Spiritual Cultivation and Movement
If earlier spiritual visions were accurate, must the next ones also be correct?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
Not necessarily. Earlier accuracy does not mean later perceptions need no evaluation. In fact, when everything beforehand was right and you strongly trust the ability, be particularly careful that you do not also believe later errors without question.
I have offered this hypothetical example: if you see ten images and the first nine are correct but the tenth is wrong, can you still notice? Or if ninety of a hundred predictions are accurate but the final ten are wrong, will you insist the last ones must also be right because the earlier ones were so accurate? This is a problem attachment can create. Past experience can actually make fresh judgment harder.
What you see or hear may feel extremely real, and precisely for that reason it can more easily pull you along. Practice reminding yourself to question whether the perception is correct and whether your interpretation has gone wrong. Spiritual practice ultimately returns to wisdom. We cannot have perceptions alone and forget to exercise judgment.