See Clearly, and the Obstacle Vanishes

📖Master’s Reading

Many difficulties lie not in the matter itself but in our inner imagination and fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of change are often projections of the inner demon. We endlessly magnify in our minds what has not happened, letting fear hold us hostage, until in the end we lack even the courage to take the first step.

In truth, all obstacles are thought up by people; see clearly, and the obstacle is gone. It is like walking at night and mistaking a rope on the ground for a poisonous snake, too frightened to advance. But shine a lamp and see it is only a rope, and the fear dissolves at once. When we learn to view things with the wisdom of the Prajñā Heart Sūtra, the mind dwelling nowhere, we see the true face of things.

As a child you could not lift a ten-kilo stone and felt it an earth-shattering difficulty; grown up, you pick up a ten-kilo stone with a hand. All obstacles were never obstacles, and all problems are no longer problems — because you have grown, your wisdom and ability have risen.

When you are willing to face the problem squarely, no longer fleeing or setting limits on yourself, you find many obstacles are not as large as imagined. Bravely see through the illusion behind fear; once the inner demon disperses, the road of life naturally widens.

🌱Reflection for Daily Life

• The greatest obstacle is often within your own mind.
• Understand that difficulty is often the projection of inner fear.
• See the true face of things, and the obstacle dissolves.
• Raise the mind's wisdom, and the problem is no longer a problem.
• Bravely face the illusion of fear, and the inner demon disperses.