The Habits of Dharma Practitioners Run Counter to Worldly Habits

There is a saying: "What the Path treasures, the world regards as a defect; what the world prizes, the Path avoids." Cultivating the Path is precisely an act that goes against the secular world. Only by going against the secular can one break through its shackles and attain liberation. If one simply conforms in every way, this is not cultivating the Path—it is no different from the secular world, and one cannot transcend the mundane and leave the world behind.

Because cultivators have practiced diligently over countless kalpas, they develop distinctive habits that differ from the habitual tendencies of worldly people—for example, frugality, diligent effort, not cherishing the body, not craving food, drink, sleep, or pleasure. Most of their behavior may run contrary to that of worldly people. Many worldly people find this strange, cannot get used to it, believe they are right and the cultivators are wrong, and thus want to correct them.

Once one becomes accustomed to the life of a cultivator, the habits of cultivators no longer seem strange; rather, the worldly greedy habits of ordinary people become the strange thing. Going against the secular is what is normal; conforming to the secular is what is abnormal. Looking at it now, who is really normal and who is not? What, after all, is normal?

Anyone accustomed to worldly life will consciously or unconsciously conform to worldly dharmas in everything. In truth, this is because they have not yet cultivated the power of introspection. When worldly people are greedy, they are greedy along with them, yet do not know it is greed; when worldly people grasp, they grasp along with them, yet do not know it is grasping; when worldly people enjoy pleasures, they enjoy them too, and even think it is perfectly normal—that is precisely what is abnormal. If one is so habituated to worldly dharmas that one has not the slightest thought of resistance, feeling everything is natural, that person is still very, very far from genuine practice. When in contact with practitioners, if one feels that they do not conform to worldly norms, lack human warmth, and one even always wants practitioners to accommodate one's own worldly habits, that person is still very, very far from cultivating the Path. When a person has made even a little progress on the path of practice, they will begin to feel that worldly dharmas are not quite right, that something feels off—only then has some awakening begun.

"The sash loosens and the person grows haggard"—this is an ancient phrase describing practitioners of Chan meditation. When one truly applies effort to practice, the body will certainly be affected: eating less, drinking less, resting less, even staying awake all night, diligently working on the Path. Only in this way can the meditative investigation of Chan be continuous, progress be swift, and one day one may see one's true mind and attain enlightenment. People today all cherish their bodies and are unwilling to let the body suffer; then there is no choice but to let the mind suffer—and to suffer life after life, in suffering beyond words.