Buddhism can never avoid the battle between Buddha and Mara at critical moments in history.

Ru Chun: Last night, I continued deliberating in my dreams, seemingly on issues related to the Mahāyāna. Perhaps because I had no particularly good realization, the mind consciousness did not know what the specific content of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) was. I also had a dream in which a white-robed immortal raised a great long sword emitting a dazzling golden light, battling in the air against a black-robed figure holding a sword wreathed in black qi. The power of the long sword was far greater than that of the black sword.

During the night, the root of my nose made popping sounds 7–8 times, quite noticeably; each time it sounded, I woke briefly, and after waking, I felt that breathing through the nasal passages was relatively smooth. This morning while sitting in meditation, I contemplated the cooperative relationships among the three transforming consciousnesses: the manas is the overall regulator; the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with the manas's intentions and karma, produces dreams and transforms the material body; the mind consciousness must rest, yet not sleep too deeply — it must remain alert to observe and keep records. The fine-tuning of this is regulated by the manas.

点评: The battle between the white-robed immortal and the black-robed figure that appeared in the dream hints at the battle between the Buddha and demons currently taking place in the Buddhist community. We have been harassed and opposed by the dark forces in the Buddhist community for ten years. Since the dark forces have no ground to stand on in terms of doctrine and cannot outmatch us, they have been secretly sabotaging us behind the scenes without a moment's pause for ten years. Even though they gain no advantage at all and their sabotage fails to achieve the expected effect — on the contrary, the more they sabotage, the faster, more stable, and stronger we grow — that dark force simply refuses to give up. They have exhausted every kind of underhanded and damaging trick, yet still can do nothing to us. More and more people accept our doctrine and are positively influenced and delivered by us. Evil ultimately cannot triumph over justice. As for us, we fight without fighting — against the various destructive acts of demonic forces, we only employ passive defense, unwilling to devote energy to launching a major campaign. We devote our attention to delivering sentient beings and developing the Buddhist cause. Buddhism will naturally develop in a healthy and orderly manner, and the evil forces will reap their own karmic retribution. As for whether their karmic retribution means spending the rest of their lives in prison or dwelling long in hell, we do not wish to know, because we are not interested. We are not even interested in mentioning their names or citing their various vile deeds. People who are both deviant and evil are unworthy to be our opponents, and therefore we have no interest in them.