Compassionate Tolerance By Master

JinBodhi
Compassionate Tolerance
By Meditation Master JinBodhi
Elevating consciousness is like building a house from scratch. You dig a space
for the foundation, and then you fill the space with sand, stones and cement.
Then you tamp it all down. A solid foundation is waterproof and can withstand an
earthquake. Then we build the house on top of it. The more solid the foundation,
the more weight it can bear. If we want to elevate our consciousness and improve
the conditions of our lives, well need to make our foundation really solid.
Sincerity is important in self-cultivation. It doesnt matter what religion you
followed before, or if you were an atheist, or only believed in science, what
matters is that you really put your whole heart into self-cultivation. Its similar to
practicing Kung fu. After learning only the basic skills, one has no real power to
attack or defend. The Kung fu masters use the same basic movements, yet they
are powerful. How come? Because theyve practiced frequently and diligently.
And they put their whole minds and hearts into practicing
The more solid the foundation, the higher the achievement and consciousness
A meditation master once said that when a person realizes the importance of
self-cultivation, he or she must start to self-cultivate as if their hair is on fire. One
must hurry on the path of self-cultivation. Why? Because life is impermanent. Life
doesnt stay the same. Regardless of whether you are 20 or 50 years old, its not
certain that youll still be alive next year, is it? Realizing this doesnt mean that
tomorrow is the end of the world, or that one has to live in fear; instead, one
knows to cherish each moment in which to do whats really important.
If youre not awakened, youll find theres always something not right in your life.
There are illnesses, trying to buy a house, a seemingly endless mortgage to

pay. Theres vexation in relationships. Some people always hold an attitude of

opposition, an enemy in their lives, and take this hatred with them when they die.
Worries last till death. Love is good, but attachment is suffering. Some pain
seems so stubborn that we think well never get over it. And a small irritation can
become a big monster that absorbs all of our energy. Annoyances, troubles and
distractions happen every day.
My old students know that I connect our physical conditions with the condition of
the mind. According to my research over the years, all diseases, except the
hereditary ones, are initiated by the mind and heart, as are the troubles in your
life.
Western doctors equate the mind with the brain. What about the heart? I think the
heart helps the brain with its thinking function. Everything outside is created by
the internal mental state. One of the causes of tumors and cancer is anger. Anger
gets stuck in one of the internal organs and accumulates there over time, without
ever being released in the form of gas or liquid. This is also how many other
diseases are caused. Apart from the hereditary ones, most illnesses originate
from unreleased emotions, and emotions are caused by thoughts.
We need to use higher consciousness, a more elevated way of thinking, to
perceive everything in this world. This higher consciousness doesnt mean your
body will fly to Heaven right now; rather, it is a spiritual Heaven on Earth. Like I
said in the book The Buddhist Robes, the minds of human beings create Heaven
and Hell on Earth. How? When ones mind is obsessed with oneself, the
motivation for doing anything is directly or indirectly linked to the ego. When this
is the case, the person is already living in Hell.
Serving others is Heaven. This may sound a little contradictory with the realities
of our lives. For instance, if we spend all our money on serving others, leaving
nothing to maintain our own lives, well starve. This is a misunderstanding of what
it means to serve others. Dont follow my words blindly and give away all you
have to the poor, leaving you and your kids to die of hunger. Thats wrong. What I
mean by serving others is that your mind, your heart, is in a state of
consciousness wherein your heart contains not only yourself but also others.

When we eat or drink, we think of people and beings worse off than us, and care
for them in our hearts. Do thoughts count as a kind of action? Yes, thoughts are
mental action. Ninety percent of bodily actions, including speech, are thoughts
before they are actualized on the physical level. Thoughts determine actions.
Things happening around us bring us different feelings, and feelings affect our
perception of other things. Many of you have realized that regardless of what kind
of emotions you feel and it doesnt matter if these emotions are right or wrong
they can bring us suffering and illness. Severe mental suffering could cause
acute cancer that develops very fast. Sometimes a heart attack and diabetes are
brought on by severe mental suffering. So, mind and mood are very important to
our health and mental state, and even our fate.
Many of our sufferings and diseases are caused by our mental state
Since we have to deal with others, lets look at them with compassionate hearts
and then we wont be so easily vexed by negative thoughts. At work, look at your
colleagues with compassion; at home, look at your spouse and children with
compassion. If we forget about compassion, itll be difficult for a husband and
wife to get along with each other. Is there trouble in marriage? Yes, but people
fight to get married, maybe not out of love, but out of a sense of competition.
Although many marriages start from love, after a few years without compassion,
the relationship slips into a power struggle. The husband and wife become
competitive with one another and use all sorts of tricks to defeat their mate. This
situation is the opposite of what marriage is meant to be. Marriage is for
happiness. How does unhappiness slip in? If one focuses too much on the self,
and cant take suggestions, this self-obsession and pride make one feel offended
and attacked. A self-obsessed spouse causes their partner to suffer.
If we are enclosed in a small room, is it likely well fall ill? Yes. People in prison
cells tend to have health issues. If our heart is as expansive as the sky, or like the
grassland, endless and open, how lovely well feel! Have you ever listened to
nomadic herders sing on the open grassland? Their voices are so strong that
they can be heard from a long distance away. They whisper louder than we talk,
because they have expansive hearts.

When we treat people with compassion, our troubles are diminished

Those nomads are carefree and generous, because their hearts are big and
open. Be generous and tolerant, as in so being we expand the capacity of our
hearts and minds, and are unlikely to be blocked by any temporary phenomenon.
If we are not obsessed with temporary loss and gain, our heart opens up to a
bigger dimension. We must learn from the ocean. The ocean takes in everything
and contains everything. It accepts everything that goes into it: rivers, polluted
waters, stones, sand and earth, and so forth.
Buddhists learn to accept, not fight against, reality. They believe in karma, and
cause and consequence. If one suffers today, its because of something one did
in the past. I like the Buddhist approach to reality: Always accept it. If one wants
to fight against reality, it means he or she doesnt want the reality that theyre in.
To accept it means one knows the reality is here for a reason, so one doesnt
complain, doesnt reject it. If one doesnt reject reality, one is unlikely to become
angry and get sick from it.
Many Buddhists are so relaxed and peaceful in their hearts that they keep a good
appetite no matter what happens. People who reject reality, who like to compare
their reality with other peoples, and who happen to have good memories but
small hearts, suffer a lot.
Youll be free when you accept reality
If were experiencing some hardship, this is what we ought to be experiencing.
Just accept it.
In the story Journey to the West, the Monkey King and his two dharma brothers
accompanied their master to India to fetch the sutras. They had to go through 81
crises before seeing the Buddha. Even after 80 crises, they still couldnt see the
real Buddha; instead, they were cheated by a fake Buddha. It was only after 81
crises that they finally got to meet the Buddha and received the real sutras. You
see, if one misses a crisis, one also misses the opportunity to acquire the
wisdom derived from that specific experience.

If we didnt learn from a previous experience, similar things will happen to us so

that finally we acquire the wisdom offered by the experience. When you look back
at the sufferings you went through, youll see it was them that guided you step by
step to enlightenment.
After embarking on the path of studying buddhadharma, we still live with all kinds
of human weaknesses. We cant get rid of them, so we need to learn to use them
wisely. Please remember this. For instance, if you still have the feeling of hatred,
dont use it to hate others, hate your own laziness. What do you do if you hate
your laziness? You work hard.
We can find ways to transform negative feelings into positive feelings. We make
donations to curb greed; we cultivate tolerance to counter selfishness. Falling in
love with a particular person is not compassion; it satisfies your own physical and
psychological needs. Standing for the interests of all sentient beings is Universal
love and real compassion. People who can consider things from this broad
perspective have hope of becoming leaders and expanding their consciousness.
Without a tolerant and compassionate heart, its impossible to become
enlightened. If you lack compassion and your negative emotions flare up, how
can you heal yourself? Likewise, if you dont have the good karma and the
adequate capacity to contain a big fortune, the fortune will flow past you and you
wont be able to possess it. Just like a gold mountain on the other side of a lake,
you can see it but it doesnt belong to you. A teller working in a bank counts
money every day, maybe a million dollars a day, but makes only $2,000 a month.
This is an issue of ones capacity to contain money. After you learn about karma
and capacity, regardless of the depth of your understanding, as long as you are
aware of them, youll start to view things differently and act differently. Your life
will start to change.
Receiving Inspiration
We need inspiration to guide us through life, but people who have strong
attachment find it hard to receive it. During meditation, when we enter a deep
meditative state, we clear the blockages and improve our ability to receive
inspiration.

Where does inspiration come from? It comes from the state of Zen, where
consciousness is endlessly expanded. In this expanded vastness and
nothingness, theres wisdom. In this state, the meditator is not thinking, but
receives inspiration.
Sometimes when I encounter a big difficulty and dont know what to do, Ill
meditate, and inspiration concerning how to deal with the difficulty will appear.
Sometimes I dont receive inspiration during the meditation, but maybe on the
day after, when I engage in something else, the inspiration feels like it simply
drops into my brain, clear and strong. It feels like receiving a letter or package
delivered to my mailbox.
The inspiration, or the solution I receive to solve a particular problem, often
seems very illogical if I analyze it. In other words, you have a headache and go to
your doctor, and your doctor tells you that he has the best medicine to cure
hemorrhoids. That would seem very illogical. The inspiration doesnt seem to
have anything to do with the problem; however, it is in fact the best solution for
the problem. This is the mystery of Zen.
Zen is beyond words. In ancient China there lived a great man named Lao Tzu,
the founder of Taoism. He was his countrys head librarian. One day he decided
to retire and move to the western region, the area today known as Qinghai, Tibet
and Xinjiang. When he reached the last pass of his countrys territory, he was
stopped by the officer guarding the pass. The officer asked Lao Tzu to teach him
Tao (The Way). The officer had known Lao Tzus name for a long time and had
admired him for his thorough understanding of Nature, of life and of the world.
Lao Tzu stayed a few days and wrote the classic Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu was later
worshiped by Taoism, and its legends claim Lao Tzu was Taoisms founder.
Although Tao Te Ching contains only 5,000 words, it has inspired generations of
people toward enlightenment.
What is Tao? Although Lao Tzu coined the name Tao, he also pointed out that
the real Tao couldnt be named or explained. However, he tried his best to explain
it, with the purpose of pointing people in the right direction. What is Zen? It is
likewise inexpressible; one can only feel it and know it inside oneself.
Who is Zen? Its hard to explain. In Bodhi Meditation, you may say your wish to

the Medicine Buddha or to me. You dont need to tell me your wish face to face,
you just need to look at my picture or visualize my image. It works. Some people
want to make more money, while others want to find a girlfriend or boyfriend. For
the latter, you need to specify that you want ONE boyfriend; otherwise its
possible that you will receive a few at the same time! Tao or Zen is like this, it
gives us inspiration according to our specific goal and wish.
How to get inspiration? A pure, sincere and focused mind is essential. This
sincerity means you focus on one thing and dont let other things distract your
attention. Your whole heart and mind are focused, and you dont split your
attention. You dont need to understand everything about my teachings. I dont
understand everything about Buddha, but I believe in his compassion, so Ive
decided to follow him and his teachings, and this is enough for me.
There are so many sutras, books that recorded Buddhas teachings. Have I
studied them all? No, and to be honest with you, I havent even completely
understood a single one of them. However, if you can really understand a little of
the essence, youll become a great person, your life will be wonderful. Zen is
magical. When we align our actions with the Zen spirit, well flow with life, and live
an inspirational, colorful, successful, rich and great life.
The more sincere you are, the more you benefit from Zen
I once taught my students a special chanting method called Bodhi Meditation of
Immeasurable Sincerity, do any of you still remember? This method involves the
following: When we chant Buddhas and Bodhisattvas names, we visualize
millions of us chanting together. There is an infinite number of Is, every single
grain of sand on the beach is a little I. These infinite Is fill the whole universe.
All these Is do everything you do. Together you chant sincerely, visualize
sincerely, meditate sincerely. No matter when you prostrate, chant or meditate, if
you use this method and hold your sincerity, youll gain the benefit of a hundred
thousand years in 12 days.
Another way to visualize the infinite Is is to visualize every cell of your body as
a little I. If all these Is meditate with me, chant with me, prostrate with me, be
devoted with me, youll gain infinite benefit.

Focus your mind and visualize that each cell of you is pure and sincere. Each cell
is saying, together with you: I am most compassionate! I am most devoted! I am
most happy! I am most healthy! I win over the world with compassion! I am most
wise! I feel good after saying these words. Close your eyes and visualize that an
infinite number of selves fill the universe, and that they all chant with you. This is
a way of healing. Continue to chant: I am rays of light! I am most wonderful! I am
between sky and earth! I am part of Nature! I am the sky, I am the Earth, I am
sunshine! I am most happy! I am most wise! I am most healthy! I am most great! I
am most sincere!
Its not easy for anyone to live in this world. Life has ups and downs. Even a wise
person can sometimes feel helpless. But whether you perceive something as
trouble, hence experience vexation, is up to you. Life situations arise, but they are
not necessarily problems. Many so-called problems are like this: If you can see
through them clearly, and if you have a big heart, they dont bother you at all.
However, obstacles do appear in life. Lets accept whatever life brings us with big
and tolerant hearts.
Oneness is a union of sky, earth and humanity. This union is the highest state of
consciousness. In this state we can create and solve the unthinkable and
unspeakable, achieve anything that a human can possibly achieve.
The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, united all six kingdoms and founded a
big empire because he had a big heart that could contain six kingdoms. In his
heart, the six kingdoms had long been bound together. That was how he viewed
the world around him. As for ourselves, we dont need to fear the big world and
the unpredictability of life. Do not let fear rule.
When we observe others with a compassionate heart, well see that everyone
has lovely parts to them. However, if we look at people through lenses of
suspicion or jealousy, well feel that most people are bad.
I hope everyone will keep compassion as their guide. Be sincere, as the more
sincere you are, the more you benefit. May your beautiful wishes come true!