【Description】
The path of dream fulfilment is full of difficulties and obstacles, so how can we forge ahead and avoid the temptation to give up? What does our persistence in pursuing our life goal bring us?
Please watch “Keep Your Dream of Your Heart,” part of the series “My Future Is in My Hands,” to hear the significance of keeping your dream alive, as taught by Meditation Master JinBodhi. Allow yourself to become an ardent pursuer of dreams who never gives up on your life goals.
【Content】
Stick to Your Dream
During the Tang dynasty, something happened that everyone knows about: Monk Tang went to India to obtain Buddhist sutras. Every Chinese person knows this, right? Trains and horse-driven carriages didn’t exist. People traveled on horseback. Monk Tang didn’t even know where India was. It was a journey filled with numerous difficulties and dangers. I don’t know if there were really monsters, as described in the classic novel. In certain areas, murder was commonplace. On the way, dangers were unavoidable.
Being of a strange ethnicity, Monk Tang, with his Chinese look, was singled out. With a Chinese look and language barrier, if you went through Afghanistan, Tibet or Nepal, just coming back alive would be remarkable. It was difficult. Subsequently, many people tried to reach India to get Buddhist sutras, but few came back alive. Most died on the way there, not on the way back. There were very few who got sutras or even manuscripts, as the journey was too dangerous.
Even though it was so hard, some dared to do it. Many practitioners died on the way. Their courage arose from their aspirations. Death didn’t deter them from realizing their dreams.
Let me tell my young friends of my experiences. To realize your wishes, you might meet with pain, torment, libel, slander, attack; you might be put in jail, or even lose your life. But you should be fearless. You should be fully motivated to move forward, as you have a dream. As long as you are alive, you can realize it, and you will feel happy. Whether others feel happy or not, you feel happy.
As in the former example, if you want to climb North Mountain, although you are tired, you are happy. If you are forced to climb the mountain, each step is hard and painful. You are not willing or motivated. You are forced to do it. So, you are afflicted and you suffer. If it is your own wish to climb North Mountain, you are happy no matter how tired you are.
When you have a lofty life goal, it is not easy to realize it. However, you feel happy for every step you take. Whatever you encounter, you are happy. Although keeping your dream alive is hard, you are happy.
The Medicine at the Edge of a Cliff — “My Future Is in My Hands” Series To be continued…