■Book 200 - Pages of Enlightenment
■Written by Master Sheng-yen Lu
■Chapter sixteen
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There was a rhyme that laments studying geometry back in my school days.
It went like this:
Time left in this life, how much ?
Learn geometry, how much more?
Don't learn geometry, how much less?
How much time is left in this life?
Life, how much time is left?
In retrospect, this rhyme lamenting studying geometry actually contains some profound truths of life.
In the span of a hundred years , what do you really capture? What do you really accomplish? What honor do you really achieve? What do you really attain? If you win a Nobel Prize, Academy Award for Motion Picture, Olympic Gold Medal, Top Prize for Innovation, Most Valuable Player, or are listed as one of the wealthiest people in the world, you should be at the top of your field and world famous. But, after a hundred years, what do you really gain if you won? If you didn't win, what do you really lose?
Have you thought about the real value of these awards? What value do these awards add to your life? What do these achievements fulfill? For example, Yang Chuan-kwang was an Olympic Silver Medalist for Decathlon. What good did this silver medal do for him in his life? What good does it do for him after his death? How long does the honor and fame last? Gradually, it all fades away. Who will remember him? I sighed, “Oh heavens, Oh heavens!”
All these examples can be summed up with one unflinchingly direct Buddhist saying - “for a time.” Between one hundred years before the beginning of the Common Era and the second century of Common Era, the Mahayana prajna series of scriptures were recorded. The main topic of these scriptures is the subject of emptiness. Don't you think so? The hundred year life span is emptiness, and so are all the awards. All that you can attain is emptiness; all the accomplishments are emptiness. All the honors are emptiness. Everything that you think you can cling onto is all emptiness, all is emptiness.
Some people may quickly jump to conclusions and assume that Sheng-yen Lu's enlightenment must be the realization of emptiness. Emptiness must be enlightenment.
I said, “That's not it.”
I will explain further. Someone brought a picture of me, and said, “This is Sheng-yen Lu.”
I asked him, “If the guy in the picture is Sheng-yen Lu, then who am I?”
He said, “One and the same.”
I asked, “So if I die, is the picture Sheng-yen Lu?”
The person didn't know how to answer my question.
Please reflect on this question, “Is the picture Sheng-yen Lu?” (Who is Sheng-yen Lu? Who is Sheng-yen Lu?)
