20150325惜水知福覺有情 Giving with Genuine Sincerity to Bring Harmony to the World
I’ve kept telling everyone that to everything on this Earth, be it plants, animals or humans, water is indispensable. This s what we need to have aware of when we use water. So, we must be grateful when we have water to use and we must cherish it. When water runs out, nothing can exchange for water. So, on days when we have water to use, we need to cherish it and be grateful it. Isn’t this also how we should treat one another?
When we treat one another with genuine sincerity our society will be filled with truth, goodness, and beauty. So, for our world to enjoy blessings we must first be grateful to one another. If we wait until our ignorance and afflictions have brought disharmony to our society it’ll be very difficult to restore the peace we once had. So, every day, we need to cherish the harmony we enjoy. When Nature’s elements are in harmony it’s a blessing for our world.
When they’re imbalanced and disasters strike, there will be people suffering. In fact, the suffering we experience in life is all but a result of the accruement of our ignorance and afflictions as well as the misunderstanding between people and the antagonism we have against one another. All this will cause us to create unwholesome karma. When unwholesome karma is created disharmony will arise between people, leading them to go against one another and even fight with one another.
All this is caused by the ignorance and afflictions we’ve given rise to and accrued. So, we should calm our minds and mindfully learn wholesome teachings. Then, we’ll realize that such is life. We must accept it and stop going against one another o we can turn bad affinities into good affinities and bad thoughts into good thoughts and walk the correct path in life.
Since we’ve understood this, from now on, we should follow true principles and walk on the broad and straight path in life. We should not obstruct ourselves, but really walk the path so we’ll come to see that as we move forward step by step, the path will become smoother and smoother. To do that, we must first eliminate all the afflictions we’ve accumulated. We must also settle our minds and reflect deeply on how time keeps passing by and how impermanent life is. Take people for example. Unawares, we age, fall ill, and will eventually pass away.
And how long can material things last? They form, above, decay, and annihilate. In the end, there’s nothing left in the world. So, as we contemplate deeply, we’ll be awakened to life’s impermanence. Human life is only a few decades long. Having encountered the Buddha’s teachings, we should take them to heart, work to understand them thoroughly and practice them to benefit others. Apart from learning wholesome teachings to benefit ourselves, we should also benefit others by giving of ourselves unconditionally. Then, our hearts will be filled with peace and joy. This is the way of bodhisattvas.
After all, the Buddha hoped that everyone can awaken to life’s truths and benefit others not just focus on self-cultivation. Take for example our recycling work in Gongliao, New Taipei City. Moved by Tzu Chi’s recycling efforts over 20 years ago, a community manager there took up recycling and encouraged others to recycle with her. Over these years, some locals have become our certified volunteers. So, when disasters occur or something happens, they will immediately mobilize to help. This is the power of love.
We also see that in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, there’s an Indian single mother who had lived in a house with leaking roofs for years. Learning of her conditions, Tzu Chi volunteers went to check her house and helped repair the roofs for her. Now, she never has to worry about raining anymore.
Even if it rains tonight, I don’t need to worry. I can sleep well now. I’m very happy. Thank you so much, Tzu Chi Foundation. I’ll recruit more people to become Tzu chi members and do good together.
Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia have truly upheld the spirit of Tzu Chi and paved a broad and long .Bodhisattva Path with love there. Seeing how they walk the path steadfastly, I’m really comforted and happy. After the recent flooding that affected eight states in Malaysia, all volunteers across Malaysia worked together to carry out relief work by hiring the locals to clean up the disaster areas distributing aid supplies to those affected, etc. All volunteers were mobilized, and worked together with one heart.
Their relief effort continues to this day. As part of their long-term aid project, they are now building temporary houses for flood victims. They even came to Taiwan to learn how to build temporary houses. Our volunteers in Taiwan, including Mr. Zhang, also went to Malaysia to give them guidance and make sure that they’d be able to take on the task on their own. They also gave Malaysia their blueprints, so local ironworks could make building materials for the temporary houses, which are the same size as those we make in Taiwan.
Thus, they started to build the temporary houses there. Many entrepreneurs also came to help assemble the houses. Now, as some of temporary houses were built, many people have moved in. The project is still ongoing. This is truly very heartwarming, and it is made possible by people’s genuine sincerity. Seeing that, my heart opens up and I’m very happy. Let us work harder so there will be such harmony all across the world.
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