Enlightenment Magazine #191 THE ART OF KNOWING THE FUTURE by Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu translated by Cheng Yew Chung, edited by Victor Hazen. Someone asked me, “Can you read the future?” I replied, “Sure”. “If you know a disaster awaits you, can you avert it?” I replied, “You can do your best to avert it, but your chances of success still hinge on your destiny.” “Are there methods in the teachings of Vajrayana where we can read the future?” I replied, “There are many ways!” I shall share one practice with you. Take a mirror; purify it over fire before hanging it in your mandala shrine. Then obtain some fragrant flowers and recite your personal deity mantra 108 times to bless and empower the flowers. Then take each flower and again recite the deity mantra once and cast the flower towards the mirror. Do this 21 or 49 times. Sit up straight and look into the mirror. The mirror shall reveal writings to inform you about your future. Based on the above principle, you may choose a clean bowl instead of a mirror. Fill the bowl with clean water. First recite the deity mantra 108 times to bless and empower the flowers, then with each additional recitation of mantra, take a flower petal and cast it into the bowl of water. Repeat this 21 or 49 times. Look into the bowl of water and pay attention to the writings that appear. You will be told what you wish to know about your future. Acting on the same principle, you can choose a pure crystal ball and purify it over the fire at the mandala shrine. The practitioner should recite the deity mantra 108 times to bless and empower the flowers. Then, with each additional recitation of the mantra, take a petal and cast it at the crystal ball. Do this 21 times or 49 times. Look into the crystal ball and it shall reveal words or images which will tell you what you wish to know about your future. However, I do not need to resort to these practices. When I go to bed, I just pray to my personal deity. Once I shut my eyes, a white spot shall appear, eventually forming a white inner screen. Events in the future will be projected onto this inner screen like a movie for my review. Today I see no meaning in knowing the future. It is better not to know anything, for any foreknowledge of things brings early fear. Do cultivate the Vajrayana practice truthfully, and rise above all afflictions. Go with the flow and know that self-liberation from life and death must always come first!
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