In between Bright (light and honour)
and Dark (obscurity and poverty)

In Sanyutta Agama(【雜阿含經】), a sutra written in the period of Original Buddhism, the Buddha discoursed four meaningful and far-reaching sentences that elaborated how mankind could upgrade spiritually or tumble. These four sentences are, “From obscurity and poverty to be reborn in light and honour; from light and honour to be reborn in obscurity and poverty; from light and honour to be reborn in the heavens; from obscurity and poverty to be reborn in the hells.” The meaning of these few sentences will be analyzed as follows:

•	When an individual was born in a poor family living with hardships due to karma in one’s preexistence, one is supposed to have a dark life. However, if one tries to live strenuously to make oneself strong by being kind-hearted, helpful and contributes to society, one will surely be respected after all. Moreover, if one believes in Buddhism in this present life and is destined to depend and rest on an enlightened Guru; practises Tantra diligently and refuges Saddarma laws from the Buddha whole-heartedly, one’s past karma will thus be eliminated. In doing so, one has had a breakthrough from one’s original fate trajectory and approaches a bright future instead. The individual finally leads an improved life and this is what ‘from obscurity and poverty to be reborn in light and honour’ means.
•	On the contrary, an individual was born in a rich family that provides one with both wealth and power and one is also destined to rely on an enlightened Guru to practise Saddarma laws from the Buddha. However, one is swallowed by greed, hatred, delusion, jealousy as well as arrogance which stop one from treasuring all the rewards which were planted in one’s preexistence. One consequently becomes physically and mentally confused and one does not believe in cause and effect anymore. One fails to comply with Tantric Commandments and even slanders one’s Guru. Eventually, one’s dhammakaya wisdom is burnt into ashes and one is sure to fall into Avicinarka (the hell) in one’s afterlife. The decline from a bright noble situation to a much lower level is an erroneous life. This is what ‘from light and honour to be reborn in obscurity and poverty’ means.
•	If a rich person who possesses wealth and power, he can always care for others, be generous and participates actively in charity work to help the poor. In addition to his destiny to take refuge in a Tantric Guru and learns to abandon the five desires through intensive practices, he is said to be leading a wise life in his transcendence from ordinary to saint. This is what ‘from light and honour to be reborn in the heavens’ means.
•	Under the influence of karma in one’s preexistence, this poor person is suffered from frustrations in present life. Unless one makes corrections to get rid of one’s accumulated wicked behavior or evil-doing promptly, it is to no avail even if one is fortunate enough to receive a Guru’s teaching and blessings. Furthermore, if this individual is not firm enough but captured by ignorance, one will have heterodox views that makes one disbelieve in cause and effect. One then offences the Tantric Commandments, slanders one’s Guru, maligns the Buddha and calumniates dharma. Without treasuring the blessings one is supposed to have, it is so pitiful and sad that one misses one’s distinguished chance to learn Buddhism in this life. Even worse is that one has offended the Fourteen Root Fallings of Vajrayana and is sure to be sentenced to Avicinarka(the hell) after death with an everlasting imprisonment. This kind of fallen life tells us what ‘from obscurity and poverty to be reborn in the hells’ means.

The following was a story happened during the Buddha’s period.

There was once an only child who was born in a wealthy family. His parents viewed him as their treasure and searched everywhere for excellent teachers for him hoping that he would become successful as soon as possible. However, he was unruly, stupid and forgetful that made him unable to study well. His parents then told him to manage the family’s business. Unfortunately, he was spoiled, indulgent, lazy as well as weak in financial management and was thus unable to spend money thrifty. Consequently, he used up all his properties. Even so, he did not evaluate his own faults but complained and blamed the others for the mistakes. He treated his parents and relatives as enemies and his friends drifted apart from him. He was finally left alone. Meanwhile, he suddenly thought of an idea: why not going to see the Buddha and ask to be His disciple. He then went to the Buddha’s Monastery, bowed before the Buddha and begged the Buddha to accept him as His disciple.
The Buddha then discoursed him, “To learn Buddha dharma, the first criterion is to have pure behaviour. However, you’re now filled with resentment, if you’re allowed to join my Sangha (Buddhist community) in such circumstance, do you think it is beneficial?  I suggest you going back first to learn to be a filial son; to be cautious in words and deeds; to be hardworking as well as to be responsible. By the time when you can fulfill all these, come back to me for the dharma.”
The Buddha continued to set forth the following gathas for him, “To behave well, one has to be knowledgeable; takes good care of one’s relatives frequently; never be lazy or unrestrained, be able to practise dana (remark: ‘dana’ means giving, one of the essential preliminary steps of Buddhist practice. It is related to donation, similar to ‘almsgiving’ in western countries). What’s done in the present deed will become the cause of what you’ll receive in the next rebirth. To learn Buddha dharma, it’s essential to abandon stupidity and ignorance as well as to avoid being the sludge in dirty mud since a Sramana (a Buddhist monk) should be undefiled after all!”
After listening to the Buddha’s teaching attentively, he was filled with joy and he bowed before the Buddha again to show his reverence. He then returned to his hometown. In the few successive days, he thought of Buddha’s teaching over and over again before he realized that he was wrong. He confessed to repent earnestly on his misdeeds and swore to start a new life.

From then on, he showed filial obedience to his parents, respected his teachers, ran the household diligently and thriftily and managed to get along with others modestly and politely. Furthermore, he always practised dana and supported charity works. He was gradually accepted and praised by the others. Three years later, he reappeared in front of the Buddha’s seat. He placed his knees, elbows and head to the ground when bowing before the Buddha to show his utmost respect. He wept grievously with tears running down to plea the Buddha to accept him as His disciple. The Buddha knew thoroughly that he had already truly corrected himself, so he was finally accepted as a Sramana. Since then, he practised meditation diligently and ultimately, he achieved the Six Abhijna (ubiquitous supernatural power) and was certified the attainment of Arahant’s status (remark: Arahant is a perfected person).

Postscript:
As mankind have not yet achieved Saints, it is inevitable that they may sometimes make mistakes. Our Guru always teaches that we should frequently introspect our behaviour to make sure that our demeanor is always on the right track. In case, when mistakes are made, if and only if we can truly repent and have the courage to make corrections, the karma made will easily be cleared and thus we can still be able to reach the bright Arya-gocara (holy ground) from the dark one day.