(42) Innumerable sermons have been delivered on topics such as

*Hui Neng’s statement that “adhering to the right line of conduct is tantamount to strenuously pushing ahead with a Buddhist-Chan self-cultivation program”,

*the adage that “every practitioner needs to “steer clear of all the possibilities which are to lure him into an evil practice and to strive to do anything that is beneficial to others”,

*the maxim that “all precepts are didactic in nature”,

*panca-sila (the Five Precepts) , and

*“the ten good karmas” .

Suchlike sermons have been intended for helping practitioners with comprehending and experiencing, in the course of dealing with practicalities of everyday life, the truthfulness inherent in the concepts of “no-self” and “emptiness of dharmas” and also for exhorting practitioners to give up the expectation of some blessings or beatitude in return for whatever they have done to benefit others. The expectation, on the part of a practitioner, of some blessings or beatitude in return for whatever he has done to benefit others is a manifestation that he is enthralled by the notion of “sentient existence” and cannot get rid of the attachment to the six gati (or, the six ways of sentient existence). In that case he can only dawdle through the six directions of reincarnation. In present-day China, hosts of “model workers” have sprung up since 1949 when the new regime was created. Model workers are enterprising personages of probity and have done numerous good deeds to benefit others. However frequent reports by the mass media have revealed the fact that many model workers have been experiencing stresses and strains and feeling enervated since they were officially cited as model workers. I myself have also repeatedly heard of such cases of annoyance experienced by persons on whom has been bestowed the similar celebrity. What made suchlike personages undergo the onus which is in nature not necessarily a concomitant of being renowned? As a matter of fact, the onus they have been experiencing originated with their psyche being devoid of the concept of the truthfulness inherent in “no-self” and “emptiness of dharmas”. It is due to their obsessions with the issue of how to retain the honor derived from being a model worker or with the issue of how to continue to display their exemplariness. I believe if such model workers would opt for a study of Buddhism, they might be relieved of the stresses and strains specified above. So long as they would unbridle themselves of the attachment to sentient existence and the enthrallment of fame and gains and persist in observing the same line of conduct as that they had observed in the days before they were officially cited as model workers, they are bound to regain their previous peace of mind. To learn Buddhism is to encourage a learner  

<1> to adhere to the right line of conduct in his everyday life, <2> to steer clear of all the possibilities which are to lure him into an evil practice, <3> to strive to do anything that is beneficial to others, and <4> to remove, from his psyche, all the obsessions with the sentient existence, so that he will proceed with his self-cultivation until he gains enlightenment in the end.(From My Heart My Buddha)