(Clearwisdom.net) Three days ago, I had a serious traffic accident. The front of my car was hit so violently that it was flung away. As for the vehicle hit by my car, the rear part of the driver's side had a big dent from the impact. It spun a full circle and both vehicles were totaled. My air bags deployed with a bang and I could not help but scream.
My vehicle came to a stop, headlights flashing. Passing vehicles stopped and people got out to examine the situation. I sat in front of the steering wheel with the air bag released, and I felt as if my soul had already left my body. My first thought was that life is very frail. If my vehicle was a little further ahead or the other vehicle was a little behind, I may not have survived.
At that moment, I thought that if this was the end of my life, all the things that I was attached to would become worthless, and the only things left to face would be the consequences of repeatedly delaying getting rid of my own attachments. I once thought to myself that I had cultivated well, or that others thought I had cultivated well or sacrificed a lot, but these thoughts no longer had any significance.
I suddenly realized that all that happens in the human world is illusion. It did not matter if one was treated wrongly or praised, gained materially or suffered emotionally. If one thought those were important, then it was like a drug user hallucinating from narcotics, only to find out at the end of his life that he had been hallucinating the whole time. It would be too late by the time he suddenly enlightened.
In the cultivation process, the actions of others are all part of improving in our own cultivation practice. If one cannot truly face oneself and earnestly improve, and instead indulges in what others say favorably, or even uses them as excuses not to improve, then in the end, he will be the one who can only lament the loss of those cultivation opportunities.
Life in the human world is just a momentary form of existence for our true beings. If with his dying breath, a person discovers that he has missed the most important thing--the purpose of his life--then it will indeed be cause for eternal regret.
I use this article to bid farewell to the body of karma that was released from me through this accident. In my heart I silently said to the infinitely merciful Master, "Your disciple has understood..."
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