Waterbirds come and go, their traces disappear — yet they never forget their path. - Dōgen

Such a practice requires exerting all your energies.5 If a man entrusted with this work lacks such a spirit, then he will only endure unnecessary hardships and suffering that will have no value in his pursuit of the Way.

What is the significance of this? It was simply a demonstration of Parental Mind. The Tathagata did not do this in expectation of some reward or fame. He did it unconditionally, without thought of profit or gain.

"In the Jōdō Shin School, they use the expression "determined faith." I think there is a time when one settles down in faith and never doubts anymore. What does this mean? According to our common sense, we firmly believe that our own thought is absolutely correct and the only measure of all things. But instead we settle ourselves in this faith, and never doubt that our thoughts are nothing more than secretions from our brain, which cannot be a yardstick. Instead of thinking that our thoughts are true, we can actually let go of our thoughts. In that world we see everything as the reality of life, which is reforming the self. This is determined faith. When we see reality after reforming the self, the world that is seen through our thoughts is an illusory world."