What do we concern ourselves with in our daily lives? Is it to make a name for ourselves? Or is it to pile up profit? For whose eyes do we perform our daily job? What is the goal of that job? In reality, everything in this world is empty, and we receive the fruits of our own actions, create our own karmic baggage, and carry our own self-created burden. To work is to offer oneself dedicatedly: therefore be diligent and self-responsible in your work. Understand that everything you do – every act of dedication, service, act of loving kindness, goodness and selfless offering - benefits yourself as well as benefiting others. It is not something you do just on behalf of others; rather it means being responsible for yourself, doing your work as a form of spiritual practice.

To master oneself brings the greatest happiness; attempting to be the master over others is foolish and eats up your strength. Let us constantly practice to master ourselves. When we know how to master ourselves we are winners. But when we don’t know how to master ourselves, when we are not able to let go of our attachment to others; when we allow the things of the outside world to block us, when we create problems and karmic hindrances for ourselves, we are losers.

What is the meaning of “karmic hindrances”? Karma refers to action or thing, and hindrance means an action or thing that blocks the path of our heart/mind. When the path of the heart/mind is blocked, trouble and suffering arise as a result. To open up the heart/mind, to master ourselves is to realize that there is no heart/mind to be grasped or attained. Thus, our heart/mind realizes true freedom. To practice does not mean to engage in long discussions, but to directly see whether we are able to master our own heart/mind or not. How can we accomplish this? We arrive at this through the wisdom of Emptiness, which comes from contemplation. This wisdom sets our heart/mind free from all fetters.

Every day we have so many thoughts in our heads and squeeze our brains out - only to entangle ourselves more deeply. We don’t engage in self-reflection, but instead cry out to the highest heavens. With our thoughts and attachments we fashion the ring for the nose of the ox, binding ourselves and allowing ourselves to be led astray by those thoughts. What then is the meaning of religious practice? It means to set free our shackled heart/mind. It means to cut off, let go, and no longer allow our heart/mind to be put into fetters. How do we loosen the fetters? By simply letting go and seeing through things, clearly recognizing who is binding whom, who is not able to let go of whom, who makes oneself un-free. Our woes come from the fact that we cannot let go of our own Self, that we don’t allow ourselves to be free, but live under pressured instead.

Every thought is a sort of prison, a rope, a snare, in which we strangle ourselves, forming all kinds of mental habits. When we don`t get along with each other or mess up things, our interactions are full of thoughts and ideas, full of snares in which we trap ourselves, creating a very difficult relationships. On the other hand, when there are few snares, our relationships will be wholesome and unimpeded. Often we are not aware of the fact that we imprison ourselves by letting ourselves be bound up by our ears, nose, eyes and mouth until we cry out to heaven. But we are really the ones who imprison ourselves, and therefore we have to learn how to free ourselves from our shackles, and not to be bound by the power of Karma. We have to learn how to master ourselves, how to deeply contemplate life and achieve a life of total liberation. Otherwise, if we don’t know how to master ourselves, but keep on imprisoning ourselves, we will continue to be mired in a life of Karma and confusion, a life incessantly turning in the wheel of samsara.

Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)

降伏自己

一切的苦樂、輪迴皆由心所生，我們要好好用心，給自己鋪條覺悟的道路。我們每天擁有什麼？是名或利嗎？每天工作是做給誰看？工作的目的又是為了什麼？其實，世間一切皆空，一切都是自作自受，自造業、自揹負。工作就是在做奉獻，我們要做好工作，對自己負責，瞭解我們所做的一切事情，奉獻、服務、愛心、善心、供養，都是自利利他，不是為了別人，而是自己對自己負責，是在工作裡面修行。

降伏自己是最快樂的，降伏別人則是最傻、最吃力。我們要常常降伏自己，只要能隨時隨地降伏自己，就是贏家；不能降伏自己，又放不下別人，讓諸多事情障礙自己，生起煩惱，形成業障，就是輸家。業障是什麼？業就是事，障就是這件事障礙了心的通路，心的通路受到障礙，就會生起煩惱。所以心通自在，降伏自己就是無心可得，使心自在；修行不用長篇大論，端視有沒有辦法降伏自己的心。如何降伏？用空性的智慧降伏，空性的智慧從觀照來，令心自在，不被束縛。

我們天天都有很多想法，絞盡腦汁綁住自己，自身卻沒察覺，反而叫苦連天；常常製造太多想法與執著，製造很多我執的牛鼻棍，把自己綁住，被這些想法牽著走。事實上，什麼叫修行？就是把綁住自己的心解開、切斷、放下，讓心不再被綁住。如何鬆綁？只有放下、看破，看清楚是誰綁著誰、是誰放不下誰、是誰讓自己不自在？一切都是因為自己放不下自己，讓自己不自在、有壓迫感！

每一個想法就是一座牢房、一根繩子、一個套子，把自己套死了，形成很多的習氣。如果人與人、人與事搞不好，彼此相處，想法就多，套子也會多，將自己綁得很緊，人際關係就會很糟糕；反之，套子少了，人際關係自然圓融無礙。我們常常不自覺地將自己套牢，把耳朵、鼻子、眼睛、嘴吧都綁住，然後叫苦連天。其實，這都是自己綁來的，我們要學習自我解套，不被業力所綁，降伏自己，觀照好生命，成就解脫的生命；反之，若無法降伏自己，被自己套牢，就是業力、迷惑的生命，也是輪迴的生命。

─── 心道法師