A Place of Merit and Personal Resilience : หน้า 108/135

170. A PLACE OF MERIT When I came to live at the Buddhahead Center, I set my mind to this one goal: to make this place clean and pure, a imperious place of virtue where people come to practice meditation and achieve purity. 171. AT THE COST OF MY LIFE I devoted my flesh and blood to establish the Buddhahead Center without the consideration for my own health, so much so that right before it was completed, I became severely ill. This time, I nearly died. I had to take refuge in merit at all times in order to survive. I lived; but if this happened to another old person, I am sure that person would have already ended up in a coffin. I’m well now, but only as much as as old person can be well. February 26, 1983 172. DON’T DELVE ON THE NEGATIVE If you make a bad mistake, don’t let your thoughts run away with you in a negative direction or it will open doors for Mara to step in and make things worse. The more negative your imagination, the more harm you will bring to yourself. It is better for your mind to take refuge at the center of your body. When people commit a bad mistake or face adversity, they tend to become negative and think of the worst. They become discouraged, disheartened, depressed, and demonized. These negative emotions give the opportunity for Mara to come in with its malicious “program” that causes everything bad to come to fruition. In other words, your negative thoughts cause negative effects. So when bad situations happen, keep your mind at the center of your body. Eventually, the negative energy will go away and you will be able to remedy the situations. September 20, 1976