Saturday English Service ~ Cultivating One’s mind

The regular service for the Saturday English speaking participants was held on 19 December 2009. They practiced Tai Chi at the start of the session followed by motive and slow walking meditation across the ‘field of merit’ in front of Fo Guang Shan’s Main Shrine.

As the Fo Guang youth are on summer holiday and helping with gardening in every corner of the temple, Venerable Miao Yu took this opportunity to share with the group the analogy of cultivating the mind and ploughing a field. She stated that defilements are like the weeds around the plant which not only take away the nutrients from the plant, but also hinder the growth of the plant. Thus, in order for a plant to grow healthily, one has to get rid of the weeds and nurture the plant. Similarly, one has to purify one’s mind to cultivate wisdom.

During gardening, the procedures of fertilizing also play an important part. If one of the procedures is wrong, one has to make a huge effort to salvage the situation. It is just like making a wrong decision which brings regret for your whole life. When this happens, one must be brave to face the consequences and improve on one‘s ability in all areas to have a better future.