Pushing the Mill

Yutang Lin

Success or failure, short or long, such considerations have not yet ceased,
Not realizing that all are comrades in pushing the mill of worldly sufferings.
Crowded in a large iron cage of karma, incessantly circle round and round.
Work on your escape plan sooner by focusing your mind on Dharma path.

Comment:

In the early morning of Chinese Duan Wu Festival (lunar May 5), after I had received teachings on the four layers of Tara's merits in a dream, I also saw a huge iron cage crowded with people. They were slowly moving clockwise in rows as if pushing a mill. I sensed that this depicted the suffering situation of transmigration in worldly realms. Ordinarily people are preoccupied with prosperity or decline, gains or losses that are presently in sight, and hence they could not have the leisure to reflect on life and awake to the fact that, indeed, all are comrades in a cage of karma sharing the pushing of the mill of suffering. If one could comprehend this truth, one should renounce worldly considerations and turn one's mind toward advancement on the Dharma path so as to achieve ultimate emancipation from entanglements and settle in tranquility that is free from sufferings.

Written in Chinese and translated on June 24, 2004
El Cerrito, California

---

[Home][Back to list][Back to Chinese versions]