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Everything Must Come to an End
- From TBN, issue 441
- By Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu
- Translated and Edited by True Buddha Foundation Translation
Team
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Allow me to have a dialogue
with myself!
"Will you continue to write forever?"
"No, I cannot."
"Will you cultivate forever?"
"No, I cannot."
"Why not?"
"The answer is really very simple. Everything must come to an end!"
I once sat high up on the dharma throne of a Vajra Master and Living
Buddha and I spoke the magnificent dharma of the Tathagata. I kept
repeating the message, giving hints, again and again:
"One day I will descend from the dharma throne and will never take
my place on the throne again. I will leave all of you and live in
seclusion. All [my] dharma talks will come to an end."
At that time, very few disciples actually believed me.
The same circumstances apply today. Every day, I pick up my pen
to write books; every day I cultivate the "Rebirth Practice." [But]
there will come a day when I will stop writing and also stop cultivating,
too. I have to go, to leave this world, and although it may not
happen in a rush, [my time here] will still come to an end.
We are all travellers, and leaving is only natural. It is just that
my entering into seclusion makes it difficult for us to see each
other. After some years, after the many days of being alone, apart,
you will also forget what I look like. It may not be intentional,
it is just that my features might change, so that they become difficult
to recognize and difficult to describe. Travellers! Time leaves
its mark on [everyone's] face, so it makes everyone look different.
I am well aware-
My presence among you is just temporary.
[Whether] it is from me to you, or from you to me, our memories
and our feelings of missing each other will gradually fade, and
may eventually vanish altogether and be forever lost to future generations.
Everything in this world is subjected to change, and similarly,
everything will come to an end, passing from one generation to the
next generation, old people gone and new people coming in, endings
and beginnings, beginnings and endings. It will always be this way.
Thus, you must understand that even though my writing will end and
my cultivation will end, [like the] shooting star darting across
the sky, [because of] my wishes, my vows, my promise of love for
you, I will return from the deep silence of Nirvana. I will never
forget the samsara world.
Everything, all will have its moment of ending.
Except the business of delivering sentient beings.
Forever in the deepest place in my heart, in every life, in every
generation.
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