20150718悲智雙運法傳承 To Move Forward with Both Compassion and Wisdom
Some countries face compounded crises and suffer unbearable hardship. Look at Greece, so many tall buildings and homes cluster together in front of a hill where wildfires rage out of control. We all know from recent news that Greece is in a debt crisis.
In the past, Greece looked to be very rich on the surface. Its people really enjoyed life as if they were living in haven. However, this government actually has such a staggering debt load that is cannot begin to pay down.
Now adding this wave of wildfires, they truly face compounded crises. Recently Greek citizens have already showed their frustration in protests. With the wildfires adding on top of their worries, I can imagine how hard their life must be.
This is why I keep urging people to lower their desired standard of living, develop their wisdom and conscience and use wisdom in living their life. Don’t harbor so much desire in mind.
In my morning Dharma talk, I reminded everyone that some ideals should remain ideals. If we pursuit our ideals to our heart’s content and manifest our ideals into reality, we may build magnificent buildings, create very exquisite material objects and seem to live a life of leisure, we have to think about this how long can we live like this?
Everything is impermanent and ephemeral. In fact, our way of life actually destroys the environment.
What is more serious is it’s destroying the moral and ethical values in people’s hearts. Seeing the debt problem of Greece, we have to raise our awareness on budget management. We shouldn’t spend all the money that the annual budget allocates to us. Nowadays people often talk about budgets.
I often remind people that if there is leftover in the budget, don’t spend the money on things that are unnecessary.
For the good deeds that we need to do, we should go ahead and spend money to do all we can, but not spend any unnecessary money. We have to use wisdom in spending money. There’s a saying in Taiwan, which old people often tell us, “save for a raining day.” When the weather is sunny, we have to store our harvest.
When it rains, or when the climate is unfavorable, we would still have food to eat. This is an ancient and famous saying.
So, we should spend money on things that are necessary and not be stingy about it. Don’t waste money without limits on unnecessary things. To live a good life, people really need to take good care of their heart and mind. We saw how Tzu Chi volunteers give very heartwarming love.
Every year Muslim observe Ramadan. In the day of Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and is like a New Year holiday to them, Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan provided material aids, such as rice, oil, sugar, and beans, to the Syrian refugees and the care recipients.
All in all, they are very considerate in providing foods that people are used to eat to meet their needs. At the aid distribution, even volunteers from the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, established by the royal family, also came to help.
Students of our volunteer, Jihui, also actively participated in the aid distribution. They are very considerate in the distribution and give of themselves with love. This is truly touching. Also in Turkey, Tzu Chi volunteers handed out cash cards to Syrian refugees for them to buy daily necessities with this the cash card.
The distribution of cash cards is smart way to bring aid to people in need. In Turkey and Jordan, with compassion and love, our volunteers there have continuously given of themselves for a long time.
They explained to the refugees how they can save cims to help people and let them know that everyone can help one another. In fact, relief goods they received all come from pooling together of people’s little donations. Any coin they donate, be it one dollar or fifty cents can also be pooled together to help many people in need.
By this way, we can give many people and inspire their love for others. We also need to let them know that Great Love accumulated and circles around us. This helps to inspire love from people in need and also maintain their dignity. Our volunteers encourage local people to practice the power of Great Love and utilize local resources to help many people.
It is the same In Indonesia. Tzu Chi helps people of all religion. Volunteers also distribute aids to the poor.
Tzu Chi volunteers are very thoughtful in giving them plenty of aids and held a gathering for them like the family reunion in our Chinese New Year. Aids items distributed are very detailed and meet the needs of the poor.
Many people donated goods, which volunteers provided to the poor in a charity sale at very low prices, so that they could buy enough goods to meet their needs, like preparing for New Year festivity.
All clothes, accessories, and other items are at very low prices. The proceed from the sales goes to charity funds to help others. This is wisdom. Volunteers practice both compassion and wisdom for this event to be truly very rich in meaning.
This is from Indonesia. Volunteers there have been serving selflessly. Around the world, in places where there are living bodhisattvas, we can see those places are full of hope.
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