crack theory: what if the abyss twin isn't a descender because they're an ascender?

On one’s good fortune and causal factors

Continuing on my journey of translating articles pertaining Buddhism teachings, here’s the first one for 2019. For those who have stumbled upon this article by chance, you may want to start from my first blog post instead to learn more about the basics before continuing.

Source: https://bestzen.pixnet.net/blog/post/58653535-%E5%A6%82%E6%9E%9C%E4%BD%A0%E6%98%AF%E4%BD%9B%E6%95%99%E5%BE%92%EF%BC%8C%E5%8F%88%E8%83%BD%E7%9C%9F%E6%AD%A3%E8%AE%80%E6%87%82%E9%80%99%E7%AF%87%E6%96%87%E7%AB%A0%EF%BC%8C%E4%BD%A0

TRANSLATION STARTS

IF You Are A Buddhist And You Can Understand This Article, You Are A Blessed Person Indeed!

We’ll be talking about blessings resulting from good karma today. It would be natural for everyone to be concerned about what blessings, or what kind of good fortune, which might be coming their way. Everyone hopes to have good fortune, but most people don’t know they are already blessed with good fortune. You, the reader, are included in this large group of people who are fortunate, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article today. To many people, leading a blessed life might mean having one’s own private jet, enabling him/her to shop at Takashimaya Department Store in Tokyo in the morning, to eat lobster for lunch in Bali, and to attend an exclusive party in the suburbs of New York in the evening.

But the truth isn’t like that. From a Buddhist’s point of view, if a person is able to lead this aforementioned lifestyle, it is only because he/she had been a generous donator in many past lives, resulting in a huge reserve of positive karma. But what we Buddhists are concerned with is whether or not a person can achieve Nirvana, the final deliverance from Samsara (the endless cycle of deaths and reincarnations), by making use of one’s good fortune to obtain more good fortune. Good fortune has to be paired with wisdom, otherwise it is merely a flawed commodity. That is to say, a person who has good fortune but lacks wisdom will not last the distance. If a seemingly fortunate turn of events ultimately results in a depletion of good fortune for a person, then it cannot be deemed “fortunate” at all. Through historical anecdotes (provided in sutras and Buddhist scriptures), we have seen many examples of how people who were endowed with good fortune ended up with dire circumstances in their subsequent lives, because they had exhausted their positive karma reserve without knowing how to increase it. For many people who did not know how to make use of their good fortune correctly, it became a tool with which to commit evil. For those that did commit evil while misusing this tool, retribution and ruin followed because they lacked real wisdom.

I know that a lot of rich people are very busy. They have too many things to worry about, too many desires to fulfill, and too many tasks to complete. Choosing to spend their time resolving these aforementioned matters means they do not have time to focus on self-cultivation (following the way of the Buddha). And yet they find themselves in this position because they are holders of good fortune, albeit a modest amount. If they were not blessed with good fortune, they would not need to attend to so many matters. So, whether or not these are the hallmarks of a “fortunate” life remains to be seen.

When one does not possess wisdom, (s)he would not know how to maintain the state of receiving good fortune. When one’s good fortune doesn’t increase, it is merely a one-off commodity. The user is in comfort, but only for a short period, and then (s)he will suffer. Real good fortune is knowing how to keep yourself in perpetual comfort.

What we can foresee is, what one possesses now will ultimately leave one’s possession. In the cycle of Samsara, nothing is eternally reliable. Money is not reliable; and neither is love. So one should not build a house of happiness upon these foundations – what awaits at the end is merely a collapsed abode. If you can recognize this fact, then you do possess a bit of real good fortune. Can there be something greater than wisdom? If you are looking for eternal comfort, then you have to accept this fact. This is something that most people find hard to accept – you cannot find true happiness in Samsara. In this world, most people would prefer to believe that private jets and grand mansions will bring them happiness. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Believing that these things will bring them happiness is akin to trying to light a match underwater. If you can truly accept this fact, then you would not be trying to find joy in Samsara, just as you would not try lighting a match underwater.

When you don’t have something, you would want to obtain it. When you do manage to obtain it, you would want to have more of it. When you do manage to obtain a sizeable amount of it, you would worry about losing it. Look at your possessions around you. Will the things that you love now stick around with you after, say, a century? Would you be still using the mobile phone? Would you be still wearing the clothes that you’re wearing now? I think I wouldn’t need a century to see you discard all these things. But look at you now. You’re frowning over a scratch on the screen of your phone. If you crave eternal comfort, why would you be fretting over things that you’d be discarding eventually? Remember that everything around you now will leave you one day, and merely remembering this fact will let you live life with a lot more freedom.

When a strand of hair drops from your scalp, you won’t gasp in surprise or try to paste it back on your scalp. But when you see one of your belongings fall apart, you would look for super glue to mend it, be it a vase that you like, your beloved pet dog, or a floundering relationship. A building collapsing is no different from a strand of hair falling from your scalp – once their causal factor(s) ceases to act on their surroundings, their components cease to be attached. A strand of hair will eventually fall from the scalp; a building will eventually collapse; a vase will eventually break. The world is constantly changing and I want to point out that countless changes are happening every moment. If a strand of hair can fall without so much as asking for our permission, then what’s there to stop things from developing in the ways we don’t want them to go? We claim to be the masters of our bodies, but we can’t even prevent a hair from falling. Can you command your hair to stop from today onward? From the view point of the Buddha, lusting after eternal youth and everlasting love is akin to issuing such a command.

All these serve to tell us that we are not masters of our bodies. What we call the body and other objects are merely temporary combinations of matter. They have their own operating patterns, and what we can do is to understand these patterns and not hope to contravene them. If you crave eternal comfort, then you should try to understand all these patterns. For a strand of falling hair to a collapsing building, a multitude of factors and complex interactions are involved. If you can observe the process of a strand of hair growing from its follicle until the moment it falls, or observe the process of a person appearing in your life until the moment that person leaves permanently, the knowledge of causal factors would give you peace of mind. This is as all things should be. When causal factors merge, people and objects come into being. When the causal factors scatter or wane, existence ceases. From a higher level of perspective, you may feel that this person or object was never here, and that would bring you one step closer towards eternal comfort.

When the time comes, you will need to say goodbye to the body you love. This is something that everyone has to go through, and most people would go through this process with the heaviest hearts. They are subject to forces exerted by causal factors, and thus cannot shape their future. As for you, as long as you have come accept that your body will break apart one day, you have the chance to shape your future, guiding yourself and other lifeforms towards a better direction. If you are such a person, then I think you indeed leading a blessed life.

To a Buddhist, possessing too much good fortune is not necessarily a good thing. If you cannot manage your time properly, many things will pop up and demand a portion of your time. In all that distraction, what you set aside for self-cultivation may just a miserable sliver. If you find yourself in possession of such “good” fortune, you may have accepted a gift from Mara (an evil demon depicted in Buddhist scriptures).

If you’re a Buddhist, then you already have good fortune. If you’re a Buddhist and you truly understand this article, believe me, you possess an immense amount of good fortune!

Source: Chinese Buddhism Web / Name of author: Lingshan, a lay Buddhist

TRANSLATION ENDS