In plain words
Women know this well from experience. When milk is boiled, the water that has got into the milk turns into vapour. The moment it parts from this water, the milk says, ‘Oh! My friend has left me!’ and boils over. If at that moment of its going you sprinkle a little water on it again, it settles down again. When the friend who had gone comes back and joins it, it cools down again. That is why this friendship cannot be broken. You see? ‘In the field called the body there stands a wish-fulfilling tree. Around it a thicket of wild growth has grown. Take away the thicket and clear it, and the wish-fulfilling tree will be seen.’ They are mixing that wish-fulfilling tree into this impermanent world. In the field called our heart there stands a single wish-fulfilling tree. That is the Ātma. Around it a thicket of wild growth has grown. Because of that, this wish-fulfilling tree is not visible to us. Wretched, wretched desires have all gathered there. Because they have all twined round it, that wish-fulfilling tree is not visible to us. If you pull out the weeds and clear it, that is, if you cut all these away, this wish-fulfilling tree will be seen. That wish-fulfilling tree itself fulfils all our wishes. You need not go off somewhere and search for the wish-fulfilling tree. It is right in your heart. In the very field of your heart this wish-fulfilling tree is growing. This wish-fulfilling tree is within us. Why go off somewhere and search for it?
When the wish-fulfilling cow is there that gives milk for the asking, why give money to buy a cow? When the wish-fulfilling tree is there that gives the fruit you desire, why this fondness for the flowers of the backyard? When Mount Meru is there with its blazing radiance, why go searching for silver and gold?
When Mount Meru itself, which gives silver and gold, is right beside us, why crave this wretched worldly life?