Five Calamities in the Cultivation of Buddha《修佛五劫》Salucco, A. D., & Gemini (Google), Z.-P. The First Calamity: Doubt (疑)Doubt: To question the words of others while possessing no foundation of one's own exploration.Doubt is the beginning of knowing. I know not what doubt is, save that it is the Echo of Infinite Consequences (萬果之音). Buddha sought the Truth through the False; this is the method of "Catching the Moon’s Reflection in the Water." Only when one realizes that ten thousand volumes of Sutras are but empty vessels, and that all secular books are indeed Sutras, can one understand the nature of this calamity. Unless one traverses all Five Calamities, the Calamity of Doubt shall never dissipate, returning in an eternal cycle.Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am." This is the True Word of Buddha.The Second Calamity: Arrogance (慢)Arrogance: To know the ignorance of the masses, yet remain ignorant of their wisdom.Without Doubt, one knows not Arrogance. Though all beings are equal, to me, I am nobler than the masses; this is the foundation of discourse and the beginning of Dharma. One may treat the Dharma with negligence, but one must never treat the masses with negligence. The masses are the root of Dharma; thus, one must learn from them with a humble heart.Franklin spoke of Humility; I speak of Pride. Confucius said: "Choose what is good and follow it; amend what is not."The Third Calamity: Delusion (癡)Confucius said: "To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge."Buddha said: "The Dharma is vast and boundless; even the Great Sage (Sun Wukong) cannot leap beyond it." To know the finitude of Heaven and Earth is the beginning of Delusion. To return to primal simplicity is the ultimate form of Delusion. Buddha said: "All appearances are not appearances." I say: "There is also a Primal Essence (本相)." I know not why the Bodhisattva refuses to attain Buddhahood—perhaps out of reluctance, perhaps out of inability, or perhaps this calamity does not exist and Buddha was mistaken.Buddha spoke of the "Finger Pointing at the Moon"; I desire, with the weight of a single volume, to carry the Truth of ten thousand Sutras.The Fourth Calamity: Wrath (嗔)Laozi said: "The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced all things."Laozi left five thousand words. Confucius spoke of no longer dreaming of the Duke of Zhou. That Buddha tacitly allows the affairs of men is itself an act of Wrath. Within ten thousand volumes of Sutras, every word is Wrath. When Franklin spoke of Humility, he was being Proud; when he spoke of Pride, he was being Humble. I believe Buddha smiles at my foolishness; therefore, I write this single volume of Sutra, composing the "Five Calamities" on behalf of Buddha, to witness the depth of my Dharma.Newton spoke of shells; Einstein said: "God does not play dice"; Franklin spoke of Life and Humility.The Fifth Calamity: Greed (貪)Confucius said: "My Way is bound by one thread." Laozi said: "Three produced all things."Buddha spoke of "Greed, Wrath, Delusion, Arrogance, and Doubt," and the cycle of "Formation, Existence, Decay, and Emptiness." Franklin spoke of the Thirteen Virtues. I know not how to solve "Greed," nor how to restrain it. According to the nature of all appearances, the Living Buddha Ji Gong remains trapped in the cycle of the Fourth Calamity, failing to realize the fifth depth of Dharma: "To know the vastness of Dharma, yet to feel Wrath that Buddha does not deliver the masses." I suspect that Buddha and the masses deliver one another (互渡) as they walk together.If one traverses these Five Calamities, one shall know that the words of my book are also a volume of Sutra. One shall also know that I believe not in the Dharma; thus, the Sutras are both True and False. All laws are Void; only the Tao is Real. One name for it is the Universe; another is God. Laozi said: "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao."