Guru's Talk

•By Living Buddha Lian-Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu•

Translated by Cheng Yew Chung. Edited by TBN

I have been to many cities in my life, and I miss many of them. Therefore, whenever I have to leave a city, it is hard for me because my mind keeps lingering on it.

Hence, there are simply too many memories!

And with them comes too much pain!

I find this baggage of memories is getting heavier for me, pressing its weight upon me to a point of breathlessness. These memories linger and accompany me for a long time.

The fact that I consider myself a person endowed with the deepest feelings seems funny. But isn't a bodhisattva a being of feelings? Since my feelings are scattered all over the cities on this great earth, these scattered emotional fragments are difficult to collect. [And] as my mind keeps wandering, I am at a loss as to how I should keep my body and mind at ease.

Once—

I met an old man in a small town called Yakima, in the east of Washington state in the United States, where it is famous for its apples.

I asked him, "How long have you been in Yakima?"

The old man answered, "Eighty years. I have stayed here all my life!"

"Where is the furthest place you have been to?" I asked.

"Seattle. I've been there once!" replied the old man, who continued, "Seattle is a big city, but I don't really like it. I only like Yakima."

I was taken aback when I heard his words. I found it difficult to believe that someone had actually spent his entire life in a small town.

The old man then told me, "We are only droplets in the great ocean. Wherever we are, we remain droplets. It makes no difference whether we travel or don't travel at all."

In the past, I did not understand what the old man was saying to me. But today it all makes sense to me. The reason I am feeling the weight of the memories is because I cannot let go of the many cities I have visited, and it makes me sad!

I must let go of them, like the way I throw away my [old] clothing.

I am only a droplet in the great ocean after all.

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