The Punch Card for Buddhahood

Every one of us has karmic memory storage. It contains all the information collected through cyclic existence. Just like how we need to "punch the card" when we go to work every day. We punch the card for living and dying in this storage. Before we study Dharma, our lives are mapped out with the information from the storage. There is the information of gains, losses, good, bad, right, wrong, virtues, nonvirtues, and more. After we've encountered Dharma and engender bodhicitta, we'd be punching another card. Here, we'd begin to collect and make use of all the seeds of wakefulness in the storage to generate new lives.

The seeds of bodhicitta are the "aspiration". Dharma practice encourages us onto the path of aspiration. A life with aspiration is bound to make an extensive network of positive connections and great wisdom. For example, members of the Dharmapala Committee of Ling Jiou Mountain had engendered the bodhicitta to attain Buddahood to liberate sentient beings. They've transformed the karmic seeds and recode the DNA for attaining Buddhahood.

We could transform the negative relations with past karmic creditors and present relatives into positive relations of Dharma partners. To those whom we know or don't know, we should aspire to introduce Dharma to them. That way, we are helping to plant the DNA for Buddhahood in their mind. They will become our companions on the path towards enlightenment. Don't get caught up in punching the card for living and dying. Instead, punch the card for the work of aspiration and the attainment for Buddhahood. As we continue to do so, the connections in life will expand from dots to lines to surfaces. As long as we link every connection properly, we can let the seed grow and shine. Lives will join to become a multi-dimensional matrix with infinite connections and lights.

These works seem to be solely for benefitting and guiding others to Buddhadharma. In fact, we are also making connections for our future lives. As we take rebirth in the future, those whom we made connections with will once again, be reconnected. The Dharmic connection will draw us back to Dharma practice, back to diligence. Our aspiration will be inspired again. So, our future aspirations could only be rediscovered by our present aspirations. Vows and aspirations will never disappear.