People have diverse tastes and desires, and everyone lives one's life chasing them until the very end, though those pursuits differ in degree of refinement or vulgarity. The most turbid are greed for money, greed for lust, and greed for intoxicants. The less turbid ones are fondness in antiques, music, chess, traveling, or poetry. Better yet, one finds a love for reading. Indeed, reading good books is beneficial. Among all, reading stands supreme. However, it still belongs to the realm of worldly affairs.
Advancing further, one finds a love for studying Buddhist scriptures. Better yet, one finds a love for purifying the mind – this is the ultimate pursuit, transcending both the mundane and the supramundane worlds. The progress along the Path is like eating sugarcane; it is a journey that grows ever more delightful and blissful.
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
好樂 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
人處世各有所好，亦各隨所好以度日而終老，但清濁不同耳。至濁者好財，其次好色，其次好飲。稍清，則或好古玩，或好琴棋，或好山水，或好吟詠。又進之，則好讀書。開卷有益，諸好之中，讀書為勝矣! 然此猶世間法。又進之，則好讀內典。又進之，則好淨其心。好至於淨其心，而世出世間之好最勝矣! 漸入佳境如食蔗喻。
Buddha Mind 