15 - Liao Fan 4 Lessons

Liao-Fan:


The third way to reform is: one must have determination and courage.

A person who hesitates to reform his faults is one who really does not want to change, but is content with what he can get away with. His willpower may not be strong enough, making him afraid to change his wrongdoings. For a refon-n to take place, one must use all his efforts and resolve to change immediately. One should not doubt or wait to reform one's faults. We should not postpone our resolve to change until tomorrow or the day after. A minor fault is like a thom sticking into our flesh, and should be quickly removed. A big fault is like a finger bitten by a poisonous snake. We must cut off that finger without hesitation to prevent the poison from spreading and taking our life.

Liao-Fan: If a person can follow the three ways of shame, fear, and determination to reform, then his personality will surely be transformed. Just as a thin layer of ice is melted by the sun's rays in springtime, one's faults will also disappear when dealt with through these three ways.


Liao-Fan: There are also three methods of practice in helping one reform.

First is changing through action
Second is changing through reasoning, and
Third is changing from the heart. Since the methods vary, so do the results of change.

Narrator: First let us talk about changing through action.

Liao-Fan: For example, if I killed living beings in the past, I now would not to kill again starting today. If I was angry and yelled at others in the past, I would not to get angry today. This is how a person changes through action, and refrains from wrongdoing by would not to do it again. However, it is a hundred times harder you force yourself not to do something than if you just stopped doing it. If you do not uproot your faults, but merely suppress them, the faults will resurface even if you have temporarily stopped doing them. Therefore, the changing through action cannot help you get rid of your faults permanently.