ETHICAL DISCIPLINE BEGINS WITH ENDURING
Master Jun Hong Lu: I hope all of you will go all out to practise the act of giving. What can you give? Your heart, of course! You need to go all out in being kind to others, in being generous, patient and in maintaining a peaceful state. Unfortunately, you are lagging far behind.
Let me make it very clear to all of you: Be unceasingly diligent; that is, you must be unstoppable as you forge ahead. After some time, one fine day, when your karmic obstacles are exhausted, and your karmic reward has come to fruition, you will ascend to a point of non-regression. In other words, it is absolutely possible for your karmic obstacles to be wiped out.
Today, a caller who had made a prior appointment with me asked whether it was possible to minimise the pain at the point of his death. I responded, “First and foremost, you must be diligent in your practice. Make it an unstoppable quest so that your karmic obstacles will gradually be cleared. Any remaining karmic obstacles will cause you pain when you pass away.
What can we do to free ourselves from karmic obstacles? That’s simple. Assuming you have 53 shortcomings but you tackle them bit by bit every day, you will surely be able to eliminate them all.
In the past, say, you had 180 shortcomings, and from now onwards, you make sure you overcome each and every one of them. During this period, if you keep reciting the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance daily to eliminate your karmic obstacles and you avoid committing new karma, that’s it, that’s the end. Gradually, you will no longer be burdened by karmic obstacles.
This is why I am telling all of you, in this case, when the karmic reward ripens, you will reach the state of non-regression. In fact, the day you become a Bodhisattva, you will never backslide in your practice. This is what I intended to convey to all of you today. If you aspire to become a Buddha, you should never ever regress in your practice because the moment you do, all your prior effort will go down the drain.
It’s my hope that in your spiritual cultivation journey, all of you have your daily goals to work towards. Ask yourself, “What’s my goal for today?” For example, you tell yourself, “I will learn to practise patient endurance. I will check on myself whether I will get upset when my husband reprimands me or when I have been wronged”. Set yourself a daily goal and keep practising it until you eventually become a Bodhisattva.
If you can still smile even after being scolded or remain indifferent after being criticised, do you think you will suffer from high blood pressure? Conversely, if you bottle up your emotions, you will still fall ill. When you can’t contain your emotions and they stew inside you, a kind of energy will wreak havoc in your body, leading to health problems. Therefore, while waiting for the day to come when you can be free of karmic obstacles, you must put in your best effort every single day.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 9 Chapter 35
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