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- Book 45 - The Art of Meditation
- By Grand Master Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Liu Runqing
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Chapter 29 - Beware of "Absolute Emptiness"
Here is a letter by a Taoist cultivator which may serve as a warning
to some people:
| Jan.
5, 1983
Grand Master Lu,
How are you? My
humble surname is Lan and given name is Chao-li. Your name
is heard everywhere like a thunder. I am often inspired by
your books. I know you are very busy and often visit other
counties. Excuse me for this letter, but I need your guidance
badly, as I now find myself in a dilemma.
I feel ashamed
and repentant to say that I am writing to you because I have
failed in my Taoist cultivation, not because I have realized
in my Buddhist cultivation to make the perfection more perfect,
so to speak. Four years ago, I made up my mind to engage in
spiritual cultivation. However my causal conditions must be
very poor, for that was the time when Grand Master closed
your door to new disciples. I had to enter another branch
of belief. I happened to have read a book on Taoism. I have
also read Quiet Sitting Method of Yin Shinzi. Then I practiced
blindly for a while. It so happened that I got the vital energy
misplaced. Now I am very weak and cannot concentrate my mind
on anything. The most important reason is my bad habit of
"reaching for what is beyond my grasp." Before the
self-nature was cultivated enough, I made haste in my practice,
not knowing the correct way to do it. So things went wrong.
Now my body is withering. Everything is too late. I have been
lost for much too long. How could I plug up my energy again?
I know quite clearly
that a man's life is but a hundred years' dream and it is
better to cultivate oneself as early as possible. But where
are the good teachers? I have consulted many masters, but
here I am still circling around in ignorance. Now both my
mind and body are "besieged," and nobody can save
me. Grand Master Lu, you often met certain events which you
say they are pre-arranged or coincidence or pre-determined.
Do you really think that my failure is also pre-determined?
I don't think so. Now I regularly recite the fixed karma mantra
of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva: "Om-ben-lo-muo-lin-tuo-ning.
Sa-puo-ha." This mantra is used to break the fixed Karma.
I am hoping to get out of the suffering, turn bad luck into
good luck, so as to get on the right way and practice the
correct doctrine.
I am strong-willed.
Since Heaven has left me alive, I must get up, start again,
and press forward along the path leading to transcendence
of birth and death. After all, I have one failure experience
behind me and I will proceed more carefully so as not to make
the same mistake again. Now I need Grand Master's guidance.
I hope Grand Master will not turn me down on the ground of
no relationship between us, or I am too humble, or I am too
defiled, or my karma is too serious. I am a man who really
wants to cultivate. Please don't let me down. I am waiting
for your instructions like a thirsty man waiting anxiously
for a cup of water.
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My body and
mind are "besieged"; my mind is totally blank
now. I don't know whether it is a demon that has got inside
me or it is a wrong relative that has come to deliver
retribution. Please instruct me on now to get out of this
and return to normal.
- I believe that
my body and mind are defiled and I want to cultivate pure
wisdom. Can I renounce home-life and become a monk?
As I have found
that my karmic hindrance is grave, I want to purify my body
and mind first and then think about saving other sentient
beings. Is this the right path? If Grand Master cares to instruct
me, I shall certainly follow your teachings and spread the
Dharma. If in the future I attain achievement, I will never
forget your instructions, but repay the four kinds of kindness
about and aid those suffering in the realms below. This is
my pledge and I will not go back on my words.
Taoist Peace. |
This letter told me that Lan Chao-li has got into the state of
"absolute emptiness." What is "absolute emptiness?"
We have the contemplation of illusoriness and the contemplation
of emptiness. But if you don't understand the essence of the two
combined, you fall into "absolute emptiness." Once you
fall into that conception, you tend to think that everything is
false, everything is empty and you lose the meaning of existence,
become bored with life itself; to you, everything is grey and everything
is empty; the worst part of it is that your mind is totally blank,
and you can't extricate yourself from it.
When you are in the state of "absolute emptiness," it
is like having your energy misplaced or breath travelling in the
wrong channel. Your energy can not be concentrated and there is
nothing you can do. The energy is gone, and you are disheartened.
Both the body and the mind feel greatly weakened as if you were
disabled. This is a failure in Taoist cultivation. In this state,
the best practitioner may go to the Realm of Air in the Formless
Realm, the middle class practitioner may go to the lazy land, and
the lowest may become a "heartless ghost."
To get out of this dilemma, you have to give up your previous cultivation.
Remember, don't learn to fly before you can walk! Start with the
four preparatory practices. Don't look down upon "elaborate
prostration," "great offering," "fourfold refuge,"
and "the Vajra heart." The first three are visible, but
the Vajra heart is invisible. If you follow these four practices
strictly according to the rituals described, the Buddha's light
will surely bless you and eradicate your karma. Then the sense of
"absolute emptiness" is driven away and you are filled
with Dharma pleasure. These four practices are the basis for any
other practice. Without the foundation, tall buildings can not be
put up. The cultivation of the Vajra heart is especially important,
for it can make you strong both mentally and physically.
Defilement of body and mind? Whose body and mind are not defiled?
Nobody under heaven is spotless clean. If they are clean, why do
they need to cultivate? So you are qualified to become a monk. Pure
wisdom is the only true wisdom. I encourage you to renounce home-life
to become a monk. You should not only renounce the world but also
live in the world, not only to save yourself, but also to save other
sentient beings. Your vow is the aspiration of a great Bodhisattva.
It deserves encouragement.
Bestir yourself, virtuous Lan Chao-lin, a future Bodhisattva! You
have my blessings.
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