On Calamity And Its Transformation
Planchette Instruction From The Most Holy One (老祖) · Zongtan Planchette Records (宗壇訓錄) · Dingchou Year, 1st Day of the 5th Lunar Month, the Hour of Shen (4:00 pm) · Zhixu Pavilion (至虛亭)
Complete Message
When calamity manifests, some are visible, while others are invisible. The visible form of calamity is easy to guard against; invisible forms of calamity are difficult to anticipate with certainty. This is why calamity is so inextricably bound to the human heart. If the human heart is good, then the causes it creates will likewise be good. And good causes must, in the end, yield good results.
With such deeds, calamities are easily averted; without them,
The cultivation of merit and the nurturing of attainment are nothing other than accumulating meritorious deeds. This alone is what constitutes true meritorious deeds [功行]. With such deeds, calamity is easily averted. Without them disasters are left entirely to the unpredictable whims of fate. Not only does one lack merit, but if one goes further to create negative causes, the onset of calamity will descend into an unimaginable, bottomless abyss. [伊于胡底].
功行 (meritorious deeds) is the central theme of this address; 伊于胡底 is a classical phrase (Shijing) meaning “to what depths will it come” – stronger than mere unpredictability.
Thus, since the cultivator has made vows to transform people and the salvation of the world, then the fulfillment of these vows must begin by eradicating one’s own negative causes. By eliminating one’s own negative causes, the negative causes of others will naturally be eliminated as well; by eliminating the negative causes of others, the collective negative causes of the masses can also be averted. This is precisely why teaching, transforming, and saving others stands as the absolute priority among all meritorious deeds.
Once the disciples awaken to this truth, they will naturally understand during this final Kalpic Calamity of the Lower Yuan era [下元末劫], transforming the situation is easy, and saving the world is not difficult either. The reason we speak of the visible and the invisible is ultimately nothing other than the human mind itself. If this mind is genuinely dedicated to relief, salvation, and transformation, then visible, tangible calamities can certainly be dissolved with ease, and invisible, intangible calamities can likewise be neutralized into nothingness because of this. What is called ‘invisible’ resides within the mind and body; what is called ‘invisible’ also resides within the mind and body.
下元 (“Lower Cycle”) belongs to a three-part cosmological scheme (上元/中元/下元, Upper, Middle, and Lower Cycles); 末劫 is rendered “Kalpic Calamity”
When one person does good, the multitude masses follow their example – then their collective will unite like a fortress [眾志成城], and calamity can indeed be transformed. When one person creates ill or negative causes, the multitude masses also follow that example too – then the entire universe and cosmos [大千世界] will inevitably descend into utter chaos before it ends. There is no other reason for this: the one who creates the cause is the one who “first carved the funerary figure” [作俑者] – the instigator whose example all that follows takes its shape from. If the initiator acts for good, that good does not cease, but continues to spread; if the instigator acts for evil, that evil will surely transform into disaster and become calamity.
眾志成城 and 作俑者 (Mencius 1A.4, “he who first made funerary figures – may he have no heirs!”)
From this, know that the cultivation of merit and the nurturing of attainment means that every single place is an opportunity for meritorious deeds, and yet every single place is also a potential calamity; the difference lies only on the finest hair’s breadth. If one can truly discern down to the subtlest detail, then in every word and every deed, every gesture and every movement becomes an immense, formless monument of merit. One who achieves the greatest merit appears to possess no merit at all. The profound mystery within this can only be realized by the cultivator through their own self-awakening.
為大功行者愈無功行 echoes the Daodejing’s paradoxical register (上德不德，是以有德, ch. 38: “superior virtue does not regard itself as virtue, and so it truly possesses virtue”).
As for one who grows arrogant over a single good deed, or proud over a single word – not only is this contrary to the Dao, but it will prevent one from taking a single step forward it in the ordinary business of daily life. Thus, the cultivator regards yielding to others [讓人] to be the highest noble virtue; and yet, they must never yield when it comes to cultivating merits and virtues [功行]. There, too, lies a profound principle and truth within this.
矜/驕 (arrogance/pride) here are the same two of the “four root faults” [矜躁偏急]
Today, when the great kalpic calamity approaches, no one can see it; when a great disaster descends, no one is able to perceive it. If people only realize it after the disaster has already struck – such a one is what is called an “ordinary (mediocre)person” [庸人]. Therefore, one must understand the underlying causes before the catastrophe occurs, and only then can one comprehend the truth of why it happens through both the visible and the invisible. This requires nothing else but to seek it with absolute sincerity of mind.
The cultivator cultivates precisely this: the heart-mind. This is something all disciples know. You must rely on the natural state of your own heart-mind for your spiritual nourishment. You must rely on the natural state of your own mind for your spiritual nourishment. Only then can all disasters and catastrophes – both tangible and intangible – be averted through you, extending to others, and further reaching to all sentient beings and multitudes across the vast universe and cosmos.
Judging by recent disasters and catastrophes, they may seem of no great consequence or insignificant at first. But when they strike, their force and momentum is fiercely violent, taking less than a single day, just like howling winds and sudden torrential rains. If one does take precautions and not mend the roof before the rain comes [未雨綢繆], they will inevitably find themselves digging a well only when they are already parched [臨渴掘井], utterly at a loss for what to do. By that time, even saving oneself is impossible, let alone saving others, and let alone neutralizing the catastrophe entirely.
Our Dao’s mission of world salvation regards intangible merits and deeds as essential, yet tangible merits and deeds are also crucial. When these two proceed and run parallel without conflicting contradiction, then when a great kalpic catastrophe arrives, it can hopefully be mitigated naturally. This is precisely the reason why The Most Holy One, over the past two or three years, has constantly instructed all disciples to use meditation and chanting [坐誦] as meritorious deeds to transform and neutralize catastrophes. There is indeed a good reason for this.
When the disciples awaken to this truth, they will realize from their own experience: over the past ten-odd years, every time the months of Wu and Wei arrive [午未兩月, i.e. the fifth and sixth lunar months], it proves to be the most critical juncture. If the disciples can manage affairs wisely and conduct themselves well during this time – whether by preparing meritorious deeds in advance, practicing seated meditation and chanting beforehand, using their personal strength to safeguard the foundation, or using their strength to further its development and expand it – these are all essentials of cultivating merits, and they are matters that each individual should plan for well in advance.
All disciples are born with a distinct endowed spiritual origin and destiny. There is no need for this The Most Holy One to elab6orate at length and state the obvious. And yet, what I must tell you is that within all of this lies a supreme cosmic pivot. If you can truly respond to this pivotal moment by cultivating merits, then disasters and catastrophes can absolutely be averted while still in their invisible, formless state. Even if you do not recognize or know precisely the exact pivotal opportunity, but remain constantly mindful and focused [念茲在茲], then even tangible catastrophes can be transformed and neutralized.
念茲在茲 draws on the Shangshu – to hold something constantly, inseparably in one’s thoughts.
What is called cultivating merits within the Dao path is nothing other than this; it lies solely in spontaneity and naturalness. To act naturally means to perform deeds according to one’s own capacity; if you do so, the concept of ‘meritorious deed’ will inherently contain inexhaustible, boundless, subtle pivots. Let each of you respond to this subtle opportunity, conduct yourselves well and manage things wisely, the accumulation of your meritorious deeds will inevitably become inconceivable. Let each of you strive and exert yourselves. [各各勉旃]
勉旃 is an archaic two-character exhortation (“exert yourself!”).
Key Teachings at a Glance
Calamity Is Rooted in the Heart – both visible, tangible and invisible, intangible calamity are said to have their ground in heart and body (在乎心身), not external forces that merely act upon a passive person.
Meritorious Deeds Reaches Outward in Stages – clearing one’s own negative causes clears the negative causes of individual others, which in turn clears the negative causes of the multitude masses – a three-tier chain from self to individual to collective, not a repetition of the same step.
One Person’s Example Is Never Neutral – both good and ill, once instigated by a single person, propagates through the multitude; good does not simply fade but continues to spread, while ill compounds into calamity.
Foresight Over Reaction – only the “ordinary person” (庸人) waits until calamity has already arrived to recognize it; the cultivator is called to discern causes before they ripen, in the finest hair’s breadth (毫釐之間) between meritorious deeds and calamity.
Tangible and Intangible Practice Together – neither is dispensable; seated meditation and chanting, recitation (坐誦) is named as the specific practice assigned for the immediate, present danger.
A Named Seasonal Danger – the fifth and sixth lunar months (午未兩月) are identified as the recurring critical juncture of the past decade-plus.