In the book Highly Confidential Register of Those Fallen into the Three Lower Realms, several notorious individuals were listed, whose names I will not reveal.
One was a “treasurer” who was in debt and therefore embezzled the trust fund and fled. My heavens! The money he misappropriated belonged to a cultivation venue!
One was a “chapter chairperson” who turned the communal property of the cultivation venue into private property, effectively taking the entire cultivation venue as personal property.
One was a “dharma propagator” who destroyed an entire temple, left True Buddha School, and disappeared without a trace.
The list goes on. All of them are recorded in the Highly Confidential Register of Those Fallen into the Three Lower Realms.
In the past, I have said in my dharma talks:
“Public security is relatively better in Japan, and there are comparatively fewer robbers and thieves. Why is that? Because the Japanese are taught from a young age not to take what does not belong to them!”
It is that obvious.
It is that simple.
It is that pure.
However—
Why is it that some people never learn?
***
I have also said this to people:
“One is Buddhadharma that liberates one from birth and death; the other is a glittering temple. Which would you choose?”
Those with wisdom would choose “liberation from birth and death.”
Those with an impaired mind would choose “temple property.”
Thus, I would say the key points of Buddhism are:
A mind of renunciation that transcends the world.
A mind of bodhicitta.
Right views and the Middle Way.
If cultivators in this world endlessly quarrel over temple property or even take it unlawfully, should they not feel ashamed? This is truly absurd.
Temples are material things. Temples stand on the great earth. Temples do not remain yours after death. Temples, chapters, organizations, wealth, and assets are all like this.
Therefore, in Grandmaster Lu’s heart, there is only the teachings of the Buddha; his mind rests on unsurpassed, extraordinary enlightenment. Aside from this, what else truly matters?
All beings should understand the importance of not becoming attached to worldly affairs, material possessions, money, and property.
If one fails to cultivate a mind of renunciation and instead craves these worldly desires, that is a violation of the precepts.
White Tara mentioned in the book: “In particular, the karmic consequences of stealing public resources and property intended for spiritual cultivation will be far more severe.”
In hell:
That “treasurer” will be made to swallow molten copper, scorching his throat.
That “chapter chairperson” will be immersed in a pot of boiling oil.
That “dharma propagator” will undergo the daily torture of a flywheel splitting open his head, because his mind is impaired.
…
Have you not heard this verse?
A single grain of rice from a donor
Is as great as Mount Meru.
If one does not cultivate,
One will have to repay it with a body of fur and horns.
If a single grain of rice carries such weight, how could you possibly repay the money and property belonging to a cultivation venue, an entire chapter, or a whole temple?
Please reflect sincerely in the quiet of the night. The things you enjoy in the secular world, the things you use, eat, and sleep upon — are these things really what you deserve?
Are you really cultivating?
Do you have a conscience?
Or are you pretending to cultivate in order to amass wealth? Are you deceiving others by wearing a facade while engaging in dishonest practices? If so, you are sowing the seeds for a future existence in the three lower realms.