Elder Mengsan: Don’t be greedy for the big and the big

　　Combining Buddhism with daily life to verify this mind is nothing more than a method of training the mind. I have said so much in a complicated way, all of which are explaining "refining the mind".

　　“Where should we practice to cultivate our hearts?Just in life!It’s just that you face everything!After processing, you will know whether your mood is calm or turbulent?Do you have the ability or don’t have the ability?Only you know the best.

　　I give an example of reading the Diamond Sutra myself.After I was rehabilitated, I returned to the Chinese Buddhist Academy to teach and started reading the Diamond Sutra. At that time, I read it completely different from what I had learned, listened to, and said before, and seemed very unfamiliar.

　　Master Cizhou and Master Nengxu also said it before, but when I recalled what they said, I felt that I didn’t understand it very much. Instead, I started reading the Diamond Sutra from that time onwards.Ten years later, I suddenly answered all the questions. How did this come about?It was earned after reading the Diamond Sutra for ten years.At this time, do you think there is a state of enlightenment?No.But I can already answer my previous doubts.

　　After understanding the Diamond Sutra, look at other scriptures such as the Amitabha Sutra. They are all the same and the same questions can be understood.If I continue to study for ten years, I think the situation will change.When reading the scriptures, my heart wanders and my thoughts are chaotic. Although I am not wandering around, I have returned to my previous state, which is wrong.

　　When reading the scriptures, the mind does not live in the scriptures. In other words, if you eat but you don’t live in the meal or drink water, the mind runs away, and there is nothing you can do. The benefits you get from reading and reciting the scriptures like this are very little.Although every sutra says that what kind of blessings you will get when you read this sutra are all unreliable.

　　The merit is because when you read the scriptures, your mind produces the "clearness" of Prajna, and there is a kind of "lighting wisdom". This is to discuss the merits in terms of interpretation.If you only read the words and think you can have great merits, will you have merits?Yes, but the merits of your wisdom cannot be replaced by each other.

　　Let me give you another example of chanting scriptures. Do you have any mind wandering around and don’t know wherever you go?

　　Also, the phone call happened to come when you recite the scriptures. Regardless of whether you have finished reciting the scriptures, go and answer the phone. Is this sutra considered complete?If you answer the phone, you cannot continue to recite the part you just had not completed, and you must start chanting the scriptures from the beginning.

　　I occasionally enter into meditation when I read the Mahayana sutra, and it seems that I will finish reciting it soon. It usually takes twenty minutes to read the Diamond Sutra, but today I suddenly can finish reciting it in just ten minutes. Thinking about it carefully, I did not miss any passage of sutra!That's because your spirit is particularly concentrated today, so you have gained this, but you have to determine it yourself and you can't see anything fake.

　　The same is true for chanting Buddha’s name!

　　First, count, and count the numbers without even the numbers. This is the case when we recite sutras and chant Buddha's name. Those who can recite seem to have no sutras they recite. Are you still chanting?Didn't you read it?More than forty minutes passed in a row, which is also a good phenomenon. This is when your heart understands it and gradually becomes quiet.

　　No matter which method you practice, you will have a lot of experiences. Everyone will have it, but the depth and length of time vary. How much time does everyone put in?I can only accept it myself, and it does not apply to others. You are you, he is him, right?

　　When we look at other people's states, we cannot move them to ourselves. That is not applicable, because sometimes it is just a brief silence in our hearts. You have not yet obtained it. If you want to truly enter into meditation, I may not be able to do it in this life.

　　What are the problems of us who have just believed in Buddhism?Too greedy.Greedy, greedy for too much;When you read the Universal Door Chapter, you will read the Universal Door Chapter;When you look at Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s Ten Great Vows, this is good, and you can recite it;The Diamond Sutra is also good;I want to be born in the Pure Land and recite the Amitabha Sutra.It has increased too much, and in the end, I will not read anything and cannot afford it.

　　If you want to go deep into one subject, I will recite one sutra;Those who call the holy name will have only one holy name, so as not to recite "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" and "Amitabha Buddha";Recite "Amitabha" and "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva".While chanting, "Amitabha" is a little bit floating.Just recite one, the merits are the same, it is just to cultivate your mind. This is the method to cultivate the mind.

　　You must be unswerving in this way, don’t retreat, be less, be more refined, and don’t break.If you break too much, you will lose your merits.Moreover, when you practice any method, there will be any demonic obstacles when you cut it off. It is not an evil demon, but a good demon, and the guardian is here to be polite to you and should not be cut off.If you learn again, repent, and continue to recite, you will still be blessed, the same thing.

Reprinted from: Learning Buddhism from the Blog by Meng Lao