From Email:-
Dear Fa Shi,
I have a sincere question. Today, I talked with one disciple who is also a Dang Zhu in of the chapters in ZZ. Back in the year 1998, I wanted to open up a temple in YY. I could say I was a very diligent cultivator.
At that time, I've done may be about 1 1/2 years of serious cultivation. I could even say that I didn't even skip one at all. My principal was Di Zhang Wang. At that time, it was may be around summer 1998, I made a promise that I would open up a temple in YY.
All of sudden, I became better financially. By Summer 1999, I can say that I was very well off. However, instead of opening up a temple, I bought BMW, Rolex, and moved to a luxury apartment. I spent money lavishly. Within 1 1/2 years, my financial went down the drain. I've almost slept on the street in the year 2002. I ended up working in 7-11 convenience store for almost 2 years. I've also been working through painful experiences from 2001 - 2009.
So, in April 2009, I've started to cultivate again. Occasionally, I did skip few times. Instead of cultivating 7 days a week, I only cultivated 4 - 5 times a week or until I started to feel uneasy. As of December 10, 2011, I've cultivated daily. I didn't even skip one.
I do the four prelimaniries daily. This takes 1 hour. I chant the Bai Zhi Ming Zhou for karmic enemies 21 times.
I chant Di Zhang Wang Bu Sha Name 1,080 times a day non-stop since May 2011. -- It is almost one year now, I promise to do it for 3 years. Till May 2014.
When I talked with Dang Zhu, she said that I needed to do another set of four preliminaries on top of 2 hours daily cultivation. JUST to repent on the issue that I did back in 13 years ago.
My thought is this....
(A) If I do it, it will take a lot of time. Right now, I don't even have that much time to sleep anymore coz of my work. So, if I add one more four preliminaries, the whole cultivation will be 3 hours per day.
That's too much.
(B) Forget about what she said. Just stay focus on doing what I am doing right now and instead of spending more time to repent on the mistakes that I did back in 1999, why don't I use my time to take massive actions to make it happen in 2014.
Please tell me your thought. I got confused and really don't want to add an extra hour that has pretty much taken a lot more of my time.
Thank you, Fa Shi.
Hi dear
GM said : everything u do is cultivation.
Buddha teaches a philosophy of life. Which is living happily n sharing that happiness with all.
What that person taught u, if causing u inconvenience, making u unhappy, then it is not correct.
If one is sincere in intent then just chanting GM's mantra with visualization of sharing GM's blessing of light energy with all around u is more than enough.
I have said it is not the number of times u cultivate that counts.
Like Lotus W who said need how many session of fire puja for each deity or divinity, that is fixation n also blindly chasing numbers.
Why listen to others?
Listen to GM n your heart.
Cheers
Amituofo
Pure Karma
Lama Lotuschef
True Buddha School
[Readers’ comments and feedbacks welcome.]
Let me say my opinion :
ReplyDeleteBuilding a temple is really good thing. But there are several aspects we shall look further.
There is one temple in my town which belongs to other sect. It is said that it is the biggest temple (in its sect) in South East Asia. Inside, there is big pond, playground and even elevators!!! It has one main big hall (open daily for public) and at the back of it has about 4 stories. But only level 1 is opened as it has vegetarian restaurant and souvenir shop. The weird thing is sometimes they also rent their level 4 for certain famous artists concerts. Seems it really needs money to survive the daily cost.
Just feel it is more as a symbol of pride rather than a temple. Hahaha
What I want to say is don’t burden yourself too much to build a temple if you can’t. Maybe you can spend some portion of your monthly income to sponsor any charitable activities / organizations / temple. Tell Shizun and Ksitigarbha Bodhisatta it is all the best you can do for this moment. Buddha, Bodhisatta and event wrathful Deities are compassionate ones. They will understand your sincere repentance and won’t force you to do anything which may make you suffer. You had the lesson already. Let the past be the past. There are many ways to share Dharma and happiness with others. Cheers fellow Dharma Bro/Sis. GM bless you!!! =）