OM MANI PADME HUM
That is why it is so good to take up the practice of quiet sitting and go into a state of contemplation and meditation. With determination and great effort, you will someday fall into such a state without any difficulty and that is when you will truly enjoy the fruits of mental awakening. There are so many states that as you continue, a new world will await you and then you will come to realise that everything is in the mind and begins in the mind. When this level is attained you will regret that you have not began much earlier and you will then sit in earnest hoping to make up for lost time.
But to those who have not attempted or have made only feeble attempts, they will not know what they have missed in life and so wisdom is not reachable and this opportunity of having a human form to cultivate will be wasted. All wise men and sages of old meditate and there is good reason why they do so. But they are not able to reveal all that they have discovered because they know that only those deserving ones will fall into this practice when their conditions ripen, when their minds are ready for unfoldment and when they are led to seek the truth.
Those who have come into contact with spiritual persons are already on their way towards seeking the path. It is not by accident that one comes into contact with saintly men and women, it is by past cultivation that they are given the chance to make stronger holds onto the paths which they have made some attempts to follow in past lives.
Since all is in the mind, it is necessary that one must resolve to acquire energy to drive oneself on, it is necessary that one must discipline oneself and begin once again to pursue the good path. If this is not done, then another life time is wasted and the next opportunity may not come again for a very long time as the mind will be encased with all the trappings which this world can offer and so one will fall backwards.
The Buddha’s life is the example for all to follow. Not only His teachings but the quality of His mind must be reflected upon and then true appreciation will arise. It is not just sacrifice, not just determination and not just discipline that the Buddha possessed that helped Him to attain enlightenment, it was His wisdom and compassion for all the beings who are ignorant of the way to find liberation from the cycle of miserable existence that urged Him to His attaining the perfect mind, that led him to spend so many years to patiently teach and inspire living beings to take up the good path and to learn the beauty of sacrifice and detachment. Through His way of life, you must see the qualities of how a mind can manifest so that you too can learn to attain them. Great lives on earth have been lived by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the wise one to benefit from. You have the eyes to see, the mind to discern and the will power to lead a disciplined life.
As you pray and worship the Buddha, do not just ask for blessings and for guidance but you should resolve to adopt His Path.
Friday, 7th May 1982
4th Moon, 14th Day