On Becoming a Wise Person

I, Buddha, have been known by names such as Sakyamuni Buddha, Shaka Nyorai, Shakuson, and simply Nyorai since ancient times. I state the following especially for the sake of mothers and fathers with little children.

? I was born about 2,560 years ago as the son of King Suddhodana of the Sakya tribe in Kapilavatthu, the town in a subject nation to Kosala in the ancient Indian Kingdom. (The nation was in the northern reaches of the Ganges River which is now part of Nepal.) I lived a life of ease within a castle until the age of 29 with the name of Gautama Siddhartha, but suddenly one day I was struck by the hollowness of life and the pointlessness of living. Therefore, I left behind my life and the pointlessness of living. Therefore, I left behind my wife and children, my parents and the luxurious life in the castle to become a monik. After going through a number of spiritual disciplines I came to the realization that these were not what brought peace of mind or enlightened a person to the meaning of life, so I gave them up.

? The things I gained after entering the state of samadhi were immeasurably greater and more wonderful than the levels of enlightenment reached by monks undergoing various austerities. I gained a universal awareness of all things which exist in this cosmic order including living things and non-living things which exist across the boundaries between life and death, or that between material things and non-physical things. I learned the universal truth that nothing ever ceases to exist, that everything is alternately created and then destroyed just to be recreated again, that things are perpetually born and then die to recreated again, that things are perpetually born once more according to the laws of the universe, and that the cycle of birth, old age, disease and death for man was just part of this same process. I gained this insight at the age of 35, one day in May.

? That it to say, I attained enlightenment concerning exactly what the life of man should be transcending birth, old age, disease and death. Furthermore, I came to the realization that man had an obligation to live in harmony with the natural order as part of nature and the greater cosmos, and that the duty of man for purpose of harmony was to stand in the vastness of this universe and have a mind just as wide open to seek his course in the flow of nature or the laws of nature which are just like the flowing of water(Water shall become rain; and from rain, there shall flow streams. Streams shall merge into the great river, and flow to the seas. The oceans shall give forth their vapors, and there shall again be rain. Thus, the true nature of water shall endure throughout the eons of time). One should walk the middle path and allow things to flow toward and away from one without becoming disturbed by the currents of strong emotions, or allowing human relationships to be destroyed in the whirlpools of violent emotions.

? Normal people, and religious devotees most of all, must relate to people in a peaceful manner and possess the virtue of tolerance. This is the most important thing, along with keeping the spirit of the "golden mean." One must see others in the right light and understand and accept what others desire so as to temper the words coming from one's mouth with a spirit of love and compasion. One must regulate one's interactions with people in this way and in effect correct one's way of life in order to become a virtuous person and allow this virtue to flow out to all those persons one comes into contact with so as to live a life that has a beneficial influence on all those around one. Further, one must deal with all things on this basis. Even in one's profession, for the sake of a livelyhood, one must not lose this spirit, but keep in mind that one's life and work exist for the sake of others, or forb saving others. Also, one must take time to reflect on one's own actions at the end of the day, or immediately after each mistake to determine whether somehow, somewhere an error was committed ihn dealing with someone or the wrong attitude was taken regarding someone. One has to be very careful not to make the same way again. This approach to leading a virtuous life has been named the Eight-fold Noble Paths, and this is what I taught the Indians in my time.

??? Here are brief explanations for each one of the Eight-fold Noble Paths.

1, Right View( Just Discernment!sinobu): This is to view(recognize!sinobu) things in the right way. It is important to see things objectively from the standpoint of a third person to see not just the surface of things but to discern the true meaning hidden behind things.

2. Right Thinking(Just Thinking!sinobu): This is to think in the right way. How a person thinks determines whether he is cheerful or gloomy. When people think in the right way based on a spirit of caring, their personal relationships are improved and they themselves become bright and cheerful.

3. Right Speaking(Just Speaking): This is to speak in the right way.Speaking in the right way means to speak using words and a manner which convey love and compassion. Harmony is created when a person speaks in the right way().

4. Right Action(Just Action): This is to work in the right way. Modern society is made possible by the division of labor. When one's own work is regarded as being a service to others and society at large, both pollution and the gap between the rich and the poor will disappear, and this will lead to harmony in society as a whole(The society of today stands on a division of labor. Provided one thinks of his labor as a contribution to offer people, or society, extremes of poverty and wealth and destruction of the common environment will cease, leading to the harmoney of society as a whole).

5. Right Life(Just Life): this is to live in the right way. It means to strengthen one's good points and to correct one's shortcomings. Depending on how this is done, shortcomings can be quickly turned into strong points.

6. Right Endeavor(Just Efforts): This is personal growth inn the right way, or otherwise harmony in social relationships. It means that one should view and think about oneself in human relationships to live according to the correct path.(To make the right efforts. To achieve harmony within society. To see oneself in relation to others, to consider, and to live accordingly in harmony.)

7. Right Aspiration(Just Aspiration): People's aspirations create reverberations on all levels to bring various things to each person accordingly. Like attracts like, so one must keep right aspirations without an impure mind, or else one will attract bad friends and evil spirits(One projection of a man's will will be immediately transmitted to one of three thousand human emotional spheres throughout the world; by this he may draw in all things. Likes attract likes. So, unless one makes projections of one's aspirations correctly with an unclouded heart, what comes in return will be evil friends and demons.

8. Right Meditation(Just Reflection!sinobu): One must reflect on one's own behavior objectively to see if the above seven right paths have been abhered to. Any mistakes must be found and one must resolve to never make the same mistake again.

?The period and country I was teaching these truths was slightly more than 2,500 tears ago in Ancient India, where mostly ignorant people lived. Nevertheless, the heart of man is one and the same, and enlightenment is no different today than it was in those days. So people with pure hearts were able to understand very well the things I was teaching. In those days, the structure of society was not nearly as complex as today and the wide variety of lifestyles, the knowledge explosion, the high degree of specialization, and the disintegration and degeneration of religion was not as advanced as it is today. Furthermore, some places today in which every one becomes buddha after death whether personal enlightenment can be attained or not. Therefore, people in those days were able to lead lives with a strong faith and apply these teachings in their daily life to create a peaceful social environment.

? The spirit of Eight-fold Noble Paths was not forgotten despite famine and natural disasters, and they remained firmly impressed in the minds of people. Thus, people in that day were able to acquire a true sense of humility and respect for one another, and firmly consolidate the spirit of mutual harmony as their own. If only the attitudes of people in that day could be revived in society today, the salvation of this decadent world could be speeded up tremendously. Everyone in the Celestial Realm as well as myself cannot think about this without an aching heart.

? To change the subject to parent-child relationships, in the present age, it is common for people to act as if they had no parents, or otherwise, as if they had no children. The young generation mistakenly believe that adopting a "modern" attitude is what it means to grow up. In addition, middle aged persons who are parents of these children, as well as the elderly, assume a cold and aloof attitude, and turn this attitude back on children and their parents in their forties and fifties. Otherwise, family members deal with each other very coldly harboring feelings of distrust, and they falsely believe that co-existence means for each person to lead selfish lives out in the world. This kind of thing would simply never take place in India today, not to mention Medieval and Ancient India.

?One reason for this may be that India still has a caste system where sociaty is divided into four classes and there is no interchange of feelings or information between people except between those in the same caste. This bad custom where people are not even allowed free determination still remains in India, but on the other hand, this works to preserve the good aspects in the system of extended families.

? As said earlier, the world we refer to as the world of decadence in the present age is where a generation of unconcerned and alienated people appear all over the world. For this reason the Last Judgement is being undertaken by hands of Heaven, so that now each and every one of us has to await judgement. Each perason will receive a judgement according to his sins, and wrath of God has finally come down upon us. Now my benediction as well as the love of Christ can only be received after one has unndergone the Last Judgement.

? My teachings about compassion in ancient times were directed primarily toward kings, priests, and the wealthy. Compassion was the spirit of caring to be extended to the common people to save and comfort those who were sick, or otherwise suffering mentally or physically. I taught especially that kings had to administetheir nation based on the True Law and compassion. All people who suffer unjustly because of the inequities of society should be able to receive the blessings and the light of my salvation eventually. It was my mission during my existence on earth to preach this truth, but 2,500 years after my death, despite the atonement of mankind's sins by Jesus Christ, people forgot all about the spirit of compassion. Thus this terrifying Last Judgement came to pass while people continued to live without regarding this world of decadence as being decadent, and discrimination by race and social position, gaps between the rich and the poor, misuse of sovereign power and the high and mighty attitudes among priests and monks become widespread. The Last Judgement is where one's sins and virtuous acts are all weighed out on a balance scale; it is just that Heaven was given to other choice because people's hearts become so blind as not to realize their fault uhntil they are punished.

? There is nothing I am allowed to do concerning the Last Judgement. All I can dp is to wait. I hope that all people will purify their hearts and mend their ways as much as time allows. People who are still living on this earth must right their wrongs and seek out and eliminate unsound reasoning in their life and attitudes to make their life as full of virtue as possible. One must discard audacious ideas that a person can attain Buddhahood if his actions are good. Instead, a person must serve God with a sense of humility. As a parent, one must assume the duty of teaching and guiding

one's children from their early days concerning what to believe and follow, and what consitutes virtue and what kind of people are truely worthy of admiration. This is in no way a fruitless task. One has to first begin by making very sure that he does not fall into the deep trap called false religious and faiths.

? The reason false religious are wrong is because people worship things which are not supposed to be objects of devotion. Some people with single-hearted devotion pray to God to fulfill their wishes and desires, and their preoccupation with this prayer becomes almost obsessive. Thus, when prayers are answered at times but not at other times at those places of worship, people begin to use their material assets for things to please God and Buddha more, whatever their religious leader may demand. In other words, they expend a great deal of time and money on their obssesion to try and please their God any way they can.

?? Furthermore, the spirits which take possession of such religious groups are capricious evil spirits from hell which do not care about the happiness, success or health of its believers so they do not take into account the sacrifices people make. When believers are unhappy with their situation, these spirits make the priests or monks criticize these people and blame their lack of faith or religious devotion.

? These false religious demand sacrifices from their believers far exceeding the bounds of reason, and the believers while becoming more and more desperate and unhappy all the time trying to please their deities, do not in their deepest hearts have any hope that the day will come when this religion will bring them happiness. Yet on the surface, they continue to keep their faith and be obsessed and unable to give it up.

? Such religious groups often have images of Buddha, icons or sacred trees. In such cases, not the spirits of the dead or otherwise evil spirits from hell take advantage of people's native desires and obsession for success and happiness. These evil spirits ridicule these human beings living on the Third Dimension and extend the realm of the impure spirits, instead of that of the divine.

? Those entities who should be exalted as God and divinities reside in Heaven and each person's heart is connected to them, and they only desire that we communicate with them through our soul connection.Nevertheless, the hearts of people, instead of being turned heavenward, are forever distracted by the things of the world, and they end their lives in delusion. Thus, many religiones abound in the world today which are of no significance and absolutely useless in the purification of one's soul.

? Every time such religious confusion becomes rampant in the world, we the great guiding spirits of light, arcangels of light and angels of light must come down to the earth and go around rectifying these errors. Yet, no matter how many times we correct the situation, people quickly become confused again by false religions. Even in the religions and spiritual groups which teach the correct path, after a generation passes the leadership also turns over, the rule of conduct where priests and monks must place their spiritual practice and development as the first priority is forgotten. Often the minds of spiritual leaders become all occupied with mundane affairs such as keeping up with the customs and lifestyles in this world, and they begin tob conduct their affairs by giving priority to income for their temples and shrines, and pay more attention to profit and the acquisition of property.

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? The realm of the impure spirits, as mentioned before, is often found among the newer religions which are primarily motivated by the desire for personal profit or gain. Since these relgions do not have a tradition of spiritual work passed down through the generations, those who set themselves up as the founder or leader of such institutions assume little if any responsibility for their congregation so they create all manner of rules and rituals and force these upon their followers. Even among the well established religions, however, such as the Buddhist and Shinto() sects in Japan, there are irresponsible ones which show no concern for the welfare of their congregation and they create the realm of the impure spirits.

? To those of us in the Celestrial Realm, religious leaders are like truely troublesome parasitic worms, and unless they are destroyed quickly they spread rapidly like a thick blacket of dark fog separating God and the Bodhisattvas from mankind on the Third Dimension.

? The reason the newer religions are extending the realm of the impure spirits is due not only to the lack of conscientiousness on the part of the founders and leaders, but also quite apart from their preaching of the need for spiritual development, people are drawn in and their religious aspirations are parasitized. These unenlightened spiritual leaders make apparently convincing pronouncements by preaching their own interpretation of the scriptures or sutras, and they make it appear as if these ideas were divine revelations. In any case, the more impressive are, the more people gather around, and the content of the teaching becomes a secondary issue.

?When the teacher tells his followers that a certain things will bring them material gain, unfortunately evil spirits aid these leaders and founders to actually make this possible. There are three things such false teachers use as advertising without exception-worldly riches, success and cure of diseases. It does not matter even if these promises are not fulfilled in every single case. All it takes is for there to be a 50 to 80 percent success rate. Even standing takes place just in a few percent of the cases, gullible followers gather around to form a religious group and exalt the leader as an embodiment of God.

? The more suspicious the religious group is, the greater the chances are of it being backed by a demonic spirit. These groups increase the amount of donations, tithes, and members become miserable by pouring out their hard earned money for reasons they do not understand. The founder and leader often say nothing even when enormous sums are donated. The sense of proportion is lost and people lose their common sense. This eventually causes splinter groups to break away from such organizations. In fact, many such groups have been spawned by the Nichiren Seishu Buddhist sect.

? The reason for the existence of religion as well as its true form and purpose cannot be explained in a few short sentenses. Religion is a personal feeling which should be kept intact deep in each persons's heart, and these sentiments must be kept sacred in silence and solitude. The deep truth within each person should not be forgotten even in the busiest moments when one is hand at work( As mostof you aren probably aware, the undertaking of the Last Judgement has been predicted and prophesied in many ways since ancient times. But its execution became subject for going ahead with the Last Judgement was that human beings on earth did not consider "judgement by God" to be anything more than some obscure reference in the scriptures which somehow concerned a different world and did not apply to them. Most people apparently live with the attitude which seems to search for solutions to problems only after they are hit with the full conseqences of the catastrophe. This can be considered to be an overly optimistic attitude or plain laziness. This results from an easy going attitude which believes that man's original sin was forgiven and pardoned with the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross, so that God will no longer punish man even though he may lead a life full of small sins. This could be evidence that people are simply not concerned.[Japan specially wrong in the world. But Other countries worship Satan David. God is living in Japan] ! by Raguel). And the wisdom which wells up from deep introspection(considering and judging everything, even oneself, in an objective manner) will give a person the ability to get though the most difficult moments in life, and will provide a person with peace of mind and asture powers of judgement.

? True faith which connects an person with Heaven cannot exist side by side with anger, spite, envy, jealousy, competitiveness, vanity, conceit, cruelty, inhumanity, ingratitude, blindness to what is right and wrong, and involvement with superficial ideologies and violence. You must guide your children to become noble in character by setting an example in your own life and making efforts towards personal growth because children grow up by patterning themselves after adults even when no special guidance is provided. It is a great responsibility to have children, and it entails the greatest obligation of all. One must watch to see that children, and it entails the greatest obligation of all. One must watch to see that children grow up healthy and strong, and that they gain knowledge about various things in life and acqure wisdom. Parents must take joy in the development of their child as if it were their own personal gain. Unless a person is such a parent, he or she cannot be considered as leading a life following the laws of Heaven, or being worthy of Heaven's blessings.

? I, Buddha, dearly hope that you impress these things I have stated deep into your heart and resolutely maintain the standards of righteousness in your daily life as you train and raise the blessings and protection of Heaven. Remember that once the Last Judgement is over, the utopia where the chosen ones will live under the shower of light and blessings from Heaven is immediately ahead.

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