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In the past, there was a case of a police officer who took his own life with a gun; there was also another instance of a guard who shot and killed a direct subordinate of his, then turned the gun on himself. Why would anyone choose to end their life in such a manner? These unfortunate incidents all stem from the inner afflictions in one’s mind.
When the Buddha was in Sravasti, one morning, he told his disciples: “Do you know that among the innumerable dharmas in this world, there is none swifter than our minds when it comes to changing course, and there is nothing that our minds cannot create. Therefore we must watch over our thoughts; the moment bad thoughts arise, we must take care to subdue them. If we can guard our minds well, we will be able to penetrate the truths of all things.”
Most of us would have seen a peony flower, so if I asked you: “What does a peony look like?” Immediately, a mental image of a peony would likely surface in your mind. Although now may not be the right season for peonies to be in bloom, a peony “blooms” instantaneously inside our minds anyway; think about it, is this not an example of how swiftly our thoughts arise?
If I further ask of you: “How do you write the Chinese character for the number ‘one’?” While many of you would be able to write out the character quickly, not everyone would be able to do so beautifully! Those who can write it beautifully would doubtless have spent some time practising their writing skills. Yet, our minds do not need any practice with writing this Chinese character; in our minds, a beautifully formed character for “one” will quickly be “written out”. Even if it is a character with complex strokes, our minds can quickly recreate it. Therefore our minds are extremely quick and clever.
It is precisely because our minds can leap so nimbly from one thought to another, that we must steer our thoughts towards positive directions. If we can aspire to do good, then every action of ours can benefit others. If our minds deviate and give rise to improper thoughts, then in the blink of an eye, we open the door to many evils. There is a saying that goes: “A single errant thought will give rise to ten thousand wrong thoughts; a slight deviation will lead us far astray.”
It is indeed frightening how fast our thoughts can run! Our thoughts create everything and the rapidity in which they change far exceeds the rate anything changes. With wholesome thoughts, our minds will be like the Buddha’s. If our minds veer a little off course, our thoughts may turn us into a devil. The transformation between Buddha and devil is swift indeed! Therefore, we must work hard to tame our minds.
Everything starts from a single thought, thus it is imperative that we look deep inside our hearts and take good care of our minds.
Extracted from “Chen Jin Guang Sheng” 《尘尽光生》 by Dharma Master Cheng Yen
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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