Passing On the Dharma and Living Out the Four Immeasurables (法髓相傳‧四無量心)

Passing On the Dharma and Living Out the Four Immeasurables (法髓相傳‧四無量心)

All of us on the Tzu Chi path are Dharma family as we share the same Dharma lineage (and help one another grow in wisdom).
Apart from listening to the Dharma I teach, I hope you can all put it into practice.
Only by practicing what we learn can we truly realize the truths in the teachings.
So, everyone please be more mindful and seize every moment to give of yourselves.

At all times, we must give rise to loving-kindness.
Look at our volunteers who came back from 30 countries & regions to attend last week’s camp.
Which one of them didn’t start volunteering out of loving-kindness?
With loving-kindness which is a very broad and spacious heart, they hope everyone can be blessed, the whole world can be at peace, and society can be filled with harmony.
Such a broad and big heart is loving-kindness.
Loving-kindness is an expression of gentleness and tenderness.
Someone who never loses his temper and is always smiling, gentle and warm is one who has loving-kindness within.
So a loving and kind person is very beautiful and blessed person.
With loving-kindness, we’ll get along with others harmoniously and not do things we regret.
When we have loving-kindness in our heart, we’ll be willing to give of ourselves to work for a world of peace and blessings.
So, with a heart of loving-kindness, we will live in harmony with others and have no regrets.
As Tzu Chi members, as long as we bear a heart of loving-kindness and give of ourselves with compassion, we will never have regrets.
Haven’t I been sharing with you that with great loving-kindness and compassion, we’ll have no regrets or resentment?
Indeed, when we have compassion within, we’ll feel for others and embrace them like family.
With loving-kindness we’ll be able to achieve harmony in our dealings with people, and with compassion, we’ll care for others like they are our own family and feel their suffering as our very own.

Don’t we often say that we’re a forest of Bodhi tress that grows from the same root?
So, I’d like to share with you that when we care for others like family with a heart of compassion we’ll have no regrets.
As we cannot bear to see people suffering, wherever disasters strike, we’ll immediately mobilize and out to those affected to relieve them of their suffering by bringing them care, comfort and love.
Indeed, when people suffer, we feel their pain as our very own.
That’s how we should care for one another like family without regret.
So, no matter how hard the word is, or how people misunderstand our intentions, etc., we’ll still have no regrets or resentment as we truly cannot bear to see people suffer and we feel their pain as our own.
We must also eat vegetarian because apart from people we should also love animals and feel the suffering of all living beings as our very own.
When animals wail in pain, we must give rise to compassion as if we ourselves were suffering.
So, for the sake of all suffering beings, we must work more mindfully and inspire more people to give rise to great compassion for others.
This is how we can embrace everyone as family with compassion and without resentment.

Apart from that, we must further work with a joyful heart to purify people’s hearts and minds.
Besides taking good care of our own minds, we must work hard to purify the minds of other people as well.
That’s how we can work with great joy to purify people’s minds and be free from worries.
Only when the mind of everyone in the world is purified can we truly be free from worries.
If everyone can bear a loving heart, feel for others, and be free of greed, anger and ignorance, then our society will be filled with peace, harmony, safety and hope.
If we only purify our own minds but not others’, people will still give rise to greed, hatred ignorance, arrogance and doubt and so society still won’t be at peace.
That is we must make vows to purify people hearts and minds.
Aren’t the good deeds that Da Ai TV works to report what we hope to see?
When everyone in the world does good, our world will become a Pure Land.
Everyone, to purify our minds, we must truly watch Da Ai TV more often.
Apart from purifying our own minds, we must also encourage others to watch Da Ai TV so that their minds can be purified as well.
That is how we can work with a joyful heart to purify people’s minds and be free from worries.

Next, we must give with equanimity and not ask for anything in return.
When we give of ourselves selflessly with equanimity and ask for nothing in return, we must not only do so just that once instead, we should maintain this heart of equanimity every time we give.
If we can continually give of ourselves with such mindfulness and love so that our hearts become so broad that we can embrace everyone we will naturally live a life of peace and ease.
Didn’t the Buddha come to this world (to teach us the Dharma and) to guide us to live in accordance with the true teachings of life and precepts?
When we live out the Dharma we will come to understand life principles.
And in understanding them, we will be free of greed and desires.
When we uphold precepts by following rules and having a sense of propriety, we will not commit wrongdoings.
We often hear people complain about why they come across so many setbacks in life why they come across so many setbacks in life or why the people they love suddenly pass away and leave them behind.
Everyone wants good fortune and longevity.
That is what people wish for in life.
But we cannot expect to have blessings if we do not show them first.
If you want to get money from the bank, you must first have savings in the bank.
That is why we must work hard to sow blessings.
Karmic affinities bring us together, and by working with one heart toward the same mission, we’re built a loving family for all to join.
So, we must care for one another even more closely with love.
All of us on the Tzu Chi path are one family, as one family, as those sharing the same mission are Dharma family.
So we are all Dharma family as we share the same Dharma lineage and it is the same Dharma that guides us to grow in our wisdom-life.
So, we must pass on the Dharma to help one another grow in wisdom.
Everyone, must pass the Dharma to one another, and give rise to gratitude in seeing others grow spatially.

When we ourselves or others experience and gain spiritual joy, we must share it with one another and be grateful to one another.
Tzu Chi’s Dharma path has been laid, so I hope that everyone can be united at heart.
With so many bodhisattvas around us, may you all bear a sincerely pious heart, and always learn and take the Dharma into your hearts.
It is very important that your wisdom-life grows and that you take into your hearts the spiritual essence of Tzu Chi Dharma path.
Only then are we truly Dharma family.
All in all, I’ve shared all this with you because
I hope every one of you can understand the reason why.
I keep saying we are running out of time.
If you do not understand my heart, then you won’t be able to take in the Dharma.
So, I truly hope that everyone can be diligent and be sincerely pious.
Seeing so many disasters occurring in the world, I am truly worried.
So, everyone please be more diligent and sincerely pious.

( Source: Da Ai TV 人間菩提 2010.06.29 )