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What is diligence? Being diligent means to be very focused and resolved in what we do without turning back. In order to succeed, we must concentrate on whatever task we are doing at the moment. We should not have any second thoughts during the process. Only then can we progress and improve. To accomplish a good deed, we need to fulfill these four conditions: have confidence, be diligent, take in and uphold the Dharma, and have wisdom.
During the Buddha’s era, there were many people who created a lot of bad karma due to their deluded and troubled minds. After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he wanted to correct the misguided views of people. Thus, he went around the country to expound the Dharma to educate and guide people.
This is a story from a Buddhist sutra:
Once, the Buddha was dwelling in a village, whose eastern and southern districts were separated by a river. There were about 500 households in the eastern district. The people living there often created negative karma by indulging in excessive eating, drinking, and merry-making, leading a relaxed and lazy lifestyle every day. The Buddha felt compassionate towards the villagers, so he went to the eastern district with the hope of guiding and enlightening them.
When the villagers in the eastern district heard that the Buddha was coming, they were very happy, because he was widely worshipped and loved by all in India after he attained enlightenment. Thus, they piously paid their respect to the Buddha when he arrived and requested him to expound the Dharma to them. During the few days when the Buddha was giving Dharma talks in the village, the villagers appeared to be very pious on the surface. However, deep down under, they were unable to accept what the Buddha was teaching. The Buddha saw through their minds and felt sorry for them, but he could only sigh helplessly.
One day, someone from the southern district came to the eastern district. He was soaking wet as he approached the Buddha and bowed respectfully. His pious and respectful manners touched the hearts of those who saw him.
The Buddha asked the person, “Who are you? How did you come here? What did you come here for?”
He replied humbly, “I’m a simple and honest man residing in the southern district across the river. I have long heard about how the Buddha travels around to guide and enlighten people, inspiring wisdom in all and eliminating people’s delusions and afflictions. So, I have sincerely come to seek the teachings of the Buddha. On my way here, I had to cross a river. Others told me that the river is very deep and I needed to ride a boat across it, but there was no boat in sight at that time, and I was desperate to learn the Dharma. Then, someone said to me that since I was so desperate, I should wade across the river, and this was what I did.”
The Buddha was very touched by the villager and said, “Faith can guide us across deep waters, taking in and upholding the Dharma can keep us on the right track, diligence can eliminate our sufferings, and wisdom can lead us to enlightenment.”
“Faith can guide us across deep waters” means that as long as you have faith, you will be able to cross the river no matter how deep it is. On the contrary, you will not be able to make it if you lack faith and confidence, even if your destination is just inches away.
“Taking in and upholding the Dharma can keep us on the right track”. If you have faith in the Dharma and are able to take in the teachings, the Dharma will serve as a ship, which can take you across the sea of suffering to the shore of Nirvana. “Diligence” is needed to end sufferings—to leave the land of suffering and reach the other shore (of Nirvana), where you will achieve a state of endless joy and bliss. Last but not least, with wisdom, you will be able to reach this shore.
Therefore, having faith, being diligent, taking in and upholding the Dharma, and having wisdom are the key conditions to detach ourselves from the five worldly desires. If we can let go of our mental afflictions resulting from our desire for material possessions in our daily lives, we will be able to live a simple and virtuous life and ascend from a mundane to a sagely state.
What the Buddha said to the villager contained a two-fold meaning. On one hand, he praised the villager from the southern district for taking the risk to cross the river just to seek the Dharma, while on the other hand, he was spurring the villagers in the eastern district to be more diligent. Although the villagers in the eastern district were closer to the Buddha, they did not have a truly sincere respect for him, and neither did they have the spiritual aspiration to seek, learn and practise the Dharma diligently and wisely. This was because they had greedy and resentful hearts, and thus, they were not focused and sincere in seeking the Dharma.
Our spiritual aspiration comes from our rational mind. If let our greed and desires grow uncontrollably, we will lose our rationality. If we are able to strengthen our rational mind, we will be able to curb our greed and desires.
Many modern day people are enticed to create negative karma by their own greed and desires. There are so many people who have lost their integrity and even destroyed their lives due to their greed and desires. Hence, our greedy wants will cause us to fall into an abyss of woes and troubles.
It is true indeed that people suffer because of their many greed and desires. The more greed and desires one clings on to, the more bad karma one will create. The Buddha has taught us to detach ourselves from our wants and desires, diligently cultivate merits, increase our wisdom, and do more good deeds to benefit the masses. Do not let material desires bury our conscience and potential to do good. This is why we say that we can eliminate our afflictions by being diligent in our spiritual cultivation at all times.
Extracted from “Sheng Huo De Zhi Hui”《生活的智慧》
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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