If we are able to control ourselves and be diligent in our efforts,
we will have a chance to succeed. If we are to understand the
subtleties of life and all its complications, we can enjoy achievements.
As humans, we live our lives in the frames of time and space,
so if we can have control over time and space, we will be able
to ride the crest of our success.
Once we leave our mother's womb, our life span is predetermined.
Although it might be thirty years, fifty years or eighty years,
it really does not matter how long we live because it is up to
us to use our wisdom in determining how we should best spend the
time that we have. There are people in this world who can do a
thousand year's worth of work in a day's time, and there are people
who will live a hundred years as if every day is the same without
ever changing their ways.
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The passage of time treats every member of the
human race equally because time is always honest. Although human
life is short and finite, we can gain control of the time machine
if we are to make use of our time wisely. Within our limited
time, we should always set a deadline for everything, we do
and never procrastinate. Even in the Pure Land School, practitioners
reciting the Buddha's name know they I need to gain enlightenment
within a period of time.
Although a great deal of time is required for
scholars or farmers to sow the seeds for harvest, they will
eventually enjoy the fruits of their labor when the time is
right. As long as we are in control of our time, we will have
no trouble in making good use of our space. While some people
do not know what to do with a big yard, others can set up a
vegetable garden on a rooftop. Similarly, there are people who
will sit idle in their high-rise buildings as others are busy
making plans to influence the world from their cramped quarters.
Time is a river of no return because the past
is the past and the present is the present. It ticks away from
one day to another without returning to the previous moment.
However, there are people whose lives are so routine. They live
today like it was yesterday and will live tomorrow like it is
today. Their lives will go on aimlessly without any set plan.
As for space, there are those who can go from nothing to owning
a big piece of land, and others can go from having many acres
of good land to having nothing under their names.
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Some people in this world will seize every minute and second
from dawn to dusk for time is limited and life is painfully short.
There are also people who will eat three square meals a day and
do nothing else because they think laziness is the source of pleasure
in life. However, when they have gone beyond the point of regret,
time will not come back to them, and it will not show them an
ounce of pity because they have wasted so much time.
Some people may take to the streets to ask for land or housing
reforms. However, how can we let others own a piece of our land
without paying or letting strangers stay in our house without
rent? In reality, the workings of time and space do not discriminate
against anybody because no single individual is the sole proprietor
of time and space. They belong to the world, and the only way
that we can claim ownership is to master the essence of time and
space. If we did not have a firm grasp of time and space, they
would quietly slip through our fingers like flowing water. Therefore,
if we were to wish for time and space, we must know how to use
them wisely.
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