Everything in the human realm is created from a single thought. It is said,

One thought reaches three thousand worlds;
Three thousand worlds are within one thought.

Take for instance a cultivator who has been at his practice for several years. For him, "not a single thought arises." But then suddenly he has a thought. What kind of thought? He thinks, "In this day and age, worldly dharmas are important. If the worldly dharmas were used to protect the transcendental dharmas, wouldn't that be great?" So with that one thought he's off and running. He decides he'd like to be President.

In his next life what do you suppose happens? He's carried along by that thought and becomes President. But once in the Presidency, he finds the internal workings of government quite complex and there's always a lot of trouble to contend with. International relations demand one's constant attention. There are many national considerations as well. Government is also closely connected with family concerns and individual relationships. He's immersed in a situation which is a mixture of good and evil, purity and defilement, and it has all come about from that one thought of wanting to be President. That single thought has created all the subsequent changes and transformations. That's one way of explaining the scope of a single thought.
Being President is like that, but so is being a cabinet member, or an administrator, or a chairman, or a minister of the interior. Even being an ordinary citizen, a laborer, a scientist, a chemist, a lecturer, or any other kind of professional person is the same: all are created from a single thought of the mind.

One observes that throughout the world, the leaders of every country are basically very good-natured. They must have all cultivated at one time or another. In previous lives they worked hard and suffered a great deal, but because of a single thought of glory, they became attached to the five desires and ended up where they are now. Perhaps they were greedy for wealth. They wanted to be a petroleum magnate or an automobile magnate, or an airline magnate. They may have wanted to be the Great Cotton King, or the Great Commodities King, or they wanted to be the Great Excrement King! They had all kinds of plans of wanting to be this or that kind of magnate. And it all comes from a single thought of greed for wealth.


Those who are greedy for beautiful forms are unable to smash through the gate of form. With a single unclean thought, sexual desire arises and they aren't able to pass the gate of sexual desire. They become attached to beauty and in their next life, they are confused by beauty. If one is greedy for wealth, one becomes confused by wealth; greedy for sex, one becomes con- fused by sex. Some are greedy for fame. They cultivate but then have a single thought of greed for fame.

Pursuing that thought, they imagine how in their next lives their fame will fill the entire world and everyone will know about them. That's what one thought of greed for fame will do. One becomes confused by fame. Some may have a single thought of greed to eat good things so they are confused by greed for tasty food. Some are confused by sleep, and they feel that sleep is very comfortable.

Experiencing the five defiling objects of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles causes one to be really upside-down. All are created from a single thought. The transformations of a single thought are inexhaustible. Within the transformations of a single thought there is defilement and purity, good and evil. Everything is included within a single thought. So in cultivating the Way, be extremely careful not to have improper thoughts. It's just because of a single wrong thought that we have no way to extricate ourselves from the revolving wheel of birth and death. Would you say that is suffering or not?