Once a young student and his friend went hiking. On the way, the student became weary and stopped to rest. His friend reminded him, “I can do anything for you, but I can’t eat or sleep for you.” The young student replied, “I know how to eat and sleep. You don’t need to do that for me.” His friend said, “It’s the same with walking, I can’t do it for you.”
A devotee asked a Chan master how to become enlightened. The Chan master got up and left. After he took a few steps he turned around and said, “I’m going to the bathroom. Can you do that for me?”
The above stories are quite simple but profound in meaning because they illustrate that, in our every undertaking, we must rely on ourselves. We need to begin from the self in order to achieve anything. The widow who loses her husband must wipe away her tears so she has the strength to raise her children. Children who lose their parents must strive on so they have the courage to face reality.
Helen Keller beat all odds and shared her achievements with the world. She did not give up but instead embraced life with optimism and involved herself in the world around her, benefiting herself as well as others. She set an exemplary standard for relying upon oneself as the key to the road of success.
When young birds learn how to fly, the mother bird does not let them return to the old nest. In Western society, when children reach their legal age, they are expected to move away from home. Even though teachers guide and instruct their students, students still need to be diligent in order to find the key of knowledge. We may have friends to help us, but if we do not build our own affinities, how are others going to help us?
Mountains collapse and people grow old; neither should be relied upon. If we do not begin from the self, but only seek external help, even if we have relatives in high and powerful places, they are only able to provide relief momentarily. Many people only know how to ask for favours but do not know how to sow and cultivate. What will they harvest?
We must help ourselves before others can help us; we must respect ourselves before others will pay us respect. We are the cause and others are the condition. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva holds a string of beads used to recite Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s name in order to show us that we should rely on ourselves.
In Chan practice, both the practitioner and the teacher work together to achieve enlightenment. Chan Master Huangbo once said, “Do not be attached to the Buddha, do not be attached to the Dharma, and do not be attached to the Sangha.” It is only when we begin from the self and cultivate diligently that we can then taste the sweet fruits of success.
