The Buddha Statue and the stone step

On a famous mountain, there was a temple. In that temple was a beautifully carved Buddha statue. Numerous people climbed a hundred stone steps to the mountain-top to perform prostrations and offer incense daily. One night, one of the hundred stone steps leading to the mountain-top complained to the Buddha statue, “We are both made of stone. On what basis do people trample on me while you sit in the shrine and receive people’s respect?” The Buddha statue laughed and said, “You only suffered from a few cuts from the knife back then before you became a stone step. I suffered innumerable cuts from the carving knife before I became a Buddha statue!”

“The Buddha statue and the stone step” was one of the fable stories published by Master Jin Bodhi on 28th May. Through personifications of the Buddha statue and stone step, Master illustrated an important principle in the path of cultivation. The path of cultivation is akin to the process of carving a Buddha statue. Just as the Buddha statue has to endure innumerable cuts from the carving knife, the practitioner must endure numerous suffering and wrongful abuse from others and practice arduously till he becomes perfectly enlightened. Master Jin said, “The path of cultivation is like the famous tale ‘The journey to the west’. This tale described a Tang dynasty monk who journeyed to the west to obtain sutras and he had to endure 81 difficult problems. If there is one less problem, one cannot become enlightened. One less problem means one will lack one particular wisdom to solve a problem. In the path of cultivation, we should be like a Buddha statue, be resolute and fervent in our practice and never regress in our practice. When we have endured through all the problems, we will find that it was the problems that made us enlightened.”

【禅意故事 -佛像与石阶】

在一座名山上，有一 座寺庙，庙里供一尊雕刻精美的佛像。每天，数不清的人沿着上百级石阶走到山顶，在佛像前顶礼膜拜，烧香许愿。一天晚上，铺在山路上的一级石阶向佛像抱怨 道：“佛像呀，同样都是石头，凭什么我被人蹬来踩去，你却高高在上，被人供在殿堂，受人瞻仰呢？”　佛像笑了笑说：“当年，您只挨了几刀，便成为了一块石 阶，而我是经历了千刀万凿之后，才有了现在这个样子啊！”

这是5月28日师父发布在脸书上的一则寓言故事《佛像与石阶》。故事将佛像与石阶拟人化，通过彼此的对话与对比，揭示出一个重要的修行道理：修行之路就像塑造佛像的过程一样，佛像要经历千刀万凿才成就其庄严精美；修行者也要忍受痛苦与委屈，经历千锤百炼，才能修行圆满。师父曾经说过：修行 过程就如西游记里描述唐僧到西天取经一样，要经历九九八十一难。少一难都不能成就，因為少经历一种磨难，就缺乏了对治这种烦恼的智慧。在修行过程中，我们 必须像这尊佛像一样，坚定信念，永不退转，等把所有一切都经历完了之后，才发现正是这些磨难才成就了自己！

More information available at:

1) Meditation and Health
https://www.facebook.com/putihome?fref=ts

2) Master Jin Bodhi Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/jinbodhiworld/

3) Official Bodhi Meditation Website
http://puti.org
http://putihome.org

Do not fritter your life away on materialism!

" As long as you, like most people, fail to recognize the true value of human existence you will just fritter your life away in futile activity and distraction. When life comes all too soon to its inevitable end, you will not have achieved anything worthwhile at all. But once you really see the unique opportunity that human life can bring, you will definitely direct all your energy into reaping its true worth by putting the Dharma into practice.

If you make use of your human birth in the right way, you can achieve enlightenment in this very lifetime. All the great Siddhas of the past were born as ordinary people. But by entering the Dharma, following a realized teacher and devoting their whole lives to practising the instructions they received, they were able to manifest the enlightened activities of great Bodhisattvas. "

~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche


Commentary by Jerome (20th April 2017):


Today I met an old lady who tried to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of the corridor outside her flat. Luckily, her daughter stopped her in time. I listened to her story. Her husband and her used to own more than 100k worth of cash, an apartment flat and lots of jewellery. This amount of money was hard-earned money she accrued from decades of hard work and thriftiness. After her husband passed away 2 years ago, she slipped into depression. She started to have memory loss and eventually was diagnosed with dementia. She lived with her son and her daughter-in-law.

Instead of taking care of her, her son left her alone in his house in the day. The couple also colluded by asking her to transfer the ownership of the flat under their name which she did. They also stole her jewelleries and withdrew all the cash in her bank account. Not a single cent was left. When she found out about what they did, she was so heart-broken that she wanted to commit suicide.

Listening to her story, I felt so sorry for her. Many people spend their whole life chasing after money, fame, lust, honor and various materialistic goals. Some even claim to do it on behalf of their children. In fact, the real gift to their children is to instill proper moral cultivation, spend more quality family time with them and to practise the dharma on their behalf. Inheritance may not necessary be good for your children. There is a chinese saying that family inheritance will not last beyond three generations. The first generation fought hard to accrue them. The second generation enjoy the hard-earned cash and the third generation depletes all the inheritance on luxurious goods.

If one donate their money to charitable causes, one's children will receive the merits of their parent's charitable behaviour (family honor, philantrophic family, etc). If one meditates, one will cultivate an upright and gentle character and instill proper moral character in their children. If one will to chant, one's ancestors and children will be blessed by gods and Buddhas (or any other supreme celestial beings you respect)

Honor, fame, money, lust and other materialistic goals will come to end one day. Use them wisely and rightly. Do not be their slaves. In this way, you will live the most fruitful life with no regrets.

Reference:
Nyingma Masters - https://www.facebook.com/NyingmaMasters/photos/a.664868596951329.1073741828.661664957271693/1030225903748928/?type=3&theater