A Nudge from Our Teacher: The True Turning Point 末後了，末後了

When I was a teen, I read a book that captured moments from the lives of our Teachers—Patriarch Zhang and Matriarch Sun. I no longer remember the title; it’s been so long since I last held it in my hands.

Somewhere near the end of that book, there was a passage that deeply moved me. It wasn’t just the rhythm—it was the meaning that spoke to my soul. I remember reading it over and over again. Our Teacher’s plea felt so real, so heartfelt. I’ve never forgotten it.

What follows is my humble attempt to translate that passage. May it speak to your heart as it once spoke to mine—and still does.

There was a specific line that captured my attention - Have you come close enough to touch the root of your true nature? Image: Shutterstock.

末後了，末後了，時機已經到末後了，該求的也求了，該辦的也都在辦了，這正是該收圓的時候了。收圓守成，收大家的圓，守自己的成。當要端正自己，此時，不要再讓別人推動、引渡，必須自覺、啓發，自性必須自渡才是究竟。

This is the final hour—the true turning point. Time has entered its last phase. Those who were meant to receive Tao have already received it. What must be done is already unfolding. Now is the time to complete the sacred mission and bring this chapter to its destined close. Achieve transcendence, and carry forward what has already been established. In this last part of Heaven’s great plan, you must help all beings reach full transcendence. Hold on to the progress you have gained.

You must also look within and correct yourself. In this hour, the will to walk the path must rise from deep within you. Do not wait for someone else to nudge or guide you. You must wake up on your own and let your true nature lead the way. Through your own effort, let your inner light shine. This is the highest path to awakening.

求、修、辦、學已經這麼久了，大家所承受的、走過的，各種滋味，點滴在心頭，不論好壞甘苦，只要記住，為師從未曾離開過你們一步。徒兒們要想想，是否已經識透、看清最後的宗旨，是否已經摸著根了。已經是末後了，末後的眾生，不可再顛倒，不可再迷離，否則枉費受明師一指，枉費得道、辦道一場。

From receiving Tao to learning, cultivating, and serving, you have walked this path for many years. Each person has endured and experienced much—some joyful, some painful. Every step, every feeling, still lives in your heart. No matter how sweet or bitter the journey has been, remember this: I have never left your side.

My disciples, take time to reflect: Have you awakened to the deeper truth? Do you now see the final purpose clearly? Have you come close enough to touch the root of your true nature? The final hour is now. People of this time must no longer confuse right and wrong, or mistake the false for the true. Do not lose your way again or turn from the path of truth. If you do, all would be in vain—the holy point from the Mandated Teacher, the chance to receive Tao, and the great effort made to pass it on.

There was one line that really stayed with me: “Have you come close enough to touch the root of your true nature?” I read it again and again. I kept asking myself—how do I touch it? I tried to understand it through words. I read them. I heard them. I thought I understood them. But that was as far as I could go. Still, it planted a question deep in my heart.

Years later—maybe a decade or more—I heard a lecturer explaining either The Great Learning or The Doctrine of the Mean. He shared a quote from a Buddhist sutra:

《楞嚴經》若於因地，以生滅心，為本修因，而求佛乘，不生不滅。無有是處。

Śūraṅgama Sūtra: "If, at the start of your practice, you use a mind that rises and falls, that keeps changing, as your foundation, and still hope to reach the Buddha’s state—a state beyond rising and falling—it cannot be done. There is no such path."

Here is the quote in video.

In this part of the Sūtra, the Buddha teaches Ananda to look within and find his true nature—the part of the mind that does not change, does not rise, and does not fall. Only by finding this true mind can a person become a Buddha. This teaching shows that if we use the wrong kind of mind to practice, we will never reach the right goal, because we are already off track from the very beginning.

I was so grateful to hear that. It felt like an Ah-ha moment. It brought me back to that one line about touching the core of my being. I had been trying to understand it through concepts, but my mind came up with nothing. This mind—so used to thinking, comparing, and analyzing—simply couldn’t grasp it.

That’s when I realized: I can’t use the conceptual mind. So then, what can I use? How do I touch it?

When the mind notices thoughts as they arise—sees that they are part of the ever-changing, unsettled mind—and gently lets them fall away, that is when the innate awareness begins to work. That is a brief glimpse of the true mind.