Education Then Work

People spend more than a decade going to school, some closer to two decades. Why? So that they can learn to be capable and successful in their chosen career and can get on in the world. Is that a fair assessment? Would anyone recommend that a child who lacks basic education start working? No.

Why then, do so many of us Buddhists think that we can do the work of dharma practice without having educated ourselves first? Most people happily start reciting a mantra such as ‘om mani peme hung’, or any other practice without knowing what they are doing. But that is just like going to work without a basic education: things will not go very well.

For example, if we want to practice Amitabha in order to be born in Dewachen, we first need to know who Amitabha is, what a pure realm is, where it is, how we can go there etc.? If we have no knowledge of such things, and Amitabha is nothing more for us than an image in a painting, then our practice will not bear much in the way of useful results.

A lack of study is the source of many issues in our practice. It is one of the main things that stops us from being able to persist in the practice. Therefore, a good foundation of study and contemplation is extremely important. Maybe you are all very busy and do not have much time, but if you want to practise the dharma properly, then please remember that practice is not the first step. Spend your time instead on listening to the dharma, studying and contemplating.

Excerpts from Mind Training teaching in HwaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 2015