The mutual interactions between mankind and other substances or beings will create a force that determines the fate, and this force is called karma.
What a person does, says, and thinks
are called
the karma force of actions,
the karma force of words, and
the karma force of thoughts,
respectively.
These karma forces will induce suffering or happiness to others. The reactions of the others due to these karma forces will recoil back upon oneself and will be one’s own suffering or happiness.
The end result is that whatever one does,
one will get it back.
We call it the karma.
Everything one does in his life, irrespective of whether he remembers or not, is recorded in one’s soul just like the memory bank of a computer.
The images of these records create spiritual waves which resonate with the spiritual waves of the others.
For example, if you hurt others, irrespective of whether others know that it is caused by you, your spiritual waves will attract and resonate with that of the others, which will have hatred and revenge in them.
Unaware of these unseen spiritual waves, the parties involved are nevertheless affected and confined by the force of karma.
Most people contribute unresolvable problems in their lives to fate and do not understand that the fate, in reality, is simply the results of the karma.
This undetectable force of karma
is not affected by space or time and
follows everyone.
It was there in one’s previous lives;
it is there in one’s present life;
it will be there in one’s future lives.
It will last forever.
Because of karma,
the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth
repeats just like a turning wheel.
From the basic laws that govern the solar system, we know that Earth revolves around the sun once a year, and there are four seasons in a year.
The cold winter and the hot summer alternate. Earth revolves around its own axis once a day, and there are daytime and nighttime in a day. These cycles are perpetual. Thus, Earth itself is the pivot to the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Considering Heaven, Earth, the sun, and the moon, the sun is yang, and the moon is yin. As yin settles to an extremely quiescent state, yang starts to rise. As yang reaches the peak, yin starts to rise. Yin and yang rotate constantly.
The North Pole and the South Pole on Earth oppose each other. Therefore, all things on Earth which receive light from the sun and the moon are confined within the alternation of the yin and yang cycles.
A human is born with the Qi of Heaven and Earth and nurtured by receiving the Qi of the essence of the sun and moon. Every moment, one depends on Heaven and Earth and is under the light of the sun and moon.
The life of mankind depends solely on the environment, which is confined by the yin and yang cycle; how then can mankind escape the yin and yang cycle?
Therefore,
mankind follows
the rules of yin and yang.
When the moon appears at night, it is yin period of the day and mankind rests because yin symbolizes stillness. When the sun is up in the daytime, it is the yang period of the day and mankind works because yang symbolizes activity.
All life forms adapt to the changes of Heaven and Earth. When yang reaches the extreme and yin starts to rise, a Soul turns into a ghost. When yin reaches the extreme and yang starts to rise, a soul becomes a man.
The rotation of yin and yang is the law that governs the rotations of Heaven, Earth, the sun, and the moon. The same law governs the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth of all things, including mankind.
There are:
Six paths of reincarnation
and Four ways of birth.
The soul may become a deity, a human, an asura, a preta, a beast, or remains in Hell after a person dies. These paths may be explained as follows:
- Deity. Deities live in the Qi-tien.
Those who perform good deeds and accumulate a lot of merits through many lives will receive rewards in the Qi-tien as deities after they die.
They will be worshiped by the common and will not have to be reborn until their rewards are all used up.
They still cannot surpass the Qi-tien and transcend the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
They will take one of the other five paths when their time comes, depending on their remaining karma forces.
- Human. Human is the second highest level in the paths of reincarnation. It is below the deity but above the asura.
There are happiness and bitterness in lives. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the four unavoidable stages in the life of a human being. Everyone receives pressures from everyday living chores.Because the karma forces are different, each person has a distinct appearance, thought, conduct, wealth, intelligence, and length of life.
Since the deeds and karma forces of everyone are different, everyone will go in one of the six reincarnation paths differently.
- Asura. If one performs good deeds in his lifetime, he can reach the Qi-tien after death and enjoy happiness.
However, if such person has not ridden of his rage and likes confrontation he becomes an asura instead of a deity.
He receives the reward as not confined by Hell, but he does not have the virtues of a deity. There is a time limit for being an asura.
- Hell. Those who remain in Hell have done bad deeds when they were alive. They receive their judgment and punishment in Hell.
The apparatuses used in punishments are innumerous. In reality, Hell is the gravity. Those who are sinful and pursue materialism will be attracted by gravity, and go to Hell when they die.The length of their sentences varies. The longest and the toughest sentence is being sent to the eighteenth level, a firing infernal that has no exit, until the end of Heaven and Earth.
- Preta. A Preta is a wandering famishing ghost. When a person is evil in his lifetime, has a lot of desires, and does not help the needy, he will become a preta upon his death.
A preta wanders around and starves, for it cannot eat or drink anything. There is a time limit for being a preta.
- Animals. There are different kinds of animals. They are birds, beasts, aquatic lives, and insects.
Those who are evil in their lifetime and have a lot of desires will become animals upon their death.Those who are cruel and merciless will become tigers and wolves.
Those who are crooked will become snakes and scorpion.
Those with a lot of sins and debts become insects.
Those with lesser sins and debts will become aquatic lives, and still lesser sins and debts will become beasts.
Those with the least amount of sins and debts will become birds.
These are generalizations to distinguish the four kinds of animals and the reality is much more complicated. There is, again, a time limit for being an animal.
Paths of ReincarnationThe four ways of birth are:
- born from a womb,
- born from a hard-shelled egg,
- born in water, and
- born as insects.
For example, mankind, oxen, sheep, and horses are born from wombs.
Birds, most snakes, turtles, etc., are born from hard-shelled eggs.
Most aquatic animals such as fish, shrimps, crabs, etc., are born in water.
Examples of insects are mosquitoes and flies.
In the beginning,
the human mind was pure and simple. All living things lived in harmony and were cultivated together. There was hardly any distinction between animals and human beings.
Humans continued to reincarnate into humans, and animals continued to be animals. As the human civilizations developed, the human mind became contaminated and complicated.
People started to kill and eat defenseless animals. Then ferocious animals started to kill and eat human beings. At that time, the distinction between animals and human beings became apparent.
Who is willing to be killed and eaten
without asking for revenge?
Since God is just and fair, how can He allow mutual killings between humans and animals to continue without being punished?
Therefore, God created the four ways of birth and six paths of rebirth. Since then, humans and animals started to reincarnate into other forms.
The reincarnations into human beings are also different. A soul may be born as rich, eminent, poor, or vagrant four classes.
Rich or eminent to the extreme will turn into poor or vagrant for being in such states, one expenses all his rewards.
Poor or vagrant to the extreme will turn into rich or eminent for being in such state, one repays his debts. Anything reaches the extreme will turn to the opposite. This is the law of changes.
A human exhaust his rewards will reincarnate into a nonhuman. A non-human pays off his debts and repents his sins will reincarnate into a human. Similarly, those born from a womb and a hard-shelled egg will reincarnate into those born in water and as insects, and vice versa.
Of all births and deaths, the cosmos is a grand cycle; mankind and other living things are small cycles. There are cycles for good deeds; there are cycles for bad deeds. It’s just like the wheels in a mechanical watch, turning indefinitely.
The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth depends purely on the karma forces of one’s deeds.
Unless a person has received Tien-Tao from the Enlightened Teacher with Tien-Ming 1and sincerely practice Tao afterward so that his soul can be reborn and reach God’s kingdom, one cannot escape from the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth caused by the karma force.
The path and the way of a person’s reincarnation solely depend on one’s karma. Since everyone has different karma, everyone has a different fate.
Reincarnation caused by karma forces is the law.
This law is the Truth, Tao. Tao is God. Therefore, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth are created by the deeds of each soul and are governed by God.
