Day 5 No Substitute for Hard Work | The Sword of Wisdom

Once you get to the root, don’t worry about the branches,
Like pure crystal containing a precious moon.
Since you have realized this all-giving pearl,
Benefit for yourself and others will never end.

Most people pay close attention to the benefits that can be derived from practice, yet they are unwilling to put in the effort needed to accumulate such benefits. The average person may envy a rich person, and wish he had his wealth, but does he consider how that person obtained his money? If he did, he might discover that earning millions of dollars takes time, and requires great effort and determination.

There was once a poverty-stricken woman who was sincere, kind and generous. A deity was touched by her character and appeared before her. “Whatever you desire I will give to you, ” it said.

The poor lady answered, “I would like gold.” The deity pointed its finger at a rock, and lo and behold, the rock turned into pure gold.

The deity asked, “Is there anything else that you desire?”

The woman thought for a while, and then said, “What I would really like is your finger.”

With that, the deity disappeared, and the gold turned back into an ordinary rock. The woman ruined a wonderful opportunity. Worse, she did not realize why the deity did what it did. Even if the deity had given her its finger, it would not have helped her. The deity’s ability to turn rock into gold came from the power of its practice, not from its finger.

At the end of one of my lectures, I asked the audience, “Should I stop, or should I continue speaking?”

A student in the audience said, “I don’t want to hear any more. What I’d really like to do is take you home and have you all to myself.” What if I agreed to his wishes? Chances are, all I would do at his house is eat, sleep and read. Would he benefit?

Every one of us has a finger that can turn rock into gold, but we must practice to discover and cultivate our power. The problem is, most people do not want to practice that long or that hard. Even if you managed to obtain the finger from a deity’s hand, all you would have is dead flesh. It would not do you any good. Keeping me as your private master would not be as good as tranforming yourself into a master.

You must reveal wisdom at its foundation. If you generate your own wisdom, then you do not have to worry about anything else, because everything comes from wisdom.

After Albert Einstein died, scientists removed and examined his brain. They discovered that it was rather ordinary in size and appearance. Where, then, did all his scientific discoveries come from? Were they in his brain tissue? If Einstein’s brain were transplanted into someone else’s head, would that person inherit Einstein’s knowledge, personality and ingenuity as well? Ridiculous!

You will not make progress if you look only at superficial phenomena and results. You must uncover the foundation, the roots, the causes. If you practice in order to acquire supernormal powers, or with the intention of attaining enlightenment, your efforts will be in vain. If you cling to a master and think, “This person has great wisdom. Maybe some of it will rub off on me, ” you are only fooling yourself. You must practice.

Suppose you made a date with a friend to hike up a mountain, but on that day you overslept and she went ahead without you. What would you do? Perhaps you would think, “It’s too late now, ” and go back to sleep. Or perhaps you would say, “I decided to hike today, and I’m going to do it. Better late than never. If I start right away, I may even catch up with my friend.” What if, halfway up the mountain, you met your friend coming down, and she told you the view at the summit was not worth the effort? Would you still go ahead?

The path to Buddhahood is a lonely climb, but after you reach Buddhahood, vast numbers of sentient beings will surround you, all of them wanting your help, your compassion, your wisdom. Since you are a Buddha, naturally you will help every one of them. As an ordinary person, you have a physical body and limited faculties. You have contact with few people, and of those few, you help even fewer. You are alone most of the time, and you do whatever you want to do. But as a Buddha, your presence and power are limitless. Innumerable sentient beings seek your help. If you know Buddhahood is like this, why do you want the job? From our point of view, that of an ordinary sentient being, Buddhahood sounds horrible. But the Buddha does not feel this way, because he does not perceive that he is helping anyone. To a Buddha, there is no such thing as Buddhas or sentient beings.

An ordinary person can divorce his or her spouse, but a Buddha cannot divorce himself from sentient beings. It is paradoxical: the path to Buddhahood is lonely and solitary, yet once you reach Buddhahood you are never alone again. Sentient beings throughout time and space will seek your help and blessings.

Once, in Tokyo, I was walking by myself at night. I walked along narrow sidestreets and back alleys. I saw people here and there, but when I turned onto a wide avenue, I did not see anyone. I figured that the main streets were not a good place to walk, so I returned to the narrow alleys.

Most of us wander the outer paths and follow the heterodox teachings, just as I kept to the back alleys. Buddhadharma is a wide highway, but it is relatively untraveled. As a sentient being, you keep to the narrow streets, because everyone else does the same. You are comforted by the sight of people. You will not meet many people on the wide road, and by the time you near your destination ─ Buddhahood ─ you will be alone. There will be no friend to help you, no enemy to quarrel with. It is a solitary road to Buddhahood.

A student once asked me if the innumerable Buddhas from the ten directions ever met for an “inter-Buddha world conference.” I answered, “If the Buddhas were lonely or had nothing to do, I suppose they could call a meeting.” I was joking of course. Actually, Buddhas do not have the idea that they are doing anything, and they are never lonely, so they do not have to call meetings. “All the Buddhas in the ten directions” is a convenient phrase that is easy to remember, but in fact each Buddha exists in every point of space and every moment of time. Since Buddhas encompass all of space and time, they cannot be pinpointed in any specific place or moment.

The Buddha’s wisdom and merit are unlimited, and he can manifest in innumerable forms, places and times simultaneously, so he helps all sentient beings. Anytime, anywhere, if one has karmic affinity with the Buddha ─ that is, if one lives in accordance with Buddhadharma ─ then one can receive benefit from the Buddha. Furthermore, one person does not receive more benefit than another person. It is not like the inheritance children receive from their parents. If parents divide their wealth into three equal shares, but they have four children, then one child will lose out. Buddha’s wisdom is limitless and does not discriminate. It is as if the parents could divide their wealth into four parts, yet still give each child the entirety of their wealth.

Realizing your true nature is like obtaining the mani pearl, an inexhaustible treasure with which you can help yourself and others. We all possess the mani pearl, but few of us have uncovered it. We are all potential Buddhas, but few of us have realized our original nature. We must practice and be guided. Buddhadharma guides all of us equally, yet some people benefit from it more than others. In a single sound, the Buddha speaks the totality of Buddhadharma to every sentient being in all worlds, but each sentient being absorbs a different meaning from that sound, and some hear nothing at all.

The moon shines on the river, the breeze stirs the pine.
What is there to do on a long, pleasant night?
Buddha-nature and the precepts jewel are sealed in the mind-ground,
Fog, dew, and rosy clouds are now my garments.

When the moon shines on a river, it seems as if there is a moon in the water. Yet, the moon loses nothing by being reflected in the water. The moon appears because water happens to be there. Likewise, the Ch’an practitioner who helps sentient beings does so only because there are sentient beings who need his help. In helping, the Ch’an practitioner loses nothing, and he does nothing special, just as the moon loses nothing and does nothing special when it is reflected by a river. A practitioner helps himself and others, benefits himself and others, yet he does not do it with the desire to obtain a benefit.

A wind shakes the leaves and branches of a tree only because the tree is an obstruction in the wind’s path. The wind had no intention of blowing through a tree, and it does not claim credit for doing so; it simply blows. Likewise, a true practitioner does not have personal motives when he helps sentient beings. He simply helps, because others need it.

The clear breeze and bright moon refer to a practitioner’s wisdom. The wisdom is beneficial to sentient beings, but the practitioner is unaware that he is doing anything, just as the wind and moon are unaware that they blow and shine.

A Ch’an practitioner is interested only in revealing Buddha-nature and the jewel of precepts, which are sealed in his mind-ground. Buddha-nature refers to the mind with no vexation. The jewel of precepts refers to action which does not create evil karma. Buddha-nature and the jewel of precepts are aspects of Buddhahood. A practitioner is concerned only with these two aspects. All other things and actions pertain only to superficial phenomena, and have nothing to do with his essential substance, which Yung-chia refers to as the mind-ground.

Yung-chia emphasizes that it is not enough just to realize the mind of true nature (Buddha-nature). It is also necessary to have pure action. Without pure action, a practitioner will become doubtful of his Buddha-nature. A Ch’an master may think he has reached the state of pure Buddha mind, but if he thinks the precepts are of no further use, and he eats meat, drinks alcohol, engages in sexual misconduct, or desires material wealth, then there will surely be problems. A practitioner with these ideas has deviated from true Ch’an teachings, and is deluded by demonic obstructions. In the history of the Ch’an sect, there has never been a patriarch who has engaged in impure conduct and still retained his position.

A person who practices relentlessly will eventually realize his true nature. The benefit that derives from such practice is unlimited. Although the person helps himself and others, he is not attached to anything. He is a person of pure action, a person who has revealed his Buddha-nature.

The level I describe is an extremely advanced stage. Not many people are there yet. Eventually, you will see your true nature, and wisdom will appear, but for now, practice is fundamental and all-important. Some of you may not be willing to work hard. Perhaps you are the type who envies the rich person without considering how hard he worked for it. If he told you how he reached his position, would you be willing to follow his path? After hearing his story, you might abandon your quest and live with your envy. It’s easier. In your practice, as you work toward your goal, do not feel discouraged if you see someone far ahead on the path. Do not think, “The practice is not for me.” Remember, some people are faster than others, and some got off to an earlier start.

As you hike up a mountain, you may wish for a helicopter to whisk you effortlessly to the peak. A pleasant fantasy, but I ask you, how will you get the helicopter? That requires work too; and even if you do get to the top by helicopter, your experience will be completely different from that of the person who made it to the top by his own power. When that person speaks of his experience, you will realize how much you missed, and you may decide to do it again, this time on your own.

Arhats are like those who ride to the mountain top in a helicopter. They have transcended birth and death, but their wisdom and merit are limited. They must climb the mountain step by step in order to reach Buddhahood.

If you are given a helicopter to fly to the summit of a mountain, it is not going to help. You need to climb the mountain in order to truly experience it. The same holds true in your practice. There is no substitute for hard work.

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