Friends in the Way, listen to me!
The suffering of the hells is terrible to speak of.

Unlit by the sun, moon, or lamps,
It is dark all year round and one cannot see the sky.
There are oceanlike quantities of urine and excrement.
My eyes are pecked out by the fire-spitting eagle.
The yaksha, with eyes as fierce as electricity,
Stands before me holding a steel pitchfork in its hand.
My limbs are nailed to an iron bed tens of thousands of miles long.
I cannot describe the excruciating pain throughout my body
As I lie on that bed covered with flames.
In my hunger, I swallow iron pellets and gulp down molten copper.
After I die, the breeze blows over me and I revive,
Only to undergo more suffering and be scorched again,

Until my body is burned to ashes.
Long are the years that I have suffered,
Not knowing the passing of time.

Friends in the Way,
I urge you to believe in cause and effect.
Quickly turn around and repent of your offenses;
Practice good deeds and be good-hearted
Until your defilements are transformed into red lotuses.
Recite the Buddha’s name and seek rebirth in the Western Paradise.

Everyone, listen to my words!
To take others’ lives is to create boundless offenses.
Animals’ lives are the same as our own;
There is no separation between them and us when a life is taken for a life.
Today I kill him and eat his delicious flesh;
Some day I will pay with my own life and suffer the torment.
I advise you to be vegetarian and not to take lives.
That way, you can avoid the consequences
And enjoy a happy and sweet life.
Always be good-hearted and liberate living creatures,
And recite the Buddha’s name
To be reborn in the Western Paradise.
There is infinite bliss in the West;
The towers are made of the seven treasures,
And the ground is paved with gold.
Lotuses of the four virtues nourish the field of the Way.

Do not search for that land outside yourself;
The path to the jade steps begins right in your own mind.
Always be mindful of Amitabha, and when you die,
The Buddha will guide you to be born from a lotus.

New Year’s Song

Come January, everything is red for the New Year;
Every family is reciting the Buddha’s name to welcome the new spring.
The Buddha, our compassionate father, constantly thinks of us.
When we recite “Amitabha,” the Buddha is in our hearts.

Come February, the winter is nearly over;
Everyone is studying the Buddhadharma and practicing compassion.
Take pity on the elderly and help the poor and needy;
Let us cherish one another.
A kind heart is like a gentle spring breeze.

Come March, hundreds of flowers burst into bloom;
People only know to enjoy the fine flavor of fish.
But do they know that in eating fish, they have to pay with their own flesh?
When the time comes to pay back,
They undergo endless suffering as they are killed.
Come April, the great earth revives in the gentle breeze.
In this busy season there is happiness.
Work hard to support yourself;
There’s no need to steal and rob.
Taking others’ possessions, you’ll end up as donkeys and horses.

Come May, the pomegranate blossoms are flaming red.
Goodness and evil all come from your own mind.
Having done many good deeds, you’ll enjoy blessings.
Having done much evil, you’ll suffer in the hells.

Come June, lotuses bloom in the green pond.
Recite the name of Amitabha, and you’ll be on the right path.
In the Western Paradise, the happiness is inexhaustible.
Free from worry for food and clothing,
You will live as long as the Buddha.

Come July, the heat is ending and the coolness of fall is setting in.
The merit and virtue of Earth Store Bodhisattva is hard to measure.
Offering incense and flowers in a single thought of respect,
You’ll be on your way to the heavens to enjoy blessings for a long time.

Come August, the cassia flowers send out fragrance.
Please set the fish free in the pond and don’t kill them.
Vigorously practice good deeds and be goodhearted.
If your heart is good, the Buddha will come to take you to the West.
Come September, the chrysanthemums burst into yellows and reds.
The kindness of Medicine Master Buddha makes him just like a mother to us.
Be mindful of the Thus Come One, and you will not fall into the hells;
Your illnesses will be wiped away, and you’ll enjoy health
And be bathed in the Buddhas’ compassionate light.

Come October, hundreds of flowers bloom once again.
Guanyin Bodhisattva arrives, radiating light
That shines through the darkness of the world.
Disasters are wiped away, and
Everything will turn out as we wish.

Come November, the winter is gradually arriving.
I exhort you to take pity on the old and cherish the young.
Alleviate the suffering of those who lack clothing.
With compassion in mind, you’ll be sure to ascend to the lotus dais.

Come December, it is New Year again.
For a whole year you’ve been doing good deeds, and your heart is filled with joy.
What need is there to fear the suffering of the hells?
When the door in the West opens,
You will see the Buddha on the lotus dais.

On Cultivation

The most important thing in cultivation is recognize our own mistakes and to constantly correct our own faults. To do this, we must go into great depth and detail, using wisdom to expose all the faults in our minds. Without reserve, we should thoroughly examine and change ourselves, until we are devoid of even the tiniest bit of debris from faults, and of even the shadow of a hairsbreadth of a mistake. Only then can our ignorance from time without beginning be changed into the pure, wonderful mind. When the mind is pure, so is the Buddhaland. With confidence, we can then be reborn in the West upon death. If we fail to recognize our own faults and rectify them, so that our defiled mind is smothered by faults--that is ignorance. Ignorance is none other than the seed for going to the hells. How can it take us to the Western paradise?

Cultivators should look upon cultivation as a great matter and practice seriously and truly. Clearly, we must start by paying attention to every single thought in our mind. Negligence, casualness, scatteredness, and a mind stifled by faults--these are manifestations of ignorance; they are hindrances to the Way, stumbling blocks on the road to the West, and demons for cultivators.

Cultivators, I exhort you: Time is short. If you waste time, then for tens of thousands of lifetimes you will undergo the suffering of reincarnation. This matter is something that each one of us should work diligently on. No one can do it for us. This is called “crossing yourself over with your nature.” It is also called “crossing over the living beings in your own nature by your own mind.” Only when the living beings in your own mind have been crossed over can you cross over living beings outside. There’s no way to cross over others and accomplish the Way if you have not crossed over living beings in your own mind first. Nor can you be reborn in the Western Paradise. It’s like planting seeds in a field of blessings: A spoiled seed can never bear fruit. Take heed!