It is fine to say, “I think this…”, but you must never assert such things as, “What I say is indisputable…”.
This is because we are but insignificant specks in a wide and limitless universe.
In order to know yourself, you must first know all that is around you. By comparing yourself with others, for the first time your own nature is made clear.
Though we can clearly judge the actions of others, when it comes to judging our own cases, our personal interests and attachments lead us astray.
For the most part, it is not our place to criticize the actions of others.
It is best to simply mind our own affairs.
By clinging to our narrow-minded ways we bring greater suffering upon ourselves. If we carefully observe the words and deeds of others, we can see that in nine cases out of ten these arise from self-centered interests. This is only to be expected, and from a certain standpoint is even excusable, but because the world is not ours alone, there are times when we must ignore what is in our own best interest and make sacrifices.
This spirit of selflessness is highly lacking in modern society.
Those who are young are apt to take things too lightly; they tend to pass over things summarily. Because their way of thinking is still naive, they see everything in a simplistic manner. When these youths first set out to make their way in the world, they come to realize just how very complicated things are. Then, once they get their bearings, they begin to approach things more seriously and steadily.
As we accumulate experience in this world, we come to view things more soberly, and the more we are able to attain such calmness, the more we are able to perceive the true nature of things. As we lose our reckless impatience for change, we are able to leave all things as they are, acknowledging the inevitable progress of each towards perfection. At the same time, we become aware of the profound influence of our every word and action upon the things around us.
Then, for the first time, we can reach a basic state of righteousness, by regarding all other people with generous and broad-minded spirit, and judging our own conduct rigorously.
When things go well, we quickly assume that this is due to our own cleverness, but when things go poorly, it is our wont to quickly lose faith in the world. Essentially, this is because we fail to have faith in ourselves; we are lacking in true wisdom. We do not yet understand the principles of the boundless universe, and our lives are overly narrow.
People tend to think that they have endured great hardship, and pursued learning in many areas, and so they enjoy a false sense of self-importance. However, this sense of self-importance becomes a stumbling block for such people, making it impossible for them to appreciate the virtues of others.
No matter how much one has suffered, or how hard one has studied, it is in vain if this led to neither self-examination nor any awakening of understanding. No matter how great one’s superficial material gain, without spiritual progress, it amounts to nothing.
The depth of one’s understanding is not determined by the length of time spent in learning. There are those who realize profound enlightenment in but a few days or months. For others, the passage of many years sees not the slightest advancement.
Essentially, such progress depends upon one’s powers of observation and introspection.
We are inclined to dismiss lightly the efforts of others. If, however, we find ourselves in the same position, we suddenly realize it is not so easy as it had seemed.
This holds true for any situation. We must always experience things first-hand in order to understand them, and so we must endeavor to gain as much experience as we can while we are still young. If we do this, we will eventually be able to distinguish the true nature of people and things at a glance, and will no longer be perplexed by the insignificant, nor complain about the trivial.
