20150606依道而行‧疫病防治 To Live in Accordance with Life’s Principles
The Buddha said that under the law of existence, nothing lasts forever. Hence, there is no everlasting peace in the world. This contributes to the suffering in life. Life is full of impermanence, and the land we live on is fragile. I also mentioned in this morning’s Dharma talk the universal truth of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and the nature of non-self, which are all caused by the Five Aggregates. We must understand this very clearly as they are the universal truth that shapes our world.
The forces of nature are truly very powerful. We also see violent storms that produce heavy rains and tornadoes in Colorado, U.S... Look at these three powerful forces together, the rain, the storm, tornados. These powerful tornados ripped apart buildings and their roofs on its path. This is a natural disaster. There is also a manmade crisis. Renewed fighting and unrest occur in Ukraine. Twenty four people have died.
This is manmade crisis Ukraine did not have any natural disaster, but due to the disharmony in people’s minds a crisis of unrest and violence has erupted. For people to truly have harmony in their minds, they must learn life’s truth. Only a smooth path in life based on morality and ethics can bring peace and harmony to people’s minds. We have to walk the path in line with life’s principles to care for the finer details with tender love and kindness.
Only if we do this can we bring peace to the world and stay away from causing any man made crisis. Though there are natural disasters due to the imbalance of Nature, mostly caused by human activities, yet, the law of existence dictates that the land and all material things will inevitably undergo destruction. Yet, when people give of themselves with love to help in disasters, it will bring much warmth to the people in suffering and mitigate the impact of disasters.
When people are suffering, bodhisattvas reach out to them to help. Just like in medical care, though it’s painful to suffer from illness, if there are good doctors and nurses to care for the patients, their pain and suffering will be relieved. With the care and company of living bodhisattvas, through life is full of suffering, there is still warmth and love in life. Otherwise, our world would be filled with so much suffering. Since April 25, when the quake hit Nepal, Tzu Chi volunteers have been there for disaster relief and saw the suffering the quake has brought. There is a little girl. One of her legs was crushed in the quake.
She could not get a proper treatment at her village, so her father carried her on his back down the mountain to seek treatment. They have no money for transportation or lodging. So, he walked during the day, and they slept at night out in the open wherever they stopped. It was a long distance they travelled, from up in the mountain to down at the flatland.
How long a distance had they travelled? They walked for three weeks, over 20 days. Now, Tzu Chi volunteers are starting to care for her. This is the power of love from living bodhisattvas. Yet, the wound from her injuries has started to fester. It has been so long since the injury was left untreated. To treat it now, it will take some time for it to recover. So, her case will require patience and love. Also in Nepal.
Tzu Chi volunteers went to the tent area to give love and care. While watching a program of my teaching through a cell phone, a local young man translated for the audience.
To my surprise, he understands my teachings for him to translate. Firstly, we give rise to the thought of doing well. Secondly, we need to find ways methods to offer help. Thirdly, how can we offer our help? We see that, one by one, local residents are inspired to become volunteers. Working with us, they learn that over 2,000 years ago, the Buddha was born in their country, attained enlightenment, and preached the Dharma.
Over the years, his teachings have spread to China, Taiwan and around the world. They know that the country they live in is the homeland of the Buddha. However, now Tzu Chi volunteers from Taiwan have learned the Dharma and brought the Buddha’s teachings back to Nepal. They understand this clearly now. We hope that every one of these volunteers can develop like a seed that can sprout and grow locally, become small trees and eventually grow into a Bodhi forest.
We also saw that yesterday, Tzu Chi volunteers revisited tents near the Swayambhunath temple complex, also known as the Monkey Temple. I have kept on reminding our volunteers to keep away from monkeys when seeing them because it is said that the MERS virus originates from animals like the SARS in Taiwan many years ago Studies have shown that SARS virus originated from Asian palm civets. MERS and SARS viruses both come from animals.
All in all, in order to help others, people should keep themselves safe first. Our relief work in Nepal truly creates many touching stories. However, we must stay alert and vigilant every day. We see that a 6.0 magnitude earthquake actually occurred in Malaysia. We must truly stay alert and heighten our vigilance. Sinabung volcano in Indonesia has been very active.
Indeed, when the land people live on is not safe, how can people live in peace and safety? Therefore, we must truly heighten our vigilance and raise our alertness. Only when our hearts and minds are at peace will our world be in peace. If our hearts and minds are not in harmony, the Four Elements of Mother Nature, our society and the country we live in will not be harmonious and in peace.
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