The Power of Habituation

Just after listening to a song, the melody keeps echoing in my mind—this is the manas holding it while the mind consciousness recalls the song. If only studying Buddhism could be this fast and easy! The habituation to worldly dharmas is quick, while the habituation to the Buddha's teachings is far too slow, because we have been habituated to worldly dharmas for so long. How long we have been steeped in worldly dharmas cannot be calculated, whereas the time we have been steeped in the Buddha's teachings is far too short by comparison. Is contemplating the sun really so difficult and so intricate? Clearly not, yet no matter what, contemplation cannot be accomplished—it is because we have never contemplated before, and the mind takes no interest in it. How fascinating and familiar worldly dharmas are—even if you do not want them to arise, you cannot suppress them. Practice is turning the unfamiliar into the familiar, and the familiar into the unfamiliar: the unfamiliar is the Buddha's teachings, the familiar is worldly dharmas. The key is knowing how to make this turn, and having the resolve to make it.