The Giant Fish

Time flies. Life is impermanent and transient. This is the law of nature. So, we must seize the time we have. Time keeps ticking away. This is true for everyone, whether one is 100 years old or short-lived. So, we must make good use of our life to cultivate ourselves spiritually. This is very important.

In our daily living, every person and everything we come across can teach us something. It is as if we were receiving education from what we encounter every day. So, in our daily living, we must be mindful at all times. I often speak of greed, anger and ignorance. Ignorance is like a veil of darkness. When we give rise to ignorance, our light of wisdom will be covered up. So, we must dispel the darkness of ignorance from our mind.

When a lamp is covered up by a piece of black cloth, it will be very dark. But as soon as we rip open the black cloth, the light will shine through. So, no matter how many lifetimes, we have been shrouded in ignorance, as long as we can bring forth our wisdom now, our ignorance will be eliminated.

When we dispel the darkness of ignorance and cut the root of doubt, we'll be able to break open "the net of all wrong views". Our incorrect views will cause us to give rise to many afflictions. If we have erroneous views, our understanding will also be delusive and faulty. When we accumulate many incorrect views about people, things, and even life's principles and truths, we'll be trapped as if we were caught in a net. So, we must break open the net of our wrong views just like ripping open a net.

Once upon a time, there was a giant fish. Every day, the giant fish led a school of fish as they swam about freely in the ocean. One day, a fisherman spotted this school of fish. So, he threw a very big fishing net and caught them all. Being trapped in the net, the fish were terrified. The fisherman quickly drew up the net.

As the net drew tighter, the fish kept struggling. The giant fish decided to do something. It plunged its head into the sand and started to use its fins to cut open the net. Slowly, the net was ripped open. The fisherman drew up the net. But all the fish had escaped.

Unfortunately, the giant fish got stuck in the sand and died. However, it saved the school of fish. As we devote our life to walking the spiritual path, we not only need to learn and understand true principles ourselves, but also go amongst people to share what we've learned with others.

We have to awaken to truths and also help others to do the same. Doing this takes time. And, as we work to do so over a long period of time, we have to put in a lot of effort. But when we devote our whole life to this work, we may be able to set an example for others not only by words, but also by actions.

This is how we can share all that we learn and practice with everyone and inspire them to do the same. So, this is what we should try our best to do just like how the giant fish struggled so hard to cut open the fishing net.

To completely eliminate our erroneous views and understanding, so that we can tell right from wrong and awaken ourselves and others takes much time; to get rid of our wrong views is also very hard work.  But this is what cultivation is all about. Only by cultivating diligently, can we dispel our ignorance.

Living in the world, we all have many desires. And when we give in to our desires, we'll be lured away and fall into traps. In this world, there are temptations everywhere. That's why we're easily deluded and led astray. But all this happens because of our desires.

So, to cultivate ourselves, we need to constantly give rise to a heart of repentance. When we repent, we'll be able to cleanse away the ignorance from our mind. When our ignorance is cleansed, our light of wisdom will shine forth and our pure, true nature will manifest. Only then can we have a clear and correct understanding of everything.

So, everyone, we should understand that only by living in this world can we cultivate. If we can eliminate all our desires, we will be able to attain Buddhahood. So, we must seize our time in this world to diligently cultivate ourselves. 

It's rare to be born as a human and to encounter the Buddha's teachings. Since we've come across them, we must diligently live them out. The Buddha taught us to walk the Bodhisattva Path. So, in our daily life, we must diligently cultivate ourselves on the Bodhisattva Path.