Wait Till You're Older

This is the title of a chinese movie starring Andy Lau and Karen Mok shown on TV 2 days ago. It tells the story of a depressed 12-year-old Kong who ran away from home. He met a mysterious old man who claimed to have a potion that can speed up the process of growing up. I didnot see the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie shown on TV last night but when I turned it on, something had happened to the portion given to that boy. A little of it got unto his hand and the rest dropped to the earth. He didnot know what to do with it and slept on a bench in a garden. He didnot go back home as he was running away from the his stepmother whom he didnot like (played by Karen Mok).

When he woke up, he got a shock. He found that he had become a much older teenager. And at the spot where he dropped the magic potion, a giant tree had suddenly sprung up from nowhere. He was delighted because now his stepmother would not be able to recognise him and he could continue to run away from home. Moreoevr, he had always wanted to be an adult faster. So, he enjoyed being an adult, until he realised that the magic potion would also cause him to become an old man... all these within 3 days. When hair start to grow white and his skin wrinkled, he panicked and went frantically in search of the mysterious old man who first gave him the magic potion.

He begged the old man to fix the problem and he wanted his original life back. The tree that grew suddenly had also died. However, the old man told him that life has many cycles but it is only a one way street. Life only goes forward, not backwards. He told Kong that his age cannot be reversed, and he now must cherish every single moment that he has left of him... even if it is just a single day. At that moment, I remembered Lama Zopa advised in one of his teachings that even if it is just a single second left, we must cherish it and use it for practice or nbenefit others, or whatever dharma purposes. The words "Life only goes forward... a one way street" still reverberates in my mind.

So, it was too late for this guy. He realised that he didnot have much time left as most other people thought they have. Yes, we all think we have lots of time left and we won't die yet, right?Isn't this familiar? Kong had no choice but to tell his dad (who had been searching for his lost son and been depressed that he had been a failed father and husband) the truth. Kong send his dad pictures of him in his various stages of adulthood and the latest showing him as an 80-year-old man, already haggard and hands strembling. He did whatever he had to do, including reconciling with his stepmother and helping her reconcile back to his had. And at the end, Kong died in his stepmother's arms as an 80-year-old man. Poor guy, he was just a 12-year old kid 3 days previously.

The entire film is smacked with dharma messages even though the film producers didnot portray the film as a Buddhist film. We can learn a lot about the precious human rebirth, impermanence of life, life being like a flash of lightning, gone in a moment before we realise it, we must learn to accept our life situation whatever it is and move forward, be forgiving and loving, and other dharma messages. I hope you guys who had also seen this movie had also had the same deep impact that it had on me. It is like being hit by a dharma meteor.

I throughoutly like this movie and that's why I share it here. Now we know why some people who are suffering from death threatening illness, sometimes prefer to accept their impending death and finish off the unfinished things (and these would be best to include making pilgrimages to holy sites such as the Four Holy Sites of the Buddha, especially Bodhgaya) rather than desperately seeking a cure that won't come. If you are dying, and had not been to Bodhgaya yet, perhaps this is the time for you to do so. Do an earnest prayer there and commit yourself to the Buddha's path, and I can almost guarantee you that in your future rebirths, you will definitely meet with the dharma again and be able to gain better rebirth, especially the precious human rebirth.

So, I urge all to join me in pondering on these points as we usher in the Year of the Ox. Hopefully in the coming months and years, no matter what life brings to us, all of us will make some real spiritual progress and be able to achieve complete enlightenment and bring benefit to all sentient beings. Then that is the true, most lasting "FA CAI" that anyone can ever get, right?

Hahahaha...GONG XI FA CAI! :)