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During an early morning Dharma talk, amid peace and tranquility, Dharma Master Cheng Yen said that when we cleanse our mind thoroughly, till it is clean and bright, it will be able to clearly reflect the conditions of the external world. She added that the mind of ordinary people is, however, often covered with a lot of dust, and thus, the images (of the external world) reflected on it will naturally appear blurry
The Master highlighted that we must “cleanse” our mind regularly, otherwise, it will get covered up by more dust before the dirt on it is completely cleaned away.
Then, she told a story from The Parable Sutra—
A poor man was invited by a relative to attend a wedding banquet. In order to keep up with appearances at the social occasion, he worked hard for a very long time to earn enough money to buy a piece of coarse cloth to be made into a new attire. On the day of the banquet, he arrived at his relative’s home happily in his new clothes.
"You look like a handsome and fine man. This coarse attire doesn’t suit your image. If you could wear a finer attire, you would look like a noble and wealthy person," said a guest sitting beside him.
“I can’t do any better. I already have to work for a very long time just to get these clothes I am wearing,” replied the poor man.
“If you listen to me, you will be able to turn this coarse attire into an elegant outfit,” said the guest. The poor man was overjoyed upon hearing what he said, and so, he followed the guest to a place, and they started a fire there.
“Remove your clothes and throw them into the fire while you say your prayer, and your coarse attire will naturally turn into an elegant outfit,” said that guest.
The poor man did as he was told and started praying piously.
By the time the fire died off, his clothes had been burned to ashes. The poor man anxiously asked, “My clothes? Where are my clothes?”
The guest replied, “I am sorry that I can’t do anything to help you because you are not pious enough.”
The guest then left the poor man standing there alone and naked, and the latter started crying bitterly.
Master Cheng Yen said that (this story tells us that) when we deviate from our faith, we will fall into evil. During the Buddha’s time, society was filled with various faiths, and the poor were often tempted by those from deviant paths due to greed and suffered losses as a result.
(A lifetime is not very long.) The Master reminded everyone that if we do not make good use of our physical body to do good in this life and stray even just slightly from the right path, it will be hard for us to be reborn as human again for countless aeons.
She said, "Hence, we must be vigilant at all times and examine whether (we are on the right track in our spiritual cultivation). If we could keep to the Noble Eightfold Path – Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration, and make diligent efforts to cultivate ourselves, then our minds will not be easily tempted."
Extracted from the Tzu Chi Monthly, Issue 442
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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