One must know two paths clearly with insight and choose wisely.
A person needs to examine his or her own character very thoroughly.
One must avoid blaming others’ shameless, immoral, or bad conduct until the end of one’s life.
A wise person must use this precious human life to attain liberation, morality, and restraint. Then one will achieve nibbāna in successive higher abodes, either in this dispensation or in Metteyya Buddha’s.
By any means, final liberation must be won during the time of Metteyya Buddha, and the mind must be set on this resolutely.
One must not allow one’s mind to be polluted by the misbehaviour of others.
To attain the ultimate goal under Metteyya Buddha, one must practise generosity, morality, and meditation. Then one will surely encounter his dispensation and then win liberation.
No one must miss this final chance.
Two fundamental virtues must be cultivated now by striving with the four right efforts to one’s utmost.
These two virtues are wisdom and good conduct.
1) What is wisdom?
It means insight into the characteristics of impermanence (aniccānupassanā-ñāna), unsatisfactoriness (dukkhānupassanā-ñāna), and not-self (anattānupassanā-ñāna).
2) What is good conduct?
For the laity it means eight precepts with right livelihood as the eighth, and the attainment of the characteristics of a good man.
For monks it refers to the fourfold purifying morality.
Among these two basic requirements, good conduct creates the conditions to reach happy destinies, which means freedom from suffering in hell, from evil deeds and the consequent suffering in lower realms.
Thus even temporary morality ensures that one will encounter the next Buddha.
So the seeds of good morality conduct must be sown anew.
If one also sows the seeds of wisdom in this life, one will be sure to meet the next Buddha, and will also win liberation.
However, if only the seeds of wisdom are sown without sufficient moral conduct, one will face many hardships.
Evil kamma will produce suffering in the lower realms.
One will be like a traveller who lacks sufficient food for a long, arduous journey, and so perishes without reaching his destination.
Another types of person tries to obtain good moral conduct to the greatest extent, but fails to gain insight. Though he or she has good conduct, it is accompanied by superficial wisdom, which does not lead to liberation. This case is like rotten seeds, which are useless even when sown in fertile ground.
Good conduct enables such a person to meet Metteyya Buddha, but he or she cannot then gain enlightenment due to lack of cultivation of wisdom in past lives.
Due to the power of morality he or she obtains wealth, status, and safe conduct to the presence of the Buddha.
However, having only superficial wisdom, he or she fails to realise nibbāna during Metteyya’s dispensation, in spite of meeting the Buddha and devotedly paying respect to him.
Being satisfied with the honour of being a lay supporter, donating an ordination hall or building a pagoda, he or she fails to become a Noble One. If such a person joins the Sangha, he or she remains as an ordinary monk or nun.
(A Manual of the Dhamma. Dhamma Dīpanī.)