The world of Tzu Chi (Vol.111)

TZU CHI 111 51 THREE WAYS TO THE PURE LAND if we have no food to eat or no clothes to wear, we cannot abandon the precepts or our spiritual aspirations. The precepts are a spiritual practitioner’s armour Spiritual cultivation is not easy. We have to undergo a long period of mental struggle before we can truly step onto the path of spiritual practice. The life of a spiritual practitioner is vastly different from the lifestyle that most people lead. In society, people seek personal recognition and wealth, but in spiritual practice, what we seek is truth and virtue. In our daily living, it is difficult to avoid a sense of conflict between the two lifestyles, which makes it hard for our minds to settle down. It takes a long time to overcome the conflicting thoughts in our minds and resolve to engage in spiritual cultivation. If, after we have done all that, we depart from the right path, we need to start all over again and relive the process of organizing our confused thoughts and eliminating the desire for personal recognition and wealth. Life is impermanent. How many chances will we have to start over? Spiritual cultivation requires determination and patience. We cannot try one thing today and another tomorrow, for we would then constantly be starting over without ever reaching our goal. Learning the Buddha’s Way requires us to be persistent. Not for one moment should we stray from the Buddha’s teachings and the path of spiritual practice. Otherwise, the desire for personal recognition and wealth will immediately arise; we must therefore be vigilant. Our aspiration to learn the Buddha’s Way must not be like the constantly changing weather. It is very dangerous to engage in spiritual practice with excessive intensity and expect immediate results. It would be like having too much rain fall all at once, resulting in a disaster. If there is rain for a day and a drought for the next six months, then our Bodhicitta will wither and die. Therefore, our spiritual cultivation should be like a gentle stream of water that flows forth steadily and at a constant speed, recognizing that the moment we lose our spiritual aspirations, worldly desires will take over. The aspiration to engage in spiritual practice and the desire for worldly things are at constant war with each other. When our spiritual aspirations retreat even a little, worldly desires will advance and occupy the mind. That was why the Buddha compared spiritual practitioners to soldiers on the battlefield, fearlessly fighting against all kinds of ignorance and negative habitual tendencies. On the spiritual battlefield, the precepts are the practitioners’ armour that protects them from their foes. The Buddha’s advice before entering Parinirvana The Buddha taught the Dharma for forty-nine years; the last seven years before he entered Parinirvana, he expounded the Lotus Sutra . After giving his last lecture, he felt that one thing remained for him to do: to repay his mother’s kindness. After he became the Buddha, he led his wife and son, and his aunt who raised him, to become monastic practitioners. He also taught and