Do not lose your life while chasing desire.

It is difficult for a person to live fully even for a hundred years, but the mind lives as if carrying a thousand years of worries. Things that need to be done today, things that haven't been resolved yet, and things that I don't know what will happen in the future keep pulling my mind. Even when one worry ends, another one arises, and when one desire is satisfied, we look for another.

As in the parable of the Dharma Sutra, the mind that pursues desire is similar to a person picking flowers. Flowers are beautiful and fragrant. So I want to reach out, have it, and collect more. But if you get caught up in picking flowers, it's easy to lose track of where you stand, how much time has passed, and where life is going.

The problem is not the desire itself, but losing awareness by following the desire. The same goes for anxiety. You can't live without anxiety completely. There is always work to be done, and relationships and responsibilities to resolve. The important thing is to recognize that you have worries and not let them take over your entire mind.

Practice is not only found in good places. You can learn from places where desires arise, and you can see the character of your heart even from places where worries arise. Study is to realize when a desire arises, “I have a desire again,” and when worries arise, to look back and think, “My mind is running forward.”

Life is short and that doesn't mean you should be afraid. Rather, it means coming to your senses. It means that you should pursue your desires as if you were picking flowers, and do not lose sight of today's life by accumulating worries as if you would live for a thousand years. Being aware of this mind now, calmly doing what needs to be done, but not giving your entire mind to desires and worries is an awakened life.