All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows; like dew drops and a lightening flash: contemplate them thus. --The Vajra Sutra

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- "Functions of the Five Eyes"

- Master Hua's life journey: "I Came from Empty Space"... 

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Essays by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua: 

Preface, Today, Yesterday & Tomorrow

excerpted from Water-Mirror Reflections of Nature

Preface November 17, 1952

Contemplate the universe of a billion worlds:  you will see that bad karma has welled up and filled it all.  Nations ravage nations, creating world wars; families slay families, creating civil strife; men murder men, starting interpersonal wars; we kill ourselves, making war between the mind and the nature, and so forth, until space destroys space, and water destroys water, making wars between the realms of matter and the intangible.  There are so many wars!  How sorrowful, how painful!

 

Each of these limitless crises comes from the evil karma of killing.  If we do not wake up soon and put a stop to the causes, conditions, methods, and karma of killing, then great disasters will surely be hard to avoid; we will never know peace and happiness. 

 

It will not be hard to recognize our basic identity; our inherent wisdom will spontaneously appear.  The wind and light of this primary land has a unique and wonderfully delightful flavor that does not grow stale.  If we wish to try its taste we must simply purify our minds. 

 

With great heroism let us direct our thoughts towards the good; resolve to cultivate and realize the results of the Way; take others across and reach the other shore together; join the assembly of superior and good people who take delight in their meeting, and always be companions of Bodhisattvas who never retreat.

 

Like the moon reflected in water, like flowers in a mirror, such things are merely shadows cast without forms.  It may just be a case of hoping against hope, of striving for the impossible, thus the book's title Water-Mirror Reflections of Nature.

Today

What is the present time?  It is a time of the imminent extinction of living beings.  As we look around the Dharma Realm we see that countries battle each other, families contend with each other, individuals struggle against on another, on and on until great wars between world systems arise.  An ancient author said,

War results from quarrels over land, the corpses fill the fields.  War arises from conflicts over cities, and corpses fill the streets.  The earth is made to eat the flesh of people.  Such offenses are not redeemed by death.

I sincerely hope that the leaders of all nations will embody Nature's preference for life, establish good government and bestow humane justice; banish contention and do away with greed; ignore themselves and help others; benefit themselves by benefiting others; see the universe as one family, and regard all people as one person. 

 

Emulate the thinking of the ancient worthy who said,

If anyone is killed, it is as if I killed him myself.  If anyone has been cheated, it is as if I cheated him myself.

At all times, reflect inwardly and examine your conscience. 

If you offend before heaven, you have no place to pray.

Yesterday

If at the age of 50, one can know the errors of the previous 49 years, one resembles the Ideal Human who reforms his errors and improves himself.  an author in ancient times said,

I realize that in the past I let my faults go uncorrected,

Knowing that in the future I can mend my ways; 

Having strayed but not too far from the path,

I awake to today's rights and yesterday's wrongs.

In Buddhism it is said,

For all bad karma I have done

With body, mouth and mind,

Based on beginningless greed, hared and ignorance,

I now repent and reform.

Buddhism also teaches that

Offenses arise from thoughts;

So through thoughts we reform.

When thoughts are forgotten,

Offenses are no more.

With thoughts forgotten and offenses wiped away,

We realize that both are empty--

This is called true repentance and reform.

I hope that all living beings of the dharma realm will read these words carefully, sample their flavor, and put them into actual practice.  I hope that they will feel deep shame and a wish to change and to renew themselves.  Confucius said,

To have faults and not change is indeed a fault.

For this reason, when you have faults, do not shrink from change.  There is no greater good than this. 

Tomorrow

Since we have been born in this age, we must resolve to be new and great people.  Emperor Tang had a motto inscribed on his bathtub that said,

If you can renew yourself once,

Renew yourself day after day;

Become new again and again.

The Proclamation of Kang said,

Make a new people!

But one look at present-day weapons' technology shows that research in weaponry advances daily; lethal armaments are modernized each month.  although we call this progress, it is nothing more than progressive cruelty.  This branch of science takes human life as an experiment, as its toy.  The men who create new destructive weapons use power as their right, to satisfy their selfish desires.

 

Why shouldn't we think instead of washing clean the body and mind; of brushing away accumulated dirt; of developing a sense of shame, and painstakingly changing our former wrongs to create a new life; of becoming awesome people full of the vitality of life; of doing beneficial deeds for the sake of all living beings in the Dharma Realm, of developing virtue on behalf of our fellow citizens of the myriad nations; and of acting as a model for all on earth?

 

With humanness and integrity, represent Nature in proclaiming truth and transforming kindred beings; with filial respect and a sense of responsibility for the welfare of every nation, instruct all people of the world.