从工匠精神谈一谈“佛法不坏世间法”

On "Buddha Dharma does not Deny Worldly Law" from Perspective of Craftsman Spirit”

从工匠精神谈一谈

“佛法不坏世间法”

How amazing is the dharma! For example, there was a stool in my room on top of which there was a white cloth. The cloth got stained by tea leftover when someone accidentally poured tea on it. One of my disciples removed it and took it back after washing it. When I saw him, I asked him: "For what purpose did you wash the mat?"

If you don’t have anything particular in mind and just plainly wash it, then you are only doing a mortal thing, because you are just doing washing. But if you compare stain to negative part of our body and mind, and you are cleaning your body and mind when washing it, then you are a Buddhist practitioner.

如果你想的只是洗我个人的身心世界，你是小乘；如果你洗这个垫子时想着我与一切法界有情的垢染，我皆令其清净，那你就是大乘修法。

If all you relate to is about yourself (your own body and mind), you are practicing Theravada; instead if you link stain to all sentient beings’ within the dharma world, then you are practicing Mahayana.

So washing a mat can be mundane work, distressing and annoying. Similarly would it bother you to wash your bowls, dishes and chopsticks at home? Thus, if you're just doing the dishes, you're only an ordinary person, and naturally you will find doing dishes distressing and annoying.

But if you know how to practice Buddha Dharma in doing this kind of things, you will think, "I'm not doing the dishes, instead I'm cleaning myself to some extent." Then washing dishes becomes purifying oneself, and then you are a Buddhist practitioner, and you will be particularly happy when you are doing it!

When we practice Dharma in offering Manja, it is necessary for us to take saffron-soaked-water to wash the bottom of the mandala plate. If we visualize the bottom as the huge tracts of earth and keen on wiping it all clean, you will find you can’t wipe enough although you have done for more than a hundred thousand times. In that case you will rub it joyfully and even with joy of Dharma. Why don’t you have such joyful feelings when wiping up your own dishes at home? It is because you did it without sense of dharma, and you think you are just washing dishes.

In the Buddhism field, there was a man called Venerable Culapanthaka who by sweeping the floor attained enlightenment.  He was a slow person who even could not speak out a complete sentence. Buddha told him to practice saying word "broom." while sweep the floor. Unfortunately, he could only remember some part of the pronunciation, saying first part of the word right and forgetting the remaining part; the vice versa.

He did not give up but persistently followed Buddha's teaching. He swept and swept. Out of his expectation, Buddha said another sentence to him and he remembered it: not only the floor you need to sweep but also your heart to be cleaned. At first he could not even remember a single word, later on when his heart slowly calmed down, integrating his body and mind into Buddha’s world each time he swept, he finally attained the state of Arahat. 

Is it only Culapanthaka who embraces the possibility of turning his life into a noble person from a common one? Is our intelligence comparable to his? Yes, it is. If he could attain Arhat, can’t we? Yes, we can! The only difference is when we are sweeping floor, we do not clean our hearts; when washing dishes, we do not clean our hearts either.

Therefore, we say “Buddha Dharma does not deny worldly law.” It's not that we stop contributing to this world when we become Buddhists or practitioners; instead, we will do worldly things more excellent and more delicate.

Why do people all over the world like to wear Swiss watches? That’s because after its religious reform, people’s belief in religion has been practically put into life and work.

A Swiss craftsman was making a small screw when a reporter asked him, "Since no one can see it, why do you still work so diligently to make it a fine job?" Surprisingly, he told the reporter, "Although we humans can't see it with their naked eyes, god knows."

还有一句话我们很熟悉，叫“佛法不离世间觉”，很多人会说错一个字，他说“佛法不离世间法”，那就不行了。我们在做着世间事情时，任何时候都要保持着正觉，这就是佛法的修行。

一个有修养的人，他的工作必然会做到非常完美。就像敦煌壁画那么完美、令人震撼，壁画的作者完全是不带功利目的、超越自我的，把自己虔诚的信仰投注在洞窟里，慢慢去画，画出他心灵对佛法的理解，创作出人类文明的艺术殿堂。

For a well-cultivated person, his work is bound to be perfect. Take Dunhuang frescoes for an example, the reason they are so perfect and shocking is because their authors did the work totally without any utilitarian purpose but only thought of challenging themselves. They expressed their devout faith by slowly drawing out those dedicate pictures with their understanding of Buddhism. Finally, they created an art palace for human civilization.

所以，我们平时要思考，要受用，要在生活中去训练。做任何事，你要有一个正念，要保持正觉，这就是修行。修行不是说放下手中的活，而是在手中做活的时候有正觉。

Therefore, we have to  meditate frequently so as to benefit from Buddha Dharma and train ourselves in applying it in our daily life. For everything you do, you have to be mindful and keep it on. That is Dharma practicing. In short, practicing Dharma is not about putting down your work, but about continuing the work in your hand, bearing a sense of mindfulness while doing it.

一个有修行的人，在做着手中的活，能把这个活做到最好；一个保持正觉的人，做事肯定做到最好。这就叫“佛法不坏世间法”！