More Mud, Larger Buddha

Yutang Lin

Much and deeply suffered, a life of difficult ups and downs
Such is to be found everywhere
Complaining is of no avail
        Will on the contrary enhance the miseries

Expand one's horizon to see all suffering beings
Extend universal and equal sympathy to all of them
Thus not only one's minor suffering will cease to be so significant
But also wisdom and merciful mind will be cultivated
Through learning to dissipate others' suffering in Dharma ways

Full of deep sorrows and multiple tragic incidents
From worldly point of view, a sorrowful life
To a Dharma practitioner it's an opportunity to seize
Through personal experiences to fully realize and comprehend
        Endless sufferings in the world, and
        Tragic incidents that arrive as surprises
And thereby cultivate sincere and profound compassion and loving kindness

Sufferings and sorrows are like mud
If they can be transformed into stocks of merits for Dharma practices
It would be like using mud to create a ceramic Buddha statue
More mud, larger Buddha
May Dharma practitioners who are enduring sufferings
        Remind themselves of this analogy often
And eventually realize the Bodhi aspirations and activities of great Bodhisattvas

 

Written in Chinese and translated on January 5, 2011
El Cerrito, California