Wisdom from The Platform Sutra 3

There is actually more peace and wisdom when we look at our minds.

Here is another favorite passage from the Platform Sutra:

When one truly cultivates, the mind is no longer filled with the faults of the world.

When attention turns to what others do wrong, inner clarity is already lost.

The faults of others are not mine to judge.

If there is fault, it is my own to see.

By letting go of the habit of judging right and wrong,

the suffering it creates comes to an end.

若真修道人，不見世間過；

若見他人非，自非卻是左。

他非我不非，我非自有過，

但自卻非心，打除煩惱破。《六祖壇經》

When I sit with these lines, they don’t feel like rules telling me what I should or shouldn’t notice. They feel more like a mirror.

“When one truly cultivates, the mind is no longer filled with the faults of the world.When attention turns to what others do wrong, inner clarity is already lost.”

When practice is sincere, attention turns inward on its own. The heart becomes more interested in its own habits than in fixing the world. Not because the world has no problems but because judging others no longer feels useful. There is already enough work to do right here.

What stays with me most is how direct the teaching is. It doesn’t argue or explain. It simply points out that the moment my attention keeps turning outward toward what others do wrong, something inside has already shifted. In that moment, the issue isn’t really out there. It’s the judging mind itself.

“The faults of others are not mine to judge.If there is fault, it is my own to see.”

These lines quietly return responsibility to where it belongs. They don’t ask me to deny what I see or pretend harm doesn’t exist. They ask me to notice where my energy goes. Am I using it to understand my own reactions, or am I spending it measuring and correcting others?

Sometimes that judging feels like clarity. It can even feel like moral insight. But when I look more closely, there is often a subtle sense of “I know better” hiding underneath. That small tightening is easy to miss, yet it slowly pulls practice off course.

“By letting go of the habit of judging right and wrong,the suffering it creates comes to an end.”

Seen this way, the teaching isn’t asking me to be blind or passive. It’s asking me to notice where my attention lives. When awareness is steady and honest, the urge to criticize naturally softens. Understanding takes its place. Even when harm is seen, the response comes from care or wisdom rather than inner blame.

I’ve come to read these lines as a gentle check-in. If I keep seeing what’s wrong with others, it doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It means something in my own heart is asking to be seen.

Returning to that place again and again feels like the real work of cultivation.

Here is the link to The Selected Lines from the Platform Sutra.

A short video is forthcoming.