White Tara said:
“Actual practice of the Buddhadharma requires diligence and must be continuous, like the flowing water of a great river that keeps flowing into the boundless sea.”
I said:
“Grandmaster Lu is extremely diligent.”
Personally, I do not have many strong points. However, when it comes to perseverance, I rank myself first.
Regarding writing, I write one article every day, unceasingly.
Regarding cultivation, I practice the dharma every day, unceasingly.
Regarding painting, I paint a picture every day, unceasingly.
Regarding reading, I read every day, unceasingly.
Regarding samadhi, I practice meditation every day, unceasingly.
I said, “Regardless of the Buddhist school, whether Zen, Pure Land, Tantric, or Vinaya, if I pass by the retreat of any patriarch, they would stand up and applaud. Sheng-yen Lu’s diligence is unmatched.”
In fact, I am not a “workaholic.” I simply abide in the luminosity of enlightenment and move forward vividly, lucidly, and alertly.
I am merely completing today’s homework!
White Tara said:
“To find someone like you in this world has now become very difficult!”
I replied:
“I am just doing my best, and I know nothing else.”
White Tara said:
In this world, there are many Buddhist practitioners who, after reaching a particular meditative state, stop cultivating further and remain permanently in that state. They do not know that such a meditative state is only temporary.
(This breaks the samaya of diligence.)
For example:
When one practices qi, channels, and drops, and develops a craving for the sensation of great bliss arising from “qi passing through channels” and “inner fire passing through channels,” such a sensation is indeed very mesmerizing, but this is only the blissful samadhi of the Heaven of the Desire Realm.
If one becomes attached to this pleasure,
and ceases to progress,
then one can only remain in the heavens of the Realm of Desire.
Likewise:
From the samadhi of great bliss, a cultivator develops the “samadhi of clear light,” where one’s body, speech, and mind have attained the accomplishment of infinite light, illuminating heaven and earth.
Subsequently, one may believe that the “samadhi of clear light” is the end of cultivation.
This is also a very mesmerizing state.
This is the samadhi state of the “Heaven of the Realm of Form.”
If one becomes attached to clear light,
and does not think of progressing,
then one can only remain in the heavens of the Realm of Form.
Likewise:
From the “samadhi of clear light,” a cultivator develops “emptiness.” From clear light, one enters the “four realms of emptiness”: 1. infinity of space (ākāśānantya), 2. infinity of consciousness (vijñānānantya), 3. nothingness (ākiñcanya), and 4. neither thought nor non-thought (naivasamjñānāsamjñā).
If one thinks that one has reached the end,
and does not think of progressing,
then one can only remain in the heavens of the Realm of Formlessness!
***
White Tara said:
“These are all sensations arising from the accomplishment of great bliss. When one experiences these sensations of bliss, clear light, and emptiness, one should know that these are all temporary meditative states and should not think that one is amazing and become complacent. If one thinks this way, one has broken the samaya of diligence!”
White Tara continued:
“Cultivators of the present age have neither attained nor validated the meditative states of bliss, clear light, and emptiness. Instead, they have attained the states of irritability, drowsiness, and sluggishness, and cease to progress any further. This is even worse than before.”
I said:
“When a yogi has cultivated to the state of non-cultivation, actually, even a yogi’s non-cultivation is also cultivation.”