nstructional Talk by Dharma Master Heng Gwei on November 19, 2017,
during Lunch at Gold Wheel Sagely Monastery Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance Dharma Assembly
All fellow cultivators, all good-knowing ones, Greetings! Amitabha!
My talk earlier was not to lecture but simply to say a few words. I do not feel tired. I am glad to have the opportunity to come to Gold Wheel Monastery every year to participate in the bowing of Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance.
Earlier while I was bowing, I felt joyful. What was I joyful for? For having the opportunity every year to go over the Repentance text. Even though we monastics listen to the Venerable Master’s words every morning, we living beings are very forgetful. The Repentance text very clearly tells us that all living beings’ self-nature is wholly complete and all knowing. However, we living beings are very forgetful. Why? Because we are heavily burdened. What is our heavy burden? It is our heavy karma and confused emotions. Living beings have heavy karma and confused emotions; the Buddha has exhausted his karma and has emptied his emotions. The difference lies in the karmic burden and in emptying confused emotions.
A while ago, I heard the Venerable Master say that we living beings are often turned by situations. When a situation arises, how do we handle it? How do you handle it? How does he/she handle it? Failing to recognize situations, means we must start all over again.
I mentioned earlier that it seems like there is a huge fish net hovering above our heads. We may think we are free, but in reality, we are very wearied. Inside this karmic net, we are holding each other’s hands. We are bound together in the same place due to our past affinities. Affinities can be good or bad. It depends on our past karmic actions, whether pure or muddled, whether light or heavy. We must understand this distinction.
The power of Buddhadharma is great. Nevertheless, we must know that living being’s karmic forces are great as well. Therefore, it would take great power to transform and purify our karmic forces. This is not something to take lightly. Moreover, there are many kinds of karmic forces. Since we live in a communal setting, being familial or monastic, we are in contact with others. From our interactions, we can tell whether our karmic burden is heavy or light.
If we carry on our lives with minimal burden, and everyone renders mutual support and consideration for one another, then that shows our past karma is lighter. In such case, we should treasure it even more and quickly strive to jump out of the karmic net.
If we look back at the paths we have threaded, and examine our current situations, i.e. our relationship with others – family members and all others surrounding us, we will be able to know how much shortcomings we had in dealing with others in our past lives. Therefore, we should make good use of our lives to transform our karma. Do not allow the karmic burden to remain so heavy. Heavy karmic burden prevents us from transcending this defiled world. Let us imagine for a moment, there’s one person covered by a net. It is difficult for that person to be liberated. What if there are many more people inside the net, how can you break free? Endlessly being entangled, how much more suffering is there to endure! Hence, we must transform our karma from heavy to light, from light to pure.
(To be continued …)