THE SECOND LESSON:

WAYS TO REFORM

During the Spring-Autumn Period, China was divided into several small nations.  Many prestigious advisors and counselors of these nations were able to accurately predict whether a person’s future would be good or bad, fortunate or unfortunate based on their observation of that person’s speech and behavior.  Many of these are recorded in history books. 

Usually, there are signs that signal impending danger or the coming of good fortune.  These signs are a reflection of one’s heart and mind.  Though it is the mind from which thoughts arise, one's appearance can fully portray a person’s character.  Usually a person is more fortunate when tending toward kindness but invites trouble when tending toward meanness.  Ordinary people often do not know what is actually going on.  It is as if their vision was blurred.  Since they cannot see the true reality, they claim that good fortune and misfortune are unpredictable.

When we are absolutely honest and truthful, our hearts will be in agreement with the will of heaven.  By observing our goodness, others will be able to foresee the coming of good fortune.  On the other hand, by observing our lack of goodness, others can also foresee upcoming adversities.  If we wish to obtain good fortune and avoid misfortune, we must start first with reform before we even contemplate kind behavior.

There are three ways to reform our faults.  First, we must be able to feel ashamed.  Think of all of the ancient sages and virtuous people whose names and teachings have lasted for hundreds of generations.  They were people just like us, but why is my name tarnished and my reputation ruined like a cracked tile?  We are unwilling to part with worldly desires.

I secretly do many improper things and think others will not know about them.  I am shamelessly proud of myself.  One day I will sink to the level of an animal without even realizing it.  There is nothing else in the world, which calls for more shame and remorse than behavior such as this.  Mencius once said, “Shame is the greatest and most important word in a person’s lifetime.”  Why?  Because one who knows shame will put forth his or her best efforts into correcting faults and will eventually attain sagehood or become a virtuous person.  One who cannot comprehend the word shame will be unrestrained and immoral and will be just like an animal.  These are really key words to correcting our faults.

The second way to reform is to know fear.  The celestial beings and earthly spirits all hover over our heads in observation.  It is impossible for us to deceive them.  Even when my wrongdoings are done in a concealed place, the beings and spirits of heaven and earth are just like a mirror, clearly reflecting all my faults.  If my offense is serious, then all kinds of adversities will befall me.  If my fault is minor, it will still deduct from my current good fortune.  How can I not feel fear?

And there is more.  Even when we are alone in our room, the beings and spirits watch over us very carefully and record everything.  Even if we try to conceal or cover up our improper acts with clever speech, the spirits and celestial beings can see through to our hearts as clearly as seeing into our lungs or liver.  Ultimately, we cannot deceive ourselves.  If others were to see our behavior, we would find ourselves discredited.  Therefore, how can we not be constantly cautious of our every action and be fearful of the consequences they might evoke?  But there is more to it!  As long as a person still has one breath left, then he or she has the chance to regret even the most serious wrongdoings and offenses.

Once, a person who behaved badly during his entire lifetime felt remorse just when he was about to die.  He realized his past mistakes and regretted all the bad things that he had done.  His mind came to a very kind thought and immediately afterwards, he peacefully passed away.  This is to say that if a person can have an overwhelming and courageous kind thought at the most important moment, then it can cleanse away hundreds of years of accumulated misdeeds.  This is just like only needing one lamp to bring light into a valley that has been dark for a thousand years.  It does not matter how long one has been committing misdeeds or if the offenses were newly made.  He or she is an exceptional person as long as they are able to reform!

Besides, we are living in a tumultuous and constantly changing world.  Our body, made of flesh and blood, is extremely perishable.  If our next breath does not come, then this body will no longer be part of us.  Then, even if we did want to reform, it would be too late to do so.  Therefore, when we commit a wrongdoing, our retribution in the physical world is a bad reputation, which will last for hundreds, even thousands of years.  Even filial children and loving grandchildren cannot restore our honor.  Then in our afterlife, we might end up in hell suffering immeasurable pain.  Even the sages, virtuous people, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot help us escape from the bad consequences.  So how can we not be afraid?

The third way to reform is that one must have “a determined and courageous heart”.  When we hesitate to reform our faults because we really do not want to change, we are content with what we can get away with.  For a reform to take place, we must use all of our efforts and resolve to change immediately.  We should not doubt or postpone our resolve to change until tomorrow or the day after.

A minor fault is like a thorn piercing our flesh.  It should be quickly removed.  A big fault is like a finger bitten by a poisonous snake.  We must cut off that finger without hesitation to prevent the poison from spreading and taking our life.  In I Ching, the Book of Changes, when we get the symbol of wind and thunder, it tells us that we have strong determination in reforming and are certain to succeed in doing so.  If we can follow the three ways of shame, fear and determination to reform, then our personality will surely be transformed.  Just as the sun’s rays shine on a thin layer of ice in the springtime, there is no need to worry about its melting.

There are also three methods of practice to help us reform.  First is changing through behavior, second is changing through reasoning and third is changing from the heart.  Since the degree of achievement varies, so do the results.  For example, if I killed living beings in the past, I now vow not to kill again starting today.  If I was angry and yelled at others in the past, I vow not to get angry starting today.  This is how a person changes through behavior and refrains from repeating a wrongdoing by vowing not to do it again.  However, it is a hundred times harder if we force ourselves not to do something than if we just stopped doing it naturally.  If we do not uproot our faults, but merely suppress them, the faults will eventually resurface even if we have temporarily stopped committing them.  Therefore, the method of changing through behavior cannot help us to permanently rid ourselves of our faults.

We can try to reform by refraining from wrongdoings by understanding the reason and principle behind why we should not do something.  In the instance of killing, we can reform through contemplating that loving all living things is a virtue of heaven.  All living beings love life and are afraid to die.  How can I be at peace with myself by taking another’s life to nurture my own?  At times, animals were even cooked alive, such as fish or crabs.  They may not have been completely slaughtered before going into the cooking pot.  Such pain and suffering reach down into the very bones, how can we be so cruel to them? 

When we eat, we use all kinds of expensive and tasty things to nourish our bodies, enough to fill the whole dinner table!  But once the meal is done, even the best delicacies will become body waste and be excreted.  The result of our killing accomplishes nothing.  Consuming vegetarian foods can fill and nourish us just as well.  Why let our stomach become a graveyard and reduce our good fortune through the violation of killing?

Think again of all the living beings with flesh and blood.  Like us, they have a conscience since they possess self-awareness.  They and we are one entity.  We can cultivate virtue and allow these living beings to respect us and feel safe around us.  How can we continue to harm them and make them hate us?  If we think about it, we will naturally feel sorrow for these animals and be unable to swallow their flesh.

Another example of changing through reasoning is the person who often gets angry.  They need to stop and think that everyone has his or her individual strengths and weaknesses.  According to my reasoning, if I touched on someone else’s weakness, I should feel sorry for that weakness and forgive any shortcomings.  If someone offends me for no reason at all, then it is that person’s problem and has nothing to do with me.  There is no reason for me to get angry.

I also think that there is not a great person who thinks that he or she is always right.  There is not a truly learned person who blames their faults on others.  Therefore, when things do not go the way we wish, it is because we have not cultivated our virtues and morals, and have not accumulated enough merits to move others!  We should always reflect upon ourselves first.  In so doing, criticism can actually become a training ground to refine our character and to strengthen our abilities.  Therefore, we should be very glad to accept someone else’s criticism and teachings.  What is there to be angry and complain about?

Additionally, we should maintain the mind of stillness when we are slandered.  Although the slanderous rumors and tale bearing spreads like a huge fire burning to the sky, eventually, like a torch it will burn itself out in space.  If we hear others slandering us, get angry and try to defend ourselves, it would be like the spring silkworm spinning its own cocoon tying itself in suffocation.  Therefore, no benefit but rather harm is derived from getting angry.  There are other faults and offenses we can change.  If we can understand the reasoning behind the need for reform, we will not repeat our mistakes.

What is meant by "changing from the heart"?  Although we have thousands of different types of faults, they all stem from the heart, from the mind.  If my heart is still of thoughts, then actions will not arise and faults can be avoided.  If our heart is rooted in faults such as desire, fame, profit or anger, we do not have to find ways to get rid of each fault.

Demons do not appear in bright daylight.  This is the essence, the key for us to turn over a new leaf.  All mistakes stem from the heart; therefore, we change from the heart.  It is like getting rid of a poisonous tree.  If we want to put an end to it, we uproot it altogether so it cannot grow again.  Why exert ourselves to no avail by pulling out its leaves one by one and cutting it twig by twig?  The best way to reform our faults is through cultivating our hearts.  If we are willing to cultivate our hearts, then it is possible to purify our faults right away.  If my heart is pure, I can recognize and stop an improper thought as soon as it arises.  The immoral idea will disappear the moment I am conscious of it.

If I am unable to succeed at reforming a fault through changing the heart, then I will try at the level of understanding, knowing the reasons why I need to make the change.  If I cannot succeed with this, then I will try to reform by changing through action and force the thought to dissipate.  The best way is by cultivating the heart and understanding the reasons behind the need to change.  The alternative way is forcing ourselves not to commit the wrongdoing again.  Sometimes all three methods have to be used to succeed at reforming a fault.  It is foolish to dismiss the best way, which is to reform from the heart and to be attached to the inferior way of reforming through action.

But even when we vow to change, assistance is needed to truly reform.  We will need constant reminders from genuine friends who are witnesses to our actions in everyday life.  As for our good and bad thoughts, we can ask the beings and spirits of heaven and earth to be our witnesses.  We also need to be diligent and to regret sincerely and wholeheartedly from morning to night.  If we can honestly regret from one to two weeks, one to three months, then continuing in this way, we are assured of attaining results and benefits.

What are the benefits of contrition?  We may feel very much at ease and our hearts may feel light and generous.  A person of low intelligence may suddenly become wise.  Another might maintain a clear and relaxed mind even in a disturbing and confusing environment.  We would also feel an extensive understanding of everything.  Or we would be able to drive out all hatred upon seeing an enemy and maintain a happy attitude.  We may dream of spitting out black things.  We may also dream of ancient sages or virtuous people who have come to encourage and escort us or we may dream of flying in space without a care in the world.  We may also dream of all kinds of colorful pennants and ornately decorated canopies.  These distinctive phenomena are all indications of a successful reform and a dissolving of past offenses.  However, we must not consider seeing these phenomena as a sign of perfection.  Instead, we must resolve to further improve ourselves and work even harder to reform.

When Bo-Yu Qu was twenty, he was already mindful of his faults.  He analyzed his mistakes and tried to correct them thoroughly.  At the age of twenty-one, he felt he still had not completely corrected all his faults.  When he was twenty-two, he felt as if twenty-one was spent dreamily, without practical improvement.  Thus, year after year, he continued to correct his faults.  When he reached fifty, Bo-Yu still felt that the past forty-nine years were filled with wrongdoings.  This was how particular our ancestors were regarding the correction of faults!

We are all just ordinary people and our mistakes are as numerous as the spines on a porcupine.  Oftentimes when we look back, we do not even see our own faults.  This is because we are careless and do not know how to reflect on our own actions.  It is as if a cataract is growing in our eye.  All these are the symptoms of having accumulated too many offenses and transgressions!  Our hearts may feel confused and oppressed, lacking energy and spirit.  We will become extremely forgetful, filled with worries even when nothing is happening.

We may feel embarrassed and depressed upon meeting a virtuous person.  We will become displeased at hearing proper reasoning and when showing kindness to others, we are in turn treated with hostility.  We will constantly have nightmares where everything is upside-down and will talk incoherently and behave abnormally.  All of these are signs of misfortune.  If we have any of the above symptoms, we must gather our willpower and reform all faults.  It is necessary to form a new life and not delay!

     〖THE SECOND LESSON : WAYS TO REFORM 〗  〖RETURN〗  〖THE THIRD LESSON 〗