Be Sure to Distinguish Right from Wrong


by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua

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Being a person is fine. Cultivating the Way is also fine. But no matter what we pursue, there is proper and deviant, there is right and wrong, there isyin andyang, there is good and bad, and there is filiality and rebelliousness. You can't take right to be wrong, black for white, evil to be good, and be a rebellious per-son and yet say you honor your parents. To talk like that is being upside down-confused about right and wrong, rebellion and filial piety, black and white. One who thinks like that is blind to the truth. And one who doesn't recognize the truth is foolish.
Some foolish people know what's right and still go ahead and do what's wrong. They know what's correct and still incline toward the improper. This is what's known as not distinguishing between black and white and creating demonic karma. And so today the line of verse to match is'

Being confised about black and white, One creates demonic karma.

You could say that such a person holds deviant knowledge and views and is a thief among the virtuous. By creating evil karma, one will defmitely fall into the retinue of the demon king in the future.
As long as we are people, we must defmitely recognize how to distinguish black from white, right from wrong, good from evil, yin from yang, what accords, and what opposes. If you understand these principles, then you should progress in accord with the Way, and turn away from what opposes the Way. Grow in what accords with goodness, and change what is not wholesome. Then in the future you will quickly realize Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, the Unsurpassed, Proper, Equal, and Right Enlightenment.


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