I started practicing Chan meditation at the age of fifteen, experiencing a joy that was so far beyond the joys of worldly life that it propelled me forwards on the path, and helped me to set my heart firmly on it. However, by the time I turned twenty I had become so good at having fun that my resolve to stay on the spiritual path weakened. This continued until I decided to become a monk at age twenty-five, putting all my efforts into practicing meditation and paying homage to the Buddha. This helped me to turn around and gradually return home to the heart again, letting it become one with Buddha.

So when we practice Buddhism, we do need a stable support for our practice, and seated meditation, reciting mantras or the name of the Buddha are methods that help us become one with Buddha and live our life as Buddha. These methods help us to settle our heart, to produce less delusive thoughts and thus have less trouble in life. By maintaining our practice in daily life and training ourselves to constantly let our heart/mind be one with Buddha, we bringing that very heart to perfection.

How do we do that – how do we train our heart/mind? We need to set out and start with Right Views. As long as we have not yet encountered the Buddhist teachings, our hearts are restless and constantly changing, fluctuating between highs and lows like the waves of the ocean. Mixing up both wholesome and unwholesome thoughts, we become confused, lose ourselves and easily do stupid things. Buddhism guides us to adjust our thoughts through practice until we reach Right Views and understand that everything in this life is dissatisfactory, constantly changing and empty of intrinsic existence. Everything arises out of karmic circumstances, and what we reap in this life is what we have sowed in a previous existence. If therefore we want our future to be bright, we need to learn to be compassionate, to be of service to others, to embrace others, to be able to see things from their perspective, and not to harm anyone. Thus our lives will naturally have less problems, less trouble.

At its base, Buddhism teaches us how to assume responsibility for our own lives and for our karma. It teaches us how to assume our responsibilities and not to run away from them, to carry that which we need to carry. To practice Buddhism actually is very simple: it is to practice the way of the Bodhisattva, the being-toward-enlightenment, and do that which is good. The more we are able to do this, the more our karmic circumstances will be positive. No matter whether our circumstances are positive or negative, we have to face what is right there in front of us. If we can face it straightforward and with Right Views, and if we often engage in good deeds, good Karma will naturally come our way, and bad Karma will naturally leave us.

This is my hope for all of you: that from moment to moment, you can be one with Buddha. and perfect your practice and learning. May you obtain many blessings, good Karma and the highest Prajna Wisdom

Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)

心與佛相應的學習

學佛最重要是要讓我們的心與佛相應，讓心清淨、不起煩惱，感受生命的快樂，堅定道心，讓人生有保障。我們從出生到懂事，一直都在打妄想執著，要徹底斷除煩惱，並不容易，常會進進退退，在習慣中打轉，所以我們需要方法讓心清淨，培養堅定的修道心。像師父從15歲開始 學禪，體會到與世間不一樣的快樂，讓我越走，道心越堅定。但在20幾歲時，變得很會玩，道心有所退轉，直到後來出家，努力坐禪、拜佛，才又慢慢找回來，讓自己的心再度與佛相應。

所以，學佛一定要有一個支撐，念佛、念咒、坐禪就是其中的方法，幫助我們與佛相應、生活在一起，讓我們心平靜、妄想少，生活煩惱也少，在生活裏面能認真修行，時時刻刻鍛鍊自己，讓心與佛相應，修好自己的心。

心要怎麼修？要正念。我們還沒接觸佛法時，心常會變來變去，捉不住，稍遇打擊，就像海浪一樣高低不平，好、壞念頭參雜在一起，沉浸其中而不自知，容易做壞事。學佛就是要把心念修到正念，明白世間苦、空、無常，一切都是因果變化所成，過去生種什麼因，今生就會得什麼果。所以如果想未來過得好，就要學習慈悲、付出，具足關懷，站在別人的立場想事情，不去傷害他人，自然可以減少煩惱。

其實，佛法就是在教導我們對人生負責、對因果負責，面對事實，學習承擔，不逃避，該承擔就承擔。學佛其實很簡單，就是行菩薩道，就是在世間多做回饋的事情，做越多，緣越好。在人生裡面，無論好緣、壞緣，我們都要去面對，只要具足正念，多做好事、善事，好緣自然就會來、壞緣就會離去。希望大家在生活中能時時心與佛相應，學好佛法，得到福報、善緣與正等正覺的智慧。

─── 心道法師