‧Written by Master Sheng-yen Lu‧
(Translated by Monita Chan; edited by Janet Ho and Kai Chung Ho; proofread by Jessie Loh; A US Daden Culture Publication)
I may look a little crazy, but this craziness is hardly enough for admittance to the mental hospital.
My reasons for “craziness” are:
Being friends with ghosts.
Being friends with gods.
Being friends with bodhisattvas.
Being friends with buddhas.
These reasons may be enough to cause people to classify me as a going-to-be-crazy person, because similar types of people have been locked up in the mental hospital.
There is a joke [about mental patients]:
The Dean of a mental hospital asked a patient, “Who told you that you are Jesus?”
The patient answered, “God.”
Another patient who passed by then told the patient who claimed to be Jesus, “I did not tell you that you are Jesus.”
After reading this joke, I had a big laugh.
Therefore, when people call me a madman upon knowing my situation, I cannot blame them because I am not very different from a madman.
I am otherwise a normal person.
When it is time to sleep, I sleep.
When it is time to cultivate, I cultivate.
When it is time to write, I write.
When it is time to paint, I paint.
I do not wear thick underwear in the summer, and I definitely do not wear just a t-shirt in the winter. I put on a scarf when I feel cold, and a thin robe when I feel warm.
I have a normal life.
I neither break laws nor violate precepts, and I lead a disciplined life.
I have breakfast at 6 o’clock in the morning, lunch at noon time, and dinner at 6 o’clock in the evening.
I socialize with people normally.
I said:
I am not a saint, I am not great, I am just an ordinary person. Everything runs naturally, and being natural is the path (the Tao). Laozi said: “Tao follows the laws of nature.”
I think:
“Saints must be the most unwise people in the world.” (Self-binding)
I understand the philosophy of the “Book of Changes”:
“A great man’s virtue is in harmony with that of heaven and earth, his brightness is in harmony with that of the sun and the moon, his orderliness is in harmony with those of the four seasons, and his [encounters of] auspiciousness and ominousness are in harmony with those of gods and ghosts.”
1.Observe morality.
2.Purify body, speech, and mind.
3.Live naturally.
4.Understand the reasons behind auspiciousness and ominousness, and bad and good fortune.
The four items listed above are in tandem with the philosophy of the Book of Changes. Being friends with gods and ghosts is something which I have in excess of a normal person, and therefore I am a person who is able tell the auspiciousness and ominousness of things.
I have numerous ghost friends, and they are all my good friends.
One year, I was facing an imminent calamity.
A ghost told me, “A big imminent calamity.”
I asked, “What to do?”
The ghost answered, “Escape!”
I asked, “How to escape?”
The ghost answered, “Create a diversion.”
(Make people think that you are here, when in fact, you are somewhere else, ha ha ha!)
My ghost friends helped me, and my celestial friends also helped me, so that I could breeze through a disaster.
I am not bragging about the friendships that I have with ghosts, gods, bodhisattvas, and buddhas, because anyone can do so. Yao and Shun were human beings, and anyone could be Yao or Shun; Shakyamuni Buddha was a human being, and you could also be Shakyamuni Buddha. On this point, I am not deceiving you!
