Why does not the Divine and Great One deal with it once and for all to extinguish the pains from the hearts of his beloved ones who are suffering with a great doubt in their minds? Have you not seen a child in grave sickness? Not knowing why he is suffering but just immersed in suffering? Notice his eyes? He looks at those who love him with a query but not knowing how to ask! See how he pleads with his expressions to seek the removal of pains and the hope in his eyes!
If you have a heart, you will cry, beat your chest or bang your head against the wall! You may even drop down on your knees to request for God to intercede! In the end, you may even end up with a grave doubt about the teachings of the Gods of various faiths! You will most certainly suffer from a confused mind and you will lose your directions completely so that right views about the nature of life are completely destroyed!
If you have divine eyes, divine ears, divine ability to penetrate the minds of mankind, life even in this great and happy world is not worth clinging to, is in actuality a dream which cannot be held onto. Life is indeed suffering and so being in the world can be spared!
What is to be done? Suicide? To end it all by not knowing any more? This is another false view and the truth is that it will lead to greater sufferings which earthly sufferings cannot be compared. It will lead one’s life continuum to another state of anguish that never abates. At least on earth life can have its pleasant moments and even happiness is not totally absent, at least on earth one is able to work out his evil karma and to gain merits, and on earth, the Dharma is there to help all those who seek the wisdom of knowing, to liberate mankind from the suffering states if only they will live in accordance with the Way and observe the Law!
There is no one who creates unhappiness for you. Each is his own maker. Each action of the day, be it good or bad, when done, will bring about some results. So everyone must face up with the consequences, now or later. There is no escape, this is the Law! Think and know for yourself what or who have been the causes of your pains!
Be honest so that realisation will set in and then gain the wisdom which will in future teach you to hold right views and in the present, to make contrition never to succumb to evil tendencies again. By your own self you will be able to reduce the karmic rebounds and by your own effort, all sufferings will cease!
Why does a child have to suffer so when he has done no evil to others? Do you know his past lives? Have you seen the cruelty he had inflicted on others? If you had at that time you would have wished him sufferings of even greater severity! He is suffering because he has caused sufferings and in those lifetimes of evil existences, karma did not ripen yet!
How many pairs of eyes have looked at him to plead for mercy? How many have asked for forgiveness and received punishment instead? This, then is his lifetime to settle his past evil doings and the human body has been created by his own mind to even out the injustice that he has inflicted on others. His mind feels the pain, his body in actuality does not. Body is only the form for the mind, when the mind leaves, the body is just matter and even cutting it up will cause no pain. This is a great truth to understand. Most pains are directly felt by the mind while others are not and they seemed to be bodily pains. In truth all pains come from the mind which is reflected by sensations thus giving the impression of being bodily ones. Of course there is such a pain as bodily aches due to over using the muscles and due to illness, yet where does the pain arise? Once a person has fainted, the body feels no pain anymore!
The mind than is the most important part of life, which must be cleansed, purified, so that all kinds of defilements are removed. But it cannot be taken out of the body for cleansing, it can only be done by itself and so the Dharma is the only means of attaining the cleansing result!
Guard the mind then from this day onwards and make sure that it is pure and kindly towards others so that the results of all its future acts will bring blessings rather than sufferings. When this truth is thoroughly perceived, there is no need to seek Gods help, no need to blame God for the bad creation, and no need to rely on any God to bring you to heaven. God is there but He will not be able to help you a single bit if you are not in any way deserving. But why spend so much time in wishful thinking that God will remove all your problems when you are here, and will bring you to the heavenly states when your life here comes to an end? Better still, know yourself, know the Way to remove sufferings and live in such a way that at the end of life, God will be there to receive you when you have completed your earthly life. But have you repaid all your past karma yet? Have you accumulate sufficient merits to help you gain entry into Paradise? If you have not, then the Hells will wait for you and there even the thought of God is absent because suffering is constant! Wake up, do not rely on God to give you a wonderful next-life, work for it your own self and then the truth of Dharma is easily practised, and then the rewards will be there. No one can take it away from you, not even God! You have earned it and you shall enjoy its fruit!
Knowing this, live with lesser greed, lesser hatred, and lesser delusion. Be content with who you are, what you are, be wise, be a person who pursues the path that leads to happiness for others and for oneself! How much pain you have in this lifetime, has been the fruition of past karma. In between your great unhappiness, think, and realise the truth and be ready to suffer the pains with lesser complaints. Even in pain, wish others to have lesser pains, wish happiness, health and wealth to others. If you cannot be generous in your actions, at least be so in thoughts!
Human life is short. Within this span of life, you are able to reap unimaginable happiness or indescribable sufferings in the future! This truth has been expounded by great teachers and seers to all mankind ever so repeatedly, but how many care, how many believe, how many will practise that which has been taught? And so the result today, cries of anguish abound, the very people who have heard the Law but choose not to practise, not to believe and even with sufferings experienced now, they will act ever so stubbornly. For this great delusion, the Bodhisattva cry, not for the sufferings of pain or circumstances, but the preference for Ignorance over Truth!
You who are able to read this message, to hear it explained, are the fortunate ones. But you will only be fortunate when you accept this truth and resolve to commit yourself to a life of righteous and disciplined living. Accepting what is in store for you, you no longer fear suffering and can be consoled by the fact that just as you have done much evil in the past, you too have performed good deeds and that this life will most certain have happy moments, otherwise you will not be born a human. But happiness must be realised, must be felt by yourself or it will be missed by the deluded mind. Just like opportunities in life, it can be missed and then you will cry again. This calls for a quiet mind. Only a calm mind is able to have awareness of the moment of happiness which can be appreciated only when realised! Live with hope then, for the happy mind is able to cause unripen good karma to manifest! The worship of Divine Beings is a direct means to make it so!
Is it a blessing then? It is a blessing that one is tuned to the holy, to Gods of any faith that requires virtues to be practised. Through the acts of worship, your mind becomes more humble, more submissive, more ready to change so that in that period of time, you will not dwell in evil any more because you are seeking for forgiveness yourself, you are seeking for love and charity. At such moments your heart too will be filled with kindly thoughts and so the efforts made will develop energies that will hasten good karma to flourish which in turn comes to you as a blessing! So to the Gods you seek help and receive the result of your own great effort, but it is all your own doing, if you did not act, there would have been no result at all!
This is the period of time when you will see much sufferings and you will experience some too! You have been forewarned and you must be strong enough to go through difficult periods of life. The above message is not an essay, its words point to the truth, are meant to hit you in the heart so that you will be able to transcend the fears of pain. There will be many who come to see you about their pains and great difficulties, you must be ready to help them and be the vehicle to give them the message of help. Unless you are strong and can face difficulties squarely, with the help of Dharma knowledge, you will be of very little help. This country is suffering from bad karmic rebounds. It is the doing of the minds of evil ones who are filled with needless desires arising from greed, anger, hatred, jealousy and so on, they do not have the wisdom to act virtuously when times were opportune, and so the result of the bad energy is felt. It will stay for a few more years during which time, it will be up to the people themselves to generate compassionate and loving thoughts or greater sufferings will surface! Pray then, for the leaders of the land to be wise and fair, to be selfless and pure in action! But it is easier said than done. How many will pray even when asked to do so? Even when faced with such a reality?
If you do not what else is there to do but to pray yourself or better still cause others to pray whenever possible! Those who pray and do not feel the results of their prayers must not despair, the cause has been set and the result will bear fruit in the future. Just do your bit and avoid being over expectant for immediate result! It does not mean that wealth or health will come to you after you have spent some years in praying. It does not mean that you will live long even if you pray for long life each day! Those who hold such a view is not a realised one, they are still being under the influence of delusion. It is not how rich you are that you will have the happiness in life, it is how contented you are with yourself, it is not how long you live that determines the blessings you are deserving, it is how you have lived each day and moment!
Many who are here suffer from fears and pains, they are trying their best to pray for relief and they should be encouraged to do so. But there are some who have not been here frequently enough to really understand some of the things which you have said. They cannot understand why they should pray for sentient beings when they themselves are so thoroughly messed up. They will not find it easy to concentrate well in their prayers as they may feel guilty about being selfish in seeking for their own well-being! It is wise then to choose the right subject to speak when you see new faces. Even with familiar ones, they may not all understand what have been said fully unless they have personal discussions with you. You have to look into their problem and find ways to clear up their doubts.
Try, for a change, to pray for oneself, for one’s own family, relatives and friends, once in a while. Let them feel happy with prayers which they hope will benefit their loved ones. Let them be until they develop to expand their circle to embrace others. They will, when they come across seeing great sufferings in others which will touch their hearts. Try praying in a slow manner. In the recitation of the mantra, try reciting it slowly and clearly so as to emphasise on the correctness of sounds which will generate very strong and beneficial vibrations! Let each recite and hear, let their minds be seeped with sounds of looking; with the blessings which will produce a calm mind. Only you should continue to invite other sentient beings to participate, let the others enjoy some self benefit!
Saturday, 6th July 1985 (5th Moon 19th Day)