Dear Dharma Friends,
Welcome to this episode of the podcast provided by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, we continue our exploration of the Sutra of the Ten Wholesome Deeds,focusing on a core method of practice: a single move to conquer all. This can be summed up in one question: “Are you afraid of others doing well, or are you willing to let them do well?”
“Letting others do well” is both the foundation and the ultimate goal of our practice. It’s not just a theory to be understood; it’s something to be truly and completely put into practice.
If you can genuinely “let others do well,” your entire practice will be perfected. Everything will be complete. Trying to master each of the Ten Wholesome Ways individually would be incredibly difficult—this is where our “single move to conquer all” comes in. This one move can defeat all others.
The core of this principle lies in our mind or intention. In Buddhism, many evil deeds are directly linked to the mind and manifest directly in their karmic results. Why did Bodhidharma only teach about the mind when he came to China? Because the Buddhist concept of Zen is “thought cultivation,” which is the practice of the mind. If we can’t control our own minds, what are we even practicing? In Buddhism, those who can’t control their minds are seen as unstable, characterized by an inability to control their desires for food, drink, entertainment, and pleasure.
If we see the Ten Wholesome Ways as a series of medicines, the prescriptions would be too numerous. But we can simplify our approach with one simple method: constantly examine ourselves to see if we are “afraid of others doing well” or “willing to let others do well.”
In reality, each of the Ten Unwholesome Deeds can bind us and hold us captive. Therefore, our goal is to truly establish the Ten Wholesome Ways, as they are the fundamental basis for all beings, all heavenly beings, and all Buddhist teachings. This is a practice that we absolutely must master.
The Sutra of the Ten Wholesome Deeds speaks of the “path of karma”—the laws and principles of karma. It’s a natural law. Just like a seed grows roots, a trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit, and the fruit contains seeds that will produce more fruit.
The sutra explains what kind of result will inevitably arise from a certain kind of cause. On a deeper level, when this karmic force interacts with dependent origination, it influences your future karma. Your present thoughts are like a fertilizer or an “inhibitory” protein. If your mind is full of greed, all your negative karmic seeds will be fueled and grow. But if your mind is filled with the wholesome thoughts of the Ten Wholesome Ways, it can inhibit the karmic results of the Ten Unwholesome Deeds, making it difficult for them to grow and ripen.
So, we must always remember this natural law of the “path of karma”: your current thought—is it “being afraid of others doing well,” or “letting others do well”?
This will determine whether your karmic results accelerate or are inhibited and unable to grow. When you can truly “let others do well,” everything will be perfected. Thank you for listening!
