I’ve been working on stuff to reprint some of our older books, as part of that, I had the idea to do some short Dharma talks based on those books. So here goes! 🙂
Whether you live as a monk or a layperson, you must rely upon your inner self, honestly and devotedly, and produce results through your own efforts without hoping that someone else will intercede for you….
No one can give you happiness and freedom, and no one can take them away either. No one else can take your place when it comes to these things. Ultimately, you are the one who takes care of yourself.
– Seon Master Daehaeng, “Mind, Treasure House of Happiness”
Simply because we were born as human beings, we have the ability to make full use of this inherent foundation, this fundamental “mind” that we are born with. We can take in everything, turn it around, and then send it back out as something new.
Just as with life-long learning, how we handle the things we are confronting conditions our future. How well we continue trying to entrust everything to our foundation determines what kind of role we can fulfill in the future, whether that future is a week from now or a lifetime from now.
Quite simply, it’s mind that frees mind. It’s also mind that hinders itself when we say, “This can’t be done.” We have the ability to leap over the old piles of these hindering thoughts if we just make use of it. We all have this bright, divine nature within us. Whether we call it Buddha-nature or God, Allah or Inner Divinity doesn’t matter. When we go forward relying upon this, and letting its ability flow forth, we can overcome the weight of old habits and karma, and begin to live afresh. Every single one of us has the ability to do this. We all have the right to do this.
Wake Up and Laugh! 