Good morning, everyone! Perhaps you didn’t sleep very well last night because you heard about Hurricane Harvey coming to Texas. In the state of Texas, we have many CSS members living in Houston, Dallas and Austin, and they are worried about upcoming downpours and flooding. The storm has entered inland to Corpus Christi and is now changing direction a little bit. A hurricane or storm has many names. Sometimes it is called a cyclone. We know that it is a phenomenon of the universe that we cannot control. This storm is called Harvey, and is a category 4 storm. What does it mean to be a category 4? It means that the winds are moving between 131-154 miles per hour. It is that strong.
When we drive, we move between 50-60 or 70-80 miles per hour, and it is already fast. When the wind speed is as fast as this storm, not only it can blow away houses, doors, but it can also uproot trees and statues. Things that are not steady outside can be blown away. Hurricane category 1 wind speed is from 75-95 miles. Category 2 is when the wind speed goes from 96-110 miles. You can imagine that is already strong. Category 3 is 111-130 miles. Category 3 is like Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey which occurred recently. It came ashore, destroyed many places, and the number of people who were injured was very high. And that was only a category 3. This storm, Hurricane Harvey, is a category 4. Category 5 storms have winds of 155 miles per hour and above. That was the strength of the storm which came into Texas a few years ago: Hurricane Katrina.
This is therefore something very terrible, because we have no control. Do you know how a hurricane is formed? When the surface of the ocean gets hot, it steams up. That section of the ocean is very hot, full of steam. When that steam evaporates, it creates winds. Lighter air will move down to occupy that place, creating a stream of strong winds. When heat moves up high to a certain place, the temperature above is lower, so it creates cloud. Cloud is the condensation of the evaporation. The hot ocean water evaporates and becomes cloud after awhile. Clouds do not stay in one place; the wind blows the clouds and turns them into small whirlpools. The more the water evaporates, the stronger the whirlpool, and this begins to create the eye of the hurricane. It moves slowly, not fast, from 100 miles an hour, and then it gets faster and faster. Hurricane Harvey originated from the North of Africa. It came over the Atlantic Ocean and it cooled down. You know the Gulf of Mexico is right next to Texas, where the water temperature is two degrees higher than the normal water temperature. So, this creates a force of attraction, and pulls the storm to move stronger. When the storm moves inland, it creates flooding and strong winds. While inland, the temperature below the earth is lower than the temperature in the ocean, this creates rain. Rain creates flood. Now if it just stays there, there is no problem. But if it goes back to the ocean, it picks up the energy of the ocean, and it increases its own strength to create stronger storms. It then re-enters inland, creating more flooding. This is something that we really cannot control. We can only recognize that this is the strength of the outside universe, and we can pray.
Today we should particularly pray for all people living on the path of the hurricane. Pray for them to be okay. We hope that not just human beings but all living beings everywhere have peace, and do not get injured or lose their lives. Do you know that sometimes crocodiles as well as snakes, out of fear, will climb ashore? They will even climb into people’s houses to escape the storm. This is very pitiful. Not only crocodiles, and snakes, but countless number of other animals, when they cannot run away in time from the hurricane, they die a sorry death. That is why we should pray, and send our prayers to relieve the suffering of all living beings whether they die or get injured, or live in the upcoming path of the hurricane. Especially, we should send our prayers to our loved ones and our members living within the path of this hurricane.
Tonight, we have a special mandala at 7:00 pm, and starts at 7:30pm at our iB center. Please come to attend to pray and to dedicate our merits to those people. Last night we already sent our prayers and dedications to them. You know that hurricanes and flooding always bring about lots of fear and suffering, not just in the US, but also in Asian countries, including Vietnam and Taiwan. In third world countries, hurricanes and flooding bring about a lot of suffering because they don’t have the means to cope with these situations, like in the US.
We should also send our prayers, to pray for a more peace in this world, especially for phenomena that are taking place beyond our control. We should get together and sincerely send our prayers and our cultivation merits to dedicate to this end. We hope that, by so doing, the almighty powers above will reduce the destructive force of the natural disasters beyond our control. Thank you for your prayers.
Master Heng Chang
(Translated and transcribed by Compassionate Service Society)