Doing good deeds is an upward step,
but remembering them is a backward step. Humans keep going upward then backward like this, which prevents them from attaining absolute saintliness.
LETTING OF ALL THE CREDITS
When a person has a good heart, they always want to do good deeds for life. Doing good deeds becomes a source of happiness for virtuous people. Any day they cannot do anything useful for the others, they will feel unfulfilled and empty inside.
A father arrives home with a tired face after work and lies on the sofa. His daughter asks: “Daddy! Every day you arrive home tired after work. However, some days, you look happy and other days, you look unhappy. Why is that, daddy?” The father replies: “I’m not aware of that, my dear! Maybe some days I can help people solve their problems and this pleases my mind. The other days, I get stuck and can’t resolve their issues. Those days often wear me down.”
If we do good deeds, we will naturally feel happy. The more good deeds one does, the stronger ones become both physically and mentally.
However, as we try to devote our body and spirit to doing good deeds, those works will imprint deeply in our mind. Such “imprint” also creates a feeling of pride and self-praise. If this feeling goes too far, we start to claim credits for those good deeds, show off our merits, and thus, make others uncomfortable.
When doing good deeds, we will have blessing. However, the more prideful we become, the more that blessing reduces. Once our blessing decreases to negative, our life will remain miserable despite us doing so many good deeds.
It is not easy to forget our efforts. Doing good deeds costs our labor, time, spirit, and money, so it is not easy to brush them off completely. However, we must let them go by all means.
Morality requires us to do as many good deeds in life as possible. A high level of morality also requires our ability to forget our credits. These two requirements create an extreme dilemma in a human’s psychology. However, we ought to be determined to get through it. Doing good deeds is an upward step, but remembering them is a backward step. Humans keep going upward then backward like this, which prevents them from attaining absolute saintliness.
Once stepping on the path to seek virtue, we must not stop half way. We have to cultivate ourselves towards the ultimate holiness. In order to attain that ultimate goal, we must overcome obstacles. Claiming credits is one of these obstacles. It only brings self-praise and pride. We have to practice letting go of our credits. Offering them to the universe, and we just wish to be a tiny piece of dust flying away on a windy afternoon.
Janna