The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.116)

TZU CHI 116 55 * This article is extracted from the book “The Master Tells Stories”. howling the previous night. The monks said, “Yes, it howled so sadly.” “Do you know why? In his last life, the fox was a monk, but when he was meditating, even though his body was still, his mind wandered everywhere. One time, the sound and the shape of a fox arose in his mind, so after he died, he was reborn as a fox. Now whenever he thinks about his current existence as a fox, he howls unceasingly.” Buddha continued, “The most important thing in cultivating morality is to cultivate wisdom, bringing the body and the mind together. When you are in meditation, you cannot physically sit still and let your mind be full of thoughts and fantasies. If you cannot control your mind, you will fail.” It is clear that spiritual formation is not a matter of external appearances. The most important thing is to abide by the precepts. The proper ways of walking, standing, sitting and sleeping all start from abiding by the precepts. True spiritual formation is to be done at every moment. If a person’s body is here but his mind is in the past or the future, then his mind is muddled and confused. Everyone must remember: the precepts are our rules. We must pay close attention to our behaviour. If we let our attention wander even a little, the results may be unthinkable. In this world, we do not have the right to own anything, but only the right to use things. We must grasp every moment and work hard. In our cycle of reincarnation, it is rare to be born as a human and to encounter the Buddhist teachings. Since we are human beings and can hear the Buddhist Dharma, we should diligently follow the Path of the Bodhisattvas so that our lives will not be wasted.