Every person among us has created manifold karma-some of it is good karma, some of it is bad. The good and the evil are mixed together and difficult to distinguish. Sometimes you have a good thought while at other times you have an evil thought. When you have a good thought, you don't want to do any evil. With that single thought of goodness, you only want to engage in wholesome conduct and not do any evil. But when you give rise to an evil thought, then you only want to do evil, and you don't want to do anything good. So they are mutually exclusive. This has been going on for limitless kalpas until the present a little good here and a little bad there; one day doing some good deeds, and the next day creating some evil karma; then the next day creating karma that is neither good nor bad. And so when you start to cultivate, it is very difficult to pull yourself out of that web of mixed karma and retribution.

As a result, sometimes you feel like cultivating, while at other times you don't feel like cultivating at all. Sometimes you want to be pure, but at other times you don't want to be pure. You end up adrift in the current and tossed about by the waves, and ultimately you don't know where you will wash ashore. Because you planted mixed-up thoughts in the past, in this life you reap a mixed-up harvest, a jumbled mess of good and bad all thrown together. One thought of wanting to propagate and protect the Buddhadharma is followed by a thought of wanting to destroy the Buddhadharma. It's all mixed up.What's the solution? Cultivate and practice Prajna wisdom. If you have wisdom, then you can select the good and retain it. you can throw away what's evil.

If it's the Way, advance.
If it's not the Way, turn back.

At all times be very alert and on guard, as if approaching the brink of a deep abyss, or as if treading on thin ice. You must be extremely cautious when you cultivate. As it's said, "If you are off by a hair in the beginning, you'll miss it by a thousand miles in the end." You only need to be off at the outset to be way off the mark in the end. When cultivating, in every move you make, and in everything you do, pay close and careful attention to yourself. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, you can't be
remiss. Every single thought should be pure, clear and bright, not defiled and dark.

Watch your every thought. If each thought is pure, then your light will grow brighter with each passing day. But if all your thoughts are evil, then you will become darker and gloomier day by day. This is a fixed principle. Good people have a white light about them; evil people have a kind of black cloud around them. This is the natural manifestation of one's good or bad conduct. It appears right in your own shape and form. You may be able to deceive other people, but you won't be able to deceive the ghosts and spirits, the Bodhisattvas, and the Buddhas. It should not be the case that as a Buddhist monastic or lay person you not only fail to establish any merit, but you even create offenses. The reason we keep turning on this revolving wheel is because we have never straightened out our accounts. We always mix up the good and evil, the pure and defiled, so that right and wrong are not clearly distinguished. As long as it's that way, there's no chance to pull ourselves out of the revolving wheel.

If we want to truly cultivate, we must resolve to become a Buddha, and think, "Before I become a Buddha, it doesn't matter what I have to do. I am going to be courageous and vigorous. I will not allow myself to be casual and sloppy." In Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Verse of Exhortation, it says, "You should realize that this day has already passed and one's life is accordingly shorter." With every passing day, one's life is one day shorter, like fish in evaporating water." The fish lives in water that diminishes day by day until the water gradually dries up and the fish die. So, "What bliss is there in this?" Impermanence overtakes us very fast, so what is there worth enjoying? What's worth our getting so scattered over that we don't cultivate? With every passing day life is that much shorter, and we're like fish in evaporating water. Because of this, everyone should "be diligent and vigorous!" Don't be lazy. Don't just eat your fill and think about getting some sleep without doing anything useful. Be diligent and vigorous, "as if saving your own head!" How important should cultivation be to you? It should be as if you were saving your own head. That's one way to explain it. Or, you can take it to mean that your own hair has caught on fire and you absolutely must find a way to put it out. You can interpret this line of verse either way. In any case, be "mindful of impermanence and don't be lax." We don't know when the Ghost of Impermanence will send an invitation to King Yama's party.

Some people are thinking, "Dharma Master, your talk is an attempt to frighten people, but actually it's questionable whether there is really a King Yama or not. And it's also questionable whether there's a Ghost of Impermanence or not." Perhaps. But whether there's a Ghost of Impermanence and a King Yama, you should think of it in this way: If you are able not to die, then there's no Ghost of Impermanence. If you are able to guarantee you won't have to undergo retribution, then there's no King Yama. But ask yourself, are you really able to make that guarantee? Are you able not to die? Because, if you are not able to control your own causes and results, then there is a King Yama. You shouldn't think you're so clever. You can't, as it's said, "plug up your ears and steal a bell," as if no one will hear it. So don't cheat yourself by thinking, "Oh, the Dharma Master is just using an expedient method. I don't really believe it." It's precisely because you haven't believed this for limitless kalpas until now that you have never been able to break through the barrier of birth and death. Has this ever occurred to you? it has occurred to you, then you shouldn't harbor doubt. If it has not occurred to you, then you still haven't come up to that level of understanding. You're like a child who can't tell the difference between your father and your mother, like a little kid who doesn't understand anything at all.