(continued from previous issue)

Everything is up to the individual. The wealthy and the poor are treated equally. All sentient beings are treated equally. This is true equanimity. If you as a cultivator have any trace of greed, your affinity is with the blessing of this mundane world. This is not the blessing of the Pure Land. The blessing of the Pure Land is equanimity.

Qi cultivators are prone to thoughts of loathing, and this generates anger and hatred. If this is the case, how can he be reborn in the Pure Land? Cultivators must guard against enmity and anger. You must seek out great virtuous men, listen to the Buddha-dharma, and purify your heart. Some people believe that they have great knowledge and hold themselves in high-esteem—this generates arrogance. Satan was the Christian God's angel. It was because of his arrogance that he became the devil. Arrogance is mara!

Buddhist cultivators must have humility, must be polite, humble, and pay respect to lineage masters, and seek out wise teachers to learn Buddhism. Whenever I write letters to my masters, I always write humbly yours, Sheng-yen Lu, your humble disciple. You have to be humble, and then your teacher will transmit teachings to you, and then he would teach you the Kalachakra practice! Everybody thinks that Grandmaster Lu has transmitted all of the dharma that he knows. So, this Sheng-yen Lu is really nothing now. He is really just a small ant. I will be able to crush him with my pinky finger. Guess what? I have not yet transmitted the genuine essence of the dharma. What is knowing the heart's nature? What is seeing Buddha-nature? How can you realize the heart of the Tathagata? I have not yet revealed them! How do you see the genuine Buddha-nature? How can you be certain that you will be reborn into the Pure Land? Do you know them?

(to be continued)

《本文譯自蓮生活佛在休士頓密儀雷藏寺傳時輪金剛法的開示》