How Does Talent Emerge?

In all walks of life and every field of endeavor in this world, talent matters. What is talent? In plain language, talent seems to be bestowed by heaven, but in fact it is what one brings over from past lives at birth—one is already a skilled hand, somewhat familiar from birth, and once one comes into contact with it, as conditions ripen, one becomes ever more proficient. This is what grows forth from the karmic seeds left from past lives. If no karmic seeds were left from past lives and one only encounters it in this life, then no matter how hard one strives, one remains a novice. So those with talent are, in the long kalpas of birth-and-death in saṃsāra, those who have spent relatively more time in the human realm, been conditioned more by the affairs of the human realm, and are more familiar with human affairs. Having been conditioned more in certain areas, seeds were planted, and in later lives they will have talent in those areas. Therefore, if sentient beings in the human realm accumulate virtue and do good deeds, and cultivate more merit, they will be born more often in the human realm, accumulating more karmic seeds of human affairs, and will have the opportunity to become people with talent.

In the field of learning Buddhism, the notion of talent applies even more. Within a single lifetime, a mere few short kalpas, one cannot learn much; no matter how one studies, one remains like a kindergartner, unable to find the way into practice. But as long as one does not lose heart, there will come a life in which one becomes a skilled hand, a seasoned practitioner, born with talent, becoming an expert, a long-cultivating bodhisattva. Nearly everyone is like this. In the cycle of the six realms, the opportunities encountered differ and the seeds planted differ, so faith in Buddhism and studying Buddhism come early for some and late for others—the difference is merely one of time. Therefore, so that other sentient beings may encounter the conditions of the Buddha-dharma sooner, those of us who have already come to believe in and study Buddhism should make more dedications of merit (pariṇāma) to all sentient beings not yet awakened, planting wholesome causes for them; in the future they will have the opportunity to encounter the Buddha-dharma and begin to believe in the Buddha, and once their faith has lasted long enough, they will begin to study Buddhism. Those with such breadth of mind also grow quickly themselves; by caring for others more, they come to understand more things, and they can mature rapidly, and before they know it they will have become great bodhisattvas.