Don't Push for Speed
No
matter what method you use in applying your effort at cultivating the
Way -- whether it be reciting the Buddha's name, holding mantras,
studying the teachings, holding precepts, meditating, cultivating the
Pure Land School, the Teachings School, and so on -- you shouldn't be
greedy for quick results. If you are greedy for a quick accomplishment
you will make a mistake. Greed for speedy success still boils down to
having a greed-mind, and that will obstruct your wisdom on the causal
ground. It will also obstruct the light of your self-nature, because
the light of your self-nature doesn't have any greed in it. Never has
there been an efficacious response founded on greed. If you retain a
greed mind while you cultivate the Way, it's like having a piece of
gold and covering it up with dirt. So, don't be greedy for quantity or
speed, don't try to get off easy without doing the requisite work. If
you don't have a greedy mind, you can put things down. If you can put
things down, you can obtain samadhi, and only after obtaining samadhi
can you open great wisdom. All of you should very deeply understand
this. Don't be greedy for speed. If you crazed over the idea of getting
there quickly, you won't arrive at your destination. For instance, if
you want to go to New York and wish to get there fast but don't do the
necessary things to get there -- such as taking a plane, or a train, or
a bus -- but just figure, "I'll get there on my own two legs, and I'll
get there quickly!" then you'll rush on and die of fatigue and not get
there at all. Cultivating the way is also like that. You do everything
very naturally. You should apply your effort very naturally and you
shouldn't think about whether or not it's being effective or whether
you are obtaining any good results. Don't think about anything at all.
Just go forward in applying your effort -- continue with your hard work.
Moreover,
every day you should change your faults -- this is really important. If
in any single day you don't find any faults to correct, then for that
day you won't have made any progress. People who want to work hard at
their cultivation shouldn't think, "I have been reciting Earth Store
Bodhisattva's name and petitioning him to do something for me." On the
contrary, you should recite for everyone in the world so that the world
won't have any calamities or disasters. You don't need to be reciting
for yourself. Don't be like an opium smoker, greedy for the quick high,
so he smokes opium. Then, after he gets high, he comes down again and
wants another fix. People can develop a similarly unhealthy attitude
toward cultivating the Way. But if you don't have a greedy mind for the
results, just that is the manifestation of proper mindfulness, in which
case you will truly be able to apply effort. Proper mindfulness is just
the proper thought for cultivation -- not having any greed. Not trying
to get off cheap. You shouldn't have the thought that today you are
going to cultivate the Way and tomorrow you will become a Buddha,
because in that principle doesn't exist anywhere. You can't dig a well
in a single thrust.
Listen to Yourself, Think Everything Over, Vol. 2 p.48
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