Let Choose

Yutang Lin

Dharma practice is up to one's choice of path;
The totality once harmonized any route works.
Forced by regulations into ever-narrower horn,
Resurrection from dead end would be difficult.

Comment:

The goal of Buddhist teachings is for sentient beings to be no longer confined by concepts and forms but instead resume the original purity born of all in oneness. As to motivation and degree of engagement they vary with individuals and depend on personal inclination and understanding of the significance of Dharma. If the above is understood properly, then all sorts of practices may be taken as tools to facilitate one's comprehension of the harmony of all. And hence it should be up to each individual to choose the path that is more suitable to the real situation. When regulations are stipulated to set limits counter results of running into ever-narrower horn may turn up. Nevertheless, extremely desperate situations might drive people to search for paths of liberation, and then step onto practice path of awakening. Taking this possibility into consideration, even regulations and limitations might help people to become awakened, and hence need not be criticized.

Viewing the whole arena from harmony of all in oneness anything goes. In the Diamond Sutra, Tathagata says, "All things are all Buddha's things," because of this view.

Written in Chinese on April 16, 2003
Translated on April 17, 2003

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