Modern Records of Cause and Effect III-1-Preface
Since the publication of Modern Records of Cause and Effect, Volumes 1 and 2, and Talking about the Compassionate Liang Emperor’s Precious Repentance, they have been quite popular with some readers, and there are still many reprints in various places. Many people urged me to write Modern Records of Cause and Effect, Volume 3, but I don’t want to write any more. Because no matter how many books I write, they are still talking about cause and effect. Readers with wisdom and good roots can suddenly or gradually understand the Buddhist principles in a book, and can immediately stop doing evil and do good. However, people without good roots and wisdom will not take it seriously after reading a few books, or believe but cannot accept it, or just regard it as someone else’s anecdotes and have nothing to do with themselves. However, there are too many people who are superstitious about supernatural powers and seek outside. Now many people are looking for “Miaofa Old Monk” and me everywhere, so that there are people pretending to be Miaofa Old Monk in Jiangsu, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, Wutai Mountain and other places. Some monks even printed their own photos on the Records of Cause and Effect to invite people to meet and defraud a lot of money. If you read the book without reflecting on the past, suddenly repenting, and following the teachings, you will not benefit even if you find “Guanyin” or “Maitreya”. Because he didn’t know how to stop and turn back to good, just like a drug addict who doesn’t know how to quit, what’s the point of seeking medical treatment? In order to prevent fewer people from being deceived, I asked Ms. Guo Hong to compile the many stories she saw and heard during her practice into a book. The purpose is to advise people to have a deep belief in cause and effect, to refrain from doing evil, and to practice all good. At the same time, it is also to tell people that everyone has supernatural powers and wisdom, and there is no need to seek them from outside. There are many people like Ms. Guo Hong who have cultivated the precepts, concentration, and wisdom to save themselves and others. There are many people all over the country. As long as you can firmly uphold the precepts and cultivate virtue, and practice both Zen and Pure Land Buddhism, you will eventually be able to open the door of wisdom that you already have, “seeing that the five aggregates are empty and overcoming all sufferings.”
A humble disciple of the Three Treasures: Guo Qing
July 20, 2008
Self-introduction ▲
When I was a child, I often thought about a question in front of the mirror: “Who is the person in the mirror? Is it me? Yes, but it seems not, because she changes from birth to death, so where is the real me?” This question made me ponder for many years. It was not until I came into contact with Buddhism that I really understood: the me in the mirror is just a shell, like a house, and the owner of the house is the real me – the original Buddha nature. From then on, deep in my heart, I longed to find the eternal truth of the universe and life from Buddhism.
When I was 18 years old, a wave of practicing qigong swept across the country. With the idea of strengthening my body, I also began to practice qigong. The quiet exercise in it happened to be chanting the name of “Namo Guanshiyin Bodhisattva”. Perhaps it was due to the karma of my past life, but when I heard this name, I felt happy and refreshed. I chanted the Buddha’s name and practiced meditation every morning and evening. The blessing power of Guanyin Bodhisattva is incredible. She answered my prayers and helped me overcome difficulties in life several times, which made me more confident in chanting the Buddha’s name. From then on, whether I was walking or riding a bike, I chanted the Buddha’s name anytime and anywhere (either out loud or silently). At the same time, I also secretly made up my mind to learn the great compassion and great mercy of Guanyin Bodhisattva, practice diligently, and benefit all living beings.
The teacher who led me from practicing qigong to the true path of learning Buddhism was Guoqing.
The first time I read the Buddhist scripture “Diamond Sutra”, when I read the words “… all conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, like dew and lightning, and should be viewed in this way”, I could no longer suppress my excitement and burst into tears. I cried bitterly that I had lost myself in the six realms of reincarnation for many years, like a lost and helpless child who could not find the way home no matter how hard I tried. Now that I have the opportunity to contact Buddhism, I have suddenly opened my eyes and found the direction for my life. I told myself that I should seize the opportunity, practice well, awaken as soon as possible, and embark on the road home as soon as possible.
Under the guidance of Teacher Guoqing, I began to recite the “Four Kinds of Determined Pure Instructions in the Shurangama Sutra”, read the “Shurangama Mantra”, and kneel down to worship the great monk Master Xuanhua. Although Master Xuanhua has passed away, he once said: Anyone who has not seen him in person but desires to become his disciple can become his disciple if he sincerely bows to his photo 10,000 times. I worshiped devoutly, and after my wish was fulfilled, I became Master Xuanhua’s disciple.
Master Xuanhua has always been a great monk that I respect very much. The master strictly abides by the precepts in the spirit of self-sacrifice and leading by example. The six principles of his practice: no contention, no greed, no seeking, no selfishness, no self-interest, and no lies have become the criteria for my practice and the standard for supervising my thoughts and actions.
Mahayana sutras such as the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutra have always told us that we should regard our teachers as Buddhas. During the process of paying homage to the Venerable Master 10,000 times, I felt the light and blessing of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in my dreams many times, just as described in the Universal Door of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which made me feel very pure in my heart, so I have always regarded the Venerable Master as the incarnation of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.
The Venerable Master’s “Simple Explanation of the Four Kinds of Pure Instructions in the Shurangama Sutra” made me truly understand the fundamentals of practice: to stop lusting, killing, stealing, and delusion. To cultivate out of the three realms, we must start from the thoughts and strictly observe the precepts.
The importance of precepts is recorded in many Buddhist scriptures. More than 2,500 years ago, before the Nirvana of our teacher Shakyamuni Buddha, his disciple Ananda asked: “When the Buddha was alive, we all took the Buddha as our teacher. After the Nirvana of the Buddha, who should we take as our teacher?” The Buddha kindly replied: “After my Nirvana, we should take the ‘Pratimoksha’ as our teacher.” “Pratimoksha” translated into Chinese means “precepts”. Before the Nirvana of the Buddha, he asked his disciples to take the precepts as their teacher, which shows the importance of precepts.
Therefore, if we can practice according to the four kinds of clear and pure instructions in the “Lingyun Sutra” and strictly demand ourselves, we can have correct knowledge and views, break through various obstacles, and finally restore our original pure appearance and attain the Buddhahood of supreme enlightenment.
The Buddhists say: “If you want to know the cause of the previous life, look at the one who suffers in this life. If you want to know the result of the next life, look at the one who does it in this life.” Today, the morals of the world are declining, and people’s hearts are no longer the same as before. In this era of material desires, people have committed all kinds of evil deeds such as killing, adultery, stealing, and lying for their own selfish interests and appetites. The evil consequences have begun to be repaid in this life. The rampant SARS, the once-in-a-century tsunami and snowstorm, and the devastating earthquake have shocked and chilled people. Human beings are so vulnerable in the face of huge disasters. After learning from the pain, we should reflect on who destroyed the balance of nature and why, in the era of increasingly advanced technology, we are powerless to punish nature? We should wake up. This is a warning from nature to us. If humans continue to act recklessly like this, we will eventually bury ourselves. How to build a harmonious home so that we humans can live happily, how to avoid natural disasters and man-made disasters so that we humans can live and work in peace and contentment, these questions can all be answered in Buddhism. Buddhism reminds us: we must stop doing evil and cultivate good (not killing, not stealing, not committing adultery, not lying, and not drinking), correct our wrong behaviors and habits, and get rid of selfish thoughts. Only when we benefit the country and the people can we benefit ourselves. Only in this way can we be happy and peaceful, people will naturally live in harmony with each other, and the whole society will develop healthily and harmoniously.
Because I have gained real benefits from Buddhism in the process of learning Buddhism in recent years, I and the Buddhist laymen around me deeply feel the incredibleness of Buddhism, and the cause and effect are exactly the same. Therefore, I have made a simple summary and collection of what I have seen and heard in this book, hoping that more people will believe in cause and effect and abandon evil and do good. The purpose of writing this book is to hope that all Buddhist friends will be firm in their Buddhist heart after reading it, reflect on themselves, delve into the Buddhist scriptures, follow the teachings, and use their own true practice and experience to change their destiny, get rid of suffering and gain happiness, and achieve Buddhahood, instead of seeking the Dharma outside of their hearts and clinging to looking for people with supernatural powers everywhere to observe cause and effect. We should firmly remember the Buddha’s teachings in the Diamond Sutra: “All appearances are false”, and understand that all Buddhist methods are designed to address the various troubles of sentient beings. In the ultimate sense, “even the Dharma should be abandoned, let alone the non-Dharma”. Due to personal privacy, the names of people and places in the text are mostly pseudonyms. In addition, due to my limited personal ability, this book has many shortcomings in language and text. I sincerely hope that all good friends and fellow practitioners will give criticism and corrections.
Poster: Guo Hong
