Chan Master Fo Yin wrote to Dong Po, saying: “People vying for the position of Prime Minister are all worried that they themselves would never be your match. Yet, even if you could easily enjoy thirty years of fame and fortune being a Prime Minister, it would be over in the blink of an eye. So, why not make a decisive cut and sever all ties with the vanishing dreams and empty bubbles now?”
Further, he remarked: “You hold ten thousand volumes of books in your heart, and your writing is free of the slightest trace of worldly dust. Yet why is it that you remain ignorant of the true destination of your own life?”
With such sincere spur from a good mentor like Master Fo Yin, someone as intelligent as Dong Po would certainly make progress with each passing day. Today’s monastics can certainly follow this practice when befriending the gentry class.
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
東坡(二) – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
元禪師與東坡書云:「時人忌子瞻作宰相耳。三十年功名富貴，過眼成空，何不猛與一刀割斷。」又云:「子瞻胸中有萬卷書，筆下無一點塵，為何於自己性命便不知下落?」以東坡之穎敏，而又有如是善友策發，何慮不日進? 今之縉紳與衲子交者，宜講此誼。
Buddha Mind 