Three Points in Cultivation

A Talk given by Daniel Yan, August 23, 2024

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Venerable Master, Dharma Masters, and fellow practitioners, Amitabha! My name is Daniel Yan. Tonight, I would be honored to share some of my experiences working in the City of the Ten Thousand Buddhas.

I want to share with you a few short stories. Because several disciples are mentioned in these stories, there is no need to go into details about which one is which. The point is what inspiration we can get from these short stories. I ask everyone not to think that these stories were told with any bad intention, so you won’t come and scold me later.

Diminishing Karmic Obstruction

The first story I want to share is called diminishing karmic obstruction. When I first came to the CTTB, I heard that the best places to cultivate merits are the dining hall and Jyun Kang restaurant, but where should I go if I want to eliminate my karmic obstruction? I ask senior disciples for advice. One disciple told me that based on his own experience, the quickest way to eliminate karmic obstruction is to be scolded, and it is best if the scolding is done for no reason at all. The more severe the scolding, the better. He was helping out at the Gold Mountain Monastery, and on the last day of completing the work, he felt extremely tired. However, he continued working in order to finish the project. A man came out of nowhere, pointed at his nose and started yelling at him. The disciple might have been stunned, so he just stood there and let the man scold him. After a long while, he suddenly felt a wave of coolness poured down from head to toe, cooling the whole body and taking away his fatigue.

Just as I was listening and exclaiming in delight, another disciple standing next to us interrupted, saying, “You want to eliminate karmic obstruction, right? You want to do so by getting scolded? Oh, I’m very good at this, it’s all on me!”

As I was still wondering since when I invited him to do that for me, from that day on, this disciple came to scold me three times a day – morning, noon, and afternoon . He did that five days a week because he had Saturday and Sunday off. Finally, I couldn’t stand being scolded by him anymore, so I asked him to maybe tone it down a bit.
He said, “Young man, it’s only been a few days and you can’t take it anymore? When will your karmic obstruction be eliminated this way?”

I told him sometimes I felt that he wasn’t really helping me eliminate my karmic obstruction, but that he simply enjoyed scolding me. He said it was my illusion to feel that way.

I’m not sure whether my karmic obstructions have been eliminated by getting scolded, because when I was scolded, there was no coolness pouring down from my head to my toe, there was a surge of anger rising from my heart several times. There should still be some relief, I guess. However, the bad news is that I am afraid the karmic obstructions that were eliminated from me might have transferred to this disciple who bravely sacrificed himself to scold me. As a result, he suffered physical problems. Now he smiles when he sees me— no more scolding. My conclusion is that unless you have a lot of merits yourself, it is best not to help others eliminate their karmic obstructions by scolding them.

Then one day I was working on a sewer line. The space in the manhole was very narrow. We had to periodically pull out the suction pipe of the Hydrovac truck to clean it because it got stuck by rocks and other objects. Every time we raised the suction pipe, it would be right on top of my head before it left the manhole, and the dirty water inside would drip down on me. I was afraid that the young worker who was working with me at the time was inexperienced and that he would accidentally turn off the suction when the pipe was above my head. I would immediately take a shower with the dirty water. So, I stood inside the manhole and shouted to him, “Do not turn off the suction!”

The machine was very loud, the young worker could only hear me shouting, but not sure what I just said. “What did you say?” he shouted back to me.

I repeated again, but he still couldn’t understand what I was trying to say.
“Hold on a second, the suction is too loud.” He turned the suction off. Needless to say, all the dirty water inside the pipe splashed down on me from head to toe. The other disciple’s experience was a wave of coolness pouring down, mine was dirty water pouring down. Strangely, although it was indeed dirty and smelly, I suddenly felt as if I had taken off a heavy piece of clothing, my whole body felt so much lighter! I knew very well that a big chunk of my karmic obstruction was gone at that moment. Although I couldn’t explain it, I just knew that feeling of my karmic obstruction being diminished.

I think the experience of me and the other disciple eliminating our karmic obstruction may be just our personal cases, and cannot be used as a reference for everyone. Because how many people will have the opportunity to come to the CTTB to repair sewer lines? Everyone should find a method of practice that is suitable for them based on their own circumstances.

The Tortoise and the Hare

The second story I want to share is called the story of the tortoise and the hare. We should all have heard the story of the tortoise and the hare in Aesop’s fable. I originally thought that this kind of story was meant for children, because in the real world I have never seen a tortoise really being able to outrun a hare, and no hare would ever decide to race a tortoise, and then take a nap in the middle of the race. I thought this must be a plot that only existed in fairy tales, but I didn’t know that real life is sometimes more bizarre than fairy tales.

Once I was cleaning up at the WEBI project, and two senior disciples were arguing fiercely next to me about the details of a job. They had been arguing about it for two days, but they insisted on their own opinions and no one could convince the other. I listened to their argument for a long time and understood all the methods. Out of curiosity, I went to the job site. The materials and tools were all there, so I did a little bit of the work according to one disciple’s idea, and it looked good. I also did a little bit of work based on another disciple’s plan, and it looked OK as well. I went ahead and finished it bit by bit at the speed of a turtle. After I finished, I went back to do the cleanup. The two disciples were still arguing. However, the content had changed from the details of the job to who was more experienced, and who had made more mistakes since the WEBI project started. Some of you may wonder, who likes to argue that much? Is he the one from story one that likes to scold people? You guessed it right!

The hare in the fairy tale is like a cultivator with sharp roots, and the tortoise is like a cultivator with dull roots. Generally speaking, it’s impossible for the tortoise to beat the rabbit in running. However, if the hare thinks it’s okay to take a nap, or decides to get into an argument with another hare, then the tortoise may be ahead. If a cultivator with sharp roots does not cultivate, or decides to argue with another cultivator with sharp roots about whose practice method is better or whose level is higher, he may be surpassed by a cultivator with dull roots.

Abides Nowhere

The third story I want to share is called letting go of attachment. I asked a senior disciple for advice on how he managed to deal with the complicated maintenance situation of the CTTB all these years. This senior disciple thought for a moment and told me that if someone strongly opposes a task or it is strangely difficult for various reasons, we should put it aside for the time being. If a job does not go well, it may be because the timing is not right, and it cannot be started until the right time; or it may be because it’s not done by the right person. It will be completed smoothly if it’s done by the right person. There is a lot of work to do anyway, so there is no need to freeze in one place, and waste time and energy.

Not long after, a job that this senior disciple wanted to do met with strong opposition from many people, and was met with difficulties due to various strange reasons. Yet he decided to proceed, because how can a man give up just because of some difficulties? After a big argument with someone, and ignor ing everyone’s dissuasion, he carried on the job and resulted in bad consequences. After the situation stabilized and his mood calmed down, I asked him: didn’t you tell me not long ago that if someone strongly opposes a job, or if it is difficult for various strange reasons, it should be put on hold? Why did you insist on going your own way this time?

He said, “This was true, but it is easy to say that to others yet it is hard to apply to yourself. When things happen to yourself and your [negative] karma takes over, it often seems that your mind will be blinded and your action will be led by your [negative] karma, and you won’t realize what’s happening until everything is said and done.”

How should we deal with this situation? The Diamond Sutra says, “You should produce the thought which abides nowhere.”

Because one abides nowhere, there is no attachment. No attachment does not mean not doing any work, it means not focusing on [distinguishing] this is “my” work, that is “his” work, this “must” be done, etc. We should not let our mind get caught up in these various delusions. Instead, we should concentrate and focus on the present. If we practice like this for a long time, we may gradually be able to pick it up and put it down, and have the state of mind that “you can take it at any time.”

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