Practicing Selflessness

Yutang Lin

Alms giving, Silas abiding and patient tolerance,
Each practice made with efforts that leave traces.
Skillful untying lies in losing views and clinging;
Already diminished before an issue could rise up.

Comment:

Buddhist practices aim at attaining the original state of selflessness. Nevertheless, efforts made in Dharma practices tend to leave traces, and hence thoughts involving self-awareness could hardly cease to arise. If one could comprehend that grasping is rooted in views or feelings, and release grasping and open up to possibilities as soon as thoughts or inclinations arise, then nothing would become a matter of attached concern nor a bother to worry about, and one would abide in selflessness.

Written in Chinese on January 11, 2004
Translated on January 17, 2004
El Cerrito, California

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