..續本文上一頁cause you to get angry all the time in the present life. Your anger leads to all sorts of trouble. Without anger, there are no problems. If you keep your temper and avoid getting angry, then you”ve subdued the dragon and the tiger. Not letting the fire rise in your liver is subduing the dragon. Not getting afflicted is subduing the tiger.

　　When one”s attainment in the Way is lofty,

　　dragons and tigers are subdued.

　　When one”s virtue is profound,

　　ghosts and spirits are respectful.

　　If one is virtuous, then even ghosts and spirits respect one, not to mention people.

　　When I was at Nanhua Monastery, there was a Chan Hall built on the right side, at the site of what used to be a pond with a poisonous dragon in it. The dragon often came out to make trouble. On rainy days, the dragon would show off its spiritual powers. It would emit such a noxious vapor that some of the cultivators would pass out or go insane from breathing it. That”s how bad the poison was.

　　One cloudy day, the dragon appeared in a large body that covered the entire pond. It began stirring up a storm that devastated all the trees of the forest. The monks were afraid and informed the Sixth Patriarch. When the Sixth Patriarch took a look, he smiled and said, "Your spiritual powers are not small. You can appear in a large body and in a small body, appearing and vanishing just like that. If you”re really a pine dragon, then let”s see you transform your big body into a small one right now!"

　　When the dragon heard the Sixth Patriarch challenge him, he shrank himself to the size of a worm, three inches long, and swam back and forth in the water.

　　The Sixth Patriarch said, "You can appear in a big body or a small body as you wish, but you wouldn”t dare jump into my bowl, would you

　　 If you really have spiritual powers, then I dare you to get into my bowl."

　　Dragons are highly competitive and love to be in the top position. In China, emperors called themselves "The True Dragon, the Son of Heaven," because they wanted to be number one. When the Sixth Patriarch dared the dragon to get into his bowl, the dragon thought, "You say I don”t dare

　　 I”ll show you!" Then he jumped into the Sixth Patriarch”s bowl; and once he was in, he couldn”t get out. That”s how the Sixth Patriarch subdued the poisonous dragon.

　　I am reminded of one of my own experiences. Cultivators of the Way should never be rash. They should not be greedy for quick results or for spiritual powers. If you advance quickly, you will also retreat quickly. That”s why we want to go slowly. We don”t want to be so scientifically advanced that we take a rocket to the heavens. We want to go one step at a time. Climbing to the heavens one step at a time is true skill! If you rely on a rocket to take you to the heavens, then it doesn”t count as your own skill.

　　I remember that I took a very honest disciple named Jielin Lu, who was a tailor. Later, he left the home-life with me and cultivated very diligently. Once I sent him to the countryside to do an errand. I gave him my dust whisk, the one in the White Whisk Hand, and told him not to use it unless there was an emergency. "If there”s no great trouble, then don”t use it. Use it only in an emergency."

　　When he arrived in the countryside, many sick people came and asked him to heal them. What do you think he did

　　 He took my whisk and waved it over one person, curing him. Then he tapped another sick person with it and he was healed as well. People went wild and sought him out day and night, and he had no time to rest because he was busy curing illnesses using the whisk. He had never formally learned the White Whisk Hand, but he just copied the way he saw me do it usually.

　　When he returned, he said, "Teacher, your whisk is really efficaciou…

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