20150828弘揚正法致祥和 Spreading Correct Views for a Harmonious Society
Today is the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. In Buddhism, today is a joyous day for the Buddha, because it is the last day of the annual summer retreat for the Sangha. During the three months of summer retreat, all the cultivators gathered in one place and mindfully listened to the Buddha’s teachings. Therefore, many cultivators attained greater wisdom and realized life’s principles and the Four Noble Truths, which explained that suffering comes from within their hearts and minds and their karmic retribution.
Due to the law of karma, people lost their innate wisdom and became lost. They fall into the cycle of birth and death and unable to get out. This is why the Buddha came to this world to guide people into the right direction and to walk on the correct path so that they don’t get lost. He first taught people to be a good person by doing good deeds and nurturing compassion and equality for all living beings. Having a heart of kindness towards all, naturally our society will be very harmonious.
People first have to understand life’s principles, then work on getting rid of their ignorance and afflictions and then they’ll achieve harmony with one another. With moral values and ethics deeply imprinted in their minds, they’ll treat people and handle affairs properly with discipline.
We see a family in Malaysia, where the daughter-in-law used to treat her mother-in-law like a stranger.
“This is how I used to hang up my laundry. My mother-in-law’s clothes were on one side and mine on this side. I never allowed our clothes to mix up together. Ever since my mother-in-law moved in, I’ve rejected her and purposely kept distance from her. I felt that this is my house, and I am the head of the household. I believe they should all listen to me.
Look, her attitude made her mother-in-law felt like living alone without my family. That was how she treated her mother-in-law. Being a teacher herself, when teaching her own daughter, she also used a disciplinary approach. When her daughter disobeyed or said words that were not nice, she would punish her by smearing chili on her lips.
After her daughter witnessed the way she disrespected her mother-in-law, her daughter began to rebel against her. She taught her daughter was possessed, so she prayed to deities and asked for divine answer. No matter how hard she tried, she found no help. So, she became very afflicted and suffered greatly. Then, under her friend’s invitation, she joined Tzu Chi and participated in the “Dharma as Water” study group. Next, she joined the stage presentation.
From her practices of the movement, she kept listening and learning the verses on repentance. Slowly, her conscience was awakened and she deeply repented her wrongdoing.
“I did not listen to my mother-in-law. I did not listen to my husband. I was self-centered. I did not listen to my daughter. When I sang this verse, ‘looking down at others with a major attitude’, I truly realize that this is talking about me.
In addition to sincerely repent in her heart, she also put it in action by kneeling down to her mother-in-law, offering her tea and asking for forgiveness of her past disobedience and disrespect. Before, she was not aware of her wrongdoings. After she joined Tzu Chi and participated in the study group and stage presentation, every verse of the Dharma on repentance had entered her heart.
Finally, she realized her wrongs and repented by correcting her behavior. This is good example. As a mother, she has set a very good role model. As a result, her daughter has also improved. Her story gives people a very beautiful lesson. The Buddha came to our world to teach and awaken us to life’s truth, which requires people to listen to his teachings to expound and to spread the Dharma.
Spreading the Dharma relies not only on speaking the Dharma but also living out the Dharma. It is not enough for just one person doing it. We need many people to join us. Each year, during the seventh lunar month, we can always see teams of Tzu Chi volunteers mindfully reaching out to persuade people to stop the practice of burning paper money in order to save our Earth.
They go to the shop that sells paper money to persuade the owner not to burn paper money and put up a Jing Si Aphorisms poster in the shop. Such a teaching should be spread to the public. Our Earth needs everyone coming together to protect it. We see the flooding in Myanmar, which has been lasting over a month and a half. After the torrential rains, the flood water never receded. This is very worrying.
Recently, U.S. climate scientists have announced their research that sea levels are rising. This is a crisis for Earth, how can we not care about it? People shouldn’t be deluded and not knowing the correct Dharma. We should spread the correct Dharma to people so that they will have correct belief and mindset, uphold family values and moral ethics, respect and love others and create harmony in society.
We do this by instilling correct beliefs in people so they will not be so superstitious. To kill many animals for all the meat offering is creating negative karma. The paper money people burned creates air pollution and causes great harm to Earth. Therefore, we must quickly spread the Dharma to people.
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