Steady Progress

If you keep your practice steady,

morning and night, summer and winter,

there is nothing you can not do

and nothing that can harm you.

Upasakasila Sutra

The Importance of Being Steady

Laziness and fear of work will get you into trouble no matter where they appear. Laziness is a basic animal tendency that must be confronted the moment it starts. Once you begin to allow yourself to be lazy, it will be hard for you to do anything successfully. Fear or dislike of work leads to a weak state of mind that tries to make quick profits or exploit the labor of others. You may get a leg up in the samsaric world once in a while by avoiding work, but eventually you will bring great harm to yourself. This world is the only place we have in which to practice Buddhism. If you are not practicing Buddhism all the time in everything that you do, you are not really practicing Buddhism, you are playing at it.

It is good sometimes to stress the difficulties of Buddhist practice. Having said that, let us remember as well that every gain made in understanding Buddhism pays back the effort put into it tenfold.

Buddhism is practiced at the point where the mind meets life; and it is practiced in the mind as the mind is stimulated by life; and it is practiced in life where the mind learns everything it knows. We must not let ourselves become inattentive, dishonest or lazy in our practice. There is much for all of us to learn and not one of us will succeed without a steady application of energy to the task.

The Sutra of Bequeathed Teachings says,

If you make a steady effort to progress, you will find that nothing is too difficult. This is because steady effort is like running water; it can even cut through stones. Contrariwise, if you frequently abandon your effort to progress, you will go nowhere. You will be like someone who tries to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together but stops before the wood gets hot. You may desire to start a fire, but you will never succeed.

The Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra says,

Steady progress is the source of all goodness. It gives birth to all good practice of the Dharma which ultimately leads to anuttara-samyaksambodhi [the highest enlightenment].

Steady progress is based on determination. The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana says,

Generally speaking, there are three kinds of determination: determination born of faith, determination born of understanding and practice, and determination born of proven realization.

What Is Progress?

Progress in Buddhism is not something that can be judged or determined in samsaric terms. There is no equation between success in this world and progress in Buddhism. To progress quickly and with as few distractions as possible, a Buddhist should always look to what he is doing, not to what he is getting or how others are treating him.

The Yogacarabhumi Sastra recognizes five basic stages of progress in Buddhism:

  1. The “shielded stage” during which the ambition to progress in Buddhism first appears. It is called the “shielded stage” because the practitioner must be careful to protect himself from temptation and misunderstanding.

  2. The “increased stage” during which the practitioner strengthens his resolve and begins to make vows.

  3. The “stage of self-esteem” during which the practitioner becomes certain of the correctness of his path and does not fear what others may say about him.

  4. The “independent stage” during which the practitioner is able to make steady progress no matter what circumstances he finds himself in.

  5. The “stage of insufficiency” during which the practitioner realizes that he must give his whole heart to his practice and that anything less would be insufficient.

Progress can also be measured by consulting the Fifty-Two Stages of the Bodhi Way or the Thirty-Seven Conditions Leading to Buddhahood. See the Agamas for a good description of the Thirty-Seven Conditions or the Avatamsaka Sutra for a description of the Fifty-Two Stages.

In the end, compassion is the most valuable measurement and guide for all Buddhist practice. Compassion is itself the highest awareness and the highest practice. If you feel any growth in compassion or toward compassion, you can be sure that you are progressing on the path toward enlightenment. 

Taking no thought of the body and firm in wisdom and mind,

steadily progressing in the Dharma,

the practitioner will find that he achieves his goal

and that nothing can obstruct him at all.

Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra

This article was originally published in Being Good, written by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

Image from Pixabay.

More Featured Articles

We sometimes see signs on the highway warning: “Keep a safe distance.” Actually, it is not only in driving that we need to keep a distance. For safety reasons, any person and anything in the world needs to keep a distance.Take, for instance, the human body. Our eyes, nose, and mouth all need to keep a distance from one another. Our internal organs all have Read more
Dharma is for people. There is one thing about the Dharma that I am completely sure of: the Dharma is for people. The Buddha’s teachings are not a cold philosophy designed merely to rearrange the concepts in our minds, they are a living act of compassion intended to show us how to open our hearts. I learned this truth just as everyone must learn it—by Read more
The Buddha often explained emptiness and impermanence by getting people to think about how phenomena arise, change, and decline. Read more
The analysis of the mind in Buddhism is both multifaceted and sophisticated. As a spiritual practice, Buddhism contains numerous descriptions of the nature and function of the mind and instructions on how to search for, abide with, and refine it. In this regard, Buddhist psychology has much to offer, as does Western psychology.In the beginning, “psychology” referred almost exclusively to “a science that explains the Read more
When someone benefits us even a little,we should repay them with all our hearts.Even if someone is angry with us,we should always treat them well.— Upasakasila Sutra Gratitude Is Fundamental to BuddhismA natural outgrowth of heartfelt gratitude is the desire to repay others for the kind things they have done for us. Having the feeling of being indebted to others is a sign that we are Read more
While the Four Noble Truths explain the phenomena of the universe, the Buddha expounded on them mainly as a guide for life. It is inadequate, however, to merely learn the Four Noble Truths. We must resolve, cultivate and practice accordingly. We must end the causes of suffering, practice the path, and reach the cessation of suffering in order to achieve liberation. Consequently, the Four Universal Read more
It is only through loving-kindness and compassion that we can find room in our hearts to forgive others. It is only through our willingness to let go of resentment that we can find a way to magnanimity.  Read more
If we want to understand what the Dharma teaches us about building affinity and living in harmony with others, we must first understand the four great all-embracing virtues. The Buddha teaches that for us to realize our true capacity of connecting with and serving our fellow citizens, we have to first build a good rapport, and the four virtues are tools to that end. The four Read more
The Sumati Sutra discusses fulfilling both worldly and supramundane needs. Sumati’s first three questions are regarding obtaining an elegant appearance, obtaining wealth, and keeping a harmonious family life—all of these are concerned with success in this life. Being satisfied in this way ensures that a bodhisattva will not be hindered, and can freely walk the bodhisattva path.Rewards and blessings are not stolen, forcibly taken, or Read more
Being patient is an art, and being persistent is a kind of hope. Influenced by today’s instant culture, modern people tend to expect instant results in anything they do. Practitioners want to have attainment in this life, scholars want to become instant laureates in their fields, and entrepreneurs want to gain a huge fortune overnight. As the saying goes, “A flower picked before its time Read more
Most people regard the Buddhist religion as conservative and passive. Many think that Buddhism only teaches people to meditate, recite mantras and be vegetarians. They do not associate the religion with active and progressive ideas such as environmental protection. In truth, Buddhism is a religion that embodies the spirit of environmental protection and it has a long history of being active in such matters, well Read more
It is my hope that our Buddhist monks will all become monks who give support in all directions and not become monks who live off all directions. Whoever it may be, the monastic followers or the lay disciples, although we have not yet attained enlightenment, we can still broadly make affinities with others first, so as to become aspiring bodhisattvas who will ensure that “Buddhism Read more