http://www.jenchen.org.sg/learning.htm
To learn Buddhism one needs to eradicate self serving and
evil habits
Learning Buddhism is not difficult at all. In fact, it is very
easy. First of all, we must know how to eradicate our self serving
and evil habits. We can naturally do that when we understand how
important it is to our life to eradicate such habits. If we do not
understand this, then no matter how learned in Buddhism we are, it
does not serve any real purpose. Take for example the question of
consuming alcoholic drinks. You could take a fruit juice or tea in
its place. It is not necessary that you must take alcohol. If
persuaded by your friends, you could say : "I am very sorry, I have
been advised by the doctor to lay off alcohol for a year. I will be
in trouble should my wife finds out that I have been drinking."
Your good friends will understand and therefore let you off.
Handling questions like this is a matter of having wisdom.
The most difficult thing for anybody to do, is to eradicate ones
self serving and evil habits. This is because habits are carried
into the present life from the aeons of previous lives. They are
deeply rooted and therefore are difficult to eradicate. Once these
have been eradicated, then the Mara-hindrances are eliminated. The
inability to eradicate them results in one spending his entire
lifetime with the Mara without ever knowing it.
Let me tell you a story. There was a very promising lay-Buddhist
who came to take refuge in the Three Treasures and before leaving
asked, "Master, is there anything about me that I need to correct?"
I replied, "Very well, there is nothing you need to correct other
than to eradicate your self serving and evil habits." He was
puzzled. He wondered if it was because he had evil habits that were
deeply rooted. He began to examine himself, "I am a moderate
person. My bosses and my colleagues treat me well. What self
serving and evil habits does Master want me to eradicate?"
While on his way home, he continued to think over this as he
smoked. Four cigarettes later, he was still pondering. Then, as he
was lighting his fifth, it suddenly occurred to him, "Oh! I smoke.
This is the self serving and evil habit that Master wants me to
eradicate!" At this moment he spontaneously extinguished the
cigarette and quit the habit.
Thus, when learning Buddhism one should not just talk about the
theories. One must really put the teachings into practice. One
should not commit even the smallest bad deed, neither should one
neglect even the smallest virtuous deed. Only then is one a
Buddhist.
