Eight Causes and Conditions for Being Born in a Lotus
1. One would rather give up one’s life than speak about the faults of others. Let us say you were in a position where you were going to get your head chopped off, and, if you simply said, “It is not my fault! So and so did it, not me. They told me to do it. It was not my idea…” you could escape. You still would not say it. If you would rather lose your life than talk about other’s faults then you have fulfilled the first condition for being born in a Lotus.
Can any of you do this? If you gossip all day long, how can you be born in a Lotus?Ha! I do not care if you gossiped before. That does not count as long as you do not gossip anymore. Now that I have taught you not to, I will certify that your past offenses do not count, as long as you reform in the future. It will hold if you do it again though.
2. One teaches people to take refuge with the Triple Jewel. Not only do you influence people to take refuge and practice the Bodhisattva Path, but even to animals.
3. One brings it all back to the Bodhi heart. All your good deeds should be put in trust to bringing forth the Bodhi heart.
4. One practices undefiled Brahma conduct. Brahma conduct is pure conduct. It means being without greed, hatred, or stupidity. This means you get rid of your greed forever. You cannot think you are doing okay because you are not greedy during lectures, and then get greedy as soon as you leave the lecture hall! Perhaps even while the lecture is in progress you are thinking, “Arrgh! What nonsense! I like being greedy! Why do we have to keep hearing about that!” Then you get angry and then you do not listen anymore. You take a nap instead. See? Pure Brahma conduct means not having even the subtlest forms of greed. If someone leaves a bag of garbage around, you cannot go looking through it for gold pieces! That is worthless!
5. One makes Buddha images and places them on Lotus pedestals.
6. One dispels the troubles of living beings. Living beings are always worrying. “What am I going to do? I cannot solve my problems!” So you think of a solution for them. But you cannot expect a lot of gratitude; you must do it and forget it, that’s all.
7. One is humble towards arrogant people. People who are arrogant are always fighting to be the number one. Toward such people you should be humble and compliant.
8. One does not give trouble to others. You cannot order people around and tell them what to do! Especially Americans! American husbands cannot even tell their wives what to do! It will not work. When I was in Hong Kong and Manchuria, I was much more into the role of being the teacher. If I suspected that something should be done and it was not, I would get very upset. Now I have come to America, and I see that here, fathers do not give orders to their children and teachers do not give orders to their students. I figure that as a teacher of Buddhism, I should be more democratic. Therefore, you students must be even more democratic! We shall practice the genuine Buddhadharma in the context of true democracy, and it will be wonderful!
(http://www.cttbusa.org/dfs12/dfs12_6.asp
This was lecture on "The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutraplayed in the Buddha Hall" last night. It is a really good medicine for me, especially the first one, because I just made the mistake stated there yesterday. I will take them as guideline to my daily life and be born in a lotus...
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