IT IS ONLY THROUGH CALMNESS THAT YOU SEE THE TRUTH
Master Jun Hong Lu: As Buddhist practitioners, you should actively practise concentration. What is concentration? No matter what suffering and tragedy you are faced with, you need to stay calm, unperplexed and untroubled by what you see. This is because what you see today may not even be real. When others tell you, “This is good and that is bad”, even if you see it with your own eyes, it may not be real. You should instead use your wisdom and your heart to perceive the true essence of all things.
For example, someone talks bad about your father or mother. When you return home, you confront and ask your father, “Why did you do such a thing? Dad, why did you do that?”
Assuming someone tells you, “Your dad is picking things outside, things that others throw away, in order to make ends meet”. When you return home, you feel disgusted when you see your dad taking out what he had collected and you say, “Dad, why did you make me look bad? Why did you collect these things that people threw away in broad daylight? You are such a disgrace!”.
The reality is, your father is just being frugal. He is merely hoping to earn a little more by selling those items so that his family can scrape by. Indeed, the love of a father and a mother knows no bounds.
What we see with our own eyes may not even be the truth, the same goes to what we perceive as evil. This is why Bodhisattva wants us to apply our wisdom to comprehend what we are doing today.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Episode 11, 12 March 2020
< About Spiritual Cultivation