advice.

Life is But a Dream (知世如梦)

Dharma Sister Ling could not breathe during her sleep one night and later collapsed in her office, out of breath. She was sent to the hospital but the doctor could not explain her illness and could not prescribe any medication for her. She asked me for help. She became alright after my blessing and left the hospital when the doctor still could not figure out her problem.

There were many old folks, even those in their 40s and 50s, who died during their sleep due to breathing difficulty. So, when we get into our beds tonight, we may not get out of the bed tomorrow morning. There is no guarantee that you will still live the next moment. You will not know when your last moment will come.

Go ask Dharma Sister Ling, “What do you think about your job?” “Do you still want to care so much about your work? The work can never be finished.” “What about your son?” “What about your husband?” “What about your family?” I can tell you that she now wants nothing else but her next breath. All your dissatisfactions and arguments with others will become meaningless when you are in such a state.

A cultivator must learn to appreciate the “impermanence” in life. Only when one has personally experienced the impermanence in life that he will develop a sense of renunciation crucial to the success of cultivation. I think that 1 to 2 hours of suffering was too short for Dharma Sister Ling. I could have acted earlier but I tried to delay my help. If that duration when she was out of breath could be prolonged slightly, it would have benefitted her more. If that duration could be stretched to 2 weeks, it would have been better for her. Let her go through the sufferings in that 2 weeks, she would have felt more deeply about the impermanence in life. Why so? For I had personally gone through a similar stage: for a few months I could not sleep at night because the very moment I lied down, I could not breathe at all. After that long period of ordeal, I appreciate my life better now. I no longer place hope on worldly matters: love, hatred, children, wife etc. For this remaining lifetime of mine, I will cultivate until I reach the stage where I can draw my last breath with ease. I had gone through that crisis stage in life.

Why did the ancient folks say that a cultivator must go through a big crisis in his life? For he will attain enlightenment only after going through that crisis in life. If you have not gone through a big crisis in life, you will continue to feel attached to the worldly matters and be stranded in the cyclic existence forever. So what if you are given the whole world? When you cannot even draw your next breath, the rest are just an illusion to you. Had Dharma Sister Ling been able to remain in that ordeal for a longer period, she would have developed a deeper appreciation of impermanence, and a stronger sense of renunciation. Only then she would have understood the meaning of this verse:
Knowing this world is a dream,
I ask for nothing.
As I ask for nothing,
My mind is free.
Nevertheless,
I will continue to live in this dream,
And accomplish the countless merits,
Which are also but a dream.

She would have then understood that this world is actually a dream and she would therefore ask for nothing. She would have then understood that this world is only a dream, including all of us who are sitting right here which is part of the dream too. It is a dream that will disappear immediately when one wakes up from it: your wife, your kids are actually not yours. Let me tell you this, very soon, all of them will just vanish. You don’t have to chase after them, because you will not be able to chase after them. This world is just a big dream. When you realize that it is a dream, you will then ask for nothing.

What do I mean by “asking for nothing”? Just sit there and do nothing, like the statue of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? No! We should continue to live our lives, knowing full well that they are just dream, dream, dream…… We will continue to work, continue to take care of our kids, but our mind is not attached to all these phenomena which are transient. You will be seen by others as a lunatic, who has a very different view from others. You will appear to be living life the same way like others that, you will need to eat, you will have stomach ache at times, and you will need to go to the toilet. You will appear to be acting and behaving like any other person around you, but your mentality is no longer the same like others, and your views are just different.

Dharma Sister Ling has not developed a deep sense of impermanence from the ordeal she went through yet; a deeper appreciation would have helped her attain a higher level of realization.

Cultivation should be the highest priority in life. All else should be of secondary importance. Cultivation is the most crucial thing in life. If you have not developed that sense of priority, your mood is still very much influenced by the worldly concerns, you will then continue to live and die in this cyclic existence perpetually. You will continue to be reborn in a cyclic existence even after this earth has been destroyed and disappeared. You will then continue to live and die after the earth was formed once again. If you like it that way, I will leave it to you.

The sense of impermanence is very crucial. The most important thing in life is for one to develop a strong sense of impermanence; other things in life will pale in comparison. If you only treat cultivation as a secondary priority in life, cultivating for a better prospect for your career or your family, you are just turning to cultivation for a worldly purpose, then you are not a true cultivator and you will not be able to end your cyclic existence.

Dharma Sister Ling has helped us appreciate more of the impermanence in life. If you find your life very interesting today, then you will want to ask for more tomorrow. If you treat your current day as your last day in life, you will appreciate everyday and every moment of your life. Everyday I am telling myself that this will probably be my last day. When I wake up on the following day, I will feel very thankful that I am still breathing and that I have earned one more day. We should still view this life as a dream and all happenings in our life as dreams: going to office is a dream, work and kids are dreams etc. Cultivation is the most crucial thing in life. Compassion is the most crucial thing in life. Do not let our mind run wild. No matter how ill you have treated me, I will remain compassionate towards you, for the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas only aspire to help the sentient beings perpetually.

I wish that you would practice with vigou and perseverance. Free yourself from the fetter of the cyclic existence, and then you would be able to help other sentient beings do likewise.

Self Reflection (指向自己)

How easy is spiritual cultivation? You could say that it is easy and yet not easy. You could also say that is tough and yet not tough. The numerous enlightened beings including the bodhisattvas and the enlightened masters have re-incarnated at will in this world to provide the opportunity for other sentient beings to learn from them directly, but there had been very few cases of success. Sentient beings have accumulated too great a negative karma (lust, hatred and ignorance) since time immemorial; although they do their daily practices, the merit generated from which is completely nullified by the negative karma created on a daily basis through their own actions, speech and thoughts. Although you do not kill or hurt others, your negative thoughts could have already more than adequate to nullify all your merits. That explains why so many cultivators actually regress on the spiritual path instead of making progress.

In Vajrayana Buddhism, you will need to spend the first 12 years studying the Hinayana and Mahayana doctrines and observe the precepts very closely, before being admitted into the Vajrayana practices. That was the practice in the old days by the patriarchs. So, we have skipped the rule. The danger of skipping the rule is that you will end up confused when you are given the higher teachings before you are ready; you will sometimes find yourself completely lost, not knowing what to do. Sometimes you would have spoken some wrong words and created a bad karma without you knowing. That is why the precepts are so crucial. You had better not say anything you are not sure of.

There is a precept in the Vajrayana Buddhism – the fellow vajrayanists must not quarrel with one another. So, please abide by this precept strictly when you learn about it. If you quarrel with a teacher of the dharma, that is even worse. The Vajrayana precepts are very crucial. Please watch your own thoughts, speech and actions closely, and repent immediately when you harbor ill thoughts; this is the only way to make progress on the spiritual path. So, you should know it whether you have made advancement in your cultivation.

If you end up becoming more opinionated, argumental and easily annoyed, you have to pay attention. You should just reflect inward to see if you have gone astray. If it is your own mistake, make amends. You should not be picking on others as it will lead you to nowhere. Only when you reflect inward, do your own soul searching, you will be able to eradicate your own lust, hatred and ignorance gradually.

Even the patriarchs went through numerous lifetimes to perfect their cultivation. There is no one who could succeed in his cultivation in one single lifetime, including myself. I reflect inward daily and ask myself if I did it right? Did I say something wrong or did it cause any misunderstanding by others? If I did it wrong, I will need to make amends. Sometimes, as I am getting old, I tend to forget what I have just said, or what I said yesterday. So, please do not just pick on the flaws of others, but learn to see the positive side of another person.

Cherish the time we have together, especially the opportunity to learn and practice the Tantras which is in fact very rare and inconceivable. No one can succeed in his cultivation instantaneously, and I dare not give you the guarantee that you can achieve great success in your cultivation. If you finally succeed in your cultivation, I will be the most happy person to celebrate your success, and it will be worth my pain of going through the learning process with you. I will be more than willing to go to hell for your enlightenment. So, I wish that you would gradually cleanse your negative karma by constantly reflecting inward, but not outward. You must progress towards reducing your own anxieties and becoming an easy person. Otherwise, you will need to reflect upon yourself – maybe it is time to repent?

Please think about this crucial point.

Negative Propensities (瘾)

LKK:

Cultivation is part and parcel of our lives. That makes me think about ‘habits’. There are many kinds of habits: smoking, gambling, drinking etc. These are harmful habits. So, Sakyamuni Buddha invented the numerous precepts, in order to keep us away from those harmful habits. Because if we cannot resist the temptations of the harmful habits, they can become big hurdles in our cultivations.

Some people are extremely stingy and they have their great desire for money. There was a story about Shariputtra who became a thousand year-old snake in one of his previous lives. The snake lived amidst a pile of jewels, guarding them closely. Shariputtra was a very wealthy but stingy man before he became a snake in his next life. He fell very ill once but refused to see the doctor out of stinginess; money was even more important than his own life. Out of his extreme stinginess, he was reborn as a snake in his next life, continued to guard his wealth for a thousand year. One day, the snake heard the recitations of a novice monk, like the Sixth Patriach of Zen Buddhism who became enlightened upon hearing a recitation of a sentence in the Diamond Sutra, the snake suddenly realized that “This world is actually an illusion!” and let go of its attachment to the jewels it was guarding, and ended that episode of life.

Acho Rinpoche:

The moment we were born, we already inherited the propensities ingrained in us through our own actions in our previous lives. We are the products of our parents, a physical body with bone and flesh will inevitably inherit some form of propensities. I believe that every one of us, including Sakyamuni Buddha, Grand Master and all of you including myself, will have to deal with such propensities in our practice. The only difference lies in the method through which we kick the negative ones. Habits (negative propensities) cannot be easily kicked as they are already deeply ingrained in our Eighth Consciousness (Alaya Consciousness).

When you practice with diligence, you will become mentally stronger to resist the negative propensities more effectively. When you don’t, you will succumb to them once again. Cultivation is like rowing your boat against the current of a river; when you remain still, you will be washed away by the current. The strong current will carry you away, if you do not persist and persevere in your practice. It is not an easy task! I can only say that it is just not easy! Although it is not easy, we must still persist and persevere in our practice. If we do not persist and persevere in our practice, we will succumb to the worldly temptations and fall.

There was a Zen Master who practiced well. He had only one problem – he liked his bowl too much and was too attached to it. Because of his attachment to that bowl, he could not attain enlightenment. He was reborn to protect that bowl in his next life. So, the moral of the story is that, a cultivator, no matter who you are, as long as you still have worldly attachment (negative propensities), you will be reborn repeatedly in the cyclic existence and keep walking the path of cultivation. If you want to end your cyclic existence, you must kick your negative propensities.

I can only say that it is not easy! But it is not impossible either! It is possible because I have succeeded doing so personally. It is possible but not easy. It is a question of will. If you keep telling yourself that “I am a commoner, my karma is heavy, I will not be able to achieve enlightenment in this life, I will take it slowly.” If you think likewise, you have given yourself an excuse to continue with your bad habits and you will never be able to kick them. So, you must develop a very strong sense of confidence and determination to deal with the problem - tell yourself that “I must kick it!” Then, you will kick it one day.

From my personal experience, no matter which habit, be it the greatest and the hardest in the world, it can be kicked. There is no habit that cannot be kicked. For there is Buddha Nature in every one of us and every one of us can attain enlightenment one day. When you aspire to practice diligently and develop a strong sense of renunciation, you will be able to kick your bad habits - all of them! There is no habit that cannot be kicked!