Our mind is like a stubborn child, doing just at it pleases, difficult to teach and control, chasing after desires, and producing all kinds of troubles. Trying to fulfill our desires, we are always on the pursuit of things, without ever feeling at rest within. This makes for a very hectic life. And as soon as we run into some difficulty, confusion and trouble arise. We become jealous, angry, hateful and confrontational, leading a life that has no stability. Without the ability to see through things, our lives become confused. When we become emotionally involved or experience ups and downs at work, we don`t know how to handle it. We hold on to things and loose ourselves.

In our minds we often make distinctions between Self and Other, good and bad, leading to confusion and unhappiness. All we want is to be happy and free, all we want is to find a way to overcome our difficulties. How can we do it? We need a method. Buddhism is a way of learning about life. It is a learning process that helps us to transform our hearts from one bound by selfishness into one full of love and compassion. It teaches us to become selfless. It helps us to enlarge our inner space, and teaches us how to relax and let go of the small self. Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity are a very effective medicine that helps us to attune and settle our heart and mind, and to purify our inner state of being, freed from confusion and attachment. Through this medicine we get rid of the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. We learn how to relax and become happy.

Through generosity we learn how to counteract greed, and how to develop the notion of letting go. We let go of our mind that is full of desires, and let our heart settle down. Through love and compassion we learn how to transform the anger and hate in our heart, and to attain the compassionate spirit of the Bodhisattva Guanyin who saves all from suffering and gives joy to all. We learn to put ourselves into the shoes of others, and to engage in works of love and compassion, generating good human relationships and true happiness. Furthermore, we also need to learn how to develop wisdom by engaging in the contemplation of what is real, and what is illusory in this world. We keep up this spirit of contemplation to observe our own behavior, to learn how to let go of our worries, to get a hold of ourselves, to give birth to joy and make our lives more meaningful.

When our heart is free from desires, when we keep this spirit of equanimity, when we succeed in practicing love, compassion and letting go, our life will be filled with joy. On the contrary, when we do everything out of a heart full of desires, our sense of gain and loss becomes too strong, and from that, all kinds of troubles readily arise. I have many disciples who have been with me for many years and who often feel a sense of exuberant joy, without any particular reason. How does that happen? It happens because they carry no burden in their heart, because their hearts are free from desires and schemes. This is the result of practice – the practice of love, compassion, joy and equanimity.

Know that learning Buddhism is not the same as engaging in some kind of business that deals with profit and loss. If we approach it with a heart that calculates the profits and losses, we will be unhappy and unable to reach the state of inner freedom that is without any stress. I hope that all of us will be perfected in love, compassion, joy and equanimity, that we don`t harbor any grudge and mistrust, that we rejoice in doing good and being generous, so that we sow good seeds and receive good fruits. Let us create a kind and wholesome society, give rise to joy and walk on the great path towards achieving Buddhahood together.

Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)

慈悲喜捨

我們的心像頑童，很任性、難管教，常會隨著慾望，產生各種煩惱。例如我們因為貪求欲望，一直追逐所求，無法獲得滿足，形成繁忙、欲求的生命；或是稍遇不如意的事情，起無明煩惱，嫉妒、生氣，產生瞋恚，造成衝突，形成不安定的生命；或是因為觀察力不足、無知，在生活中，因情緒的發生或事業上的好壞，不曉得如何抉擇，產生迷執，迷失了自己。

我們心中常常裝滿這些人我是非，導致迷惑、不快樂。我們都希望能解決這些不順，得到快樂與自在。這要如何做到？要有方法。佛法就是一個生活學習，幫助我們把心從自私轉換成慈悲、無我，讓內在空間變大，學習在生活中如何放鬆自己。慈、悲、喜、捨就是很好的治療方法，教導我們如何調心、降伏心，淨化內在的妄想執著，去除貪、瞋、癡三毒，放鬆自己，得到快樂。

我們學習用布施來對治貪，建立捨的觀念，捨去自我貪求的心，讓心安定下來。用慈悲對治瞋恚，讓心從瞋恨裡面去轉變，抱持學習觀音菩薩拔苦予樂的慈悲精神，站在別人立場去想，做慈悲的工作，具足好人緣與大福報。同時，我們更要學習智慧，常常用覺察的心照見世間種種虛幻與實相，用心覺察自己的行為，學到如何捨去煩惱，生起快樂，把握自己，讓生命更有意義。

如果我們心中無所求，抱持隨喜功德的喜捨心，做好慈悲喜捨的工作，生命就充滿歡喜。我們如果做甚麼都抱持有所求的心，得失心會太大，容易多煩惱。很多跟隨師父多年的老弟子們，常會莫名奇妙感到心中很快樂，這是為什麼呢？這是因為心中沒有負擔、心無所求所致，這就是一種修行——慈悲喜捨的修行。大家要知道，學佛不是做買賣，若用做買賣的得失心學佛，就會不快樂，無法得到輕鬆自在。希望我們具足慈悲喜捨，能常無怨無悔地樂善好施，種好因、得好果，讓社會溫暖美好、快樂，共同往成佛的大道前行。

─── 心道法師