‧Written by Sheng-yen Lu‧
A US Daden Culture Publication
Ａfter watching the American horror movie Ouija, a game I once played called Magic Plate (Diexian) flashed through my mind.
Magic Plate had once been very popular.
In this game, a plate is placed on top of a piece of paper with one thousand Chinese characters written on it. Three players would each place a hand lightly on the plate. Ask any question and the magic plate would move on its own to give an answer.
The American Ouija board is very similar.
The Ouija board is marked with numbers and letters of the alphabet. Participants place their fingers on the movable indicator which moves from letter to letter to spell out words.
At the True Buddha Quarter in the United States, I have an Ouija board which was given to me by Dharma Sister Qian as a souvenir. But I have not played it.
What I would like to ask everyone is this:
Are you pushing the indicator?
Am I pushing the indicator?
Is he pushing the indicator?
The answer is none of the above. There are indeed “spirit” media pushing the indicators.
The answers provided by the board are only sometimes right. This may be because the spirit coming to give guidance is not a high but rather low level being. Hence, the game is not straight-forward and can be quite complicated.
If one becomes too attached to the game, one may have trouble pulling away from it.
It is possible for accidents to happen to players of the Ouija and Magic Plate, thus leading to the phenomenon of spirit possession or psychosis.
I say:
During the two hours you are in a cinema, your eyes and mind are fully invested in the movie, and your thoughts rise and fall with the story line.
When you integrate yourself into the plot of a horror movie, you become terrified and horrified.
Two hours later when the movie is over, you stand up and seem to return to reality.
When you think about the movie –
Ha!
That is what it was!
Just a movie! You make a clean break from it and never think about it again.
That is how we watch movies most of the time. After the film, you let go!
But –
Have you thought about this? Everyone dwells on each day of their lives, yesterday, today, tomorrow… in a continuum.
Last year, this year, next year…
The past, the present, the future…
People are confused and mistake the events in this life to be in continual existence.
“Can you cut them off ?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we do not think life is just a movie!”
Here let me tell everyone honestly:
“Cut everything away!”
“Live only in the moment, if there is still a moment!”
“The past – forgotten!”
“The present – forgotten!”
“The future – not yet here!”
“What are you, at this moment?”
My reply:
“Let it go!”
