Unfold the Wings Within You Yourself
Today's teaching begins with a short line from a Seon master: wings are not something others attach to us, but something that emerges from within ourselves.
At times, we wait for someone to raise us up, give us strength, and open the way for us. But true strength is not fastened on from outside. It is cultivated within.
Buddhist study is the same. My mind is something I must govern myself, and my mind is something I must polish directly. No one else can make it clean in my place.
Within us there is potential that has not yet fully appeared. That strength does not suddenly arise overnight; it grows little by little through today's small diligence and wholesome attitude of mind.
Today, rather than waiting for someone else to give you wings, trust the strength hidden within you and take one step in practice. From the place where you establish your own mind, life rises a little more lightly.
Wings are not attached by someone else; they are strength that grows from within me. I must govern my own mind, and I must polish it directly. Since there is potential within us that has not yet appeared, we need to grow that strength through today's small diligence.
