Here we listen to the Sutra lectures every day, but the most important thing is to actually practice. Otherwise, you'vewasted your time and let your whole life slip away.

Consider each grain of rice and
Contemplate how it's not easily obtained.
Regard each thread of your clothing, and
Always be mindful that such resources are difficult to come by.

Think about each grain of rice you eat, and consider its source. Food is not easy to come by. You should know that each threadyou wear is difficult to come by, too. One can't casually waste things or throw food away in the garbage. Look at how many refugees there are in the world-and beggars. Why? Because they wasted too many things. So the heavens got angry and the spirits resentful, and now those wasteful people undergo this retribution of being poor and homeless.

Refugees wasted things before, so now they endure this hardship. The manifestation of their circumstances speaks the Dharma, and they themselves act as mirrors for all of us. We learn from their suffering to "turn the light around," to examine our own behavior. Extravagance is dangerous. In every situation, cherish resources and do not waste anything.

Cultivators should also not be slipshod or dirty. Sometimes cultivators are described as covered with several inches of dust, but that's only if they live in the mountains away from people. If you are around people, your clothes should be clean and you should take a bath once in a while. Don't deliberately make yourself unclean, saying, "Now no one will get near me, I'm so stinky. In that way, I'm pure." But your being stinky is already "impure"! In cultivation always watch yourself and look within. In life, one needs rules and shouldn't be messy or unruly. Most dirty of all, of course, are bad habits, afflictions, ignorance, and being temperamental-those are the real dirt. So everyone should quickly bring forth the Bodhi mind. Don't cling to the garbage you carry around.