Day 5 Persevere in Practice

For the great ones, one breakthrough accomplishes all;
For the middling and inferior, the more they hear, the less they believe.
You only have to discard the dirty garments within;
No need to flaunt your diligence to others.


People who encounter Buddhadharma can be assigned to one of three categories, depending on their karmic roots. Those with superior karmic roots are great practitioners; those with intermediate karmic roots are average practitioners; and those with inferior karmic roots are poor practitioners.

To have superior karmic roots means that a person has already reached a high level of practice in previous lifetimes. Usually, when such a person encounters Buddhadharma, he has absolutely no doubts about the teaching. He accepts it completely, immediately and wholeheartedly. Sometimes, however, it does not work out that way. In the history of Buddhism, quite a few Ch'an masters actually opposed Buddhadharma when they first encountered it.