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(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
Speak louder.
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
Why is fatalism a non-Buddhist view? It is because you must rely on cultivating yourself to attain accomplishment and liberation. If you were to follow the Sutras and adopt the views of the 500 Bhikṣus and other translators as the standards you follow, then don’t cultivate yourself and don’t learn from Buddha. Why not? If you believed that according to the predictions of the Buddha, everyone will become a high-ranking official, or possess great wealth by a certain time and everything has been predetermined by fate, why bother learning. Isn’t that so?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
Therefore, fatalism absolutely is not true. However, there are many accounts relating to fatalism and predictions in the Sutras. Such predictions and such Sutras absolutely cannot be followed because, if you believe in fatalism, you won’t cultivate yourself. For example, if it has been predicted that a certain ordinary person will attain a fourth level fruition to become golden body Arhat when a particular Buddha comes and attains Buddhahood in this world, then why would this person cultivate themself? No matter how they cultivate themself, or how much effort they make, they still have to wait until that Buddha comes and attains Buddhahood in this world before they can attain the fourth-level fruition to become an Arhat. Why wouldn’t they rather enjoy themself now, go gambling in Las Vegas, or spend all their time having fun at all kinds of places?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
Cultivation is so tiring! Yet, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke a great deal about cultivation and the application of the Six Paramitas in myriad practices. The Buddha told living beings to cultivate themselves under all circumstances. When you cultivate yourself, you plant the cause and reap the effect. You have to plant the cause in order to reap the effect. If you don’t cultivate yourself, you won’t plant the cause and therefore you won’t reap the effect. That’s why in Buddhism, there is a very important term called “cultivate oneself by learning from Buddha 修行學佛.”
Cultivation is to correct your conduct. What kind of conduct are you supposed to accomplish in your cultivation? You cultivate yourself to have the same conduct of the Buddha. That’s why it is called learning from Buddha; you emulate the conduct of Buddha. You cultivate yourself by learning from Buddha. Your accomplishment and liberation are dependent upon your cultivating yourself by learning from Buddha, rather than indulging in fun and pleasure, becoming degenerate, and waiting for the day predetermined by fate for you to become a certain somebody. There is no such thing!
At this point, I want you to reflect upon this: Is cultivating yourself by learning from Buddha the truth, or are predictions based on fatalism the truth?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Cultivating myself by learning from Buddha is the truth.)
Right. If predictions or fatalism is the truth, then there is no use cultivating yourself by learning from Buddha. Is that right?