6 November marks the third anniversary of beloved Master’s nirvana day. What our Master has planted in us is far more valuable than anything in the world. We, the disciples, are His life’s work and we couldn’t be more grateful for His utmost dedication, love, kindness, wit and humour in transforming us into a true Buddhist practitioner.
Three years have come to pass since our Master’s nirvana. How have we been doing in our spiritual cultivation? Has it been an easy journey? Has our faith remained as equally vibrant as the teachings our Master left us with? Or, are you feeling…..
- A lack of joy and progress in your faith?
- Reading Master’s Lu’s teachings feels flat?
- You feel discouraged because you are displeased with the people at the Practice Centre you are going to?
- Your mindfulness of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are fading?
- Worst still, you feel you have reached a spiritual plateau that is unbreakable despite your effort？
In celebration of this great teacher, we have prepared a series of important discourses from Master Lu that address one very important question in our spiritual cultivation journey and that is: HOW TO HANDLE ROADBLOCKS IN YOUR SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION?
It is our hope that these discourses, will bring us comfort that His teachings remain like a beacon of light navigating us through our personal struggles in our journey on this spiritual path.
< On the Path of Cultivation, Never be Self Conceited or Give Up on Ourselves as Hopeless | 修行中不应自负或自卑 >
KEY MESSAGE:
The branches of plum blossoms can only stand proud after going through the harsh winter chills (梅花经历严冬之寒才能傲立枝头). Every person has his own destiny and hence, we should not be conceited, nor should we give up on ourselves as hopeless. We should just do to the best of our ability.
TACKLE YOUR PROBLEMS ONE AT A TIME AS THEY ARISE
Master Jun Hong Lu: Let me teach you some principles in life. When you know what are the troubles in life, you will know how to make peace with your worries. How do your worries get mediated? We tackle them one at a time as they arise and eventually, they will arise no more. This is when you will be worry-free.
You may then ask, “Master, you have all along said that worries will accompany us throughout our life, and as long as we are in the human realm, we will never be free from the clutches of worry”. I’d like all of you to believe that worries may be a constant in life, but the interval between every worry that crops up in your life can be prolonged (时间间隔会拉长) if you are able to eliminate it as it comes, and you do not dwell on it. By doing so, you will gradually be free from worries (就会不烦恼了). This is why we always say changes in the human world are nothing but a manifestation of impermanence.
Why is it that worries can bring you suffering? This is because you keep them in your heart. If humans had no memory whatsoever, they would not be afflicted (就没有苦恼). We should not behave like those mental patients who are happy for a brief moment and burst out crying the next moment.
Some mental patients are worry-free, they laugh, they are happy and they act foolishly simply because they have completely forgotten about everything they experienced in the past. As for us, we allow ourselves to be tortured by our own mind, our heart weeps again and again, and the pain in our heart strikes us like a wave. Why is it so? This is because we have not forgotten about the past, nor do we see the future. Hence, we will experience these random bursts of pain.
Just like many couples are fond of bringing up past unhappy events when they quarrel. It is because they have yet to forget the cause of their past suffering.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 9 Chapter 37
STAYING STEADFAST IS A MUST EVEN AFTER YOU HAVE BENEFITED FROM YOUR BUDDHIST PRACTICE
Master Jun Hong Lu: There will be times when practising Buddhism can be likened to digging a well. If you wish to dig a well, you have to be prepared to carry the well water at a later stage. Many people only know how to wait for the water to fall into their laps, not realising that they should become a well digger themselves.
When you are digging a well, you are in fact getting ready for the day when you can draw water for drinking. By digging a well, your immediate needs will be assured. But, if you can embrace a long-term outlook, you will come to realise that once a well is dug, it is a must to keep drawing water from the well because only through this, it can ensure a continuous water supply to nourish your body.
The same also applies to Buddhist practice. Now that you are learning Buddhism, you must understand that you must be relentless in dedicating yourself to progress, as only then are you able to reach the point when the water drawn from the well is always sweet. Many people fail to put in their best effort in their Buddhist practice and end up with stinky well water.
Even after making sacrifices for others, what is in store for you is a greater exertion of effort. Having tied the knot, many people have the perception that they can stop putting in the effort in the relationship. In fact, life after marriage comes with greater tolerance and nourishment. In any relationship, it is easy to be a taker but difficult to maintain, and hence, you must have the determination. To break free from the shackles of suffering and vexation in the human realm, you must know how to leverage perseverance to sustain an enduring steadfast spirit.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s World Buddhist Fellowship Meeting, Madrid, Spain, 13 May 2016
BE GENUINE IN YOUR SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION
Master Jun Hong Lu: All of you must understand that there is no one that we can rely on in this mortal world, we are perpetually trapped in the six realms of existence (一直在六道当中轮回). You must also know that with each passing day, there is one less day in your life, that is, we are depleting our life every day. This underscores the urgency for you to uncover your Buddha nature. Have you found it? You have. Now that you have uncovered your Buddha nature, and are immersed in dharma bliss, you must be true and genuine in your cultivation (真修实修).
Be honest with yourself, have you been true to your cultivation? Have you been sincere in your self-cultivation? If you could kneel before Guan Yin Bodhisattva at night when no one else is around, you are a true cultivator.
Here you are kneeling down while reciting the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance early in the morning when people have yet to arrive, it goes to show that you are sincere in your self-cultivation.
If you fervently perform prostration unconcerned about who is next to you, you are considered a true cultivator.
If you can keep silent and remain patient regardless of how others hate and slander you, you are sincere in your self-cultivation.
If you are able to smile happily to everyone that you see and you have mended your ways, you are a true cultivator.
Be true and genuine in your spiritual practice. There is no point in faking it at all! Let me ask all of you this question: When you put on some fake branded stuff, you will never feel at ease, am I right? Why is it that authentic products are good? This is because you can never dispute the authenticity of a real thing. What is fake will never ever be real. This is what I wanted to share with all of you.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 9 Chapter 43
IT IS THE MIND AND NOT THE ENVIRONMENT THAT DETERMINES YOUR INNER PEACE AND JOY
Master Jun Hong Lu: Once upon a time, there was a young monk named Fan Liao who was worried about everything under the sun. He felt that he was way too skinny and he found life at the temple distressing. He was worried that people would have a negative impression of him so he was extremely cautious with his words. Feeling worn out and thinking that a change of environment would do him some good, Fan Liao decided to go on a solo trip to a temple in Jiu Hua Mountain.
Actually, Fan Liao’s Master treated him exceptionally well. Right before Fan Liao embarked on his journey, his Master handed him a letter and reminded him, “My child, please only open this letter after you have reached Jiu Hua Mountain”. Initially, Fan Liao liked the environment in Jiu Hua Mountain very much, but with each passing day, he felt even more unhappy compared to when he was at the previous temple. So, he opened the letter to take a look at what his Master had to say.
In his letter, his Master told him, “My disciple, by now, you should be about 300 kilometres away from our temple, but you still feel the same. Am I right? I believe your feeling is no different compared to before because you brought along with you the root cause of your problem and that is, you yourself. Your trouble stems from you. You are healthy, both mentally and physically. Your worries do not come from the setback you encounter in the environment you are in. In fact, they stem from a host of concepts and impressions that you derive from the environment you are in. You allow them to influence your mind which gives rise to distracting thoughts. You are what your mind thinks! Once you have grasped the meaning of this, please come back. As long as your mind is free of worries, your worries will be kept at bay”.
Fan Liao was greatly depressed after reading his Master’s letter. He felt that what he needed was sympathy, not a lecture. There and then, he decided never to return to his temple. That night, he passed by a small Buddhist temple. With nowhere else to go, he entered the temple. There, he spoke to an elderly monk for about two hours. During the conversation, the elderly monk repeatedly emphasised, “Those who are able to conquer themselves are stronger than those who manage to capture territories” (“能征服自己的人，强过能占领城池。”).
Seated on a mat, Fan Liao listened patiently to the old monk’s teachings. He soon realised that what the elderly monk said was no different from what his Master’s told him. He started to miss his Master. He recalled what his Master often said, “Everything in this world is a creation of the mind. When your heart is still, everything will be in a state of unmoving suchness, and herein lies the dharma bliss” (万物唯心造，心不动，一切如如不动。法喜就在其中).
For the very first time, Fan Liao felt that he was able to look at things with clarity and rationale. It dawned upon him that he was the foolish one all along. He once thought of changing the entire world and everyone in this world. He finally understood that the only thing that needs a change is his own mental attitude.
Your inner peace and tranquillity is not dependent on your surroundings. Similarly, the joy in life is not dependent on the people around you. As long as you forge ahead with compassion, you will have all that it takes to materialise what you set forth to attain.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s World Buddhist Fellowship Meeting, Melbourne, Australia, 11 November 2017
OVERCOMING SELF-DOUBT AND HAVING A FIRM BELIEF IN ONESELF ARE IMPORTANT IN BUDDHIST PRACTICE
Master Jun Hong Lu: Humans have the tendency to have self-doubt, thinking that they will never be able to accomplish things that others have failed. In fact, the moment self-doubt sets in, your mind state has prematurely entered a stage of powerlessness.
Why can’t we make an effort to attempt? There are people who are accomplished in their spiritual cultivation through sustained effort and there are others who managed to make their way to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. The question is, why can’t we? There are also those who live their lives like a Bodhisattva and there are others whose lives are trouble-free. Once again, the question, why can’t we do that?
This calls for the need to have faith, and faith comes from observing the precepts. Observe the precepts from this very day onwards, emulate the Bodhisattvas, reflect on all your daily actions whether you have been behaving like a Bodhisattva. In this way, you will be inching closer to becoming a Bodhisattva. ‘This heart is the Buddha’ (是佛是心), this means the Buddha is none other than your own heart. Hence, you should use your heart to create the ideal Bodhisattva in the human realm.
We witness many people get full marks in examinations but we fail to see the effort made in doing their homework day in, day out. The same goes with those who tirelessly practise their speaking skills for the TOEFL examinations to the extent of developing throat inflammation.
We wonder how so many Buddhist friends have their prayers answered instantaneously? What we don’t realise is the effort they made in reciting 49 times each of the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra daily, performing meritorious deeds and paying respect to the Buddha.
We see many outstanding young entrepreneurs but we are clueless about the countless nights they spent toiling away, exerting themselves so much more than those of us who, most likely, have already fallen into a deep slumber during those hours. There are also some celebrities who seemingly have achieved fame overnight, but what we do not see is the decades of painstaking effort they made when they were still a nobody, and the list goes on.
We have seen none of the endeavours above, yet we tell ourselves that success is beyond our reach.We have not even taken a stab at it ourselves, and we tell others that it is beyond us. What we cannot achieve, we make others believe that neither can they. The fact of the matter is, what appears to be impossible to us could possibly be attainable by others.
As Buddhist practitioners, we must have faith in ourselves that we too will be able to reach our goals. As your Master, I hope that all of you will put in your best effort in your Buddhist practice. Do not contend with all those mundane matters of this human realm and may we meet again in heaven after this lifetime.
As long as we work hard and put in the effort, nothing is insurmountable. Likewise, those who do not have the courage nor interest to pursue their goals may end up failing by default in this lifetime.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s World Buddhist Fellowship Meeting, Hong Kong SAR, China, 20 June 2015
ADOPT THE BEGINNER’S MIND
Master Jun Hong Lu: The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “Be cautious, as you were in the beginning” (慎终如始). This means you should be very mindful till the end just like how you had been in the beginning. This phrase tells us, the disciples, that we must treat the beginning of all endeavours in life as the foundation and continue with this spirit all the way till the end.
Those with determination as strong as a diamond and possess a Bodhi mind (菩提心) are the ones who will remain unswerving from the beginning to the end (始终如一). This echoes the popular saying of Lao Tzu, ‘Be cautious, as you were in the beginning’ that advises us to be mindful all the way, just like how we were in the beginning.
Let me give you an example. A normal employee of a company gets promoted to the managerial level. Despite his promotion, he still sees himself as an ordinary staff member just like when he first started with the company. This manager will ultimately be very successful because his attitude and working style are preserved as he maintains the attitude of an ordinary worker.
Even if he ascends to the most important position of a CEO, he will stay rooted to his humble beginnings. He understands the antecedents and consequences (前因后果) and will not gloat over a temporary achievement of attaining the position of a CEO. He will not be haughty and satisfied with it. Neither will he allow his success to get to his head.
This is what it means by ‘holding on to your beginner’s mind’, the essential quality that leads to great accomplishments (不忘初心，才能方得始终).
At any point in life and regardless of social status, one should always maintain the same state of mind that kick-started his journey all the way to the end because this is where success awaits.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Episode 77, 23 May 2020
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