Quote of The Day (181)
This section contains short teachings extracted from the messages that Sifu Kuan Ming received over the years, since 1979. The quotes contained herein are a collection of the daily quotes for your contemplation.
Life is like the moon, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, and sometimes bright yet obscured, which is just as life is! The fifteenth of the lunar month should also remind you that life is but a cycle, that life must wane after a certain stage of development, that life is impermanent, and that life is as bright as you can make it to be, and therefore life is as depicted by the waxing and the waning of the moon. (D-820208-2)
There will be times when the mind rebels and one will tend to be disinterested or disheartened to practise. At such times, you should make even greater efforts, and if this is quite impossible, seeking the company of other cultivators will help! You cannot achieve real success in life by being idle and wishing for it; you have to go for it, and you have to face all kinds of difficulties before you can attain it. (D-820520-1, 820222-3)
Accepting life in its entirety is to begin to live a life of purity with a developed mind, which will lead you to cease all evil actions and to develop good habits, which will make you into a worthy and beneficent being. In this state of being you will drop discriminations, and you will be able to accept the world as it is, for you have understood! (D-820403-2)
See Your True Nature
Unless the mind is ready to be developed, to be trained, and to be subdued to a state of calmness just like a pond, how can you look into the waters and see your true nature? Clarity of mind must be attained. Let the ripples and waves of the mind be controlled, and you will see that the greatest beauty in life will no longer be that of material glories but that of the mind in its pure nature, which is the source of bliss. (D-820417-1)
Create your own better future by living in the correct manner daily. Complain less and strive towards improving yourself on each new day. Thinking of what you will be in the future will be a waste of energy and time; knowing the future will lead your mind astray. Be one who lives in the present, moment to moment, and finds satisfaction in it! (D-820325-1)
There is no need to fear suffering, and this is not to mean that you should enjoy it. There are so many kinds of fears in oneself that it is impossible to imagine how much sufferings that one has caused. Understanding that life is but a journey through situations that bring about fear and happiness, you will take steps to change your manner of living and do your best not to commit unwholesome acts of body, speech, and mind, which will create pains in the future. The understanding of the Law of Cause and Effect is vital to all, for the intelligent ones will gain much from it! (D-831223-1)
Life should be lived purely, contentedly, and happily, which can only be possible with the cessation of desires. The Mani is the purifier of minds. Recite it with diligence and sincerity and be one with the prayer. Then your mind is no more left on its own to seek for that which is ignoble and evil that will cause you to suffer more pains and delusion. Rely fully then on the Mani prayer daily! (D-831222-1)
To pray for a long life is a natural practice but do not yearn for a long life if you cannot be sure that you will live fruitfully, in harmony with others, and will continue to cultivate for the purpose of attaining enlightenment; otherwise, your long life will mean more opportunities to collect grave demerits or evil karma, which will cause you to be reborn into the lower realms in the future. (D-831207-5)
Do Not Judge
Look within each time you see someone who is evil and see if you too practise the same or not. But do not judge, or you will not be able to practise compassion. When you judge others, you cannot be truly compassionate, so even your advice and teaching to them will be filled with ego, and even your love will not be pure because it is given only out of your judgement. When people judge each other’s words and actions, there will not be any peace; only quarrels and hatred will arise. (D-831207-4)
A place of worship is a holy place, and the entire area is sacred ground no matter how large or small or how clean or unkempt it is. All places of worship must be treated with respect! Whenever you visit a place of worship, show reverence. If Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are installed at the altars, pay due respect with hands in prayer position; better still, offer three bows when you are certain that such places are temples. (D-831207-3)
You must have faith whenever difficulties are encountered. Each time you have an obstacle, be glad and treat it as an opportunity for you to learn. Each lifetime is filled with all kinds of difficult lessons, which, when overcome, will bring more meaning to life; otherwise, the sense of attainment cannot be realised. (D-831207-2)
Show the way by living the Way. Do not speak that which you yourself do not practise. To lead others, you need to win their confidence. Be impartial, avoid discrimination, and remain unmoved by those who harbour ill will toward you. (D-831207-1)
You need a strong, clear, and calm mind to truly see and understand life. Only with a cultivated mind can wisdom arise, guiding you to live meaningfully. That is why you should not waste a single day in idle daydreaming. Life must be experienced by living it. (D-820212-1)
Today is the birthday of Guru Chi Kung. Om Sari Hum!
Respect others if you want others to respect you, but do not put too much stress on the importance of the self. Whether there is respect for you or not should not really be the real concern in life, as long as you remain righteous in your thoughts, words, and actions towards others, you have done quite well in life. This can only be maintained throughout life if your mind is calm and pure and if you will practise the Path that you are now walking. (D-820212-2)
Patience is essential in the practice of meditation. Attaining a peaceful mind or spiritual growth is not a matter of being more qualified or intelligent than others. More often, success belongs to those who cultivate steadily with dedication and endurance, succeeding through relentless effort. Furthermore, such progress is frequently the fruition of cultivation across many past lives. Because the timing of advancement is unpredictable, one must let go of expectations for immediate success and instead learn to be at ease with one’s progress. (D-820129-2)
It is to be borne in mind that arguments will lead to a dead end. Wisdom is indeed silence. But if you must speak, speak with humility, speak with the good intention of passing on your experience, and speak with the purpose of imparting knowledge, but avoid feeling that whatever you have spoken should be listened to. (D-820212-1)
Change your attitude towards life and turn towards the Path that will bring you inner joy and contentment, which no one can steal from you. Spend your time in a worthwhile manner, enjoy each day as it comes, and you will find that your mind is ready for greater things and your life’s satisfaction will no longer be hinged to materialism, and you will be bending toward the Spiritual Path, seeking for the true joy of living and seeing other beings alive and well. (D-820205-6)
Harmony
Live for the benefit of bringing about meaning to others and to yourself, and there will be harmony between you and those who are about you. And those who have experienced such harmony will in turn spread it to others. But do not expect things to be as you hope it to be because not all people have the same kind of inclinations and cultivations, and being unlike in nature, you must expect to live in a world of discord, and not until realisation hits them that a good world depends on the behaviour of each being! (D-820224-3)
Those who think that life is good living and fun at all times will have to end up in grave despair when the realities of living confront them at certain times of their lives. Those who do not spend time to cultivate and to understand the nature of their minds will be as ships without rudders, and they have wasted yet another chance of a lifetime. (D-820209-2)
Conquer Impatience
To dislike others for their bad traits and manners is quite natural and easy; this is a trap for those who wish to conquer impatience. Each time you serve, you will be given opportunities to overcome your impatience only if you are aware of such opportunities. There is much to put up with in cultivating a single virtue, and the list of virtues to be cultivated is very long. That is why you should begin to practise with this virtue—Patience. And once you have acquired it, you will find it so easy to understand and to love others for what they are, and then you will be ready to move on. (D-820224-2)
To allow your mind to direct your activities without control is to live a life without any discipline. To have such a mind, you will find it difficult to understand what life is. To possess such a state of mind is to be ignorant of the joys of a calm and quiet mind. (D-820209-1)
The Virtue of Patience
To be patient is to be able to take a lot of difficulties and pains and undesirable situations with full stride and confidence without complaints because even such sufferings are not permanent. To be patient is to be able to accept all kinds of people, even those who speak ill of you and your religion. To be patient, you will need to undergo severe tests in your daily lives, and until the day arrives when you can accept all that comes unto you with a calm mind, you have not achieved this great virtue yet. (D-820224-1)
Life is to be lived selflessly, meaningfully, fruitfully, and preciously. Life must be lived in awareness so that there is understanding of what it is, so that there will be the awakening to the pains of reality, and so that there will be the yearning to leave behind Samsara totally, which means that all the pleasures of this world will not be able to hold you back because you have understood the meaning of illusion and emptiness! (D-831205-2)
No matter what others say about your practice, do not be disturbed by their comments; just be sure that you are true to your motivation and Path and aim to continue practising whatever way you feel is suitable to you as long as the deeds of body, speech, and mind are pure in essence and are performed for the benefit of others. Be patient with painful remarks, be sturdy in cultivation, and be humble in your attitude, and there is no way that they can disturb you! (D-831201-1)
To make a day pleasant, start with a calm mind, maintain love and understanding for others, and look forward to giving any help that you can give without making any distinction in your act. Whether an act is charitable or not, that is not to be considered just as long as you have the heart to provide some help that will benefit someone; that is a good act. And evil acts are those that bring suffering and harm to others. Knowing this, it is not difficult to know whether each act that you perform is good or evil. (D-820205-5)
In life, each moment is quite different from the next, and therefore you have to understand that the past cannot be relived and that you cannot be what you have been before. One must expect to have moments of joy and sadness, for they must exist together in order for life to become meaningful, for you to enjoy, and for you to understand each moment of existence. (D-820203-1)
Giving assistance to the poor, homeless, and sick is to practise loving-kindness and compassion. It is also a means of understanding very clearly the meaning of life and the experiencing of impermanence.
Continue to cultivate with sincerity and zeal so that nothing can change your aim. It must be that as long as you have life, you must practise that which is good and abandon that which is evil. (D-831205-1)
Knowing the importance of leading a life that is worthwhile, many know that to cultivate is to bring great rewards to future lives, and many already know what is best for them if they were to walk the Path to Liberation, but how many are following and practising what the knowledge has given them? (D-820128-1)
Let there be contentment; let there be happiness arising from your worship; let there be calmness derived from your way of practice. When you have found the Way that is noble, honourable, selfless, beneficial, and workable for you—there is no need to wish for the way of practice or worship as adopted by others! (D-831123-2)
When you are the one who lives and appreciates each moment of the day, the day is well spent, and idle hours will not be wasted but will be spent in true cultivation, especially the cultivation of the mind. The mind must be looked into; the mind must be calmed so that at all times of the day, you are aware of the happenings, and you will be right on the Path with clarity and awareness. (D-820126-2)
The fifteenth day of the lunar month is a very auspicious day for the beings who revere it. On this day, the moon is at its brightest, and so is the receptivity of those capable of feeling the wholeness and oneness of its influence. Keep this day pure, keep this day holy, and keep this day calm, just as you can feel the calmness of the moon, just as the light of the moon can bring such indescribable feelings of serenity to your mind and to the universe. (D-820208-1)