Spirit-Writing of Zhang Tianran
Zhang Tianran (張天然, 1889–1947) was the seventeenth patriarch of Yiguandao and, alongside Sun Huiming, the architect of its modern expansion. In seventeen years of ministry — from 1930 until his death in 1947 — he transformed a small sectarian movement into a religious network spanning all of China. He died at fifty-eight, leaving behind millions of disciples, a scattered community, and a Heavenly Mandate that passed to Sun Huiming alone.
This text — 天然師尊叮嚀心語, "Teacher Tianran's Words of Gentle Reminder" — is a collection of one hundred and one aphorisms received through spirit-writing after Zhang Tianran's death. The title uses 叮嚀 (dīngníng): to exhort gently and repeatedly, the way a parent reminds a child of what they already know but keep forgetting. These are not revelations or prophecies. They are pastoral care — a dead teacher watching his community fracture into factions, watching power struggles corrode the work he gave his life for, and speaking through the planchette to say, one hundred and one times: stop fighting, remember why you started, be kind to each other.
The text is notable for its remarkable self-awareness. Zhang Tianran refers to himself as "a poor monk," "a mad mendicant," "a teacher without virtue." He admits that his own careless words while alive planted seeds of division. He acknowledges that the ghosts in the underworld are easier to teach than his living disciples, because the dead have already suffered and no longer crave power. And in Aphorism 99, he reports from the spiritual frontlines of mainland China, where disciples are being martyred under Communist persecution — and tells his disciples in free countries that they have no right to complain.
The text was published on the Good Book Library (善書圖書館, taolibrary.com). This is the first English translation.
In these final days, you must know how to balance pioneering new work with preserving what already exists. But do not cling to a single method or confine yourself to one place. If your aspiration is sincere, Heaven will arrange the opportunities. As long as you are willing to serve and to cultivate yourself, you will naturally draw countless people of good affinity to you.
When you cultivate the Dao and carry out its work, you must act without "acting" — through effortless sincerity, not through force. Treat every living being as someone to whom you owe a debt from ages past. Dedicate your heart entirely to Heaven and forget yourself. Whatever you accomplish, give the credit to Heaven and to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all directions. Only then will you avoid falling into the trap of chasing after reputation, profit, and power within the Dao community. The state of affairs in the community today fills your teacher with sorrow and regret.
Your future achievement will not be measured by the size of your community, nor by the number of temples and altar-halls you have built, nor by how many followers you can count. It will be measured by whether you have truly cultivated yourself — whether you have kept your vows, freed yourself from greed and delusion, stopped arguing and competing, and perfected the inner work of harmonizing your heart and nature, so that you can fulfill your mission.
You must help all beings — and yourself — find liberation in this lifetime. If you cannot save someone now, then pray and bless them, that in some future life they too may be freed. When you understand the karmic causes and conditions of your own cultivation, you establish a current of goodness that flows between Heaven and Earth.
Disciples of the White Sun era must cultivate a vast and open heart. Celebrate the success of others. Praise their excellence. Honor their hard work. Cultivate the spirit that lets the world laugh with us, lets the universe laugh with us, lets all beings laugh with us.
The Sixth Patriarch said: "Humility within the heart is merit; equality toward all beings is virtue." Keep gratitude and repentance always in your heart. Observe the favorable and the adverse in your surroundings, and meet all of it with a smile. This will spare you a great deal of suffering.
In these final days, each of you must transcend on your own. Toward all your debts of kindness and grudges, love and enmity, grievance and kinship — do not grasp. Within the flow of natural causes and conditions, release yourself from all these entanglements. Only then can you be truly free. If an ordinary person cannot yet do as the ancient sages did — "let the heart arise without dwelling anywhere" — then at least learn this: let the heart dwell without grasping anywhere.
The wisdom-tests that lie ahead for the Dao community are beyond imagining. Your teacher cannot settle your hearts and minds for you. I can only hope that you will feel Heaven's heart, the Buddha's heart, your teacher's heart, and cultivate honestly, holding fast to your vows. As Brother Lutong once said: "The sacred vessel of the world cannot be forced! Be cautious! Be careful!"
If every single disciple in the White Sun community could pray for the welfare of all beings, could prostrate themselves to dissolve calamity and ease the tests — then the concentrated power of those good thoughts would certainly reduce the world's disasters and trials to a minimum. And Heaven would surely extend the years you have left to carry out the work.
In this age of the Dharma's decline, those who cultivate the Dao must make a great vow. Raise your heart until it beats in unison with the hearts of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all directions. If you seek only your own liberation in this single lifetime, how will you ever enter the ocean of true Dharma?
The work of spreading the Dao certainly includes saving people, teaching the Dharma, pioneering new territories, and establishing altar-halls. But you must not forget to take real action to relieve the suffering of society — caring for the poor, the elderly, and the orphaned; supporting environmental protection and assistance for the disabled; even animal welfare and the freeing of captive creatures. All of this builds bonds of affinity with beings in every direction. Do not dismiss these as merely "worldly" concerns. If you do not mend what belongs to the world of form, how can you perfect what belongs to the world before form?
Your teacher treats every disciple equally. The palm and the back of the hand are both flesh — I would never favor one over the other. As long as you are willing to serve, things will turn around for you. Some communities flourish quickly, some slowly — this has much to do with karmic conditions, so do not envy others. I hope that your resolve will never waver. Your teacher blesses you deeply. Wait for the clouds to part and the moon will appear. After the bitterness, sweetness always comes.
For all the suffering in the world, for all the beings who die in disasters — you must offer a share of compassion, grief, and sympathy in your dedications of merit. When you offer incense and prostrate morning and evening, you cannot pray only for the expansion of your own community. If your community grows but you lack the great compassion that suffers with all beings and the great kindness that extends even to strangers — then what kind of cultivator are you? Only by cultivating care for those with whom you have no connection can you draw those with good connections to your door.
Fulfill your vows and in doing so dissolve your karmic ties. Do what your heart calls you to do and leave it there — do not create unnecessary entanglements. Seek liberation in this very moment, moving freely like a drifting cloud, so that you do not fall into another layer of cause and effect that must be repaid in future lives. That would be a tragedy. Your teacher himself, through a moment's carelessness long ago — writing a few casual couplets for amusement — planted the seeds of the very divisions that now afflict the Dao community. Let this be a warning: guard your thoughts carefully. Do not stir up emotional entanglements.
Though your teacher is nothing but a poor monk, as long as your hearts are harmonious from top to bottom, united as one — how could I ignore you? Even when the conditions are not yet ripe, I am still helping you openly and in secret, sending a great altar-hall to every place where you work. But if the thoughts within your own community cannot hold together, how can your teacher face the Buddhas of all directions? It puts me in an impossible position.
Those who cultivate the Dao must let go of worldly attachments and speak instead of sacred ones. Be at ease wherever you are, be free wherever you find yourself. A cultivator must never chase luxury, display, or grandeur. Your teacher has been poor all his life — one begging bowl for a thousand households, a solitary wanderer across ten thousand miles, at ease in my shabbiness. I cannot accept, let alone teach, these wealthy disciples.
You who cultivate the Dao — the sacred and the worldly must be kept absolutely separate, the public and the private absolutely clear. The slightest confusion and you will lose your way. Since when has anyone used a sacred hall as a place of business? If you are greedy and grasping, Heaven will repay you in kind, and that will not end well.
As for all the gossip and disputes within the community — do not spread them, and certainly do not fan the flames. Cultivate a generous spirit of compassion and tolerance. If we treat others this way, Heaven will treat us the same.
In every thought, open the door to future blessings for all beings. Do not seize power or bully others, damaging the good name of the Dao and harming innocent newcomers. Though your teacher has no great virtue, I did leave behind a Dao community in this world for my disciples to carry forward. I dare not ask too much of you. I only hope you will protect it well and not squander the vast grace of Heaven.
For the suffering and disasters that afflict beings in all six realms of existence, you must feel limitless care and offer prayers from the depths of your heart, hoping that they may soon encounter good causes and conditions and have the chance to cross over the sea of bitterness.
Your teacher's heart and mind cannot even reach the people who stand at the front of your community and lead its affairs. I cannot whisper my gentle words to them. This is because your hearts are not aligned with mine. You are too caught up in personal disputes and external appearances. All day long you rush about handling community business, yet you never turn the light inward to illuminate your own original awareness. Perhaps it is simply that your teacher lacks the virtue to move you.
The spirit-writing mediums do not belong to any single community. If there is an opportunity to help others see the Dao and complete their cultivation, your teacher is willing to go anywhere to strengthen the faith of all my disciples. If you do not make good use of this, you are wasting the marvelous instrument that Heaven has given you.
In truth, Heaven has given your community far too many opportunities. But your hearts have lacked the sincere gratitude to receive them. Toward the dozen or so previous cases of karmic resolution, you showed weariness and rejection — and so you also cut off the further opportunity for celestial beings to manifest at your altar and assist your community. Your teacher says this plainly, not knowing whether the senior members of your community can accept it. But being attached to not-being-attached-to-appearances is itself an obstacle.
Do not abandon or cut off those disciples who have left the community or turned away from the Dao — your teacher cannot bear to. As their fellow cultivators, how can you not care? You should also maintain a heart of prayer and blessing for them, hoping that Heaven will show mercy and that they may soon find their way back. The more sincere your prayer, the more it can truly call forth their awakening and return.
Do not cling to fortune-telling by the calendar. Do not despair at the adversity around you. When you make a great vow and set a great resolve, and your heart resonates with the hearts of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas — then a single thought can transcend three thousand worlds and leap straight out of the cycle of birth and death. And all beings in every direction are gathered into that resonance. That is something truly worth celebrating.
Do not overemphasize how many altar-halls or followers you have, creating a mindset of competition and possession. This is wrong. The slightest deviation and you begin to calculate and compare, and then you easily fall from the Dao. Know this: Heaven's final reckoning of merit will be based on your virtue, your discipline, the purity of your thoughts, the sincerity of your vows, and the refinement of your inner fire — not on outward signs of fortune and fame.
How many people have already been swept into the trap of chasing power, influence, and reputation within the Dao, without even knowing it — it is truly heartbreaking. If at this final stage a cultivator still cannot see through appearances and awaken, what more is there to say? When your teacher and Teacher Mother passed from this world, we took nothing with us. We left behind the responsibility of the Three Realms and a Dao community for you to carry forward. What is there for you to fight over — yours and mine?
Those who cultivated the Dao before me are the ancient sages. Those who cultivated before me are the honored elders. Those who cultivate alongside me are my fellow practitioners. All of them are rare companions across a thousand lifetimes — teachers and friends of immeasurable worth. All deserve our respect and reverence. You should always approach the Dao with a humble heart.
Do not let decades of cultivation and service result in nothing but an increase in wealth and reputation while your inner wisdom remains exactly where it started. That would be merely worldly fortune, nothing more. Cultivators in this age of the Dharma's decline must see through this absolutely.
In the whole course of cultivation, you must balance engagement and withdrawal, action and stillness. Use the outward achievements of the sage-king to pioneer in all directions — this is the visible work of the Dao. Use the inward virtue of the sage to elevate your heart and nature — this is the invisible work of the Dao. Only when both are present can there be true accomplishment.
Direct your thoughts in dedication toward all the beings in this world who have not yet been saved from suffering. Pray that they may soon encounter good causes and conditions and find liberation. And if they cannot be saved in this lifetime, bless them that in the next cosmic cycle they may receive the Dao and escape suffering.
Do not be satisfied with the happiness and comfort you presently enjoy. Be grateful for the conditions you have for cultivation. Even in the midst of adversity and testing, your situation is immeasurably better than that of beings in the hells, the realm of hungry ghosts, or the animal realm. You have no right to complain — and no right to be proud.
In cultivating and serving the Dao, constantly improve yourself, urge yourself forward, so that you may enrich your virtue and wisdom and reduce the pull of karmic debt.
Read widely in the scriptures of the sages. In revisiting the old you discover the new, and you come to understand the wondrous principle that threads all teachings into one. Through this you feel the sages' compassionate intention in teaching.
Carry out your cultivation and service with a public heart. Attribute all merit and accomplishment to the Eternal Mother and to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all directions. Then you will not stumble into the trap of cultivating the Dao based on loyalty to a person rather than understanding of principle.
When guiding fellow practitioners, teach according to each person's capacity. Lead everyone to develop their heavenly heart and nature. Let the essential thing be: follow principle in cultivating the Dao.
The tests will come. Especially the great wisdom-test of the White Sun's final days, which is nearly upon you. Everyone must be prepared. As the saying goes: "Accept it calmly and weather the storm." On this great Dao-board, every one of you must be tempered and refined by trials before you can become a vessel of great capacity.
Strengthen the inner resolve of your fellow practitioners. Protect the root of cultivation. Nurture the one point of light within human nature. Even if someone cannot attain the Dao in this lifetime, at least their good thoughts will be preserved unextinguished, and in some future life — because they did not turn back — they may yet transcend.
Cultivate the heart that sees Heaven's Pure Land everywhere, that finds the Pure Land wherever it stands. Then the wind of awakening blows through the human world, and what is left for your teacher to worry about? I only hope you will seize every moment of your living breath and open this door.
Follow the spirit in which your elders served the Dao. Continue the extension of the wisdom-life. Follow principle and the Dao without division. Do not follow persons. Let each one give their whole heart to stabilizing the community.
Follow the scriptures of the ancient sages. See the worthy and aspire to be their equal. Observe the rules of discipline. Advance in virtue. But never turn an immortal or any individual into an idol to worship.
Follow virtue. Observe the commandments. Encourage and support one another among practitioners. Cultivate together and serve together. Let the spirit of Maitreya's great family flourish.
Do not let greed or anger provoke you to resentment. Under the great principle of no greed, no delusion, sincerity and true cultivation — follow the legacy of your elders: spread the great Dao selflessly for the sake of all under Heaven. Right and wrong, crooked and straight — Heaven will judge in its own time. Do not argue, lest you create further division in the community.
A hundred rivers flow to the sea and in the end return to one source. As long as you truly cultivate and truly serve, Heaven will not let human effort go unrewarded. In the chaotic times ahead, when everything shifts and changes, hold fast to your own mission and responsibility.
Point-transmitters must conduct themselves with uprightness, openness, and dignity in their cultivation and daily life, so as not to stain the Heavenly Mandate they carry.
The promotion of point-transmitters, lecturers, and spirit-writing mediums must be considered carefully and not done carelessly, lest small oversights cause great damage.
There are already far too many White Sun temples. What does this represent? When your teacher and Teacher Mother were alive, did we have any grand temples? And how did we carry out the work of the Dao? This is worth reflecting on.
Only the newly initiated, with their first spark of sincerity, can be called truly pure and earnest. The old practitioners, by contrast, have not been able to plant their feet on solid ground and step out of the tangle of disputes and delusion.
This great test of the White Sun era is imminent — it will be the dividing line of Heaven's winnowing. The world situation, the Dao situation, the human situation — all are changing. Your teacher cannot restore the balance.
Every person's ascent or descent is bound to nine generations of ancestors above and seven generations below. How can a cultivator not be careful?
If you do not read the scriptures of the sages in ordinary times, you cannot understand their hearts and aspirations. And when crisis comes, how will you face with calm the choice between life and death, ascent and descent?
Your teacher's heart is weary. Who can understand? Who can share the burden? I hope that in your forward motion you serve, and in your retreat you cultivate. As your teacher has always said: cultivate the Dao by cultivating the heart; serve the Dao with your whole heart; improve yourself and save others — but you must see it through to the end.
Before you have attained the Dao, never harbor greed or self-congratulation or certainty about your own merit. A single deluded thought and you fall into the snare of the demonic path.
Be strict with yourself in discipline, and generous with others. Keep a spirit of forgiveness and always leave a wide road of return open for any practitioner who repents.
If you seek only your own liberation in this lifetime, then your bond with your teacher ends here, in this single life. But if you can sustain the great aspiration of compassion without ever letting it dim — building good connections far and wide for the sake of all beings — then in the next cosmic cycle you will surely return, and you and your teacher will walk together as companions through life after life, saving the world of suffering forever. That is the eternal vow and noble spirit of a true cultivator.
Treasure every minute, every second of your thoughts. Protect this single spark of spiritual light within your life.
At this moment the times are desperately urgent. All beings are caught in the midst of great calamity. How can you not seize every moment to serve with your whole heart? Where do you find time to criticize and gossip about others? How much time do you have to waste?
My disciples — Heaven's time no longer permits you to delay or slacken. Strive forward with all your strength and do not betray the kindness of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have helped and waited for you.
If there were not so many tests and setbacks on the path of cultivation, how would you develop deep virtue and elevate your heart and nature? I hope you can understand this, so that you do not breed resentment and complaint in times of adversity — which would only drag you deeper into ruin.
Treasure every test that can refine you. Respect every being's perspective and criticism. Learn to accept the guidance and reproach of others, and receive it all with a harmonious and joyful heart. Your teacher will bless you. In this way you can build not only a complete character for yourself, but also a beautiful and peaceful community.
Pray for the suffering beings of this world. If you can hold yourselves together, your teacher can worry less — and devote that care and attention to other beings, hastening the arrival of their good causes and conditions.
Treasure every connection, yet do not cling to any connection. Then no connection will become an obstacle on your path.
Revere the immortals and Buddhas, but do not be attached to their forms.
Release yourself and reduce needless turmoil. Do not let the entanglements of feeling destroy everything in a single moment.
Maintain the clarity of this heart — alert yet unattached — so that in future lives you will not be lost again.
Always preserve your sincere faith in cultivating the Dao, regardless of whether your inner and outer circumstances are favorable or adverse.
Learn from Teacher Mother's quality of hiddenness.
The Three Purities' precepts must be observed. Public and private must be kept separate. Do not take advantage of any being.
Do not merely talk about others' faults. Look instead for their good qualities. Discover the beauty and simplicity of human nature. That is true wisdom.
When cultivating talent, look for real virtue. A capable person rises in applause, but an equally worthy person can be lost in neglect.
When promoting talent, ensure that name and substance match. Otherwise you waste Heaven's time and human effort.
A cultivator must constantly release all attachments — within and without the body, within and without the heart — and only then will you be free and at ease.
Learn to be a clear stream running through a turbid world. A single candle burning in the wind and darkness of night.
The honest and plain person, the one who cultivates the Dao with simple devotion — that is the one Heaven loves most.
A cultivator must master all the rites and courtesies of the Dao. This is the necessary homework of cultivation.
When you face a great difficulty you cannot resolve, prostrate yourself before the Eternal Mother with your whole heart. True sincerity brings its own marvelous response. The first thought that arises in that selfless moment is Heaven's guidance for you. Your teacher himself never handled the great work of saving the Three Realms before — when I encountered problems, this is exactly what I did.
Respect the karmic conditions of every community and every being. Serve with your whole heart. Do not squander this opportunity that comes once in sixty thousand years.
The Dao community you protect and serve does not belong to anyone — it belongs to the Eternal Mother. Human leadership is merely the outward appearance of converging conditions. You must not cultivate with the mindset of doing it for any particular person. Expand your heart. In seeing the Dao and completing the Dao, build good connections far and wide. In turning the wheel of Heaven and Earth, pioneer new communities so that everyone can find liberation. And if there is even a small success, dedicate it in gratitude — return it to our Eternal Mother.
At this very moment, how many beings are suffering, how many are trapped in the cycle of rebirth, how many cultivators are sinking or enduring tests. When you think of this, can you imagine how heavy your teacher's heart is? I hope that right now, in this very breath, you will pray and dedicate merit for all beings everywhere.
Take the time to understand those below you. Help them find release and resolution. People are not sages — who among them has no faults of heart or conduct? Treat them with a forgiving heart. Help them escape the torment of regret and pain. Wait for them to turn around and begin again.
The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all Three Realms and Ten Directions, together with all beings, are celebrating this rare opportunity — the universal salvation under Maitreya's mandate. They are devoting their compassionate vows and full strength to the work of gathering all Three Realms. And the completion of this great work rests in the human world. My disciples — you White Sun cultivators must seize this precious time. Free from envy and desire, cultivate with true sincerity. Do not betray the aid that Heaven and humanity together have given.
In these final days, everything true and false, good and evil, is gradually being revealed. This is not because Heaven sets tests — it is because cultivators' hearts have gone astray. It all comes from the inability to see through the lure of power, status, and reputation within the Dao, and from the personal disputes that follow. This is what is meant by: "Demons arise from the heart; tests are invited by the self." Guard your innermost thoughts, even in the smallest, most hidden places.
Your teacher has neither talent nor virtue. I have been unable to inspire my disciples to see their cultivation through from beginning to end, and so the community has devolved into the fractured, power-grabbing mess you see today. I can only blame myself for not staying longer in this world to do a little more. So many people have turned the most sublime Dao community into a game. I am ashamed before the Eternal Mother's grace and the Old Patriarch's trust.
You cultivators in the human world — your attachment to merit and your possessiveness toward appearances are too strong, and you refuse to let go. And so every time you build up a community, you also invite endless interference and create new karmic debts. In truth, the ghosts and karmic creditors of the unseen world are easier to teach than you are. They have already suffered and no longer dare to crave anything. If they can kneel and listen to a single Dharma assembly, if they can hear the rain of the Buddhas' teachings, if they can receive even one moment of the Buddha's light — they instantly release their greed, anger, and ignorance, without generating any delusions about merit or rank. In gratitude and repentance they await the direction of the immortals and Buddhas, and they assist the work of the Dao wherever they are sent. And so they can immediately transcend suffering. This is the extraordinary power of saving the souls of the unseen world.
In the realm of the underworld, there are also workers and lecturers and teachers who protect and uphold the Heavenly Dao in its cosmic mission. They assist the Ancient Buddha Dizang in caring for the spirits who wait for deliverance and release. The Eternal Mother often commends them — for being in hell, they know hell's suffering intimately, and their gratitude for the grace of the teacher and the Dao is more sincere than yours. At least they have no petty disputes. My disciples — you should cultivate even harder, so that your teacher and Teacher Mother need not worry.
Today's Dao community has achieved a certain scale. "The Living Buddha's disciples fill the world." On the surface, this should bring joy. But your teacher feels only shame. I am nothing but a mad, eccentric mendicant — I have no real ability. Today I bear the empty title of "Guiding Teacher of the Three Realms," but all the credit belongs to the Eternal Mother's grace and the Patriarch's compassion. The expansion of the Dao has depended entirely on the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all directions, who carry out the Eternal Mother's will to help and complete this work — unnamed virtue, quiet and unseen. Without their tireless turning of the wheel, my disciples, how could we have spread the Dao across the four seas and ten thousand nations? How could we have built good connections with all beings? I hope you will always, at every moment, deeply honor the grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all directions.
Grand temples and magnificent halls are certainly necessary for the Dao community. But if the people who cultivate and serve within them are forever comparing appearances, they have already lost the root and purpose of the Dao. When your teacher was alive, I did not have a single temple. I wandered in empty sleeves through the world and was I not perfectly free and at ease? In these days when time is running short, take the charitable donations that beings have offered in sincerity and direct them toward the real suffering of the human world — support environmental conservation, fund medical supplies and humanitarian aid. This too should be part of the White Sun cultivator's path of goodness.
At this moment the earth is already riddled with wounds. If you do not do your utmost to repair and restore it, this beautiful planet will wither and perish on your watch. The immortals and Buddhas of every realm are worried for you. My disciples — beyond the moral and spiritual work of the heart, you must also truly participate in and support the work of environmental protection.
The expansion and establishment of the Dao's work depends half on human effort and half on Heaven. When your sincerity moves Heaven's heart and conditions ripen, everything flows naturally into place. When the community grows, that is certainly cause for gratitude — but do not neglect the relief and care of suffering beings throughout the world. Right now, the suffering of Somalia, Bosnia, the turmoil of Cambodia, the agony of the Kurdish people — my disciples, they too are children of the Eternal Mother, they too are your kin from life after life. I hope you will pray for them and dedicate merit to them. And if it is possible, offer real, practical aid as soon as you can.
Cultivate the Dao honestly and sincerely. Protect the wisdom-life of the Dao community. Your teacher left you nothing — only the hope that you will treat with kindness the millions of brothers and sisters who truly cultivate. Let them rise. Let them succeed. Let them return to the Court of Principle.
Strictly speaking, the effort that cultivators put into their work — can it really be called "merit"? Even if there is a small measure of merit, consider: do you not need to repay your karmic debts? Do you not need to dedicate merit to your parents and ancestors? Do you not need some portion for protection and safety? Do you not need to save a little as provision for the day you return to face the Eternal Mother? And then subtract all the transgressions and errors and debts you have accumulated. My disciples — do you still dare to boast of your merit and preen with pride?
Last time your teacher said that you should learn from Teacher Mother's quality of hiddenness. Perhaps you did not understand deeply enough, so today I will speak plainly. A cultivator should learn from her: to hide her name among the people, to hide her image in the Three Realms, to hide her merit and virtue in a heart as vast as Heaven's. Your teacher's mad name and eccentric image — everyone in the world recognizes them. But Teacher Mother's quiet wisdom and virtue — hardly anyone knows. She is far more brilliant than I am. Even your teacher cannot compare. So in these final days, cultivators must learn to keep their light gathered in, their virtue hidden. Do not make a display of yourself. Let the grace of teacher and Dao shine always in the hearts of all beings.
In the future, the thirty-six false patriarchs and seventy-two false Maitreyas will manifest with strange and uncanny displays. But all of this arises from within, not from without. Look at the community today — the fracturing, the power struggles — all spring from private ambition. Without awareness, the heavenly sovereign within you is dethroned and demonic forces invade. All the chaos and testing arise from this. If you do not awaken, you will drift into error without knowing it. I urge you to work diligently in the three disciplines of precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Only then will you have the true insight to shatter the boundless ignorance of all your past lives. Cultivate the Dao with integrity and you will not be led astray.
A cultivator should be proper and upright, honest and sincere. Even if you are the most junior person, the one who cleans the toilets and wrings out the towels — one day you too can attain the rank of Heaven. But if you chase only outward display and cling to merit while lacking the generous, compassionate, and gentle heart that draws all beings in — then you cannot resonate with Heaven's heart, and your achievement will be limited. Moreover, attaining the Dao in one lifetime does not guarantee that you will never regress. You can see how much a cultivator needs to develop a spirit that is pure, sincere, and true — one that bears hardship and blame without complaint. And above all, always be kind to those beings who have not yet been saved and have not yet awakened.
Spirit-writing mediums must maintain clarity and radiance, utterly in accord with Heaven's heart as they turn the wheel of the cosmos. They must always hold fast to the intention of seeing the Dao and completing the Dao through selfless, egoless action — and then they can guide immeasurable beings to liberation. Their future achievement will be no less than that of a senior elder who pioneered new territories. But if over time they grow weary and let human desires swell while neglecting the seal of Heaven's and the Buddhas' intention — they will easily trap themselves in confusion and lose the capacity for subtle communion with all Buddhas. And then how will they complete their vows? How will they return to report to the Southern Flower Palace?
A cultivator who has managed to escape the worldly arena of fame and fortune has already done something difficult. Do not then fall into another whirlpool. Organizational groups and public-facing entities exist merely to harmonize with the circumstances — delegate specialists to handle them in compliance with regulations and move on. Senior practitioners do not need to occupy titles and positions. The supreme work of the Heavenly Dao's universal salvation has always operated in the shadows, quietly fishing for the worthy. The virtue of a true practitioner shines brightest in obscurity. Do not be dazzled by media coverage, by applause, by cheering crowds — and thereby lose the spirit of the ancient sages who, in the hour of crisis, accepted the charge and bore the weight with solemn trust. What your teacher and Teacher Mother left you was a Dao community, not a religious organization.
In this age of the Dharma's decline, a cultivator must guard every thought without the slightest deviation. Otherwise you will inevitably bring about your own downfall. The karmic creditors of all your past lives have reached an agreement with the forces of the Asura realm: they will no longer demand repayment through direct suffering or merit-dedication. Instead, what they want is for the cultivator's own thoughts to go astray — so that the person's own sacred spirit turns traitor, dragging down nine generations of ancestors and seven generations of descendants into ruin, and gradually destroying an entire branch of the Dao community. My disciples — look at the fractures and chaos in certain communities. Will you not wake up, examine yourselves, and change?
You must not use the Dao community as a stage for grabbing credit and competing over results. Do not criticize other lineages' Heavenly Mandate as false. Do not insist that followers must be re-initiated by your own hand to count. Some of you even demand that practitioners within the same elder's line but under a different point-transmitter be re-initiated — claiming that only your transmission is valid. Is your teacher's transmission, received from the Eternal Mother and the Patriarch, only a golden finger when it comes from you and an iron finger when it comes from someone else? What an absurd argument. A single greedy thought, a single slanderous word, and you have dishonored the painstaking care with which every patriarch in our lineage has protected the sacred fire of the Heavenly Mandate. Is this not the great transgression of drawing the Buddha's blood and breaking the harmony of the community? As long as a lineage does not betray Heaven's will, does not rebel against the Patriarch, and does not claim unauthorized supremacy — let each lineage be responsible to Heaven for itself. The golden thread of the Heavenly Mandate is built on the foundation of true cultivation and real virtue. I urge all my disciples: respect the origin and flow of every lineage. When you see the Dao, complete the Dao. Help one another. Together, protect the peace and harmony of the Dao community across all Three Realms.
Your teacher has just come from the northeast of the divine homeland of China. The Asura forces there are ruthless. Recently, more than a hundred disciples there have given their lives under persecution. In their final hours they still held fast to their vows, dying without disgrace, calling out for their teacher's mercy to the very end. Your teacher knew that they too had to prove their integrity in the face of force — that they could not bend. I wanted to save them and could not. My grief is beyond words. For decades, countless disciples in those lands have kept the flame alive in conditions where cultivation was supposedly impossible — passing the torch without ceasing, protecting the dignity of the wisdom-life in a sea of blood and fire. They cultivate with true sincerity, without greed, without grasping. The disciples of free nations cannot begin to compare. The time has come for your teacher to speak plainly: if you do not cultivate and serve with everything you have, if you do not treasure the grace that Heaven has given you, if you continue to waste your energy on petty disputes — then the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first levels of hell await your descent.
The time has not yet come for the Dao to be spread openly in mainland China. If conditions permit, you may go to plant seeds — but you must take great care to protect your own safety. Do not act recklessly and suffer needless harm. And do not contact the old senior practitioners on the mainland, lest you endanger them as well. This too is how Maitreya protects the seeds and talent of the Dao. The hour of Heaven's final sorting has arrived. My disciples — those who cultivate and serve the Dao have no choice but to entrust their lives to Heaven, throw their whole hearts and strength into sincere cultivation and service, and stop being confused.
When your teacher was alive and serving the Dao, I was in fact just a point-transmitter — I simply bore the additional burden of carrying the Patriarchal transmission. From the day Teacher Mother and I received the Heavenly Mandate at the Eight Trigrams Furnace, I served for only seventeen years before I passed. All that was accomplished was the Eternal Mother's grace — how could any of it be claimed as my own? Today, many of your point-transmitters have served longer than I did. But ask yourselves honestly: does your virtue and genuine merit match the rank you hold? After the elders passed on, instead of repaying the grace and protecting the peace of the great Dao community, you each erected your own mountain, pulled away your own followers, and attacked one another — leaving millions of practitioners bewildered and adrift. How does this repay the Eternal Mother's grace and the compassion of the Buddhas of all directions? Your teacher has no virtue — why don't I just hand over the title of Guiding Teacher of the Three Realms to you? My disciples — I hope you will pull yourselves together. Everything you can possess in this human world is nothing but appearance. Do not let appearance overturn your true Buddha-nature. But your teacher is a fool for love — do you understand my heart? The ancient sages said: "If you would attain the supreme Way of the Buddha, first become a horse and ox for all beings." We who cultivate the Dao should have the spirit of letting all beings step on our shoulders to reach Buddhahood. Your teacher is willing, together with all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, to pave with blood and flesh a road on which all beings may cultivate in peace and attain the Way.
Colophon
This translation of 天然師尊叮嚀心語 (Teacher Tianran's Words of Gentle Reminder) was produced from the Chinese source text published on the Good Book Library (善書圖書館, taolibrary.com). The text is a collection of one hundred and one posthumous spirit-writing aphorisms attributed to Zhang Tianran (張天然, 1889–1947), the seventeenth patriarch of Yiguandao, received through planchette communication at an unspecified date. The aphorisms address the practical, moral, and spiritual challenges facing the post-schism Yiguandao community — factional disputes, attachment to power and appearances, neglect of genuine cultivation, and the urgent need for compassion toward all beings in a time of cosmic testing. Thirty-second Yiguandao text in the Good Work Library. Sixteenth seed from Bo's pipeline.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: 天然師尊叮嚀心語
Chinese source text from the Good Book Library (善書圖書館, taolibrary.com). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
天然師尊叮嚀心語
《001》末後一著之時，對道務之開創、守成要相互運用；但也不能執守一點名相或困守一地。有此仁願，上蒼自撥機遇，只要你肯辦自修，則自然能攝受無數有緣的信眾。
《002》修道、辦道一定要無為而為，將眾生當做是你累劫的恩人，一心許天，忘卻自己，縱有成就亦都歸於上蒼與十方諸佛菩薩；惟如此方不致於跌入道名、道利道權之爭奪和追求，眼前道場現況，實在令為師惋惜感慨！
《003》將來的成就，不在道場的大小，也不在佛堂廟宇的多寡，更不在信眾人數的比較，而看修道人是否真修實煉、護守願戒、無貪無妄、不爭不辯、心性圓融的工夫、去完成自己的使命。
《004》要讓眾生與自已在這一世都能成就，如一時無法濟渡，要為他能於他生他世，也能解脫、成就而祝福、祈禱！認清自己的修道因緣，則施恩受惠的大回饋中，建立天上人間的一股善流。
《005》白陽弟子要培養廣大寬闊的胸懷，慶幸他人的成功。讚美他人的傑出、禮敬他人的辛勞！培養讓世界與我們一同歡笑、也讓宇宙與我們歡笑、讓眾生與我們歡笑的精神。
《006》六祖云：「內心謙下是功，眾生平等是德。」時刻存著感恩和懺悔的心，去觀察周遭環境的順逆，對這一切都用一份微笑的心懷去注視，則免除了許多煩惱。
《007》末後了，個人要自我了超，對所有的恩、怨、情、仇、冤、親，都要不攀緣；而在隨緣中了脫這一切的罣礙，方能真正超脫自在！凡夫修道一時無法如古德聖哲那樣，無所住而生其心，那麼且學會在生其心而無所住吧！
《008》道場未來智慧考驗，真是不敢料想，為師也無法替代徒兒安頓身心，惟希望你們能體會天心、佛心、師心，老實修道、固守愿戒；就像鹿童師兄所說的：「天下神器不可為啊！戒之！慎之！」
《009》如果白陽道場的每一位徒兒，都能為眾生祈福，都能為化劫息考而叩頭，善念的凝聚，一定能將人間的劫、考消減到最低點！則上天也定然為你們延長辦道的歲月。
《010》修道人於末法時期，要發大愿心。讓自己的心，提昇到與十方諸佛菩薩的心一同，否則只圖此生此世之了脫，何以契入真理法海？
《011》辦道的中間，固然是渡人、說法、開荒、設堂，但也不能忘了對社會苦難、淑世濟民的實際關懷行動，諸如憐貧、恤老、濟孤、環保維護及弱智協助的工作之支持和推廣；甚至於放生、動物保護的事，都應響應，這都是與十方眾生廣結緣份。你們不要忽視，以為這是後天的事，若不彌補後天，如何能圓滿先天？
《012》老師公平地面對每一位弟子，手心手背都是肉，絕不會厚此薄彼；只要你們肯辦、願辦都一定會撥轉；至於有的宏展，有的遲緩，那多少與因緣有關，也不必羨慕；盼望徒兒的心志不變，為師深深為你們祝福，守得雲開見月明，總會苦盡甜來的。
《013》對世界上許多不幸的苦難，災害中而死亡的眾生，都要付出一份憐憫、哀慟、同情的迴向，早晚獻香、叩頭時不能只求道務宏展而已，否則道務宏展了，反而缺乏了同體大悲，無緣大慈的仁慈善念，又豈是修士本色！惟有培養對無緣不幸者的關懷，才能感召有緣者來臨。
《014》在了願中了緣，能盡自己這份心意即可，不要多安排不必要的牽纏，以期當下解脫，似行雲自在，方不致跌入另一層因果的環境，他生他劫仍需償還，反而是一種不幸！當年為師就因一時遊戲，寫了幾句隨興聯句，種下今世道場上的分歧，使得道盤出現這場紊亂，勸徒兒要慎用心念，勿惹情緣。
《015》為師雖是個窮和尚，但只要你們上下心氣和諧、連成一片，為師怎麼不聞不問？縱然是此刻因緣不足，仍然是明助暗化，在每一處送一座大佛堂，但若自己道場的心念無法連貫，為師如何面對十方諸佛的垂眉？實在說起來，豈不是令師為難啊！
《016》修道人要淡俗情、談聖情、隨處安怡、隨處自在，修道人絕不可太享受、講排場、論氣派；為師窮慣了，一缽千家飯，孤身萬里遊，落拓瀟洒，可接納不了，也調教不了這些富貴弟子。
《017》修道人，聖凡一定要分清楚，公私一定辨明白，稍有執粘即易失落。自古那有藉著神聖廟堂來做生意的道場！你若貪執，老天將來會還你一樣葫蘆，那就不圓滿了。
《018》對道場的一切是是非非，不要相互傳播，更不能推波助瀾；培養一份仁厚的憐憫和包容，我們若如此對人，天也如此待你。
《019》要念念為眾生開啟後福，不能攬權霸勢，損傷到修道的清名，傷害到無辜的後學；為師雖是無德，但也留下了一片人間道場，讓我的徒兒去辦，不敢對你們有所要求，只希望能善自護持，勿負天恩的浩蕩。
《020》對六道眾生的痛苦、災難，都應當從內心昇起無限的關懷與祈禱，希望他們能早日遇善因緣而得超脫苦海的機會。
《021》為師的一片心懷，竟然無法對你們道場的站在前面操辦的人，叮嚀訴說心語；只因為你們的心與為師不能契合，而且又太執著人事的是非和外在名相，終日栖遑辦道事務，卻不能迴光返照於自性的本覺，大概是為師無德，所以無法感動你們吧！
《022》三才不只是屬於一個道場所有，如果能有見道成的助化機會，為師願意到各處去增上我所有徒眾的信念，否則你們不善用，就太辜負上蒼賜給的一盤妙機。
《023》其實上蒼給了你們道場太多的機會，可惜你們內心都缺乏那真誠感恩的接納，對先前的十數件因果冤久的機遇有厭煩推絕的心，所以多少也斷送了更進一步與十方幽冥契助的機會，間接使得撥轉氣天大仙到你們道場顯化的因緣，也因而停頓或轉到其他道場，為師說出這番話，也不知你們道場的前賢能不能接受，自以為不執象的著象也是障礙啊！
《024》對已離開道場或退道的弟子，為師都不忍遺棄和斷絕。你們站在同修的立場，豈可不聞不問？更當存養祈禱祝福的心，願希望上蒼慈憫，願他們早日迷途知返，心若愈真切，則實可感召他們的省覺和回頭。
《025》不要執著流年的批算，不要頹喪環境的逆流。當你發大愿、立大志與佛菩薩心同共鳴時，則一念可超三千，直出生死之途，十方眾生也因你一念的真誠，而攝受在這種鳴響裡，那真是值得慶幸啊！
《026》不要太強調和注重佛堂或道親人數的多寡，而造成了爭奪擁有的心念，這都是不正確的，稍起偏差即起心計較，則易墜道，須知道：上蒼最後的評功論果是以德性、戒律、心念、愿行、火候而定昇降，並不在於外來的福德名相。
《027》多少人眼前已捲進了道權、道勢、道名的陷阱而不自知，真叫人痛心惋惜；修道人最後在此著相不省、夫復何言？為師和你們師母當年什麼都沒有帶著回去，留下三曹的責任和人間道場讓你們去辦，你們又有什麼好執著你的、我的爭奪呢？
《028》先我修道而歸者為古哲，先我而修道者為前賢，與我共存而修道者為同修，此皆千生有幸的良師益友，都有值得我們尊敬、禮叩之處，應當時時存著謙卑心去學道。
《029》莫經過了數十年的修辦道，只有財富上、名聞上增加，而自性智慧卻依然無法增上，那永遠只是福德而已，這點末法眾生可千萬要識透。
《030》在整個修道過程中，用、捨、行、藏要能相互兼顧，以外王的事功，去開創四方，這是辦有形的道務；以內聖的德業，來提昇心性，這是辦無形的道務，方能有所成就。
《031》多用心念去迴向世界中，此時猶未得渡的苦難眾生，為他們祈禱能早遇善因緣而得以修道成道；或祝福他們縱不能於今生今世得渡，也期望能在下一元會能得道、成道了苦。
《032》不要以我們眼前已所擁有的幸福與安樂為滿足，應當感恩現時修道環境，即使在逆境考驗裡，也比地獄、餓鬼與畜生道的眾生好多了，豈可埋怨頹喪，也不可驕傲自滿。
《033》在修道辦道中，應不斷的提昇自己，策自已，方能充實德性慧光，而減少因果業力的牽制。
《034》多讀聖賢的書典，可以溫故知新中明白一以貫之的妙理，由此體會聖賢教化的苦心。
《035》秉著公心去修道、辦道，把一切功德與成就，推致到 老及十方諸佛薩上，則不致跌進認人修道的障礙中。
《036》成全道親要注意因材施教，引導大家發揮天心天性，以認理修道為切要。
《037》考驗始終要來，尤其白陽末後的智慧大考，即將臨途，大家要有心理準備，所謂「安之泰然，以抗風雨」。徒兒們在這盤道局上，必定要歷經琢磨試煉，方可成為大才。
《038》加強道親的心理建設，固守修道的根源，培養人性裡那一點光明，縱然今生今世不能成道，也可以維繫善念不昧，期望他生他世，因不退轉而得能超越。
《039》應培養無處不是理天、無處不是淨土的心襟，則菩提道風廣佈人間，為師還憂煩什麼呢？望徒兒把握生命存在的一刻，去開拓這種契機。
《040》依著前輩的辦道精神，去延續慧命的伸展，認理認道不可分歧，不可認人，各盡心力以安定道局。
《041》依古聖經訓見賢思齊、恪遵綱紀、慕德以進，千萬莫把仙佛或個人當偶像去崇拜。
《042》依從德性、遵重誡命、道親間相互諫勉、相互提攜、共修共辦、發揮彌勒大家庭的宗風。
《043》不可因貪嗔而起不平之憤，在無貪無妄、真誠實修的大法則下，遵從前輩的遺命、宏揚大道無私以濟天下之精神；是非曲直上天自有公斷，不必爭論，以免造成道場的分歧。
《044》百川匯海，終歸一源。只要真修真辦，人虧天終不負，在未來魚龍百變的道局中，還是堅守自己的使命與責任。
《045》點傳師要正正當當、坦坦蕩蕩、體體面面的做人修道，方不致污染到自己的天命。
《046》提拔點傳師、講師及三才要慎重考慮、不可紊亂，以免因小失大。
《047》白陽廟宇已太多了，這代表著什麼呢？為師與你們師母在世又有什麼大廟，而又是如何辦道的呢？值得徒兒們你們反思！
《048》只有初發心的新道親之心意，方可算得上純真誠樸；老道親則未能腳踏實地，從是非顛倒中跳出來。
《049》這一場白陽大考迫在眼前，將是天演淘汰的分界線！世局、道局、人局都在變，為師也無法去平衡。
《050》每一個人的昇降，都緊繫著九玄七祖，修道人豈可不謹慎小心。
《051》平時不讀聖賢的書訓，則不能體會聖賢的心志，遇有危困之時，又如何坦然能面對生死與昇降的擇選呢？
《052》老師的心累了，誰能體會呢？誰能分擔呢？期望你們進而能辦、退而能修，就像為師所言：修道修心、辦道盡心、修己救人，可一定要有始有終。
《053》修道人在未了道之前，絕不可存著貪心妄想或肯定自己的功德成就，一念誤即著魔道圈套。
《054》對自己要戒律甚嚴，而寬厚待他人，存著寬恕的心念，永遠為知悔的道親開一條廣大的回頭之路。
《055》如果只求今世的解脫，則與為師的緣，只在此生而已；如能發廣大菩提慈念而不昧，廣結善緣方便於眾生，則下一元會定會再來，永與為師結伴渡化娑婆，生生世世常為師友，這才是修道人永恆的悲願豪情。
《056》珍惜每一分鐘，每一秒鐘的心念，護持這一點生命的靈光。
《057》此刻的天時是那麼的危急，眾生都處在大災難中，豈可不好好把握時間去盡心修辦！那裡還有時間去批評人事的是非呢？你們有多少光陰能浪費啊！
《058》徒兒啊！天時已不允許你們再懈怠遲延了，應力精進無負諸佛的助化和等待的恩德。
《059》如果在修辦的路上，沒有那麼多的考驗與人事困挫，又如何培養厚德與提昇心性呢？希望徒兒能明白體會，方不會逆境裡生出埋怨、煩惱，反而更造沉淪。
《060》珍惜每一個可以成就自己的考驗，尊重每一個眾生的看法和批評，也學會接受別人的指點與呵責，都以圓融歡喜的心胸去接納；為師將為你們祝福，如此不但可以建立個人完美的人格，也可以建造完美而詳和的道場。
《061》要苦難的世界眾祈禱，願他們也能有所成就，你們若能爭氣，為師則可以少操心，而可以將此愛心與關心施於其他眾生，促成他們善因緣的早日來到。
《062》時時珍惜一切因緣，而又不攀執一切因緣，則一切因緣不會造成你們修道路上的障礙。
《063》尊敬仙佛而莫執著形象。
《064》自我放下減少無畏困擾，莫讓感覺的情緣毀於一旦。
《065》維繫這顆心念的清醒而又不執戀，方能使他生他世不再迷昧。
《066》永遠要保持真誠的修道信心，不論內外環境的順逆。
《067》要學師母的隱。
《068》三清的戒律定要遵守，公私分明，莫佔眾生的便宜。
《069》不要只談論人的是非，多看看他人的好處，去發覺人性的美麗與單純，這才是般若智慧。
《070》成全人才要注意實德，一位人才、英雄在掌聲中成就，但相對的一位豪傑，也會在漠視中失落。
《071》提拔人才要注意名實相符，方不致耽誤天時與人事。
《072》修道人要隨時放身內身外、心內心外罣礙，才會自在瀟洒。
《073》學會做濁世中的一道清流，風雨暗夜裡的一支燭光。
《074》老老實實的人才，本本份份的修道，那才是上天最鍾愛的。
《075》修道人要熟練所有的佛規禮節，這是修道的必備功課。
《076》遇有重大難解的問題，多向 老叩頭，真誠所至自得其妙，那忘我裡的第一個念，即是上天給你的啟示，為師也沒辦過三曹普渡大事，當年在遇到問題時，就是這樣做的。
《077》尊重所有道場及眾生的因緣。盡心的修辦，莫辜負這六萬年一遇的機遇。
《078》護持照顧的這片道務，不是誰的而是 老的；人事的領導，只是因緣觸合的表象，故而不能存著為誰修道的心，要擴大你們的心胸去提昇修辦道的理念，在見道成道中廣結善緣！在運轉乾坤中開拓道場，使大家都能成就，縱有一點成效，也要在迴向中感恩，還歸於我們的 老。
《079》就在這一刻多少眾生正在受苦、輪迴，多少修士正在沉淪與受考，想到這裡可知為師的心有多苦嗎？希望你要這個當下為千萬的眾生祈禱與迴向。
《080》要多瞭解下情，幫助他們得到釋疑與解脫；人不是聖哲，孰能無心過與身過，也要用寬恕的心去協助他們，離開懊悔與苦痛的折磨，並等待他們的回頭和新生。
《081》三界十方的諸佛菩薩與眾生，都在為此一次彌勒應運之普渡因緣而慶幸，盡其悲願全力的為三曹收圓工作而努力，而主導這項大因緣的又在人間完成，徒兒啊！你們這群白陽修士應善握此佳期不忮不求真誠實修，方無負天人的助化。
《082》末後了，一切真偽善惡與好壞，已漸次顯現，這可不是上天出考題而是修道人的心態有了偏差和失落，皆因道名道權道勢的看不破，和人事紛爭所引起的，此即是魔由心生，考由自招的由來，所以修道可千萬要慎心念於隱微啊！
《083》為師無才無德，未能感化徒兒們在修道路全始全終，以致使道場演變成今日四分五裂各自專權的局面，只恨為師未久留人間稍盡心力，多少人把妙德無上的道場辦的如同兒戲，實有愧 皇的恩典與老祖師的託負。
《084》你們人間的修道人，對功德的執著和名相的擁有，都太在乎了而不肯放下，因此每建立一片道務，但也惹來了無邊干擾和造下許多因果，反不如幽冥鬼魂和冤欠們那麼容易調教，他們已在受苦故不敢再貪求什麼，只要能跪聽一次法會，聆聽諸佛的法雨梵音，多沾一次佛光普照之攝受，當下即能釋放內心的貪、嗔、痴、慢，且不生種種功德與名位的妄心，在感恩和懺悔中聽候仙佛的調度，從旁助化各地道務，所以當下也能超越出苦，這是下渡幽冥的殊勝處
《085》地府幽冥界中，一樣有辦事人員和講師、講員護持天道應運的因緣，而且協助地藏古佛照顧那些等候超拔和出苦的幽魂兄弟姐妹們， 老對他們也常嘉許，因為身在地獄，深知地獄之苦，對天恩師德的感懷比你們更真誠，至少他們沒有人世間的是非心，徒兒啊！你們應更加盡心盡力修持，免得為師與你們的師母掛心。
《086》今天的道場多少有些氣象，活佛弟子滿天下，以表相論是應該喜悅，但為師卻感到慚愧，我只是個顛狂的瘋和尚，一點能力也沒有，今天空擔三曹導師的虛名，其實這所有的榮耀都歸於 老的恩典、祖師的鴻慈，而道務的開展都仰賴十方諸佛菩薩的護持，祂們皆奉 老命做成全助他的工作，無名之德默而不顯，沒有祂們的運轉乾坤之苦心，徒兒啊！我們那能可以在四海萬國推展道務呢？又如何與眾生廣結善緣呢？希望徒兒時時刻刻都要深切的禮敬十方諸佛菩薩的恩典。
《087》巍峨的廟堂及莊嚴的佛殿，固然是道場不可以缺少的，但修道辦道者如果一直只在名相上比較，反而離失了道本道旨，為師當年連一間廟也沒有，兩袖清風奔走天涯不也是無掛無礙的在逍遙嗎？在此刻天時有限的年代，將眾生真心獻出的善財轉用佈施到人間的苦難中，贊助環保維護和醫療藥品的援濟，也應該是白陽修士的善路。
《088》此刻地球已千瘡百孔，再不盡力維修和整治，則這個美麗的星球，將枯萎和毀滅在你們的中，諸方法界的仙佛都為你們擔心，徒兒啊！你們除了要從事道德心靈的環保工作外，還要真正協助與參與從事環境維護的運動。
《089》道務的推展和建立是半靠人力半靠天，誠感天心因緣成熟自有水到渠成之時，道務宏展了固然值得恭喜，但也不要忽略對世界苦難眾生的救援和關懷，現今索馬利亞和波斯尼亞的人亂，柬甫塞的動盪，庫而德族人的苦難，徒兒啊！他們也是 老的兒女，也是你們多生累劫的親人，希望多為他們祈禱祝福或功德善念的迴向，如果可能，盡快而實際的投入實際的援助行動。
《090》實實在在的修道，好好地護持道盤慧命，為師沒留下什麼給你們，只要徒兒能善待千千萬萬真修實煉的兄弟姐妹，讓他們出頭，讓他們成就，讓他們回到理天；
《091》嚴格說起來，修道人在修辦的路上所盡的苦心，那能談得上是功德呢？即使有那麼一點功德吧，再想想，你們要不要償還因果業債，要不要迴向父母祖先的恩德，不要保平安逢凶化吉，要不要留一點作回天見 老的資糧，再扣掉平日所犯的罪過錯的負債，徒兒們！你們還敢有有功德自許自誇的驕態嗎？
《092》上次為師曾希望你們學學師母的隱，或許體會不夠深切，為師今日說明白點；修道人應學她老人家，隱名於人間，隱相於三曹，隱功德於天志胸懷，為師的瘋名瘋相眾生都認識，但你們師母的慧德無幾人能知，真是高明極了，這點連為師都比不上，所以末後之時修道人要學會韜光養晦，歛名藏德莫太顯名相，而讓天恩師德常昭眾生的心田。
《093》未來三十六假弓長，七十二假彌勒的奇異怪幻之出現，其實都出自於內而不在外，但看今日道場四分五裂與爭權現象皆由於私心萌發的干援，不知不覺中天君退位而魔靈入侵，一切的紊亂與考驗由此生，苟不自覺則陷於謬誤偏差而不自知，盼望徒兒們要在戒定慧三學中下功夫，方可有真智慧破無量劫的無明，光明磊的修道，才能不受引誘。
《094》修道人就要規規距距，真真誠誠的，縱然你是掃廁所打毛巾的小後學，他日也能成就天爵，如果只圖表現執著功德而太過自以為君子，缺少那份寬厚仁恕，圓融慈柔的心來接引眾生，則不能和天心相契，成就亦是有限，且一世的成道並不能保証生生世世的不退轉，可見修道人是多麼需要培養至純至誠至真，而又任勞任怨的，更重要的是永遠善待那些未渡未悟的眾生。
《095》作三才要清靜光明，純乎天心而運乾轉坤，時時堅持無為無我見道成道的心念，則可成就無邊量眾生，他日之成就不輸一方開道之前輩，，否則日久生厭人意太滿而忽略天心佛意的契印，很容易自陷困境不能體悟精微，也不能進入與諸佛圓融無礙溝通的大化流行之境界，願不能了，將來如何回南華宮覆命呢。
《096》修道人從世俗的名利場中能跳出已是不易，可不要又跌進另一層漩渦裡，事務性的名相團體，畢道只是應和環境因緣而已，委派專人負責配合政令推動即可，老前賢了，不必佔名居位，須知天道普渡的殊勝，仍然是暗釣良賢，君子之德方能闇然而日彰，莫在媒體的宣傳上，只看到喝采，聽到掌聲，而失落了古聖先哲那份臨危受命託孤寄重的心懷，為師與你們師母留給徒兒的是道盤而非教會團體啊！
《097》修道人在末法時期要慎護心念不容有絲毫偏差，否則必定造成自我沈淪，因為眾生累劫因果冤欠，他們已與修羅界取得了共識，不再以追討命債和索取功德的迴向，他們是要當事人的心念偏差之後果，造成個人聖靈的背叛，然後殃及九玄七祖的沈淪，漸而分裂一方道務的毀滅，徒兒啊！且看看某些道場的分歧和亂象還不快點自警自省自悟嗎？
《098》切莫在道場上搶功奪困果，批評其他祖線天命的真假，非要道親重新點玄才算可靠，其至連同一老前人領導下不同前人或點傳師的道親也要人家再點，或言他人所點無效，難道為師承領 老和祖師的託負，將至尊至貴的一指真傳的天命，賦付你們大家去修辦，只有你的才是金手指而他人是鐵手指嗎？真是荒謬的理論！一念貪妄，一語誣陷，傷害了歷代祖師護持聖火天命的艱辛，豈不是犯了出佛身血，破和合僧團的大戒！只要不違背天意，不背叛祖師，不自我稱尊，各組各線的天命由前輩自行向上天負責，畢竟天命金線是建築在真修實辦的道德基礎上，切望徒兒們尊重各組各線的源流，見道成道相互成全共同維護三曹道場的祥和。
《099》為師剛從神州故國的東北來，修羅的手段殘酷，最近那邊有百多位弟子頂劫，他們臨危仍堅守願戒，死而無侮，一直呼喚老師慈悲，為師明知他們也必須在威武不能屈中了道成仁，想救而不能救，為師真是悲慟萬分！數十年中那邊仍有無數的徒兒在不可能修辦的環境裡傳薪不絕，在血海煉獄裡護持慧命的莊嚴，他們真修真煉不貪不求，這不是你們在自由國家的道場徒兒所能比得上的！到時候了，為師不得不說清楚，如果你們不好好修辦，珍惜上蒼為你們所賜的恩典，仍執著於人事的紛爭，他日必有十九，廿，廿一層地獄等候你們的沈淪！
《100》中國大陸仍未到辦道的時候，若有因緣可去播種，但定要謹慎保護自身的安全，莫因大意而無辜受到損傷，也不要跟當年大陸的老前賢連絡，以免累及他們安危，這也是彌勒祖師保護道種人才！天時已到分判時刻，徒兒啊！修、辦道人唯有一命交天，全心全力的真修實辦，不能再糊塗了！
《101》當年為師在修辦道中，其實也是點傳師的身份，只不過多擔了傳承道統的責任而已，從與你們師母在八卦爐中領天命只辦了十七年就歸空，一切的成就都是 老的恩賜，那裡是我們能居功的！今天你們有許多點傳師辦道和擔任職責的年資比為師還長，但請自問德性和真功實善與名位能符合無愧嗎？前輩們歸空後，不報恩了願，護持大道場的安寧，反而各立山頭，各拉後學，相互攻詰，造成千萬道親的徬徨無措，這怎麼對得起 老的恩澤和十方諸佛的慈悲呢！為師無德，乾脆為師把三曹尊師的位置讓給你們吧！徒兒啊！希望你們好好爭氣，人世間所能擁有的一切都是名相，莫讓名相顛倒了你們的真如佛性啊！誰教為師痴情，徒兒明白為師的苦心麼？古德云：「欲証無上佛道，先作眾生馬牛」，我們修道人應有讓眾生踩著我的肩膀而成道的精神，為師就願和諸佛菩薩一樣，以血肉舖成讓眾生安安穩穩修道成佛的路。
Source Colophon
The Chinese source text of 天然師尊叮嚀心語 (Teacher Tianran's Words of Gentle Reminder) was retrieved from the Good Book Library (善書圖書館, taolibrary.com) at c9039.htm. The text is in the public domain as a religious scripture of the Yiguandao tradition. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation.
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