弘明集 8.27

8.27

The heavenly family has its origin in transformation, with consciousness and illumination as its root. Renouncing body and life, [the times we have done so] are beyond the number of grass and trees. Indeed, there is no mound or mountain on the great earth that is not our former dust; the vast rolling rivers are all our tears and blood. Looking at it this way, who is not our relative or friend? Yet when some see deceased ancestors in dreams, they immediately declare it an ominous anomaly. Although humans and ghosts are distinct, birth and cessation are truly the same; feelings of affection and love occasionally leave ripples and echoes. The wicked hordes have no decorum, not recognizing rebellion and compliance; summoning demon clerks and soldiers to eat, they present petitions to sever them. Cutting off unseen spirits, who illuminates their solitary heart? It is our earnest prayer that in the future, people will not value deluded words, so that the heavenly halls may have no thoughts of abandoned meals, and the icy rivers may quiet the sounds of calamitous pining.