Lectures on the Sutra of the Father and Son Collection (203)

In the Practice of the Dharma, One Should Arouse a Mind of Courageous Diligence

The World-Honored One advised King Śuddhodana to fix his mind upon the methods of liberation, to relinquish all dharmas, to relinquish the enjoyments of the five desires, and to relinquish the illusory dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements. He urged him to practice with courageous diligence, using right mindfulness and right contemplation to observe and consider all dharmas. Indeed, all these dharmas are like dreams and illusions—illusory, impermanent, and suffering. After contemplating and observing them as they truly are, one spontaneously and actively practices with courageous diligence, resolves to cultivate accordingly, and upon genuine inner acceptance, attains liberation.

Therefore, in learning the Buddha Dharma, one first listens to the correct Dharma, then engages in right contemplation and reasoned reflection, practicing diligently according to the correct principles with courageous diligence. Practice must be undertaken with courageous diligence to succeed, for the principle of learning the Buddha Dharma is like boiling water. To bring a pot of water to a boil, one must continuously add fire, keeping the flame burning steadily so that the water can boil. If the fire goes out halfway, the water cools down again. If one starts boiling it again only to stop the fire once more, when will the pot of water ever boil? Courageous diligence follows this very principle: with sustained, vigorous effort, the pot of water boils quickly. If practice is lax and intermittent, progress will be halting, advancing and retreating, wasting much time and energy in the process. Courageous diligence entails resolute practice. Resolve belongs to the power of concentration (samādhi). When the mind is resolutely fixed upon the Dharma of liberation and continuously cultivates the methods of liberation, the result will inevitably be liberation.