Two More Days To Mount Wu-T'ai

Long ago, in T'ang China, there was an old monk going on a pilgrimage to Mount Wu-t'ai, the abode of Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Aged and weak, he was treading the long dusty road alone, seeking alms along the way. After many long months, one morning he gazed upward and saw the majestic mountain in the distance. By the roadside, there was an old woman working the field. "Please tell me," he asked, "how much longer I must proceed before reaching Mount Wu-t'ai?" The woman just looked at him, uttered a guttural sound and returned to her hoeing. He repeated the question a second and third time, but still there was no answer.

Thinking that the woman must be deaf, he decided to push on. After he had taken a few dozen steps, he heard the woman call out to him, "Two more days, it will take you two more days." Somewhat annoyed, the monk responded, "I thought you were deaf. Why didn't you answer my question earlier?" The woman replied, "You asked the question while you were standing put, Master. I had to see how fast your pace was, how determined your walk!"

A cultivator is in the same position as the old monk in this story. As he practices the Dharma, seeking to help himself and others, he sometimes wonders why no one comes to his assistance. However, others may simply be trying to assess him, to gauge his strength and determination. This process can take five years, twenty years, or even a lifetime. Therefore, seekers of the Way, do not be discouraged, but forge ahead!

~ Thus Have I Heard , Trans. Sutra Translation Committee

Let Go and Return

Cause and effect is inescapable. As we watch the news unfold daily, we can begin to see that our greed, anger, and ignorance are causing increasing suffering.

Everything arises from our minds. Just as we have given rise to the cause of increasing conflicts and environmental devastation, we can also give rise to another, greater cause that can maybe reduce or possibly even prevent them from happening.

We must replace thoughts of self with thoughts of all others. We must give up feelings of pride, the desires for fame and wealth. We must let go of thoughts of trying to control others. Let go of narrow-mindedness and biased viewpoints. Let go of criticizing, of blaming, of gossiping. Let go of wanting to get even and seeking revenge. We must let go!

Only by letting go, can we return to purity and tranquility. Only in this way, will our hearts become gentle; our minds become serene, as we give rise to the wisdom to accord with all beings. For only with gentle hearts and serene minds will we solve our problems. The goodness that we can bring to others by using our loving-kindness and compassion is infinite—is boundless. And this is our best, our only way to bring true peace to our world. Not for ourselves but for the sake of all beings.

To Change Now

When we give rise to one bad thought of inequality, we turn a favorable situation into an unfavorable one. However, with one single good thought of equality, the Buddha realm will appear in that moment. When we give rise to one single thought of saintly beings, the Heaven realms will appear in that moment. With one thought of purity, our lives will become harmonious and peaceful. Likewise, with one thought of greed, anger, or ignorance, our daily lives will become unsettled and unmanageable.

Today, we regularly hear of conflicts and wars, of earthquakes and floods, and now even of global warming. These disasters are increasing, but they could be reduced or even prevented if we replaced our incorrect ways with those that are good, with those that benefit others and not ourselves. But if we do not change now, then these changes, disasters, and conflicts will continue to increase.

We must understand that anger and killing are not the answer, for even if we destroy a country, annihilate an entire race, even if we detonate enough bombs to wipe out the face of the earth, we will have solved nothing. We cannot waste this opportunity but need to cultivate in a sincere and diligent manner, to apply the principles with unselfish thought and behavior. To be good, to be warm, to be sincere, to put all our efforts into helping others. In this way, all that is good will naturally come our way. But, we must change now.

World Free of Conflict

Our greed, our ignorance, our hatred all arise from our selfishness, from our sub-conscious desire to control other people, animals, even inanimate objects. By letting go of this attachment, we can be liberated.

Awakened beings live lives of great contentment. They fulfill their responsibility of educating sentient beings by explaining to them the true reality of life and the universe, and that every cause—every thought, word, and action—has a result.

They teach us that we have a wondrous and rare chance that is about to slip by us. To be born as human beings who are able to hear the teachings is an unbelievably rare opportunity, not encountered for millions of years. It is as rare as a bubble rising to the surface of a vast sea and breaking the surface of that sea within the one wreath of flowers that is floating upon it.

Allowing this to happen will be a tragic mistake that is entirely of our own making. To prevent this from happening, we need to reflect and feel remorse for our mistakes. This will enable us to overcome our afflictions and bad habits, and thus to remove our negative karma. Feel deep regret for our mistakes, vow to not commit them again, and nurture the heart of sincerity, purity, impartiality, compassion, and awakening. Only with this heart will we be able to solve all problems. They cannot be solved by killing, by war. They are solved with gentleness and loving-kindness toward all other beings.

Our every thought needs to be of benefiting all sentient-beings. We should never even have a single hostile thought or say anything that can cause distress to others. If we can truly follow this teaching then in our daily lives no matter what we do, there will be great goodness, great gentleness. This is the way to truly influence people, with love and compassion.

Three Ways to Change

How do we not become angry when there are so many triggers to set us off? What can we do about frustrating all those frustrating and infuriating situations we encounter. We might decide to control our tempers by promising ourselves that we will catch the anger before it gets out of hand, but this is very difficult to do for we will have to catch our anger before it erupts.

Another way to control anger is to understand causality: We become angry because of past thoughts, speech, and actions. Due to present thoughts, speech, and actions, if we do not modify our behavior now, we will suffer even more from our tempers in the future. This understanding will enable us to better overcome our anger.

The best way, however, is to have a change of heart. When we do so, we will have already begun to understand how hurt and resentful criticism feels, and how uncomfortable and upsetting anger feels. We will also understand how hurt, resentful, and upset the other person feels. Eventually, empathizing with their pain and the pain of so many beings who suffer from the consequences of anger, our anger will dissolve and not even arise.

Overcoming our anger by watching our thoughts is very difficult: We have to be aware of each incident that irritates us so we can catch the anger before it erupts. Overcoming the anger by understanding causality is also difficult because we have to constantly remind ourselves of what is actually going on.

Overcoming and transforming anger and damaging, negative emotions is best accomplished by no longer having room for them in our hearts. There is no place for thoughts of retaliation, ego, or defensiveness. All that are allowed to grow are unselfish thoughts of helping others.