The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra

commentary by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
translated by the buddhist text society
c 2001


Mind your own business. Don't watch other people, like a
camera which can only take pictures of what is outside, but can't
take pictures of itself. You say, "That person is bad! He drinks,
smokes, and takes drugs. No one can teach him. He steals! He
kills! Just look at him!" You talk nothing but big talk; you only
criticize others. You never ask yourself, "Did I kill today? Did I
steal? Did I have deviant thoughts of lust? Did I lie or drink?"
You never turn the light inward because you are too busy shining
it outside.
.....

Cultivate properly. Do not criticize others and wash their
clothes for them, saying, "This person's clothes are filthy! I'd
better wash them. And look at him! He's jealous. He's afraid
others are going to be better than he is." This is called, "washing
other people's clothes."

If he is wrong, do not follow his example. If he is wrong, do
not join him and do not see his errors. Have great compassion for
everyone. Be merciful. Say, "These living beings are indeed
pitiful! I vow to take them all to Buddhahood."

You should not be arrogant. In all situations, you should be
polite. Do not say, "Look at me! I am better than everyone else.
I am so talented. I know more Buddhadharma than you." If you
show off like this, you are being proud, not humble, and you
have no merit. When you speak to people you should be easy and
polite, not like a wooden board which smashes their heads with
a single sentence. You don't have to hit people, all you have to
do is say one sentence and you split their heads open, which is a
fiercer thing than using an iron bar. But if you are humble, you
are never impolite.
Outwardly, you should see everyone as better than you.
Don't be self-satisfied.
You have no merit if, whenever you
meet someone, you immediately become jealous, terrified that
they will be better than you are or more intelligent or will surpass
you in some other respect. Your jealousy causes you to belittle
them. You see yourself as great. "See how big I am?" you say.
"No one can compare with me. In the present age there is no
emperor, but if there were, it would certainly be me. None of you
would have a share. Why? Because I am more intelligent than all
of you. I can dominate you, but you can't dominate me." "I,"
"myself," "me and mine" are not cut off and not put down. There
is no room for merit, because you are too full of self.
You do not really cultivate, and so your self-nature is unreal.
You are not basically genuine, you do not believe in yourself and
you do not know whether you are true or false.