20180504深明是非啟智慧 Returning to Our True Nature by Cultivating a Compassionate Heart
I seize all opportunities and time I have to give and to bring depth to my life.
What we can achieve as an individual.
I used to be an ungrateful person. I now harbor a grateful heart.
I often share with you that the Bodhi Path is broad and straight. Bodhi is enlightenment. May you all fully understand that Bodhi is enlightenment and that there’s only one path to enlightenment. We must believe that as mundane beings, we only have one path to Buddhahood, which is broad and straight Bodhi Path.
If we have an upright heart and mind, we won’t deviate from the correct path. After expounding the Dharma for over 40 years, the Buddha stated in the past, He’d used expedient teachings to guide people according to their different aptitudes and what they needed to learn.
Observing people’s aptitudes, the Buddha imparted teachings in different ways so everyone could understand and take in his teachings. Yet, exactly how many aptitudes are there? To express the large number, the Buddha said there are as many as 84,000 different aptitudes.
As mundane beings’ aptitudes vary, the Buddha expounded the Dharma in different ways, using expedient teachings to guide people according to their different aptitudes and habitual tendencies.
But, prior to the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha expounded the Sutra of innumerable Meanings first. With the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, one can understand how to walk the Bodhisattva Path. The Sutra even expounds the principles of how to reach out to the suffering and the ill. So, the Sutra encompasses the values of Tzu Chi’s four missions.
We carry out our four missions similar to how the Buddha guided people in different ways and relieved them from physical and spiritual suffering. No matter if people are suffering physically or suffering in their hearts and minds, and even if they cannot open up their hearts and minds, the Sutra clearly expounds remedial principles.
Learning the Dharma is in itself walking the Bodhisattva Path, which not only transforms us for the better but also benefits others. I’d like to share with you what it means to walk the Bodhisattva Path. Many people think that if they focus on self-cultivation, they can become Bodhisattva after they pass away. This isn’t true. See how Tzu Chi members walk the Bodhisattva Path.
May you dedicate yourselves to Tzu Chi’s work and work to benefit others.
What we Tzu Chi volunteers do in our daily living, including our deeds and spirit, is in line with the value expounded in the Sutra of innumerable Meanings.
I took notes during the training sessions. We must practice what we’ve learned and always do what is right.
In the past, I could barely control my temper. I flared up easily. Nor would I take others’ advice. After joined Tzu Chi, my husband and children said I’ve changed a lot.
Everyone should work to change their bad habitual tendencies. Everyone’s original is good and kind. May everyone return to their original nature. After we repent for what we’ve done, we shouldn’t go back to our ways again. When we repent, we’re cleansing our hearts and minds.
If our hearts and minds are defiled, we must cleanse away the defilements with the Dharma. Our hearts and minds are tainted by greed, anger, ignorance, and doubt, which hinder us from cultivating ourselves. Life after life, in the cycle of rebirth in the six realms,
All living beings constantly develop and accumulate bad habitual tendencies. It’s very hard to quit bad habitual tendencies. Indeed, everyone has distinct character and habitual tendencies.
There used to be a betel nut farm here. I felled those betel nut trees. I chewed betel nuts and drank alcohol. Now I don’t. One o Tzu Chi’s Ten Precepts is not chewing betel nuts. But I had a betel nut farm. I felt guilty. Before I started to learn the Dharma, I didn’t know I had created negative karma. After I joined Tzu Chi and started to learn the Dharma, I realized I needed to change my bad old ways.
I don’t grow betel nuts anymore. I listen to Master’s Dharma talks every morning. Master often reminds us to form good affinities with others and learn from other people’s bad examples so we don’t make the same mistakes.
We truly must quit our bad habitual tendencies. The Buddha has taught us how to change ourselves for the better, and it’s up to us to take in his teachings and change our bad old ways by ourselves. This is the most important things when it comes to spiritual cultivation. We must seize opportunities to serve people and in the process change our bad habitual tendencies so we can return to our innate Buddha nature.
Everyone has the same Buddha nature. And how can we return to our original nature? The Buddha’s heart is one of loving-kindness and compassion so we start by cultivation loving-kindness and compassion and working with others in unity and harmony. This is how we can create a clean and pure world.
Our world is filled with many erroneous things, and moral values have become blurred. So, in such a world, we must clearly know right from wrong. What is right is the true principles in life. We must seize time in this era and use modern technology to help us learn about life’s principles.
Buddhist texts teach us a simple principle---Everyone has the same Buddha nature and shares the same compassionate heart. Such a heart is broad and pure. The Buddha’s heart is all-embracing, so he realized the truth in universe, becoming the Awakened One of the Cosmos.
So, we need to learn from the Buddha, and we must learn at all times. What we need to do is take good care of our hearts and minds and head towards the right direction in life. Everyone, may you be mindful always in upholding correct faith unwaveringly and having an upright mind, right views, and right thinking, right diligence, right intention, right conduct, right livelihood, etc.
To learn from the Buddha is a simple matter. As Buddha’s heart is one of compassion, we need to cultivate our compassion. In this world of turmoil and wrongs, we need to know right from wrong and mindfully cultivate our wisdom.
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