"The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings."
~The Buddha
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Thank you for this excellent reminder. Some 2000 years later (in the 13th century) one of the great Zen masters said something very similar like this:
Generally speaking, there are three types of mind. “The first is the mind of chitta, which we call the discriminative mind. The second is the mind of hridaya, which we call the mind of grass and trees. The third is the mind of vriddha, which we call the True Mind.” Among these, we invariably employ the discriminative mind to arouse bodhichitta, the enlightened Mind. Bodhi is an Indian word which we call the Way, or what is True. Chitta is an Indian word which we call the discriminative mind. Without this discriminative mind we could not give rise to the enlightened Mind. I am not saying that this discriminative mind is the enlightened Mind; rather, we give rise to the enlightened Mind by means of the discriminative mind.
Giving rise to the enlightened Mind not only means vowing to take all sentient beings across to the Other Shore before one has taken oneself across, but it also means actively engaging in the task. Though somebody may be considered lowly, when such a one gives rise to this Mind, that person is already a spiritual guide and teacher for all sentient beings.
~Zen Master Eihei Dogen (Shobogenzo, Hotsu Bodai Shin, Translated by Rev. Hubert Nearman)
Yes, yes. Thanks again!
Peace,
Ted Biringer
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