Dharma Practice - Commiserate with the Turtle in Trouble, Help the Sick Sparrow

"Working for the welfare of all beings means that you contrive to benefit all sentient beings, high and low.  In other words, you carefully investigate others's distant and near futures, and think of various means that will be the most congenial to their well-being.

Commiserate with a turtle in trouble, and take care of a sparrow suffering from injury. When you see the distressed turtle or watch the sick sparrow, you do not expect any repayment for your favor, but are moved entirely by your desire to help others.

Fools may think that if another's benefit is given priority, their own good must be lost.  This is not the case.  The practice of benefiting others is a total truth, hence it serve both self and others far and wide...

Therefore serve enemies and friends equally, and assist self and others without discrimination.   If you grasp this truth, [you will see that] this is the reason that even grasses and trees, wind and water are all naturally engaged in the activity of benefiting others, and your understanding will certainly serve others' benefit..."  Dōgen Zenji

Quoted in Eihei Dōgen: Mystical Realist
By Hee-Jin Kim, Taigen Daniel Leighton

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