Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu Padmakurmara - Translating the Teachings of the Great Buddhist Master, Grandmaster Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
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  • Book 156: Whispers of the Breeze - The Joy of Inner Tranquility
  • Chapter 4: Temporary Manifestations
  • Written by: Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu
  • Translated by: Wilhall Lee
  • Edited by Luljeta Subasic
  • Proofread by Mimosa

Someone once asked me, "What is fame?"

I answered, "Illusory existence, illusory cessation!"

Question: "What then is wealth?"

Answer: "Something that just lets you look at it idly for a few years, on borrowed terms!"

Question: "What about physical attraction?"

Answer: "Nothing but dry bones!"

Truthfully speaking, wealth, physical attraction and fame are all but life's temporary manifestations, that is to say for a moment you may have, but the next you may not. Wealth, physical attraction, and fame are merely manifestations that exist and desist in continuum. Modern people rack their brains to pursue them zealously. If we so pursue them with reckless abandon, scheming and plotting, intent on securing them be it by force or trickery, they will inevitably lead us to hatred and anger, and thoughts of unbridled greed. In the end, they will eventually lead us to our downfall whereby we would suffer in the three foul paths down below.

That is why we must break free from the delusions of wealth, physical attraction, and fame. We must be able to correctly understand the perils of blind pursuit and recognize the truth. Do not engender any attachment; you will then naturally be led to the path to liberation.

Let us think for one moment that if Prince Siddhartha had craved for the throne, for palatial treasures and wealth, for his queen and his concubines, today there would be no Shakyamuni Buddha, no World-honored One. It would not be too preposterous to postulate the demise of the Sakya kingdom, the capture of its palace and territory, and the execution of King Siddhartha by King Lapis Lazuli, all eventually ending in naught, ending in an ocean of sufferings.

A practitioner should possess such understanding:

That fame is really nothing but illusory existence and illusory cessation!

That riches merely afford you a few years of blank contentment!

That physical beauty is really cloaking a bag of dry bones!
All these may provide temporary happiness, but at the same time, they also bear dangerous pitfalls and the cause for affliction.

After long periods of observation, Shakyamuni Buddha concluded that the root of all suffering is the greed of the human heart.


 

 

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