Bottle-neck

 

Yutang Lin

 

 

Among people who follows the Buddhist path
       Some remain within entanglements of worldly affairs
       Some have renounced the worldly engagements to practice Dharma
       And yet still remain unable to devote themselves completely into it
              Due to lack of diligence, complete faith, or perseverance
       Some, even though they have practiced Dharma for long years and
              Encountered authentic Gurus
       And yet they still hover in doubts and regress on the path
              Consequently they remain in a state of seeing no results in sight

All sorts of stagnant procrastination, lack of progress
Are due to many kinds of causal conditions and relations
Which constitute bottle-necks among segments of the practice path

People who have genuinely aspired to attain full enlightenment
       And proceeded on the Dharma path for the sake of all beings
Should reflect on their current situations in the light of Dharma
To sort out causal conditions which constitute the bottle-neck
       Of their current stagnant procrastination
And try to find ways to resolve them

Fundamentally speaking
Bottle-necks on the practice path are basically
Due to limitations born of one's grasping to "self"
In addition to praying to Buddha for blessing and guidance
A practitioner should emphatically make efforts in choices of activities
So that abiding by Guru and Dharma is preferred and
Renouncing worldly engagements and self-centeredness is determined

Written in Chinese and translated on August 12, 2011
El Cerrito, California