Thirty-Six Eight-Diagram Arrays: The Array of Life and Death

Xuefeng

Jan. 4, 2011

Life continues endlessly, revolving ceaselessly, erasing memories of past lives, and reappearing as a “new self’ in specific time and space, with endless hope, all things thriving, life endlessly repeating, dramas unfolding, and ceaseless games – this is the life and death array. Life is a cycle of growth and decline, arising and dwelling, decaying and emptiness. It is constantly renewing and eliminating, scene after scene, act after act. While humans cannot live eternally, the cycle of life and death is eternal. The human soul does not die, yet we believe we will eventually face death. Ahead, there is always a new view; behind, the scenery gradually fades from the horizon. Like waves, life pushes forward, each wave becoming the next, appearing bright yet dark, dark yet bright. It’s an endless journey without an end, a cycle without a conclusion – this is the array of life and death.

Arrivals continue, departures never cease, the train of history carries life along tracks without a terminal station, endlessly traversing on ever-changing temporal paths, seeming new yet not old, seeming old yet not new, seeming familiar yet not original, appearing clear yet confusingly inverted – this is the life and death array.

Drifting in the river of history, jostling on life’s path, sometimes uncertain of the way ahead, sometimes seeing light after darkness, forgetting past grievances, anticipating future joys and sorrows, reluctant but unable to escape, drifting aimlessly with the current or flowing clear with the stream. Just as one ascends a peak, immediately, a canyon follows, different rebirths, the same conclusion – this is the life and death array.

Both sorrow and joy, both joy and sorrow, sometimes tragedy, sometimes comedy, sorrow and joy intersect, joy and sorrow alternate, seeming full of hope, yet despair lies at the end. What appears as despair holds hope at its end, “With spring and fall they come and go” – this is the life and death array.

Scenes never ending, paths never fully traversed, hardships never fully consumed, suffering never fully endured, joys never fully enjoyed, calamities never fully borne, anger never fully vented, debts never fully repaid, endless permutations, a human life journey with a beginning and end, relationships entangled, rise and fall, honor and disgrace fluctuate – this is the life and death array.

Every person is within the life and death array. Without escaping it, there is no end in sight; without escaping it, one cannot break free from the “six realms of reincarnation”; without escaping it, one will suffer the torment of the Five Elements’ cycles; without escaping it, one can never reach the sacred realm of the celestial land.

How to escape the life and death array?

Where there is life, there is inevitably death; where there is death, there is inevitably life. Without birth, there is no death; without death, there is no birth; life and death depend on each other, each being the root of the other.

Think unconventionally, let your imagination soar. Transform life into death, transform death into life. Only live, never die; only die, never live. Without birth, without death; without death, without birth; die first, then be reborn, living without death.

Stay away from inverted dreams, stay away from illusions, stay away from the pursuit of possessions, stay away from the material world. Abandon love and hatred, abandon closeness and distance, reject worry and fear, reject intoxication with life and death.

A spark of enlightenment illuminates the vast universe. Without attachment, without hindrance, right and wrong vanish, honor and disgrace are irrelevant. Flowers bloom and wither without stirring emotions, clouds gather and disperse without affecting the heart. Without agitation, without worry, without attachment, without restraint, follow the flow and roam freely.

Everything is a game, only LIFE is real. Treat everything as a game to play.

Hold tightly to the Greatest Creator’s hand, sever worldly ties, and establish celestial bonds.