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Instead of seeking the Buddha externally, (it is wiser) to cleanse our minds diligently. When our heart is filled with love, (we are one with the Buddha).
In Japan, there is a thought-provoking story:
There was a secondary school student who lived in the city, and he went to stay in his uncle’s home in the countryside during the summer holidays. His uncle’s home was situated at the foot of the mountains and located by the sea. It was a simple and rustic village with beautiful scenery.
On the first day, the student arrived at his uncle’s house, he went to the seaside with his cousin before sunrise.
When the golden sun slowly emerged from the horizon, the vast sky gradually turned blue, and the reflection of the golden sun rays rippled across the surface of the sea. The student from the city was deeply mesmerised by the mystical and magnificent scenery of Mother Nature. Thus, he and his cousin continued to go to the seaside to enjoy the view before daybreak in the following few days. Gradually, the student became familiar with the journey towards the beach.
One day, the student got up very early in the morning and went to the beach alone. As he was viewing the mesmerising scenery, he lay down on a large rock, where he enjoyed the cool sea breeze as he watched the sunrise. Suddenly, an old man appeared behind him, and that frightened him.
"Sorry! Sorry! I came to look for something. Sorry that I have given you a fright,” said the old man kindly, as he looked around searching for something.
The student saw that the old man was attentively looking for something, so he ignored him. He continued to enjoy the beautiful scenery while lying on the rock and whistling. The student was engrossed with his own whistling and the sound of the waves. Suddenly, he heard someone reciting the Buddha’s name and immediately got up to find out what was going on. It turned out that it was the same old man who was reciting the Buddha’s name while searching for something at the same time.
When the old man came to his side, the student asked him politely, “What are you looking for?”
The old man replied, “I have been looking for it for a long time! I have spent almost my entire life searching for it.”
The student then asked again, “What is the thing for which you have spent your whole life searching?”
The old man said, “I am looking for something left behind by a sage.”
The student curiously asked, “Which sage? What did he leave behind?”
The old man said, “They were left behind by Venerable Master Shinran (the founder of True Pure Land Buddhism in Japan)."
The old man pointed at a huge rock a distance away from the shore and said, "There is a cave in the rock. Venerable Master Shinran was so engrossed in the beauty of the sunrise and seascape that he became trapped in the cave during high tide. For seven days, the tide did not recede. During that seven days, Venerable Master Shinran managed to collect a lot of stones and engraved the Buddha’s name on each of them. (These stones must still be around here somewhere). I always hope that I can find them.”
After hearing the old man’s reply, the student felt puzzled and looked at the latter, who appeared down and disappointed. Then the old man said to him: "You are a good boy, young man."
After that, he continued to focus his attention on searching every inch of the ground, hoping to find the stones carved with the Buddha’s name. As the old man slowly disappeared from his sight, the student recalled the sad look on the old man’s face and sank into deep contemplation...
As the student had not gone home, his cousin went to the beach to search for him and found him there. The student told his cousin about his conversation with the old man and asked him, "Is it possible to find the stones that were engraved by Venerable Master Shinran here?"
His cousin replied, “Silly boy! Do you know that Venerable Master Shinran lived several hundreds of years ago? It was something from so long ago, and no one is sure if it ever did happen.”
The old man spent his entire life looking for stones engraved with the Buddha’s name. Instead of doing that, why didn’t he seize the present moment to uncover the Buddha within his heart? Why didn’t he make good use of the time that he had?
In any case, we must be down-to-earth and face the reality, because thoughts of the past are distractions while thoughts of the future are delusions. What is important is to take hold of the present moment.
Source: Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Extracted from “Tan Gu Shuo Jin”《谈古说今》, a compilation of stories told by Master Cheng Yen
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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