Chapter 34: Being in the middle gains the Dao
A Sramaṇa
recited the Scripture of The Legacy of The Teachings Said by The Buddha Kasyapa
at night. His voice was showed sad and tight. He felt remorseful and would like
to retreat. The Buddha asked him and said,” What was your career when you were
at home? He answered and said,” I like to play the stringed instrument.” The
Buddha said,” What would happen when the string is loose?” He answered and
said, ”Do not sound anymore.” The Buddha said,” What would happen when the
string is tight? He answered and said,” The sound breaks and stops.“ The Buddha
said,” What would happen if the string is in the middle between the loose and
the tight?” He answered and said.” All sounds ring melodiously.” The Buddha
said,” A Sramaṇa learning the Dao is as like these. If the heart is adjusted in
a proper way, the Dao can be gained. If being irritable in the Dao, being
irritable is the tired body. If being tired in the body, any nuisance would be
occurred from any thought instantly. If any nuisance is occurred from any
thought, the practicing would be retreated. Since the practicing is retreated,
the sin would be added certainly. Once being clear, pure, peaceful and happy,
the Dao won’t be lost.”
“A Sramaṇa recited the Scripture of The Legacy of The Teachings
Said by The Buddha Kasyapa at night. His voice was showed sad and tight. He
felt remorseful and would like to retreat.”
Buddha Kasyapa is the Buddha Shakyamuni’s teacher. In the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, there is no one who could become Buddha without the guidance of a teacher who has proved the Dao, realized the truth, achieved the Buddhahood, and become Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni accepted the guiding and teaching of Buddha Kasyapa so as to be Buddha. When each Buddha would enter into the Nirvana and pass away, it would leave the final teachings to its disciples as wisdom property to enlighten its disciples. Such wisdom property can be named as the property of wisdom, the property of teaching, or the legacy of wisdom or the legacy of teaching.
At night, a
Buddhist monk recited the Scripture of The Legacy of The Teachings Said by The
Buddha Kasyapa. The voice of the Buddhist monk was showed sad and tight, which
means his mood is in heavy and unhappily. In learning Buddhism, he felt repentant
and would like to retreat, which may be the general feeling and situation for
everyone who would experience such event in learning Buddhism.
Whatever we are
Buddhist monk or not, we have to accept the strictly teaching of Buddha and
actually practice it in daily life, if we have decided to learn Buddhism and
have vowed to become Buddha. It is not only coming from the demanding by self,
but also coming from the care and teaching by all Buddha and Bodhisattva. For
the beginners, they have not yet understood the true meaning of Dao and cannot
handle the good way to realize it. Meanwhile, their heart and mood in learning
Buddhism have not yet been in stability.
In other word,
their situation in learning Buddhism and practicing the Dao are as wood
floating up and down in the river. That is, there are no firm will and belief
in their heart. In such circumstance, once there are any frustrations in their
mind, they would be regretful to join in the line in learning Buddha and shrink
from learning Buddhism. Therefore, it is not only to hear, think, and practice
the Buddhism, but also have to know how to use the good and proper way. The
mostly importance is to have the firm will and belief to learn Buddha. In this
chapter, the Buddha teach us how to use the good and proper way to learn
Buddha, so that we can learn Buddha in the easily and happily way. Whatever we
are learning, such way is good and proper to us to learn everything.
The Buddha asked him and said,” What was your career when you were
at home? He answered and said,” I like to play the stringed instrument.” The
Buddha said,” What would happen when the string is loose?” He answered and
said, ”Do not sound anymore.”
According to everyone’s intelligence, ability, or condition, a good teacher would give the learner good and proper teaching. There are a lot of stories in Buddhism which talked about how the Buddha or the Zen-Master teaches the different learner to enlighten their wisdom. You would find the stories in the articles in this blog.
For this story, when
the Buddhist monk had not yet left his family, his worldly profession was a
player of stringed instrument. The Buddha taught him how to adjust his step to
balance his life in learning Buddhism according to his worldly job. The Buddha
asked him what would happen when the string is loose. The Buddhist monk
answered that there was no longer sounding.
When the string
is loose, it is as if we are not diligent in learning the Dao or anything. When
we are lazy to learn anything, anything could not be gained by us and any
achievement could not be reached, which is as if no sound anymore.
The Buddha said,” What would happen when the string is tight? He
answered and said,” The sound breaks and stops.“
When the string is tight, it is as if we are too anxiety and nervous in hard-working in learning the Dao or anything, and it thus makes us unable to digest and absorb the teaching of Buddha, which is as if the sound breaks and stops.
The Buddha said,” What would happen if the string is in the middle
between the loose and the tight?” He answered and said.” All sounds ring
melodiously.” The Buddha said,” A Sramaṇa learning the Dao is as like these.
When the string is adjusted in the middle between the loose and the tight, it means that the tuning of the string is just right and it is as if we are in the correct situation and use the proper way in learning the Dao or anything. The Dao or anything can be gained by us in a proper way which is as if all sounds ring melodiously, and it is so perfect.
A Buddhist monk
learning the Dao is as like these. No matter we are Buddhist monk or not, when
we learn the Dao, we should keep our life in the status of non-slow and
non-urgent. The Buddha also taught us that we should keep our mood in the
status of non-sad and non-happy, and of non-joy and non-angry, which is to keep
our mood in the status of peace and stability. In such status, our physical and
mental will be in the health, and our thinking and judgment will be more
correct.
Emotional
fluctuations will not only affect our physical and mental health, but also
affect our thinking and judgment. When people’s personality is in the status of
the impatience, undisciplined or idleness, their physical and mental health are
mostly not in the good situation, and their thinking and judgment are usually
not in the good way. Therefore, it is better for us to keep our mind and step
in life in a middle way.
If the heart is adjusted in a proper way, the Dao can be gained.
If being irritable in the Dao, being irritable is the tired body. If being
tired in the body, any nuisance would be occurred from any thought instantly.
“If the heart is adjusted in a proper way, the Dao can be gained.”
which means that a Buddhist monk
should keep mindful in the middle-Dao, and often keep the thought in the
mindfulness, which means not stubbornly obsessing about the right of the Dao or
the left of the Dao. No matter stubbornly obsessing about the emptiness or the
existence, or stubbornly obsessing about the past, the present or the future, or
stubbornly obsessing about the Theravada or the Mahayana, it is a status of
partial opinion. If we are in the partial opinion, it is impossible for us to
gain the Dao. Gaining the Dao means to realize the truth and to make the truth
done in our daily life. Whatever we are Buddhist monk or not, to realize the
truth is not the patent belonging to the Buddhist monk. Buddhist monk is just a
kind of form and body. Whatever our appearance, body, gender or race is, everyone
can realize the truth by self, according to the teaching of Buddha.
“If being irritable in the Dao, being irritable is the tired body.” which means that, if we are irritable and
impatient in learning the Dao, we will feel tired in the body. When we feel
tired in the body, we easily appear the emotion of irritable and impatient in
the process of Dao-learning. That is, the irritable and the impatience itself
is the tired body.
For the beginners
in learning the Dao, they have to follow the guidance of the Master, and to
obey the precepts, and to do a lot of homework, such as reciting the scripture,
repenting the wrongdoing by worshiping before the Buddha statue, and
meditating. Meanwhile, they have to live in a disciplined way. And there are
distributive work belonged to them for running the life of group in the temple.
Such training is very strict in the monastery and is the basic to learn the
Dao, because it is the basic method to train the mind and thought in the
correct direction, meanwhile, to keep the body in a healthy way.
If the beginners
cannot endure the strict and simple life in the group, or they are urgent to
reach the goal what they have set, they will feel irritable and impatient in
the mental. Meanwhile, they will feel tired in the body.
“If being tired in the body, any nuisance would be occurred from
any thought instantly.” which
means that, if we are tired in the body, we are easily to have any negative
thought and behavior accordingly, and to complaint everything, which can become
any trouble and annoyance and thus to hinder the self-learning and break any
self-achievement. Any nuisance is coming from the self-thought. Therefore, if
we want to eliminate any nuisance, we have to train our thought in the positive
way so as to keep our thought correct and positive. Any concept or event is
coming from the emptiness. Similarly, any nuisance is also coming from the
emptiness.
Therefore, we can
find that we can keep our thought in the emptiness and we can decide what kind
of concept or event to be occurred from our thought. Then, we might have some
self-questions. Why we let any nuisance to be occurred from our thought? Why we
let any nuisance to disturb our life? Why we let any nuisance to restrict our
ability of creation? As a smart guy, we definitely decide not to let it
happened. Such power of wisdom and of control is in the self. It is one of the
reasons to keep learning the Dao for us. All the function of Buddha-law is to
train our thought so as to keep it in a correct and positive situation, and
thus to make us not to occur any nuisance. Then, we can do anything in a
correct and positive way based on the emptiness.
If any nuisance is occurred from any thought, the practicing would
be retreated. Since the practicing is retreated, the sin would be added
certainly. Once being clear, pure, peaceful and happy, the Dao won’t be lost.”
“If any nuisance is occurred from any thought, the practicing would be retreated.” which means that, any nuisance occurred from our thought would occupy our mind and thus become obstacle in our thought, behavior and action in daily life, we would give up the practicing in Dao accordingly. As we have mentioned above, when any nuisance is coming from our thought, our mind cannot be in the status of clearness and peace, and our thinking and judgment may be incorrect. Such event would be happened not only in learning the Dao, but also in learning anything. It is suitable for everyone to know such event, whatever what you are learning.
“Since the practicing is retreated, the sin would be added
certainly.” which means that,
if we give up the practicing in Dao, we would go astray, and our thought and
behavior is deviating from the path of integrity. Any wrongdoing or sin would
be added certainly and accordingly. In other words, the evil karma is
increasing.
“Once being clear, pure, peaceful and happy, the Dao won’t be
lost.” which means that, if we keep our heart
in the status of clear, pure, peaceful and happy, we can gain the Dao. That is,
the heart in such status itself is the Dao. It is so clear and simple. However,
few people can prove it. Human beings in the embryo are in the status of clear
and simple. However, they are born with desire in the world. Their heart is gradually
polluted by the outside environment and conditions, and any weird and distorted
concept and dogma are planted in their mind, which makes their heart no longer
clear and simple. Any temptation and vice habits promote them to keep going the
wrong way and doing the wrong.
Even though any
nuisance is coming from the self-thought, it is still demanding the catalyst
coming from the outside conditions to trigger it to happen. The outside
conditions are the changing of appearance of anything, which is fugacious and
is like phantom. However, people regard it as reality and stubbornly obsess
about it. The fact is that, there is nothing there. All is combined with causes
and conditions so as to happen. When people could not clearly see the fact, any
nuisance would be happened from the self-thought and mind. If people could not understand
this truth, the more hard-working in learning Buddhism would be fake and vain.
Therefore, in
fact, any nuisance is not existed originally and is appeared from the link of
causes and conditions. However, for the beginners, they do not understand it
and do a lot of hard-working to learn Buddhism, and thus to make self so tired,
and to generate a lot of nuisance by self. There is a saying, “There is no
event between heaven and earth originally, which people worry about it by themselves.”
This chapter is
to teach the beginners and those who study the Buddhism diligently without
balance in life, and to encourage them. In a word, for them, there is a lot of
nuisance in their mind. But, how we eliminate any nuisance, if we are those
persons? As the mentioned above, no matter what we are learning, it is
important for us to keep the physical and mental in a status of balance, as if
the string of stringed instrument, to keep it not too tight and not too loose, and
to let it keep in a proper way is the best.
That is, we do
the work when we need doing the work. We rest when we need to rest. We study
anything when we need it. When we are learning the Dao, we are neither
impatient nor idle, neither nervous nor disorderly. And our steps are neither
urgent nor slow. We assure that our will and step are in the firm and
stability. Then, our wisdom would be naturally and gradually enlightened. And
we can achieve our goal and gain the Dao finally.
Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated
from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or
religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original
meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life
that we can learn and practice in our lives.
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