Postponing

Yutang Lin

Taking care of worldly affairs first, postponing on Dharma matters,
Thus merits could hardly accumulate while karma remains twining.
When will people reflect and understand the correct order of things?
In order to overcome hindrances one needs to cultivate merits' field.

Comment:

Usually people are entangled by worldly affairs to the point that it is difficult to set Dharma practices as of first priority. Consequently, people are used to treat Dharma matters as of secondary urgency, and repeatedly postponing consideration or action on such matters. Under such circumstances personal karma continues to evolve and become ever more entangled, without a possibility to gain some beneficial help from Dharma-related activities. If one could review the main outlines of the situation from the point of view of causal laws, only then could one realize that, in order to escape the stagnant trap of karmic nets one needs to first cultivate the field of merits, so as to compensate and repent for past misdeeds and to invoke new possibilities of solutions. A Buddhist practitioner had better learn to reflect on his or her own activities in the light of causal consequences; only then can one advance on the path because of having taken solid steps. A habit of postponing on Dharma matters will definitely result in late harvest of the fruits along Dharma path.

Written in Chinese and translated on October 15, 2003
El Cerrito, California

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