Again, the time has come for the celebration of Thanksgiving... Our continually laborious teacher, where are you going to take a break tonight?
We once made a call to the soaring mountains, curious whether their loftiness would give a clue to the origin of wisdom throughout the ages. We once looked out to the ocean, wondering whether its reign of infinity could somehow contain the pithy thought of enlightened beings. We once probed the starlit sky, asking whether its brilliant profundity would encompass the entire splendor we are seeking. Once, we lamented our being: how can its seemingly noble brevity compare with the eternity of the heaven and earth, or with the radiance of the sun and the moon?
These inquiries from the time immemorial were about life, the universe, our own being, the ancient, the present, the eternal...
Since the Creation, with the rotation of seasons and successions of human generation, what awaits us is the ultimacy of death, against whose inevitability all the values of life evaporate. While our struggling and helplessness are defining the ultimate passing away, our indulgence and greed in despair accelerate the departure from our true self. With the ever reduction of breathing room, the field on which our mind can freely gallop becomes smaller and smaller. Meanwhile, the metabolism of morality is unable to stop the withering and draught of the human spirit, which, most sadly, has turned humans into walking mummies, verdant and watered plains into Gobi and deserts...
What was left in our possession, as it were, was our devotion to lives deep in our mind, like a trace of warmness emanating from the ashes of an already quenched fire. Before the grave altars, we prostrate to worship. In the swirl of incense smoke, we revisited the instructions of Great Beings for inspirations. During the prayers, we enjoyed a fleeting but Paradise-like moment. Torches in hands, we stumbled forward in the rain to follow the steps of our forefathers. Tears all over our faces, we kissed the mountain as pilgrims... However, none of these can ever change the preset trajectory. The religious teachings, the wisdom in philosophy, the fickleness of life...each of them appears so weak in the face of the cool, unchangeable reincarnation.
The desperate seeking was instinctive, passionate, agonized, involuntary, interminably unanswerable ...
Until one day, our beloved Teacher, when you quietly descended from the boundaries of the universe, clothed in dusk radiance and commanding the world-shaking might. All of a sudden, the time and space of the whole universe was awash in your almighty benevolence. The honeydew of Zhen-Shan-Ren watered the withered life; the beacon light illuminated the trip back home--and the true significance of existence returned to the dying beings. In May of 1992, the fortune fell on the heaven, earth and human beings, of embarking on the path to their renewed life. Like thunderbolts breaking the sky, the Dafa you brought to us awakened our most innate beings, shelled by long-gathered dust. Since then, the shining golden light penetrated the postnatal barriers, remade the lost lives, and led us to ascend into the infinity of the universe.
Our most esteemed Teacher, how unbelievably fortunate we are to get a hand from you. How blissful we will be when we follow you to return and forever leave from here. Such a drama seems to have only played in the heaven; one can only ask how many times will human beings have such a chance.
When the king of terror waved the sword of Damocles, and in his evil tantrums overwhelmed the world with terror, a huge trap pit was engulfing the whole human race. Even the residue in the modicum of human spirit was distorted and drained under his weight, and the encroachment of the greatest peril seemed to be crushing the last ray of hope. Bow our head to this? It will make us equal to the pathetic insects surviving in neglected grooves. More important, it will forever damage our spine that should always stand erect. Stand up! To the evil, as a pillar holding the roof of the heaven, even though it means separated families and lost lives. Laughing to the sky heartily, we keep our composure with the dignity of a Jing Gang. Both the heaven and earth change the color of their faces at this; and the gods and demons also cry. Looking around, Zhen-Shan-Ren stands high and grand among millions of practitioners.
This resolve comes from the deepest of life, and the oldest of pledges. Sacred as it is, it also is unshakable always. No regret or compunction, everything seems so natural like a part of us from birth.
We are powerful, because we are Teacher's disciples. We are tenacious, because we have been recast by Zhen-Shan-Ren.
We are invincible, because we have the boundless, benevolent generosity bestowed by the righteous Fa and righteous enlightenment. Esteemed Teacher, from mediocrity, you tempered us into world-changing heroines and heroes; amidst the most severe tribulations, you helped us to ascend and become selfless particles of Dafa.
Each and every of these comes from Dafa, comes from Teacher. Without Dafa, there is no heaven or earth, or we. Without Teacher, we can only struggle in the negligible dust of the universe, reincarnating until eventually being annihilated. Our beloved Teacher, you spent every ounce of your energy for the well-being of the heaven and earth, and you carved out a path of eternity for all the sentient beings in the universe.
Whenever we recall the bumpy journey we took over the past year, we can never forgive the viciousness of the human world. Whenever we think of the health and efforts of Teacher, we can never pardon the ignorance of the lost lives on the brink of being eliminated. Indeed, man is incredibly humble and insignificant. Only because of you, our Teacher, all the sentient beings have made it today. In your boundless compassion permeating layers upon layers of celestial bodies, our firmness with dried tears is turned into pure benevolence. In the face of the exhausted and spent wickedness, we will take solid steps to plant our invincible benevolence into every corner of this world.
Our most respected Teacher, in this season of Thanks-giving, we value the fortune you brought to us even more. We understand that no language can possibly express our gratitude and no matter what we offer up, even our life, we will not be able to reciprocate your gratitude.
Let's use the plainest words to express our dedication to our Teacher as a disciple: our major job this lifetime is to get predestined people to attain the Fa; our only wish of this lifetime is to strive forward in the Dafa cultivation--and to become a selfless enlightened being.
"For how many years we have been seeking for a meeting with Teacher,
Now we have the opportunity.
Let's cultivate to return to our true self upon attaining the Fa,
And follow Teacher to the home at Consummation."
(From Master's poem collection)
The gratitude of Master is vast and mighty; the Buddha Fa is boundless!
