Inner Stability of Body and Mind through the Six Principles

Remember the Six Principles for Daily Living? They are: One Mindedness, Two Loves, Three Virtues, Four Givings, Five Excellences, and Six Perfections.

One Mindedness refers to the wondrous mind of nirvana. It is our pursuit of truth and of the unchanging life. This constitutes the very core of the Buddhadharma and is known as the uncovering of primordial awareness—that is, the spiritual state of mind. What is the nature of primordial awareness? It is the realization of emptiness. This is a mode of learning and experiential realization that everyone at Ling Jiou Mountain must enter into.

Having established this mind, what then are we to do? We must give rise to purposes and aspirations—this is Two Loves: loving the Earth and loving peace. How do we love? We must understand that all phenomena arise from the spiritual state of mind; the growth and manifestation of the beauty of all things are possible precisely because they are imbued with spirituality. Therefore, we must respect ecology. Ecology has its own ethical order and inherent principles, and thus should not be violated. Instead, we must understand ecological principles and deepen our study of ecological ethics. When we comprehend ecological ethics, we learn how to respect, tolerate, and love—that is, to be interdependent, to receive one another inclusively, and to embrace the space for coexistence. In this way, we become companions in one another’s lives, forming a world of altruistic coexistence characterized by mutual support to thrive. Thus, loving the Earth and loving peace means loving ecology, loving spirituality, and loving life itself. The principle of Two Loves extends from One Mindedness, moving from immovability to activity. “Immovability” refers to the unwavering nature of awakened awareness abiding in contemplative emptiness—clear and lucid, like a cloudless sky. From this immovability, bodhicitta arises; this is called loving the Earth and loving peace. Two Loves thus constitutes the sphere of spiritual activity.

Three Virtues, which include the physical virtue, verbal virtue, and mental virtue—are equivalent to the full practice of the Ten Virtuous Deeds and the elimination of greed, aversion, and ignorance. Three Virtues serve as a gateway to the merits of the human and deva realms and are attainable to everyone. Four Givings consist of giving others hope, faith, skillful means, and joy. Through these four types of giving, we form virtuous connections and practice the Bodhisattva path, which is people-centered, dedicated to guiding sentient beings toward the study and practice of the Dharma and the eventual realization of Buddhahood. Within this path, “giving” is paramount. When Four Givings are well practiced, one naturally develops broad interpersonal connections and encounters virtuous affinities everywhere.

Next are the Five Excellences, which require us to cultivate a mindset that is positive, proactive, optimistic, loving, and endowed with aspiration. Being positive means offering others constructive perspectives. Being proactive means not succumbing to passivity; for example, in the face of a pandemic, we must maintain an active inner resolve, sustaining right mindfulness and continually cultivating compassion, bodhicitta, and the wondrous mind of nirvana. Optimism means avoiding pessimism and maintaining openness, joy, and loving-kindness. Loving-kindness is like water: it nourishes all beings and enables everything to flourish. Once loving-kindness is established, we must further aspire to build an interdependent biodiversity, assuming responsibility for the nation, society, and humanity as a whole. Just as my own mission is the aspiration that all sentient beings be freed from suffering and attain enlightenment—until that awakening is realized, it remains my responsibility, without any opportunity for complacency—so aspiration is the force that drives all life. Without aspiration, there is no power capable of vitalizing life.

Finally, the Six Perfections constitute our fundamental principles of living and are the means by which we hope to inspire all those we interact with. First is generosity, through which virtuous affinities are formed. Generosity should become habitual, practiced joyfully and without interruption. Second is ethical discipline: precepts provide a framework for life, clearing away impurities and giving rise to pure principles of living. Third is patience. Because every individual possesses different views and conduct, learning how to integrate and accommodate diversity is what is meant by patience. In Buddhadharma, patience is grounded in emptiness and must abide in the unarising and unceasing nature of emptiness. Fourth is diligence: striving continuously in right mindfulness, refraining from all non-virtuous actions and engaging in all virtuous deeds, while constantly enhancing the merits of awakened awareness until they reach perfection—namely, Buddhahood. Fifth is meditative concentration, which tames the mind by abiding beyond notions, skillfully resolving all afflictive factors by realizing emptiness, and settling the mind in emptiness apart from phenomena. Sixth is prajna, or wisdom, which is awareness itself—awareness that observes mental activity as grounded in emptiness, free from any notions of attachment.

May everyone thoroughly familiarize themselves with these Six Principles for Daily Living, firmly uphold them, and use them to stabilize body and mind while benefiting all sentient beings. May you never regress from the Bodhisattva path, and may you continually practice and contemplate its immeasurable merits. May you be auspicious by day, auspicious by night, and auspicious at all times. Amitabha.