We often hear the saying, "Which is the way home in the boundless sea of people?" This means that a person living in this world is lost and directionless, and there is no place in his heart to take refuge. There is a simile in a Buddhist sutra, "A one-eyed turtle happens to stretch out its head through a hole in a piece of wood." In the vast expanse of the sea, there is a floating piece of wood with a hole in the middle of it. A one-eyed turtle, which shows itself on the surface of the sea once every thousand years, happens to stretch its head through the hole. What a rare moment! In the boundless sea of human life, the chance of finding a real moment of refuge in Buddhism is as rare as the above incident of the turtle. The possibility is so slim that Buddha said, "It is difficult to be contemporary with Buddha."

Although our lives cycle constantly among the Six Destinies (the six ways in which a soul may be reincarnated: Heaven, Human, Asura, Animal, Hungry Ghost, and Hell), it is difficult for us to be born human, more difficult to be contemporary with Buddha, even more difficult to live at the same place as Buddha lived, and most difficult for one to see Buddha. He was born more than two thousand five hundred years ago. Was any one of us ever contemporary with Buddha? Even if we had been, the world is so big that we do not know where we would have been born, nor might we have lived in the same place as he did. Even if these last two conditions had been fulfilled, it would still be questionable whether we would have been able to see Buddha. Therefore, we say, "It is difficult to be contemporary with Buddha."

Change My Mind Into Buddha's Mind

Though Buddha's time was more than two thousand years before ours, we will enter deeply into Buddha's spirit if we follow his teachings and cultivate ourselves. So long as we keep Buddha in our hearts, we will seem to be contemporary with Buddha. If we have heard Buddha's philosophy yet don't make good use of it, then even though we were living in the same place as Buddha, we would still be far away from him.

It is recorded in the sutras that Buddha came to a small town with a population of only ninety thousand . Among them, one third of the people had seen him and heard his preachings, and another one third knew he was in town but did not see him. The other thirty thousand had never even heard his name. How could they know what Buddha's philosophy was? Even if one were contemporary with Buddha, one would still find it difficult to see him. In a small town of ninety thousand, only one third of the people had an opportunity to hear Buddha's preachings. What chance have we, more than two thousand years later? Buddha told us, "Mind alone creates everything." Just imagine, thirty thousand people among ninety thousand had never even heard Buddha's name! Even though they lived in the same world with him, they might as well have been in some other world. Another thirty thousand had heard his name but did not see him. What good was that? Even though the remaining thirty thousand had met him, did they fully take Buddha's philosophy to heart? If we keep sifting them out, what is left? We can say that as long as we accept Buddha's teachings, it makes no difference at all whether we are "contemporary with Buddha" or "not contemporary with Buddha."

If we always keep Buddha in our hearts , chant his name and make our minds one with Buddha's mind, we will not only be "contem-porary with Buddha," but will also be able to reveal his wisdom and develop our Buddha-nature. I often say that we should not belittle ourselves, because Buddha is always in our awareness. If we can constantly apply Buddha's mind and behavior to our daily lives, Buddha will always be with us. Then how could it be "difficult to be contemporary with Buddha?"

Cultivation and Application

If a modern man has a great admiration for virtuous men, he will naturally look for good teachers. However, to find a truly learned and virtuous teacher will not be so easy, because no one is both truly learned and virtuous. Buddha is the one who is both learned and virtuous. We have heard a lot of his teachings and we know much about his life. If we can practice what we have heard, Buddha will always be in our minds and our daily lives as well. It is said that "It is difficult to be contemporary with Buddha," but if we constantly keep Buddha in mind, there will be no difference from being really contemporary with him. It will not be difficult at all.

As described in "The Difficulty in Reading Buddhist Sutras," there is no difficulty in reading Buddhist sutras or understanding Buddha's philosophy. Buddhist speeches are delivered to eager audiences of thousands. Yet how many in these audiences can really bear Buddha's teachings in mind or put them into practice? If they could, our society would long since have been purified! Unfortunately, people do not practice what they hear. So what difference does it make whether they have heard Buddha's teachings or not?

People now have a higher level of knowledge, and there is no difficulty in reading the sutras. If we read a sutra and act accordingly in our daily life, what we will see is Buddha's behavior and what we will hear are Buddha's words. Then, how could it be difficult to be "contemporary with Buddha"? Unfortunately, in our society we are very far from the righteous doctrines, and it seems that all the saints and sages are worlds away from us. It is very difficult for us to receive Buddha's teachings.

Meet Buddha in an Instant

Buddha often said, "Even through eons of time, it is difficult to hear Buddha's teachings." But he also said, "In an instant, you can meet Buddha and hear his teachings." Isn't there a big difference between an instant and eons? If we fail to accept Buddha's teachings and carry them out, there will be no difference between being or not being contemporary with Buddha. On the other hand, although we are several thousand years away from Buddha's world, if we hear Buddha's philosophy and then immediately cherish it and abide by it, if in our daily lives we do what Buddha did, say what Buddha said, and think as Buddha thought, then we will instantaneously encounter Buddha's truth.

To encounter truth and realize its meaning, one does not necessarily have to be at a certain age or in a specific situation. When I attended a meeting at the College of Nursing, I heard an Yi-Te Mother/Sister Association member say that on her way home on Sunday, she met some of our students on the bus and asked where they were going. They told her: "We went to distribute seeds of Tzu Chi! We went hiking with some students from Hualien Normal College. When we reached the top of a mountain, we found that the other students were paying a lot of attention to us. They approved of everything we did and said. Now we realize what an honor it is to be Tzu Chi nursing students. During the conversation, we took the opportunity to tell them about Tzu Chi's spirit of kindness, compassion, joy and unselfish giving, and about Master Cheng Yen's words, 'Humble yourselves and open up your minds.' Humble yourselves and open up uour minds.' During this hike, everybody loved us, which made some of the other girls jealous. We told them not to be upset and jealous, because we were spreading pure, great love to others. They did not need to worry."

Just imagine, these students have been here for only four months, a period of one semester, but they are able to practice the Buddhist spirit of kindness, compassion, joy and unselfish giving. Even when they come in contact with students from other schools, they can sow the seeds of Tzu Chi and spread compassion and love. Though young, they have been in touch with Buddha's philosophy because they attend the Tzu Chi College of Nursing. In class, they study only specialized knowledge and not Buddhist philosophy, but their hearts silently absorb Tzu Chi's spirit and Buddha's teachings. Thus our students earn the respect of all. If you can mindfully and attentively receive Buddha's teachings, your mind will blend with Buddha's mind and your behavior will conform to your mind. This is called "meeting Buddha and hearing his teachings in an instant."