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How to Hold the Bowl to Make an Offering
Wrong perception, also known as delusion, is an upside-down perception, inverted from the truth. Through the image of the four straight lines on the board, we see that our eyes can be deceived by optical illusions, making parallel lines look slanted or of different lengths. Never be too sure of what you see or hear, because even when your eyes are still good, you can still be wrong. The World Honored One taught that we need to allow a question mark regarding the accuracy of our perceptions to avoid actions and speech that cause suffering to ourselves and others.
The story of the woman of Nam Xuong illustrates the consequences of wrong perception, when the husband believed the naive words of his young child and doubted his wife’s fidelity. The lack of communication and pride led to a heartbreaking tragedy, while the truth about the father was just a shadow on the wall. Science also shows that human perception is very superficial through these examples:
- The sun we see is an image from eight minutes ago.
- The twinkling stars may have burned out thousands of years ago.
- Matter that seems motionless is actually made up of atoms with continuously moving electrons.
To protect our happiness, we need to practice letting go of pride and learn to share our pain with our loved one through sincere words asking for help. At the same time, maintaining an altar in the family helps each person not to lose their roots and to always feel supported by two streams of ancestors:
- Spiritual ancestors are the Buddha, the ancestral teachers, and the bodhisattvas.
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Blood ancestors are our grandparents and parents.
This practice helps us to be firmly rooted, feel less lost, and avoid psychological illnesses in modern life.