“It’s totally not worth it if I were to lose my wisdom because of all this dust!”

That day, when I came across the pile of dust on top of our bookshelves during the annual clean-up, I couldn’t help but recall Master Zhen-Ru’s words: If the place you store your scriptures is full of dust, you’ll become unwise.

Our class is currently on the third book of the Five Great Treatises: Ornament of Clear Realization, a vast and profound six-year course. It’s not a big deal if I were to become unwise, but should everyone else lose their wisdom too due to my lack of attention, this is not a responsibility I can afford to carry. Not only would it obstruct the height of our studies, it’d also affect the establishment of monastic education. So despite having to spend a lot of time climbing up and down, I didn’t dare take it lightly.

The floors were sparkling. To whomever dedicated their time cleaning the porch, I’ve nothing but my deepest gratitude. By offering a group of monastics who diligently studies, listens to, interprets, writes, recites, reflects on and spreads the greatest wisdom of Prajna, the merits you accumulate is beyond one’s imagination.

Though laborious, a satisfied smile could be seen across everyone’s faces after the clean-up. As for me, I feel extremely happy and at ease to have overcome my extreme fear of anything troublesome. As I clean, I offer my wishes to everyone in class, hoping that our studies could be free of all obstacles. Not only did we clean our environment, we also cleaned our inner selves.