To Do No Evil, to Do Only Good

We do things basically meaning to do things from daily life, which is to do no evil, to do only good as well. We often says “the six roots of sensations are pure and clean”, means that we are required to purify and clean our daily life. As long as our mental formation in daily life is pure and clean, then our mind is naturally pure and clean along with it. Only our mental formation and mind are pure and clean internally and externally, then our heart will be peaceful and frank, without a tie in the world. Hui-neng said in Altar Sutra: “Without any obsessions with the materiality of the universe, the peace of a practitioner’s mind can never be shattered.” A person can reach peaceful and frank in his or her heart, without a tie in the world, which is Chan and meditation. So we need to study Buddhism, practice and change old habits of the secular world, starting from our daily life and from “doing no evil and doing only good”. This can ensure our achievements of studying Buddhism and is the right way and great way of Buddhism study in fact. (From Words of Chan by Shi Yongxin)