Iron birds across the sky, wrecking our world;
Everywhere giant geese mourn, over the demise of human race.
War leads to loss for everyone; lives are missing.
This is a gamble of only losers but no winners.
Foolish leaders act foolishly;
Barbaric rulers behave barbarically.
Their crimes of incursion cannot be pardoned
People of past and present, here and abroad call them: "tyrants!"

I believe what is foremost on the minds of people now is the war in the Middle East. How did the war in the Middle East start? It began with our selfishness and self-interest. If we were not selfish or self-interested, there would be no war. If we were not selfish and self-interested, we would be kind and genial, compassionate and sympathetic. There would be no war this way. Since there is no kindness or geniality and instead people all want to rule and reign. Selfishness and self-interest are the causes for wanting to rule the world. This is why people are dizzy in the head and act barbaric and stupid. Actually this war is easy to settle. We do not need to oppose the war; wars cannot be opposed. By opposing a war, another war happens. Your opposition is yet another war, it is just of a different nature.

By engaging in war with another country, you are invading. By protesting a war, you are killing your own kind by having an internal revolt. There are inconsistencies for those at the top and the bottom. Since the government has not been educated in this area, civilians who do not support the government and protest. Another war starts. Wars will never end then. So what should we do? We should not protest against a war, we should end the war. How do we bring an end to the war? By telling them to stop building atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, death rays and chemical weaponry? That is not enough. The way to end the war is to have people be kind and genial. If everyone were like this, they would not go to war. This is one fundamental means to ending a war. But we are all very stupid and do not pursue such ultimate means. We spend our efforts on the superficialities. Before my speech today, I had this feeling that the influential figures of our contemporary world are all bent on invasions of other countries and cannibalism. They all want to inflate their reputation, status and power. They are willing to sacrifice their country, people's lives and properties to see who will be the winner or loser.

The Sixth Patriarch Sutra says so quite explicitly, "Contention is the wish for victory as opposed to defeat, it goes against the Way; by giving rise to the Four Marks, how could one attain samadhi?" Contention means that we fight to see who is stronger and wins. Actually victory is also defeat; defeat is victory too. Neither is definite. As it is said, "the victors are the emperor and his ministers while the losers are the thieves." There is no definite win in this experience either, so I have this poem to say:

Iron birds across the sky, wrecking our world. Never in any war has there been so many bombers sent to attack the opponent. And the opponent being open fired upon is not one specific area, but the whole world. This is an attack on the entire world because your whole body feels the pain when one strand of your hair is hurting. Now that war has made the economy unstable, our future living standards will not be comparable to those of present day. We are in essence destroying our civilization and leaving a lasting impact on the world. Will the pain only dissipate after we have destroyed the world, after our planet vanishes?

Everywhere giant geese mourn, over the demise of human race. Giant geese in mourning represent people who had to flee their homes. During wartime, no one near the battlegrounds enjoy a day of peace. Hence everywhere giant geese are sad about the coming extinction of the human race.

War leads to loss for everyone; lives are missing. A barrage of bullets and a forest of guns, bombers and cannons make up the battlefront. People suffer injury and death.

This is a gamble of only losers but no winners. Gambling supposedly offers opportunities for winning, but winning is losing. We cannot possibly get this accounting straight. We may think this is a win but in fact a victory is the beginnings of a defeat. There is definitely a loss in the meaningless game of gambling. Are there any winners? I have never seen anyone get rich from winning a bet. Foolish leaders act foolishly. These national leaders are all stupid and doing some stupid things. Barbaric rulers behave barbarically. These uncivilized and unreasonable individuals behave this way and wreck this world of ours.

Their crimes of incursion cannot be pardoned. They occupy other people's land and gobble those people up. Conflicts over territory lead to death that cover the wilds; conflicts over a city leads to death that cover the city. People who occupy other people's land and act like cannibals deserve to die! People of past and present, here and abroad call them: "tyrants!" Whether it is China or some other country, if you rule by waging war, you would be rendered a crook, a ruthless monarch by history.