..续本文上一页t through a barrier--another barrier of pain. And so you have to endure the pain again. You endure it until it doesn”t hurt any more. Once the pain disappears, you will feel at ease and very happy--an inexpressible bliss, an ineffable comfort. At that time you will feel Earth over Heaven making Peace.
You must break through these barriers in order to attain benefits. If you act like a child who cries at the first sign of pain, then you will never be able to break through these barriers. You need to have patience. Endure what is unendurable! Grit your teeth and bear it! But you must be resolute! Don”t fear suffering! Don”t fear pain! Don”t fear difficulty! With these three kinds of fearlessness, you can break through the three barriers.
Why is it that, sitting in the Chan hall, we don”t have the samadhi power to endure a little pain, suffering, or difficulty
Why do we find it so unbearable that we feel like crying
It”s because we don”t have any samadhi power, and we haven”t broken through the barriers of pain, suffering, and difficulty. Now, if we can break through these barriers, then we will obtain comfort and ease. If you endure the pain to the extreme, to the point of forgetting yourself, how can there be any more pain
There isn”t. In everything you do, you should do it to the ultimate, and then, at the point of extreme purity, the light will penetrate. When your purity and samadhi reach their peak, the light of your wisdom will spontaneously appear and you will become enlightened. Every day you wonder about enlightenment, but what kind of enlightenment do you expect to attain if you can”t even take a little pain
Shouldn”t you feel ashamed of yourself
Someone complained, "There”s too much noise in the Chan hall. One person keeps coughing; others are snoring; and another person is always wiggling, which causes bench to squeak. The noise is intolerable!" That can happen anywhere. You may try to avoid this noise, but another noise shows up. If you get rid of that noise, you”ll become aware of another one. If you know how to apply your effort, then whether it”s noisy or quiet, you will not turned by movement or stillness. Not being turned by movement and stillness means that you don”t listen to it. Or your eyes may follow the movement and stillness, saying, "He is really irritating! It”s impossible for me to enter samadhi!" Even if the other person weren”t making noise, you still might not be able to enter samadhi. If you can enter samadhi, then you are not even going to notice his movements. And so in cultivation, while meditating we shouldn”t insist on perfect silence. The noisier it is, the greater your enlightenment, perhaps. So don”t let sounds aggravate you. On the other hand, if it happens to be quiet, don”t go looking for noise. These are all merely states.
If you know how to practice, you can do so right in the bustling city. If you don”t, then you won”t be able to practice even if you crawl inside a vacuum! There is no such thing as a perfect place for cultivation. You have to overcome the environment. No matter what the situation, don”t say: "Ugh, this is a terrible environment." Move somewhere else and it may be worse. Leave that place and go on to another and it may turn out to be worse yet, until there”s no place in the universe that suits you. If you can overcome the environment, then everywhere is the same for you. The Buddhas don”t choose the place where they realize Buddhahood. It”s possible to realize Buddhahood anywhere.
You have to learn to be patient. If you can remain unmoved no matter how uncomfortable you feel, then you have a little samadhi power. That little bit of samadhi will produce a little wisdom. You say you want to hold the precepts
Sitting in Chan is holding the precepts--the prece…
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