The world of Tzu Chi February 2020 (Vol.119)

TZU CHI 119 53 Just at that moment, a king leading his victorious army happened to pass by. He heard the shout echoing in the air, “I’ve won, I’ve done it!” Far off, he saw the unusually joyful monk, so he rode over and asked, “What have you won? Why are you so excited?” “I battled against the evil in my mind and I won,” the monk said. “Now all my attachments are gone.” The king saw that the monk was so happy and that in his heart he was truly free and at ease. “I’m a powerful king and can lead thousands of soldiers and horses into battle,” the king thought to himself. “But even though I’ve won, do I have peace of mind? Am I happy?” He realized that his victory was not as great as this monk’s. Although he had conquered another country, it was only a superficial victory. The king really admired the monk. He felt that one who had conquered the devils in his own heart was a real saint, while one who had only conquered a human enemy was just an ordinary person. * This article is extracted from the book “The Master Tells Stories”. From this, we know it is very important to remove anxieties. We often say, “Forget about it, just let it go.” This is much easier said than done. Because it is not easy to do, it is called “spiritual formation”. If we always stubbornly cling to our attachments, we will often make trouble for ourselves and other people. Delusion and anxiety trap us in the cycles of reincarnation. It is like a rope that is all knotted up. In order to untangle it, we must give up our attachments. That farmer could not part with the hoe that he had carried every day. After seven or eight years of spiritual formation, even though the hoe was not in his hands, it was still in his heart. He was not able to be truly free until he threw it far into the lake.