Date: 12/16/2023 12/17/2023
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Lucy Zhou
Dharma talk
Inspiration from stunts on bamboo poles
On one occasion, the Buddha told the bhikkhus:
“Once upon a time, there was a teacher and his apprentice. They could perform stunts on a bamboo pole. The teacher could have a long bamboo pole on his shoulder, and the apprentice could act on the bamboo pole.
Before a performance, the teacher said to the apprentice:
“When you are performing on the bamboo pole, you should always look down to pay attention to me and protect me, and I will also pay attention to you and protect you at all times. In this way, we will keep an eye on each other and protect each other. With mutual support, our performance will be foolproof to make a lot of money.”
However, the apprentice said to the teacher:
“Teacher, this is not right! Teacher! You should concentrate on yourself and do what you should do, and I should also concentrate on myself and do what I should do. We both do our actions to perfect our performance, and the audiences will give us more money; I can also safely finish the performance and get down. So that makes sense.”
Hearing this, the teacher thought it was also reasonable and said to the apprentice:
“I agree with you that we should each protect ourselves, but that’s what I mean. Because if we protect ourselves, we won’t interfere with others, which is the same as protecting others. If others can protect themselves, they won’t interfere with me, which is the same as protecting me.”
So, bhikkhus! Practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with the mind of “self-protection” as the apprentice said, and practice with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with the sense of “protecting others”. Bhikkhus, who protects himself can defend himself, and he who protects him must defend himself.
Bhikkhus! What is the way of protecting oneself and then protect others? That is to cultivate hard and cultivate a lot to put into practice so that when one has cultivated well, one will not harm others. This is self-protection and can protect him.
Bhikkhus! What is the way of practicing self-preservation for the sake of protecting others? That is to practice self-protection to protect others by tolerating others’ insults, not harming others, loving others, and showing compassion to others. So that, practice self-preservation for the sake of protecting others
Bhikkhus! To protect oneself, one should cultivate the Four Foundations of mindfulness, and for the sake of self-preservation, one should also cultivate the Four Foundations of mindfulness. For the sake of self-preservation, one can protect others; for the sake of protecting others, one can protect oneself.”
