20150715精進演繹傳正法 Passing on Wholesome Teachings to More People
We see the Hindu religious bathing festival MahaPushkaralu, which comes once in 144 years. Festival participants believe that during the festival, a bath in a sacred river in India can rid them of their sins. And as many believe that it is more auspicious to bathe on the first day of the festival, they pushed forward to get a dip in the river.
There were so many people! Worried that they couldn’t get to the river, they pushed and shoved, triggering a massive stampede that left at least 27 people dead and dozens injured.
In fact, we must have a correct understanding of our religious faith. Look at the musical adaptation of the Water Repentance text presented by our Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia. From their presentations, we can see that they’ve truly taken the Dharma to heart. One year before the musical adaptation, they started to hold study sessions to learn the Water Repentance text.
They also learned the songs to be sung at the musical adaptation and practiced the sign language to the lyrics word by word. They’d spent around a year to learn and practice all this.
A few days ago, they came to Hualien. Yesterday, they shared with me what they’ve learned from this experience. Everyone’s sharing touched me deeply. They live so far away from me and some even have a different religious faith from ours, but they’ve learned and taken the Dharma to heart.
Many of them are entrepreneurs and very busy. But for the musical adaptation, they worked closely together although they didn’t know one another before.
Over the past year, they attended our study sessions of the Water Repentance text and practices and rehearsed at places available near them. For the major rehearsals, they gathered at our Jing Si Hall in Kuala Lumpur to practice together. Some had to come by airplane or bus and travelled for hours just to go to Kuala Lumpur.
From their sharing, we’ve heard how hard they’d worked to rehearse during this time. The drum team also shared with us how they practiced to beat the drums over and over again until they catch the rhythm and got the hang of it.
At first, they practiced by hitting the table. One time, I told them that they could hit their laps. They did as what I said and began to practice on their laps. One of them shared with the other drummers that he hit very hard on his laps as a way to repent for his past mistakes.
Another said that he also wanted to repent so he used all the strength he has to hit hard on his laps as if he were to hit away all the mistakes he’d made. They had hit very hard, so that laps must hurt so much.
One said that he hit so hard that his drum sticks would rebound and spring away from his hands. This is what they shared yesterday. We also see a group of young people who had performed at the musical adaptation. They are not professional performers. So, one dance and martial arts teacher in Taiwan went to Malaya to coach them.
He told them that heart is more important than skill. They also performed for me. See how they did cartwheel and standing leapfrog so well. They are truly remarkable. They are not professional performers and have never learned to do this before.
How well the teacher from Taiwan had taught them. Indeed, heart is more important than skill. Those who played the painter at the musical adaptation this time also came. They also performed for me and their performance was quite impressive. They’ve practiced for a long time.
I asked them:” Are you just like the painter you played who has so many desires and keeps adding the things he wants such mansions, highways, high-speed rail, etc. to the serene, beautiful village in the original painting?
Then, you become overwhelmed by your desires and your minds become turbid with impurity. So, you repent for your mistakes and regain your pure and peaceful heart.” “Is that so?” They replied, “That’s right.” “In pursuit of fame, wealth, etc. what have we got in the end?”
There were nearly 20 people who played the painter as every presentation required four painters to act on the four sides of stage. Only a few of them came to Hualien this time, but I’m sure every one of them had done a good job.
The one who played the mischievous fairy is a local performing artist. He said that it was quite challenging and he thought about giving up several times, but he persisted. His sharing was also very moving and inspiring.
His heart and mind were once disturbed by his ignorance, and from playing the fairy who tells tales to sow discord, he has learned a lot. Everyone has learned much from taking part in the musical adaptation.
If everyone could take in wholesome teachings wouldn’t our world be peaceful and free of disasters? When we’re wrong we must repent immediately so our minds can be cleansed. By jumping into a river dirtier than our body can we really be cleansed of our sins? Is it really that simple? We must believe in the law of karma. We reap what we sow.
This is what we must believe. Our volunteers in Malaysia have truly been united in heart. If not, how could they have moved in sync like this in the musical adaptation? That’d be impossible. In all, please always speak kind words and pass on wholesome teachings to more people.
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