Gradually, the pictures are unfolded…(Master Zhenlin)

The Buddha Dharma can be both easy and difficult. Your coming to practice the Dharma is analogous to getting on a boat. You shall come to feel it personally if you pull the oars yourself. Aware that you are cultivating the Proper Way, deceased relatives and friends shall show up in your dream, asking you for a favor to ferry them over.

Cultivate the Dharma with a singular focus. The myriad pictures along the way are as dazzling as the flowers reflected in the mirror and moon in the river that addle your mind. They shall all come to emptiness. While you may take a look at how illusive they are, do not allow them to have any imprint in your mind. Do not be fettered by curiosity. Refrain from the vanity of thinking yourself as having achieved more than others.

Stay vigorous and do not slacken your efforts in cultivation. Dismiss the ever-changing illusion in the mirror with a smile. The Six Paths shall all appear before you, being both false and yet true. Do not be taken away by the wonders of the Buddhalands in the ten directions. Mind you, though, if you contemplate the state with an unconditioned mind, the Heavenly Demon Papiyan shall come to disturb your mind of suchness, as gone are the days of peace for him. Incalculable as his tricks may be, they work only if your mind is characterized by greed, hatred, and ignorance!

A genuine cultivator should let go of the worldly affairs. While it may be easy for you to cast away the greed for worldly ways, you may fail to spot the greed for the Buddha Dharma. It is a trap conjured up by Papiyan. Many get trapped in the demonic net if without the guidance of an enlightened master. Worse, they continue to be arrogant even when trapped. They may mistake the state presented before them by spiritual penetration as Nirvana.

One endowed with wisdom shall be able to transcend the self, and let go the attachment and greed. By then, Papiyan won’t be able to do anything about you even having exhausted his tricks, but shall have to bow to you reverently. Having been freed from the Banner of Victory erected by Papiyan, the mind demon of arrogance awaits you ahead. So terrible is the mind of arrogance that it accompanies you constantly even you have certified to the eighth-level Bodhisattva. Once your mind is rattled by it, the ten external Ways shall soon take the wind.

The pictures unfolded before you are dazzling as you cultivate further. Once attached to them, you get deviated from the Proper Way. Watch them without getting attached to them, and, like the flowers reflected in the mirror and moon in the water, they all end in emptiness. With a mind of concentration, you shall enter the state of the Lotus. You shall manifest the countenance of a Buddha disciple, youthful like that of Manjushri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.

With the manifestation of the appearance of a Buddha Disciple, you will be certified to be a Tenth-level Bodhisattva, close to knowing the Dharma Nature of the Buddha Dharani. You shall attain a golden body with 32 marks.

So myriad are the pictures along the way that they are beyond description. If you understand the verses in the passage, you are on the Bodhi Way towards enlightenment. While the word and verse are easily understandable, how many can truly grasp the states beyond them? It is indeed afflicting!