Prepare Your Mind

“While still young and strong, hurry to collect, hurry to sail – the market will disappear, the lotus flowers will wilt.” We must hurry to collect, hurry to sail. Let others be lacking, but for ourselves we must be complete. This is the final lifetime, so we must take only the best things with us. We must grasp the victory banner of life. There is no going back anymore, only continual forward progress.

This is said to be the final lifetime because in the past, some things were true and some were not. But in this lifetime, it must be the truest of all. No one will submit to anyone else anymore. Therefore, we must firmly resolve to encounter only good things from now on. We must practice celibacy in every lifetime, throughout our entire lifespan, until we reach Nibbana. We must not encounter anyone bad, anyone without virtue or honesty.

In the end, in this world of ours, there are only merit and demerit, only elements and Dhamma. There is nothing else. Humans are merely puppets manipulated by merit and demerit.

August 5, 1979