PureInsight | December 8, 2010
[PureInsight.org] Once I heard a story about a saint who was living on a beach. During the day, he would build exquisite castles in the sand, tall and beautifully detailed. At night, he would sit in meditation.
In the evening when people were returning from work, they would all stop to admire the castles he was building. Crowds of people would gather to appreciate his works of art. Some threw money, but the saint did not bother picking up the money; he was just building castles.
At night, the ocean tide would wash away the castles leaving the seashore smooth and virgin, and with the advent of dawn the saint again would again begin constructing majestic castles from sand and water.
Even the most majestic sandcastles wash away with the tide.
When I told this story to a wise man, he asked me, “What is the moral of this story?” I replied, “I think it teaches us that everything in this world is transient, all is impermanent and we should not be attached to anything in this world.” The wise man said, “Yes, but that is only one side of the coin; the other side teaches that while everything is transient and impermanent, it is meaningful and important at that moment.”
In “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Master said:
“This time is, in reality, but the blink of an eye or the wave of a hand, as gods see it.”
In the article, “The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,” Master also said:
“Actually, if you think about it, the cultivators of the past didn't dare to slack off for even a second, and that was when it took an entire lifetime to complete the journey. So how can Dafa disciples--who are to achieve the Attainment Status of a being who is saved by Dafa and who have the most convenient cultivation way--not be even more diligent when they are given this most glorious honor of Fa-validating cultivation in a brief cultivation period that passes in the blink of an eye?”
Master has explained that when Dafa disciples reach consummation, their life on earth will seem to them just like a dream. Personally, I think that this correlation between the impermanence of life, the fast or slow flow of time, and the importance of what Dafa disciples do, is very beautiful.
In “Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America,” Master said:
“The process of enduring is but a brief moment, and besides, time has been accelerated. In the future when you look back—if you can reach Consummation, that is—you’ll find that it was nothing and was just like a dream.” (Guiding the Voyage)
No matter how things may seem to us, how important or unimportant they may seem to us, how long lasting or transient they may appear to be, we must fulfil our vows and do the three things well.
Heshi.
