A CALL FOR DHARMA WARRIORS

呼吁熊罴

A CALL FOR DHARMA WARRIORS

Look at the following poem by T.C. Hamlet.

It is simple enough, but there are secrets within secrets.

Two frogs fell into a can of cream

Or so I've heard it told.

The sides were shiny, also steep

The cream was deep and cold.

"Oh, what's the use?," croaked No 1,

'Tis fate, no help's around.

Goodbye my friends! Goodbye sad world!"

And weeping there, he drowned.

But number two, of sterner stuff,

Dog-paddled in surprise.

The while he wiped his creamy face

And dried his creamy eyes.

"I'll swim a while, at least," said he,

"For so I've heard", he said

"It really wouldn't help the world

If one more frog were dead."

An hour or two he kicked and swam

Not once did he stop to mutter

But kicked and swam and swam and kicked.

Then hopped out on butter.

Now the important question is whether you are frog number one, or a warrior in defense of all that is natural, frog number two.

Frog number one fell in and then gave up. You might well believe that you have not given up on Dharma meditation or the search for a Path to liberation because you take courses and call yourself a meditator. But giving up is much more subtle than that. It is following an easy path because it is comfortable. You may not even know that that is what you are doing, but falling into temptation is giving up. There is no easy or quick way to a personal liberation.

You may even be seduced into taking a course or perfoming meditation that is easy. What you are really doing is falling into the temptation of security, of following an easy path that does not really threaten your way of life that is secure. That too is giving up.

Of course you may have fallen into the trap of words, for words are deceptive and seductive. That, my friends, is the trap of thoughts and thinking. That too is giving up, for the true path is not based upon words but upon experiences.

If, however you are more akin to frog number two then you, with correct well-directed energy, with patience and serenity, with determination and perseverance as well as the ability to introspect without Identity clouding all issues, can become a true Dharma Warrior or at the very least a Guardian of the True Dharma.