Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Vows to Go to Different Lands (道力未足 願至他方)
Date: June.07.2018
“For those with insufficient spiritual strength, it was hard to endure this evil world. So they made vows to go to different lands in other places to advance the Dharma and benefit sentient beings. They all feared that the sentient beings in the world of endurance would be difficult to train, for they harbor such overbearing arrogance and claim to have attained when they have not.”
We must be mindful and make the most of our time. In life, impermanence can strike at any moment, so while we are still breathing, we must work hard to seize every moment and every second. When the Buddha came to this world, for a long time, He always seized the moment to seek the path diligently; this was how He was able to develop sufficient spiritual strength. If we pass our lives in confusion and idle away our time, our lives will quickly pass us by like this.
So, we must earnestly seize the time. Our spiritual strength may be insufficient, and this Saha World is the world that must be endured. The Saha World is very harsh. Whether within the natural world, within human society, or within our own lives, the world is impermanent. All of these times, places and relationships are very difficult to endure.
Recently, I have often told everyone that we must carefully think about this. Even if, throughput our entire lives, we have no worries or hindrances, we still do not know how long our lives will actually be. We go through birth, aging, illness and death. We often say that we might not necessarily reach old age. So, we must seize the present to understand this evil world that must be endured. How much is there in this world that is difficult to endure? Interpersonal interactions and relationships are the same way. With good relationships, we are happy. We see each other every day, but suddenly, we will suffer from parting with those we love. Is this suffering? It truly is! Or, we will meet those we hate. If there are those we do not love and do not like, we are always surrounded by them. Is this suffering? It is! Often, there are interpersonal disputes. This suffering is also hard to endure, and this is just in our everyday lives. In interpersonal relationships, the feelings involved are very mysterious. There is joy and the reluctance to part.
There are feelings of great enmity and hatred. Just seeing someone can make us unhappy; these are the feelings from meeting those we hate. These are such simple interactions, simple [events] in time and space. In this world, such simple occurrences cause great suffering, not to mention natural and manmade disasters, impermanence and so on. This is suffering.
So, we must put effort into being mindful. How can we overcome this world of endurance? How can we transcend it? How? We must be very mindful of this.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, He taught the Lotus Sutra in the hope that all His disciples would transcend [this world of endurance] and that everyone would open their hearts and go among people. [He hoped that] everyone would push aside their own afflictions and ignorance, become pure and undefiled and eliminate love and hate. Whether love or hate, all must be totally eliminated. We must transcend these and liberate ourselves.
This is by no means easy. Since this world is so full of suffering, they did not want to return to this world again. Life in this world may be short, but it is very difficult to tame the various habitual tendencies of sentient beings. Sentient beings are hard to tame and all have their own discriminating mindsets. It is impossible to tame and subdue sentient beings’ layers of afflictions. In particular, it is difficult for sentient beings to accept [the teachings]. These hard-to-tame sentient beings are very stubborn. Since beings in this land are hard to train, [so those with insufficient spiritual strength] would rather “make vows to go to different lands in other places to advance the Dharma and benefit sentient beings.” [They felt,] “This land is so hard to transform These people are so difficult to teach. Perhaps if we make vows to be born in other worlds, we will be able to find people we have affinities with and in those lands transform beings, advance the Dharma and benefit sentient beings. Perhaps we should switch to another place so that it would not be so difficult.”
Why did they want to do this? They were afraid. What do they fear? They feared this world of endurance. “The [world of] endurance” is the Saha World. Sentient begins in this Saha World really are difficult to tame and train. They are very stubborn and difficult to train. We could be right beside them, teaching them to be diligent and engage in spiritual practice, and they light [say], “I will just handle these tasks. I don’t need to understand so much.” It might be hard to [tame] this kind of mind, a mind of discursive thoughts or one with an aversion for the world; it is very hard to tame [someone like this] to get them to turn around and earnestly accept [the teachings] on the great path. It might be very hard to train them.
So, these spiritual practitioners did not dare stay behind in the Saha World. They feared that sentient begins in the Saha World would be difficult to tame. “They harbor such overbearing arrogance and calm to have attained when they have not.” Sentient beings in the Saha World are hard to tame because people in this world have greed, anger, ignorance and especially arrogance and doubt. For people to eliminate greed, change their habitual tendency toward anger, or earnestly accept the Buddha-Dharma to gradually eliminate ignorance is not difficult. But for them to eliminate an arrogant mind and thoughts of doubt is very difficult. People are very arrogant and “claim to have attained when they have not I know, I know; I hear this all the time. You are always saying this. How different is this kind of life from [a life of] spiritual practice? It is the same. So, I know all about the Dharma.” Or perhaps they have attained a bit of Dharma, but do not actually put [the Dharma] into practice in their lives. They do not take [the Dharma] to heart in their everyday lives. They simply think, “I know it all.” They know enough to criticize others. They [say] to others, “How could you be like this?” But they do not reflect upon themselves [and think,] “What about us? We have received the Dharma. Are we putting it into practice in our lives?” They only know to “be content with little knowledge”; they only know to criticize others. They do not know that they themselves are conceited and arrogant and have an extremely poor disposition. They look down on any other person and think that they are above others. This is all pride and arrogance. Or when it comes to the Dharma, [they ask], “Is this really the case?” They are unwilling to accept it an alive it; this is doubt.
As human beings, we often do not know to take hold of and believe in the true principles. All we do is hesitate and doubt. All of this is obstructing our path. Those who do not know to diligently advance on the path are people with overbearing arrogance. Time quickly passes them by in vain like this. They “claim to have attained what they have not.” This is wasting their lives away. Being very weak, [the disciples] did not dare to face these stubborn, hard-to-tame sentient beings. So, they did not dare remain here. Although the Buddha wanted them to form great aspirations and make great vows, [they said,] “I will make great aspirations, I will make great vows, but the people in this place are hard to tame. I will switch to another place.” Stubborn sentient begins are hard to tame.
[The disciples] were unable to form great vows in this world that must be endured, so they avoided and tried to escape these stubborn, hard-to-tame sentient beings. This was what the Buddha’s disciples from over 2000 years ago [were like]. The disciples when the Buddha was alive were like this. They were very afraid of these stubborn, hard-to-tame sentient begins, these people with “overbearing arrogance”. The [Hearer] disciples from the Buddha’s time were all afraid of them. They all engaged in practice in hopes of escaping the Saha World. “I can form great aspirations, so long as I do not remain in the Saha World. I will go to a different land instead.” This was what the disciples in the Buddha’s era were like. They had faith in the Buddha’s teachings and were willing to accept them. They were willing to put them into practice. But when it came to this Saha World, even the spiritual practitioners were afraid.
People’s tendency toward evil corrupts their virtuous nature, leading people to create and accumulate negative karma. Their anger harbors the turbidities of greed and ignorance. They engage in devious flattery, using clever words and an ingratiating manner. As for those shallow in merits and virtue, even if they do a few good deeds, they will all have Leaks. If we lose the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, this will cause us to deviate from our nature.
So, for those in this Saha World, our “tendency toward evil corrupts our virtuous nature”. In this Saha World, this “nature” that everyone has is for the most part very easily contaminated. We easily become affected by bad influences. So, the virtues of our intrinsic nature of True Suchness are always begins corrupted by our external environment. This leads us to give rise to greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. Then, this kind of unenlightened mindset will begin to arise again. Because of this, we become people who create and accumulate evil karma. So, when one thought goes astray, we will easily create and accumulate evil karma. People like this become more and more prevalent in Saha World.
[A person with] “anger” easily loses their temper. In fact, why do people easily lose their temper? It is because they harbor “greed” and “ignorance”. This makes [their minds] turbid. Why do they suddenly lose their temper? Because they cannot get [what they want]. They cannot get the relationship [they want], they cannot attain wealth, they cannot attain status. Things do not go as they wish. They cannot get things to go their way. This is all part of “anger”. So, anger arises when things do not go our way and we do not get what we want. Then, we will be angry. So, “anger” also includes “greed” and “ignorance”.
Not understanding the principles is “ignorance”. When the Six Roots connect with the external states of the Six Dusts, this leads to “greed”. This is craving for external things. Things might not go our way and we might not get what we want. Then there is also “ignorance”, which means we do not understand the principles. When we cannot get something, we give rise to thoughts of anger. So, the source of this “anger” is “greed” and “ignorance”. “Greed” and “ignorance” are harbored within “anger”. So, when this “anger” arises, it creates manmade calamities. When our direction in life goes astray and we give rise to a single thought of ignorance, we can harm ourselves and others. This is “anger”.
Look at the news in society. Which of these events did not arise from an impulse of “anger”? This impulse of “anger” is caused by “greed” and “ignorance”. “Ignorance” is not understanding the principles, not accepting the Dharma on a regular basis. People do not accept this Dharma or accept the true principles, so they continue to create [evil karma] and replicate delusions. So, delusion is “ignorance”. When thoughts of ignorance arise, we connect with external states and give rise to greed. When we do not get what we crave, we become angry. So, there is greed, anger and ignorance. “Anger” comes from “greed” and “ignorance”. We must also be very mindful of this. Amidst this “turbidity”, we become confused. Our minds intrinsically have the nature of True Suchness. We clearly have this nature of True Suchness. We clearly understand the principles.
Everyone intrinsically possesses the innate ocean of enlightenment. It is because of ignorance that our nature of True Suchness is turbid. Because of this, it manifests externally. In our everyday living, there are [people engaging in] “devious flattery, using clever words and an ingratiating manner”. People may seem to always be smiling, but they may not necessarily be sincere; not necessarily! Confucius said, “Clever words and an ingratiating manner are rarely benevolent”. [People like this] often flatter others. They see others and try to please them. Because others can give them some benefit, they will continually try to please them. This is “devious flattery”. They are not straightforward but crooked. They hope that when with others, they [themselves] will be able again happiness. They hope to win the love of others, to have people like them, so they are willing to use devious flattery. They are not sincere.
All of a sudden, if the people they flatter lose power, they will quickly betray those people. People like this may appear to be all smiles, but their minds might not be sincere. People used to called these people “smiling tigers”. On the outside, they appear to be very sincere. On the inside, they harbor ill intentions. These people speak nice words in front of others, but spread gossip behind their backs. There are many people like this. So, this is the stubbornness of sentient beings. This is why [practitioners] do not dare to teach and expound the Dharma to them. They do not dare. Spiritual practitioners do not dare to draw near this kind of person.
So, “As for those shallow in merits and virtue, even if they do a few good deeds, they will all have flaws”. If someone is willing to do a bit of good, after doing just a little, they may feel that it was a lot. Even though it may be just a small good deed, they may be seeking something in return. They seek something in return, so they will have flaws. This is giving to others with conditions. “I flattered you and said good things about you, giving you some benefit. The trust you have in me gives me great benefit”. There are many people like this.
So, this kind of flawed goodness happens when people give conditionally and want to get something. “I have given, so I at least want to be recognized. I at least want to earn people’s respect. I should at least get…”. There are so many like this. The love that they give is mixed with their desire for recognition and for others to help them and so on. This is “having flaws”. True giving is giving without expectations. This is true sincerity. But if we harbor the [mindset] of “I give because I want recognition, because I want to gain benefit” and so on, this is “having flaws”. So, “If we lose precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, this will cause to deviate from our nature”. Thus, we must seek to eliminate [greed, anger and ignorance] in our practice. We do not want greed, anger or ignorance in our minds. We must clearly understand all principles. Naturally, when we eliminate our thoughts of ignorance and greed, there will no more appearances of anger. They will be totally eliminated, and there will be no turbidities. [Our hearts] will become very pure. After eliminating [these thoughts], our minds will become open and spacious. We will have open hearts and pure thoughts. We will not engage in devious flattery or use words and an ingratiating manner. All will be eliminated. We will treat others with sincerity, with sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness. There will be no devious flattery, using clever words and an ingratiating manner. There will be nine of this. So, in everything we do, we will give without expectations. We will not think of doing something small just to get something in return. Threr will be none of this. So, we must work hard to practice precepts. Samadhi and wisdom. if we depart from precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, then, as discussed earlier, in our lives, to a certain extent, we all have greed, anger and ignorance. Furthermore, we may speak good words, in front of others but slander them behind their backs. Have we ever done this in the past? We have! If we have, we must quickly work hard to be upright people, treating others the same in front of them and behind their backs. We must treat people with great sincerity. Our thoughts must be open, spacious and pure serving others is our duty. This is upholding precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. We already understand the principles. We uphold the rules. Our minds are resolute. Our wisdom is transcendent. No matter the situation, we will give to others without expectations. This way, we will be without Leaks. The principles will be in our minds, so there will be no Leaks. This is engaging in practice with true mindfulness.
Otherwise, [our practice of] precepts, Samadhi and wisdom will also leak away. This “will cause us to deviate from our nature.” We must return to our intrinsic nature, our nature of True Suchness. [If we give with expectations], we cannot be considered to be truly carrying out the causal practice of the Bodhisattva-path; we will be unable to truly practice the causes of the Bodhisattva-path. If we [give] with [the intention of] benefitting ourselves, we are not walking the Bodhisattva-path. So, this is why walking the Bodhisattva-path in this world is not easy. Most people in this world have a “tendency toward evil” that corrupts their virtuous nature. Most people who create and accumulate evil karma are in this place. In this Saha World, greed, anger and ignorance cause turbidity. When people interact, they engage in devious flattery, using clever words and an ingratiating manner etc.. This is what the world is like. This is how sentient beings in this world are. So, in the Buddha’s era, spiritual practitioners dared not stay in this world but hoped to go to a different land to truly take up the responsibility of spiritual practice “actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions”. They hoped to plant Bodhisattvas’ pure causes. But do other worlds have these severe turbidities? They do not. However, the buddha wants us to be in this world. It is because there are severe turbidities and sentient beings have bad habitual tendencies that we are needed to go among people to transform them.
So, Bodhisattvas must be very courageous in order to hace the aspiration to abide in this place. This place, this Saha World, must be endured; we must be able to endure it.
Although it is difficult to teach and transform them, we will all summon up the great power of patience. We will read and recite this sutra, uphold, expound, transcribe it and make all kinds of offerings to it, even at the cost our lives.
So, the previous sutra passage says, “Although it will be difficult to teach and transform them,” meaning the sentient beings in this Saha World are stubborn and hard to train, very hard to teach and transform. “We all” refers to Medicine King Bodhisattva, Great Joydul Eloquence Bodhisattva and so on. The 20,000 Bodhisattvas came before the Buddha to make vows. “We will all summon up the great power of patience. We are willing. We are willing to transform sentient beings in this Saha World, we will absolutely summon up the great power of patience. We are awakened. We are willing to engage in practice and be tempered, to train our great power to patiently endure. Great compassion is the room, Gentleness and patience are the clothing. The emptiness of all phenomena is the seat. We must cultivate these [qualities].” This is what [the sutra] said previously.
At this time, they made vows, meaning that they had great power of patience. They must patiently endure. Why must they endure? “in our compassion, we cannot bear to let these stubborn sentient beings create more karmic forces in this Saha World. We cannot bear it, we are willing to be compassionate and earnestly cultivate our hearts of compassion. We are willing to wear the clothing of patience. We are willing to train ourselves in this way because all worldly phenomena are empty; they are temporary and impermanent earnestly make use of this Dharma and attain ‘wondrous existence’ through true emptiness. This is carrying out the causes of the Bodhisattva-path. We are willing [to do this]. So, in this place, we will earnestly safeguard this sutra. these principles are very complete. So, we will [abide] in this place to read and recite this sutra, to uphold it, which means to put it into practice, to go among people to teach the Dharma and to transcribe the sutra.” They hoped to widely spread this sutra.” They would make offerings with their actions. They would make offerings and give of themselves in order to spread this sutra. this is what it means to make offerings. They had to earnestly safeguard and protect this sutra and, with this abundance of principles, go among people. They did not hesitate to give their lives. This is the meaning of the precious passage.
Next, the [sutra] passage says, “At that time, the 500 Arhats among the assembly who had received predictions said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One, we will also make vows to go to different lands to widely expound this sutra.
This is [about] the 500 or 1200 people whom the Buddha had bestowed predictions upon earlier before the Buddha. they saw Medicine King, Great Joyful Eloquence and 20,000 Bodhisattvas all come to make vows. Since [the Arhats] had received predictions of Buddhahood from the Buddha, they were also willing to make vows to the Buddha. In their vows, they said they did not dare stay; they wanted to go to other lands. This was because their spiritual strength was still insufficient.
Several days ago, we said that although the Buddha had bestowed predictions upon them, they had not put the teachings into practice. They had not yet tempered their spiritual strength. So, their spiritual strength was still insufficient, and it is hard to endure this evil world.
These people did not have sufficient spiritual strength, so it was hard for them to endure this evil world. Thus, they aspired to go to different lands in other places to advance the Dharma and benefit sentient beings. They feared the sentient beings of the world of endurance would be hard to train.
Their spiritual strength was insufficient, and they were still unable to thoroughly understand the principles. Because of this, they also made vows, but the place they vowed [to go to] was not this place. They wanted to see if they could go to other places, places that were purer. This place is an evil world that is hard to endure. “It was hard for them to endure this evil world. So, they aspired to go to different lands in other places.” This land really is an evil world that is difficult to endure. But they hoped to go to other lands to advance the Dharma and benefit sentient beings. They were simply afraid of these sentient beings who were difficult to endure and hard to train. These Arhats were very afraid, afraid of us evil sentient beings. So, they still hoped to go to other places.
Thus, this [sutra] passage says, “At that time, the 500 Arhats among the assembly who had received predictions….” These were those whom the Buddha had bestowed predictions upon. So, in the fourth volume, in the eighth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, it was these people, these people with limited capabilities, upon whom the Buddha bestowed predictions. We discussed previously that there were 1200 disciples who received predictions. [The Buddha] bestowed predictions upon them in two sections.
At that time, the 500 Arhats among the assembly who had received predictions…: These 500 people has all received predictions of Buddhahood. This is the name of the eighth chapter in the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra. This chapter states that the disciples of limited capabilities received predictions of Buddhahood. The disciples who received predictions, 1200 in total, were divided into two sections. First, [the Buddha] bestowed predictions only on Purna Maitrayaniputra. Then He bestowed predictions on all the rest.
The first to receive predictions was Puna Maitrayaniputra. Puna Maitrayaniputra received predictions, and following him there were 1200 people who also received predictions. There were two sections. Among these 1200, among the 500 [with limited capabilities], was Ajnata Kaundinya, Revata and others who received the Buddha’s predictions. They all had the same epithet and were called Universal Radiance Tathagata. Then, for these 500 people, He also described the special aspects of their awakening. These were among the 500 disciples.
To sum it up, of these two sections of those who received predictions, there were 500 people who had formed aspirations and now expressed to the Buddha, “We are willing. We are willing to form great aspirations. But we do not dare to remain in this Saha World. We hope to go to other lands to form our aspirations and make vows there, to go to different lands to widely expound this sutra. We want to expound this sutra in other lands. We do not dare remain in this Saha World. We are willing to go to other lands to teach the Dharma”.
Go to different lands to widely expound this sutra: They feared that people in this turbid and evil world would be hard to teach and transform, so they vowed to go to other lands to widely expound this sutra. Different lands: other lands. This refers to any world in the great chiliocosm other than the Saha World.
This was what these 500 people had in their hearts. They were willing to go and serve, but not in the world that is the most difficult to endure. No. They wanted to go to other lands, to “different lands”. They were afraid; they were afraid of the present world. It was better to go to another world, because they were afraid. They feared these evil turbidities and that it would be hard to teach and transform, that it would be very hard to teach here. We know that this world really is very difficult to endure. In this world that is difficult to endure, even spiritual practitioners, even those in the Buddha’s era, the Hearer disciples whom He trained, were very afraid. The humans in this Saha world that must be endured have such evil turbidities, so they had always hoped to escape this world that is hard to endure. They were still attached to freeing themselves. In the past, they did not dare to form Bodhisattva-aspirations. They did not dare to make great vows, because they only sought to benefit themselves. Now, even though they had made vows, they did not dare face the reality of this hard-to-endure world of evil turbidities that is difficult to tame; they dared not do it. Clearly, the environment and people of this world, the human realm, are truly very hard to tame.
“So, the vowed to go to other lands to widely expound this sutra.” They were willing to teach the sutra in other lands. They were not willing to do it here. So, “different lands” refers to other lands. This refers to the great chilocosm beyond the Saha World. These Hearers and Arhats had not truly broadened their capabilities yet. When it came to the Dharma taught by the Buddha, they were willing to receive it and willing to form aspirations, but if they were told to put it into practice, they were still very afraid.
The following sutra passage says, “There were also 8000 people at or beyond the stage of learning who had received predictions who rose from their seats, put their palms together, faced the Buddha and made this vow ‘World-Honored One, we will also go to other lands to widely expound this sutra.”’
These 500 people had formed aspirations, but they did not dare [stay] in this Saha World. They aspired to go to other lands. Following them were 8000 people who were at or beyond the stage of learning who had received predictions. In the ninth chapter, they also continued to receive predictions. These people also followed suit. “That is right.” “This world is so hard to endure. In this world that is difficult to endure, forming aspirations [is difficult]. The Buddha said that we can attain Buddhahood, and we must come to spread this sutra. We must advance and spread this sutra. We must accept and uphold it, but not here in this place. We also want to be like them and go to a different land.”
These were the people with limited capabilities in the ninth chapter. They were willing to form aspirations, but they did not dare face the sentient beings in this Saha World. These were the people who came to make vows. So, “They got up from their seats and joined their palms together to express their reverence.” This showed their reverence to the Buddha.
[They] arose from their seats, put their palms together, faced the Buddha and made this vow: They got up from their seats and joined their palms together to express their reverence. Then they made this vow.
Since the Buddha wanted them to form great aspirations, they were also willing to form great aspirations. These were casual associators; they were happy to just form affinities. Did the Dharma truly enter their minds? In fact, the Buddha did not dare to expect this from them. He only understood that they would definitely attain Buddhahood in the future. That would be a very long time away. Because they all intrinsically had Buddha-nature, they would all attain Buddhahood and would all have the same epithet. They did not have special karmic conditions. So, they were named “associators.” The Buddha was providing these associators with karmic conditions, to help them give rise to this aspiration. So, they “arose from their seats, put their palms together and faced the Buddha.” This shows their respect.
“World-Honored One, we are all willing to go to other lands to widely expound this sutra.” They did not have the causes and conditions. It was just that “Their spiritual power was weak, so they feared that this world would be difficult to transform.” They continually thought, “I have very little strength. I do not dare form great vows or use great strength. I probably do not have the strength.” This is what we just mentioned.
For the sake of the Dharma, the Buddha sought people; He had to seek out those willing to shoulder this responsibility. Otherwise, when people spread the Dharma to future generations, even if they had the sutra to read, their power would be weak; their words and power would be weak. Because they did not have the power of vows, their words would be very weak, and their strength would be very small. This is how those people were. As Buddhist practitioners, we must make great vows and form great aspirations. We must put them into practice. Forming aspirations and vows is not simply saying, “I know, I know.” It is not this. We must be willing. We must be willing [to take] “great compassion as the room, gentleness and patience as the clothing and the emptiness of all phenomena as the seat.” We do not need to overthink things. People in this world are stubborn, but we can simply [take] “the emptiness of all phenomena as the seat.” It is enough to give without expectations. We do not expect to receive anything from them. We just save up our strength to serve others. This is “wondrous existence.” All habitual tendencies of sentient beings are “true emptiness.” If we are not attached to them, then there is nothing to them. Life is painfully short. Interpersonal relationships are like this. When we are together, we encourage each other to walk the Bodhisattva-path. We all work together to diligently advance in our spiritual cultivation. People’s lives are long and short; some go ahead and some stay behind. Those behind wish those ahead of them well. In the end, all people have their karmic conditions.
For some, these causes and conditions are very liberating. For some, their causes and conditions are very toilsome. In any case, we always use a reverent heart to give our blessings; this is the world [we live in]. Together, we help each other succeed in achieving our spiritual cultivation. We must all seize our causes and conditions. We must form good affinities and help each other succeed. We must not form negative affinities; we must form good affinities. With this Dharma, in this world, we must “transmit the Dharma continuously and pass the flame from lamp to lamp.” It is the same principle. So, we must [do this]. The Buddha is seeking people to spread the Dharma. We must exercise this power. So, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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