Preparing the Mind to Receive the Dharma

Today's teaching begins with the image of a subtle Dharma drum sounding in the heavens, and with the question of how we receive the Buddha's teaching. The Dharma is excellent and profound, but for it to open and come alive within me, the listener's mind must be prepared.

It is not that the Buddha gives the Dharma with discrimination. Rather, because each being has a different vessel of mind, different karma, and a different depth of understanding, the depth of receiving the same teaching also differs. For one person it may become bright at once, while for another it may seem that nothing has happened yet.

So what matters is not blaming the Dharma as insufficient, but looking at how prepared my own mind is. However good the teaching may be, if the door of the mind is firmly closed, it cannot enter. On the other hand, if even a small door is opened with sincerity, that much light and wind can come in.

Practice is the work of cleaning and widening the door of the mind. When we lighten our karma, grow the strength to understand, and take up the attitude of practicing the Dharma we have heard, the Buddha's teaching begins to be heard again throughout daily life. We come to see that Dharma talks are hidden even in natural phenomena and small encounters.

Today, before listening to a Dharma talk, first look at the readiness of your own mind. When you grow a mind that can receive and put what you have heard into practice, an excellent teaching finally becomes strength in your own life.