The Dhamma in a Pot
“When cooked rice is just sitting in the pot, what purpose does it serve? If we don’t practice with it—if we don’t spoon it onto a plate, add a little curry and pepper sauce, and then eat it—what purpose will it serve? Even though the rice is good. The Buddha’s teachings are the cooked rice in a pot. If we just keep the teachings there in the pot, what purpose will they serve? They just stay there in the pot. If you cook good jasmine rice and then just set it high on the table, will it give you any flavor? Will it make you full?
We take the Buddha’s teachings and simply set them high in the world without practicing them. We keep on bowing down to them. If we really bow down, it means we believe them. We trust them. If we believe and trust them, we have to practice in line with them. That’s when the Buddha’s teachings will serve a purpose. They depend on each and every one of us to practice them.”
