Dharma : Analects of Master Kuang Chin : Chapter 13 - On the Pure Land

Chapter 13 – On the Pure Land

1. Where, exactly, is the Pure Land? It is immanent within your mind. As long as you are free of worries and vexations, your mind is the land of equanimity hence the Pure Land.

 

2. When reciting the name of the Buddha, pronounce each word distinctly with full

concentration. Further, vow to be reborn in the Pure Land so as to escape this bitter prison of samsara.

 

3. "When the mind is pure, the buddha-land is also pure". Practice recitation dilligently to the extent that the mind is pure, clear, and unfettered by vexations or illusive thoughts.When you attain such a state, this world is the Pure Land and your mind the kingdom of Amitabha Buddha.

 

4. Within the limitless void, a world resembles a grain of sand. If there are as many worlds as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, and if all beings of these worlds are willing to recite the Buddha's name, they can all be reborn in the Pure Land.

 

 

5. An important prerequisite to be reborn in the Pure Land is to relinquish all worldlyconcerns. One can only be reborn in the Pure Land without the encumbrances and entanglements of this world.

 

6. If our minds are composed and stable, we are naturally free of vexations. We can live every day with a pure mind and good spirit, crave for nothing but live according to circumstances, and our hearts will be filled with joy and bliss. Such is the state of the Pure Land. So why quest elsewhere when the Pure Land is immanent within our minds? On the other hand, if your mind is unsettling and disgruntling, you will become vexed easily and you will feel restless wherever you are.

 

7. Practice recitation to the extent that your mind becomes absolutely pure and clear, and you will be reborn through the lotus into the Pure Land. Those who are born through the physical bodies of their parents will remain in the cycle of birth and death.

 

8. Do not pray for the divine manifestation of Buddhas and/or Bodhisattvas at your deathbed. Such revelations are most likely to be illusions. What you should do is to recite the name of the Buddha with a pure mind and free of appeals. Then, whatever is manifested in your mind will be genuine revelation.

 

9. There are limits to the merits we can enjoy in this world. But the blessings we attain through practice will invigorate our Buddha-nature, unfold our wisdom, and help us retrieve our true nature. It is by no means easy to become monastic practioners, as we have to endure immeasurable hardships. But such endurance will help us remove the massive karmic obstructions we have accumulated through the eons. Only by so doing will we be able to eradicate all our negative karma, be reborn in the Pure Land, and ultimately attain Buddhahood.

 

10. (At dusk, we recite the following stanza:) "The day is drawing to an end and our lives are cutting short accordingly. Just like the fishes in a drying pond, how much joy can there be?" Indeed, we do not realize that our lives are drawing closer to an end each day, just like the fishes in a drying pond that are still swimming happily, not realizing their imminent extinction. We just live one day after another, do not know where we are going after we die. Therefore, we should constantly remind ourselves not to lessen our vigilance. Practice diligently so that we can be reborn in the Pure Land.

 

11. A diligent practitioner is just like an old farmer who tills in the field all day and can joyfully rest at home after the sun goes down. The Pure Land is his ultimate home and resting-place.

 

12. We monastic practitioners should not be afraid of death because there is the Pure Land to look foward to. We should also attain the level in our practice at which we can easily untie our minds from all worldly concerns and can resolve all difficulties with a simple change of perception.

 

13. A snap pf thought takes 90 ksana (of time), and there are 900 births and deaths within a ksana. Hence, within the time of a snap of thought, there are 81,000 births and deaths. At the critical moment of our last breath, even only one snap of thought (other than the wish to be reborn in the Pure Land) arises to distract us, we will be unable to escape the cycle of birth and death. Thus, the last snap of thought before we die is of utmost importance! What kind of thought will flash through our minds depends on the state of our minds at that instant. If our minds are completely pure and we are making no distinction among the forms of self, others, sentient beings, and life, we will be reborn in the Pure Land.

 

14. Where is the Pure Land? You have to begin your search through purifying your own mind. If your mind is unfettered by worldly distractions and delusion, and is absolutely pure and clear, then your mind itself is the Pure Land. So there is no need to keep questing "where is the Pure Land?" If you continue to have such an illusive idea of pursuit, you are still defiled by greed, anger, and ignorance. Do not cling to the idea that there is indeed a Pure Land somewhere out there. In fact, the Pure Land is immanent in your mind and can only be brought out through diligent practice. As an old stanza makes it clear: "Do not search afar for the Buddha because the Buddha is right there at the Spirit Vulture Peak, and the Peak within your mind. Everyone has a pagoda under the Spirit Vulture Peak within his/her mind, under which he/she can practice to attain Buddhahood." It will be a total mistake to search for the Buddha outside our minds. If we practice by training our minds, we can eventually reach the Pure Land.

Dharma : Analects of Master Kuang Chin : Chapter 12 - On the Foul Body

Chapter 12 – On the Foul Body

1. We are not born with material wealth, nor can we, or mega-millionairs for that matter,bring our assets along when we die. The only thing that will follow us through all lives is our own karma. So why waste valuable time pursuing material wealth? We should grasp the little time we have in human existence and start practicing as early as possible.

 

2. Relinquish all attachments to this foul body! The most important goal for practice is to liberate our minds, not to tend to the desires of our physical body and let it control our lives. Also, remember not to cling to the idea of attainment during practice. Whatever can be attained will vanish eventually, hence is not genuinely unmovable, as is our intrinsic nature.

 

3. Our body, just like a house, will eventually decay; however hard we try to mend it, it can never be free of problems. Let go of excessive concern about this body, do not be too fastidious about it; after all, it is only a phantasm. What we should do is to make the best use of this "illusive" body for "real" practice.

 

4. This foul body is just a temporary residence for us. Unfortunately, we all become strongly attached to it, and our greediness that arises due to our incessant pursuits to satisfy its cravings has in turn created immeasurable negative karma for us.

 

5. Diseases are inevitable with this illusory body of ours, but they are not as perilous as the ailments of delusion, greed, anger, and ignorance. The latter will keep us in the cycle of rebirths if we do not find a cure. The most effective prescription is reciting "Amitabha Buddha," and retaining right mindfulness at our deathbed is crucial. At that critical moment, if we can recite "Amitabha Buddha" distinctly and steadily, by the mercy of the Buddha we will be able to transcend the six divisions of rebirth. Otherwise, with our consciousness inverted, where will we end up after we die?

 

6. Very few people can enjoy blessed rewards throughout their lives. The extent of rewards you can enjoy is proportional to the degree of hardships you endure.

 

7. Master Hsu Yun used to live a very simple life. He wore clothes with multi-layered

patches and could not even count on food for the next meal. But such hardships did not deter him from diligent practice. He has only one goal in mind: to be liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

 

8. If we wreck anything because of our carelessness, we are at fault and have to take the consequences.

 

9. Be careful on what you do for nothing is beyond the law of karma; even things as trivial as throwing away edible food or letting it spoil will have their consequences. Nobody can take the consequences for what you do, and there is no escape from the law of karma. "What you eat feed yourself only. Similarly, the matter of your own birth and death can only be taken care of by yourself."

 

10. Handle with care those papers printed or written with words. It would be better to burn them (than throw them into the garbage dump). This is also a virtue.

 

11. Practice relinquishing the attachments of your sense organs to the six gunas (sense objects). Otherwise, the thing you crave for will appear at your deathbed to distract you. If it prevails and your mind is inverted, you will remain in the cycle of rebirths. Practice relinquishing all your discriminations between self and others and your judgements of right or wrong. Then, when you are breathing your last, this practice will help you transcend your karmic obstructions and the cycle of birth and death.

 

12. Do not mistake this physical form of ours as the real "self." It is nothing but a temporary and illusive outer case bearing our karma. The real "self" is our "tathata," or buddha-nature immanent within our minds, which can neither be born nor be destroyed (i.e. permanent, transcending birth and death). Therefore, we should, through diligent practice, retrieve this intrinsic nature and confront everything with our buddha-mind.

 

13. Monastic practitioners should concentrate on practice; nothing else should distract their attention. Lay people who do not realize the need for practice are living in inverted dreams, their fettered mind bugged by incessant vexations. They dream not only in their sleep but also while they are awake. Time passes as they watch their lives slip by, like watching a movie. To them, life is nothing but a longer dream.

 

14. It is not easy or just by coincidence that we acquire this human existence. Seize this opportunity and practice diligently so as to eradicate our sense of greed and free ourselves from the agony of birth, aging, disease, and death, hence the cycle of rebirths. With this human existence, we can either practice to attain buddhahood or bodhisattvahood, or generate negative karma that would lead to rebirth in the three evil divisions (beasts, hungry ghosts, and hell). Whether we will ascend or descend within the ten dharma realms depends on our conduct in this human rebirth. Therefore, human existence is a crucial turning point that should not be taken lightly, nor be wasted in vain.

Dharma : Analects of Master Kuang Chin : Chapter 11 - On a simple life

Chapter 11 - On a Simple Life

1. Nowadays, everybody, either living at home or in the monastery, enjoys a very comfortable life. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily a blessing as it can easily lead to a degenerated and disorganized lifestyle and bring about calamity. If you further indulge yourself in the pursuit of sensual passions hence spoil this body of yours, you are also more likely to suffer from all sorts of disease.

 

2. In order to practice, you have to relinquish your attachments to physical gratification and live a simple life. If you enjoy and are contented with plain food and clothing, you will be happy all the time. On the other hand, if you pay too much attention to the qualities of food, clothing, and housing, etc., then you will be no different from a lay person. Only be relinquishing all your attachments to physical satisfaction can you expect to eliminate your greed, anger and ignorance. As you know, a lavish lifestyle will inevitably induce more desire and arouse greediness in you. In due course, the five skandhas (form, sensation, perception, volition and consciousness) will have a firm grip of both your body and your mind. And as you immerse yourself in these impurities, you can never be free. Thus, "relinquishing attachments to the body" should begin by simplifying your clothing, food, and living conditions.

 

3. Practice should begin with consuming only "plain food and clothing." Unfortunately, people nowadays (practitioners included) tend to pay a great deal of attention to what they eat or wear and often preoccupy themselves all day long for such pursuits. As a result, practitioners not only cannot reduce their negative karma, but their merits and wisdom accumulated in previous lives will be drained. Then their karmic obstructions will naturally come forth.

 

4. What is the essence of "simple food and clothing?" It certainly doesn't mean that you should give up food or clothes. Rather, just feed yourself without craving the taste and keep yourself warm without pursuing a lavish style. Also, you should get enough sleep so as to be energetic, but do not oversleep lest you feel slumberous. If you insist on the extremes of no food or sleep thereby spoiling your health and feeling even less at ease in the monastery, it will also spoil your efforts of leaving home for practice.

 

5. People are often driven blindly by their sensual desires. For example, some people are willing to kill just to satisfy their palate, not knowing they might be eating the flesh of their relatives from previous lives. Besides, according to the law of karma, you have to repay in full everything you do. Though you have acquired human existence in this life, you are still confined to the vicious cycle of demanding and repaying the debts from previous lives. If you do not practice diligently in search for a way out, you will be forever imprisoned in this cycle of rebirths.

 

6. Do not crave for more than you actually need. All you require is enough to sustain your life. If you eat more just because there is plenty available, it only reflects the greediness of your mind. However, don't deliberately eat less and starve yourself, for this is also a form of attachment. How much you should eat depends on how much you need.Have enough food, but make no distinction of taste.

 

7. Eat only to sustain your life. If you indulge yourself in the pursuit of satisfying your palate, you are enslaved by your mouth. It not only will increase the burden of your digestive system, but also will increase your sense of illusion, dispersion, and attachment. Life should be simple: eat so that you won't starve and wear so that you can cover yourself and keep warm; that's sufficient.

 

8. If you are used to living lavishly and being waited on, you can easily become arrogant. Also, the smarter you are, the stronger your sense of "self" will be. Without using Buddhadharma as an antidote to reflect on yourself thereby learn to repent and be humble, it will be very difficult for you to break out of the confinement of the form of "self".

 

9. Food, clothing, and housing are necessary to sustain our lives, but avoid consuming more than the basics. If you pursue a lavish lifestyle instead of restraining your sensual passions, you not only will be unable to reduce your negative karma, but will add more to it thus generate bitter fruits for yourself.

 

10. While eating, ponder gratefully, "Where does the food come from and how does it get here?" Introspect: "Have I practiced diligently to deserve this food?" Without a sense of appreciation, even a casual comment such as "the food tastes awful" will cost you some merit.

 

11. If, instead of enduring hardships and relinquishing your desires, you insist on eating well and living comfortably, why bother leaving home for practice? What differences are there between you and any layman? We monastic practitioners should not pay too much attention on satisfying our sensual desires. As long as the food is edible and sufficient, do not insist on good flavor. Only through such practice can we expect to relinquish our desires and unfold our wisdom.

 

12. Working in the kitchen of the monastery is following the path of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. In fact, many great bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara and Manjusri have practiced asceticism through working in the kitchen. The kitchen is a place where you can easily either amass or waste away your merits. Do not casually throw away edible food or leftovers lest you should bear the consequences, such as to be reborn as a chicken, duck, pig, or dog and all you can eat are leftovers or spoiled food.

 

13. Recite silently before each meal: "I vow to annihilate all the vice, to practice all the virtue, and to deliver all sentient beings." To annihilate all the "vice" means eradicating all sinister thoughts at their incipience. For example, picking the better part from a dish reflects clearly a sense of "discrimination" and "covetousness." Thoughts of this nature are sinister and should be eliminated.

 

14. Once we leave home for practice, the world is our home. We should be able to practice anywhere we are, so why look for any particular place? What matters is our resolve, not a specific type of monastery that caters to our wish. With resolve, we can feel at home and make progress in our practice even only residing in a bamboo shelter in the woods. Our minds will be stable as long as we have the resolve to overcome any and all obstacles. With determination and an unwavering mind, we can practice wherever we are.

 

15. Before plunging into any type of ascetic practice such as never lying down to sleep, one has to start with relinquishing the pursuit of physical gratification. After you are free of sensual passions as well as of the defilement of greed, anger, and ignorance, your illusive ideas will naturally diminish. At that stage, you can venture into the more advanced steps in Zen practice.

 

16. This world is nothing but our temporary residence. Everything in this world is like a phantasm or a magical delusion, as unreal as things in our dream or in a drama. Do not mistake the seeming for the being thereby long for anything in this world. Relinquish all attachments, practice reciting the name of the Buddha, and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land. Only Amitabha Buddha is our ultimate refuge and the Pure Land our true homeland.

Dharma : Analects of Master Kuang Chin : Chapter 10 - On Habitual Patterns

Chapter 10 – On Habitual Patterns

1. Good-natured, even-tempered people are more accommodating and can get along with others wherever they go. However, being "accommodating" does not suggest that we should comply with whatever others say. Rather, we should keep a clear head as to the nature of the situation and use our own judgement. When things contradict the Dharma,(instead of going along,) we should stick to our own principles.

 

2. People may have bad habits, but they are not necessarily evil. Everyone is under the influence of varying degrees of habitual tendencies hence wrongdoing is inevitable. As long as the wrongdoer is willing to repent and rectify his/her misconduct, be as tolerant and forgiving as possible. There is no need to regard him/her as evil.

 

3. A little story: A had a habit of spitting all over the places and B tended to be

suspicious. One day A spit in front of B. B considered it an insult and started a brawl. C knew about the habits of these two and came to mediate. Both knew they had been wrong and were determined to change. In the end, A stopped spitting and B overcame his suspiciousness.

 

4. Some people are in the habit of criticizing others whenever they open their mouth, even though they do not do it intentionally, nor do they realize that they are indeed"gossiping." This kind of habitual pattern is the result of continual repetition through the eons.

 

5. Another story: There were two people, one is beautiful, the other ugly. The latter realized her deficiency and tried to compensate by using heavy make-up. The effect, however, was quite the opposite. She might as well let it be.

 

6. We cannot expect someone to govern a nation well if he can not even handle his own family affairs. Likewise, there is a sequence according to which we should proceed our practice. First of all, we should get rid of our negative habitual patterns as well as all the bad seeds of delusion and vexation. Only by then will we be capable of leading the laity in practice and of converting other beings.

 

7. The greatest of our habitual tendencies caused by delusion is that we only see the

mistakes of others, but seldom reflect on the shortcomings of our own.

 

8. Due to a lack of trials through hardships, those growing up under protective parents are most likely to become immature and weak in character. On the other hand, those who have to fight for a living tend to be more courageous and capable. For example, the little monkeys held closely by their mothers might be smothered while those who live independently in the jungles survive well. This is also true in our practice: the best conditions for practice are adverse conditions. That's why those who are most proficient in forbearance usually have experienced numerous circumstances that require their utmost tolerance. Therefore, adverse conditions should be regarded as challenging components aiding our practice.

 

9. We practitioners should not allow old habits and set patterns to take charge of our lives. If we do, not only will we be unable to make any progress in practice, but we also will create negative karma through our words. Remember, "What you eat feed yourself only. Similarly, the matter of your own birth and death can only be taken care of by yourself." Nobody -- not your loving family members or even your son -- can die (or live) for you. The only way you can learn how to walk the path to the Pure Land is through diligent recitation of the Buddha's name to the extent that you yourself can see clearly the path of birth and death.