The Festival of Bathing Both Buddha and Heart - 浴佛節與浴心 from Collection of Rain Blossoms

The true festival is not outside but within the heart. Image: Shutterstock.

The Buddha is really our own mind. And so, to bathe the Buddha is to wash the heart within. Long ago, during the Bathing the Buddha Festival, people practiced something called “revealing the heart.” In this practice, they would look back on the mistakes they had made over the year, confess them before the Buddha, and make a promise never to do them again. This was called revealing the heart. So, the real meaning of the festival is not only bathing the statue of the Buddha, but more importantly, cleansing one’s own heart first.

As for my way of teaching, it is simple. I begin with what is easy to understand, and then move step by step into what is deeper. What I ask for is not strict rules, but real understanding. In this way, one can truly be called a student of the Buddha’s path.

Where the Heart Must Turn

To follow the Buddha’s way, we cannot rely only on reading scriptures, nor can we think that simply staying in temples will reveal the depth of the teaching. After all, the Hall of the Great Heroes (大雄寶殿) is only the outer shell of Buddhism. The living spirit of Buddhism must be sought in many ways—by reflecting deeply on truth, by learning from experience, by searching in everyday life, by studying history, by testing ourselves through action, and by seeing clearly the law of cause and effect. Only then can we begin to understand the deeper meaning of the path of awakening.

And so, this is the right way to learn. But if someone only recites the Buddha’s name with the mouth, or looks at verses with the eyes, and yet never engages the heart to truly understand—then that is not real learning, but only a false way.

浴佛節與浴心

 雨花集

濟公活佛 

所謂佛，即是心。浴佛者浴心而已。以前舉行浴佛節典禮，要有向佛明心之禮節，將自己一年來所有錯處，向佛表明，並誓以後不得再犯，此之謂明心，浴佛節要先浴自己之心。

我之教導作風，祇求淺入，由淺而深；祇求領悟，不加嚴制，如此方算是真學佛。

學佛是不能單靠經典而得到佛理，不能在廟堂中得到登佛法之堂奧。大雄寶殿不過是佛教之驅殼。佛教之精神，要從哲理上之深思，經驗上之細味，生活中之尋求，歷史上之考究，行為上之測驗，因果上之反證，始能得到佛理之深意。如此學佛，方是正道。祇知口誦如來，眼觀佛偈，全不用心靈來領略，學假佛耳。

This translated text is a chapter from Collection of Rain Blossoms, a scripture written by JiGong Living Buddha in the 1900s through spirit writing. Here the link to the original Chinese source.

If you are interested in other chapters of this book, here is the link to the table of contents.