Because of the unpredictability of "destiny", it adds onto the confusions of life. When I was feeling in grief and in great despair for life, the scene suddenly showed a life-boat with people coming back to save the others. At that very moment, I felt a sudden move of deep gratitude, coming from the belief that the life-guards on the life-boat were my most beloved Gurus who have so compassionately come back to this samsaric ocean in order to save me from this ocean of sufferings. They have taught me how to become the master of my own destiny, and to put myself onto the Path of liberation and enlightenment. This is the profound meaning of why, in all Vajrayana practices, the Guru is of utmost importance. In this respect, "sufferings" have a very different meaning to those who were saved. It does not mean to just groan about the cruelty of life, or grumble over someone's making jokes about us in life. But instead, sufferings denote the feeling of "compassion" from someone who comes to save us. Without their compassion, how can we be saved from such a cruel reality of the ocean of sufferings ? From this, we can then learn how to become compassionate ourselves in order to help those who are still in the midst of the ocean of sufferings.

This is the crux of the whole issue : practice what you have learnt from the scriptures through experiences, and then try to absorb them into our everyday experiences. This is the important foundation as to whether your practice will be successful or not, and it is also the means to practice on our own mind. Indeed, for the whole process of our practices, to the very last moment of our realizations, compassion is the most important foundation and the gateway. Just a minor difference in compassion for a split second will bring about a hugh difference between success and failure in our practices. Hence, every practitioner should nurture and cultivate in one's own heart "compassion with wisdom" in one's daily experiences.

The reason why disastrous movies and real life stories are so shocking to us is because we do have the same feelings as human beings. Consequentially, most people would put themselves in the same shoes and ask the same question : "What would I do if I am in that particular circumstance ?" To the extent that they began to wake up and see that the direction, goals and purpose in life that they previously held were no longer the ultimate, it is the starting point where they will start to re-evaluate the meanings, direction and goals of life, and so changes would occur towards their views on life. Those who have seen "death" face to face, and were then fortunate enough to come back again, would come to see "life" in a new light! For they have come so close to death that their previous life experiences were shattered into pieces, and they would need to pick up the pieces again and put them back in a new configuration, one that has a special meaning to them. Hence, some people will start searching for the ultimate meanings in life and, hopefully, to start rewriting their own life scripts.

If practitioners can use our "hearts" to learn and understand these teachings of sufferings and life-changes, so as to light up our great determinations from within, it will be most conducive to liberate ourselves from the bondages of the six realms of cyclic existence, and to progressively tread along the Path of liberation and enlightenment. Furthermore, if we can develop our compassion towards others, so that we can benefit both ourselves and others, and not to retrogress, then the strength of our Dharma practices will prevail and the first step towards our final goal is being effected!

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