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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0171

Tape: New Version 02 45:21 ~ 46:40

Date: 2019-11-18 ~ 2019-11-20

Topic: Don’t find excuses for your slacking habit

English Lamrim Volume 1, page 34

【All those fortunate ones who are unobscured by the darkness of partisanship,
    Who have the mental capacity to differentiate good and bad,   
    And who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure         
    Should listen with one-pointed attention.】

Master’s discourse Feng Shan Si Version Vol 1 P53-L9 ~ P54-L4

Master said, “They all feel the need to accumulate merits, so they would do the tasks earnestly. All these are driven by the aspiration for virtues, and such aspiration is indispensable! For the same reason, the further we delve into our practice in the future, the more this aspiration for virtues is required.” The deeper we aspire to achieve the attainment of the Dharma, the more merits we need. “So the various undertakings we are carrying out now are to train our willpower.” Willpower really needs to be trained deliberately; if we don’t train it, when we meet with difficult situation, we will retreat to the back, and don’t want to progress any further. If this habit is formed, we will retreat whenever facing difficulties. For this situation, my mental strength may be insufficient, or my capability is insufficient, but with this situation, because my mental strength is insufficient, because my capability is insufficient, can I train myself abit? After training for a period of time, we will dare to proceed a step forward when faced with challenges. [00:53]

Thus Master said, “With this realization, [while facing any task,] we will never drag our feet.” Master is very, very strict towards punctuality. In the sangha community, punctuality is also very important. If you are always late during the mass assembly, you will feel stressed over time, hence, we need to be on time. This is also an example to demonstrate the joyous perseverance. [01:20]

Forming good habits is fine; however, if the habits we formed are detrimental to us, particularly the habit of slacking, when we want to really practise in the future, it will be absolutely impossible for us to advance on the path. Hence, do not belittle these little incidents where we appear not very mindful.  Dragging it a bit today, and then finding it challenging tomorrow hence giving it a miss, the day after we are not in good mood hence giving it a miss, giving ourselves leeway and form the habit of slacking/laziness. In the teaching, Master used the phrase “slacking habit”. [01:52]      

I’ve also once asked a young monastic student trainee, “When you persist in memorization, what is your greatest challenge?” He thought about it and then replied; “The greatest challenge is finding excuses for myself – looking for reasons for not reciting. Because as long as I can find the excuse, then I don't have to do the memorization.” Actually, this is what the “slacking habit” refers to in this section. I noticed that although the student was so young, he knew he had to counteract the habit of slacking. He felt that if he keeps on searching for excuses to not memorize, then he would never stick to the schedule of memorization, he would not be able to finish memorizing one book after another every year. Despite his young age, he realized that this habit of slacking is truly scary! Looking at this in terms of Master’s instruction: “when you are serious about applying the meditation practice in the future”, with the slacking habit, “it is absolutely impossible for you to advance on the path!” So, again, this resonates with the idea of joyous perseverance. Again, it goes along with what Master had said, “when you have the option to step forward or backward, please step forward and not backward.” Slacking is definitely stepping backward. [03:02]        

Thus, Master continued, “Hence, either ‘I don’t do it’, or ‘I do it wholeheartedly’ mentality. These small tasks now are simple tasks.” Don’t disregard that small simple task. “If we could develop such a mindset to deal with these minor and simple tasks now, we will have stronger willpower when we delve into our practice in the future. Furthermore, not only do we need to develop such willpower…. we also need enough energy and stamina, so that we can achieve something remarkable.” Master always regarded practice as the most remarkable task, it requires powerful will, stamina, energy, etc. Here, he particularly emphasized on “willpower”, and also emphasized the importance of the aspiration for virtues for propelling us towards our practice; that is the joyful attitude and the power of joyous perseverance. [04:00]

Hence, about the word “wish” in the verse “who wish to make meaningful this good life of leisure”, we can apply it to examine our current mind state from many aspects. Take slacking for example; when we have no mental strength, insufficient willpower, we may choose to slide down. Over time, we will naturally give in to any adversity; when challenges arise, we stop doing; when in a bad mood, we  also stop doing. In short, we look for many excuses to slack. Master said, “it is absolutely impossible for you to advance on the path!” If it is absolutely impossible for us to advance, then there is only one path – retreat! Therefore, Master said, “you do it wholeheartedly.” Cultivating our joyful attitude for virtues becomes very important, because it will propel us to do it willingly. [04:50]

I am pondering how such a young student would know that he needed to counteract the slacking habit regarding reciting. Maybe he considered recitation to be one of his undertakings, so he must finish memorizing it. Or perhaps while reciting, he felt happy, joyful and the sense of achievement; or it could be that he felt obligated to memorize Buddha’s teachings, so on and so forth. Of course, there were many other reasons that he himself could not spell out; he felt that it is a very very important task. But after he grows up, he will definitely benefit from his own perception – “Don’t look for excuses; and I can finish memorizing the scripture. If I find any excuse for not doing so, then I won’t be able to finish the memorization.” In fact, with such a simple method, he has persisted memorizing one book after another. [05:34]

讲次 0171

标题 别为自己的偷懒找理由

音档 新版 02 45:21 ~ 46:40

日期 2019-11-18 ~ 2019-11-20

广论段落 P2-L2 诸有偏执暗未覆……诸具善者专励听

手抄页/行 凤山寺版：第1册 P53-L9 ~ P54-L4

手抄段落 譬如说我们在座的......我在这里简单地说一下。

师父说：“我觉得必须要做集聚资粮，我就很认真地去做。那个都是善法欲，而且也是必不可少的！同样的，将来越深入，这种越是需要。”越深入想要获得佛法的证悟的时候，就越需要资粮。 “所以眼前很多事情是锻炼我们意志的。”意志真的是要刻意去锻炼，如果不锻炼的话，我们遇到难的事情就退在后面，就不想前进了；养成习惯的话，遇难就退。这件事我可能心力不够，或者我的能力不够，但是能否就这件事因为心力不够、因为能力不够我就锻炼一下？锻炼久了之后，碰到挑战的我们就敢向前一步。 [00:53]

所以师父说：“当我们了解了这一点，我们就绝对不愿意出去的时候拖拖拉拉的。”师父是一个守时非常非常严的人。在僧团里守时也很重要，如果大众集会的时候总是迟到，时间久了也会有压力，所以还是要守时，这也是体现一个精进的例子。 [01:20]

养成好习惯是可以的，但是如果养成了伤害自己、尤其是养成偷懒的习惯，将来要想真正修行的时候，绝对不可能走得上去的。所以别看这些小的事情我们好像不是很在意，今天拖一点，然后明天觉得困难就不去了，后天心情不好就不去了，就给自己放水，会养成功偷懒——这里边师父说了一个“偷懒”。 [01:52]

我也曾问一个小朋友，说：“你坚持背书，最大的困难是什么？”他当时想了想，跟我说：“最大的问题应该是给我自己找理由——找不背书的理由，因为只要找到那个理由我就可以不背书了。”其实就是此处所说的“偷懒”。我发现那个小朋友那么小，他就知道要对治偷懒的习惯。他认为：如果他一直给自己找理由不背书，那他就永远不会按进度背书，他就不可能一年一本书、一本书那样背完。在他那么小的时候，就知道偷懒这个习惯是非常可怕的！那么用师父的教诲来看呢，说：“将来要想真正修行的时候”，偷懒——就“绝对不可能走得上去！”所以又跟精进那个涵义是一样的。又跟师父讲的：在可上可下的时候，请向上一步，而不要向下一步是一样的。偷懒就一定是向下一步。 [03:02]

所以师父接着说：“要嘛不做，要做我就全部精神去做。那现在这种小的是简单的事情。”别看那个小的简单的事情，“有了这个能力了，将来越深入，你才能够有这种强盛的意志力量。然后呢，不但呢内心当中有这种意志力量，而且你这个精力、体力都够，你才能够做这种最了不起的伟大的事情。”师父把修行一向看为是最了不起的伟大的事情，它需要强盛的意志力、体力、精力等等。在这里非常强调这个“意志力”，也强调了善法欲在推动我们修行的这个重要性，就是欢喜心、精进的力量。 [04:00]

所以“欲令暇身不唐捐”的“欲”字，我们可以多处结合自己的现行看一看：譬如偷懒——当自己没心力，意志力不够的时候就选择下滑，久了之后就自然地会屈服于任何逆境，有逆境来就不干了，心情不好也不干了，总之找很多理由偷懒。师父说：修行绝对上不去的！如果绝对上不去的话，就只有一条路——退！所以师父说：就要打起全部的精神去做。培养我们对于善法的欢喜心，这件事就变得非常地重要，因为它会推动我们愿意去做。 [04:50]

我在想那小朋友为什么那么小就知道对治背书的时候偷懒？他就觉得背书是他的一个事业，他一定要把它背完；也可能在背书的时候，他感受到快乐、愉悦和成功感；或者他觉得就应该背诵佛陀的教典......，当然有很多很多他可能自己也讲不清楚的理由，他觉得这事非常非常重要。但是他长大了之后，他一定会受益于他自己的那个见解——“不要给自己找理由，我就能把书背完；一旦我找到不背书的理由，我就背不完。”其实就用这么简单的方式，他就坚持背了一本又一本的书。 [05:34]