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Grand Master Xu (Hsu) Yun Chapter 3 - Gaining Enlightenment

The second step is Right Thought.

Right Thought requires us to become aware of our motivations. Always we must inquire why we want to have something or why we want to do something, and we must be ruthless in our inquiry. If a friend wanted to purchase something he couldn't afford or to do something that was bad for him, we would give him sound advice, cautioning him, helping him to see the likely outcome of his foolish desires. Can we not be that kind of friend to ourselves? Can we not apply ordinary common sense to our own desires?

Careful investigation will illuminate our situation:

The Warlord T'ien Chi and the King of Ch'i enjoyed the sport of horse racing. Regularly they met to race their horses.

Now, each had three classes of horses. The third class was the draft horse. These are the horses that pull wagons. They are big and strong but very slow.

The second class was the cavalry horse, these are the horses upon which lancers, archers, and swordsmen are mounted. These horses are strong and reasonably fast; but they are older because they require years of training.

The first class of horse was the young thoroughbred upon which noblemen and high officers would be mounted. This class of horse was light and very fast.

So, whenever the King and the Warlord held a racing contest, they would race all their 3rd classes horses against each other, then they'd race their second class horses, and last, they'd race their first class thoroughbreds.

Now, the King was very rich and possessed much better horses than the warlord. So naturally he won all the races.

In his frustration, Warlord T'ien Chi appealed to Sun Ping, a wise descendant of Sun Tzu - Sun Tzu wrote the famous "Art of War". T'ien Chi asked Sun Pin, "Please advise me. How can I win against the King?"

The wise man thought for a moment. Then he said, "Sir, I suggest that when the King sends his third class horses into competition, you send in your second class horses to race against them. When the King sends in his second class horses, you send in your first class horses; and when the King sends in his first class horses, you send in your third class. You will win two out of three races."

The answer was simple, but why couldn't the warlord figure it out for himself? Because his ego had gotten him too emotionally involved in the competition. He didn't step back from his situation and look at it objectively. He didn't apply Right Thought.

Dear Friends, be ruthless in your examination of your desires. Apply to yourself the same common sense you would use to counsel a friend.

The third step is Right Speech.

How often do we impress words into the ego's service. To gain some advantage, we gossip, or we exaggerate, or we neglect to tell the whole story, or we insinuate the probable guilt of others while protesting our own inviolable innocence. Sometimes, just to be the center of attention, many of us will tell sordid tales or smutty jokes.

We think that words are not deeds, that they have little power and a short life, that somehow words just evaporate with the breath that speaks them. But words do have power and they can live forever; and, furthermore, they can heal as well as harm.

Just as Right Speech discourages us from uttering falsehoods, insults, accusations, or from bragging about our own accomplishments, it also encourages us to speak words of comfort, to utter words of forgiveness, to express acknowledgment and appreciation for the accomplishments of others.

Never underestimate the power of words. Let me tell you an old story which illustrates their power:

It was a beautiful day in Spring and many people had come to the park to see the green grass and the flowering trees and plants. Among the people who came were two blind beggars.

The first beggar had a sign that read, "I am blind." Most people just walked past him and kept on admiring the view.

The second beggar did much better. Nearly everyone who passed him put a coin in his cup. Some people who had walked past him without giving actually turned around to go back and give him a coin.

His sign read, "It is May - and I am Blind!"

Dear Friends, when deciding to speak or not to speak, think about that blind man who saw how much difference one little phrase can make!

The fourth step is Right Action.

Right action contains the Precepts.

1. The Buddhist vows to be nonviolent. This does not mean that he cannot defend his life or the lives of those persons who are in his care but that he cannot initiate hostile actions against others.

But what about himself? He, also, is one of the people against whom he may take no hostile action.

Peace is not merely the absence of war. Anxiety is not an aggressive state, but it isn't peaceful, either. The fellow who's in a coma is not at war, but he's not at peace, either. Peace is a state that is deliberately achieved and maintained.

It is not enough merely to be nonviolent; we must also act to promote harmony, well-being, and good health.

Smoking, for example, is inimical not only to the smoker's health but to the health of all around him. On both counts, then, smoking is forbidden by the precept against violence.

Whenever possible, a Buddhist should abstain from eating meat. I say `whenever possible' because this rule is not absolute. Many people, for example, live in arctic regions where they have no choice but to eat fish and other marine creatures. They cannot grow gardens in the tundra; and we cannot deny the Dharma to human beings because their environment does not conduce to vegetarian diets. But where vegetables are plentiful, there is no reason to eat meat.

On the positive side, a vegetarian diet promotes good health and for this reason, also, it should be followed.

Exercise, particularly Tai Ji Quan or Qi Gong, releases aggression and anger and also has a salubrious effect on the body. Yoga is also very beneficial.

2. The Buddhist vows to be truthful, not only in his social life, but in his business life as well. All forms of cheating and chicanery are included in this Precept. Whenever we sacrifice truth in order to gain some imagined advantage, we enter a tangled, convoluted world:

In Tokyo there were two merchants who after years of competitive conniving and deceit thoroughly distrusted each other.

One day they met at the railroad station. The first merchant asked, "Where are you going?"

The second merchant thought for a moment and answered, "To Kobe."

The first merchant gasped, "You liar! You tell me you are going to Kobe because you want me to think you are going to Osaka; but I have made inquiries, and I know you ARE going to Kobe!"

Dear Friends, this is the destination of even the smallest deceit. Our reputations are like the label on a shipping box. Once we are known as liars and cheaters, we consign our intentions, no matter how innocent, to the place of doubt and mistrust.

[Introduction]  [Chapter 1]  [Chapter 2]  [Chapter 3]  [Chapter 4]  [Chapter 5]  [Chapter 6]
[Chapter 7]  [Chapter 8]  [Chapter 9]  [Chapter 10]  [Chapter 11]  [Chapter 12]  [Chapter 13]
 
Last modified: July 11, 2004
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