20180422弘法利生菩薩行Awaking to the Buddha’s Wisdom Through Spiritual Practice
Many people go to temples to pray for safety and prosperity. After I joined Tzu Chi, I have changed my mindset, I pray for world peace and no disaster in the world.
Attend Dharma services to wish for peace on Earth and fewer disasters. The Buddha said that time flies, so we should cherish every day, and grasp every moment to solidly walk the Bodhisattva Path.
Everyone, we must be mindful. Our life in this world is not long. Since we engage in spiritual cultivation, we need to awaken to the Buddha’s wisdom. In calling ourselves spiritual cultivators, our biggest goal is to emulate the Buddha and practice what the Buddha practiced. Only through practice can we awaken to the Buddha’s wisdom.
Thus, in emulating the Buddha, we need to learn what he did to attain enlightenment. What path did he take to attain enlightenment? How did he create this path of awakening and expound life’s principles, which later became sutras? In learning the Dharma, our goal is to know and walk the Bodhisattva Path, practice the Six Paramitas, help people in need, and inspire people to serve.
Bodhisattvas come from ordinary beings. As ordinary beings, as long as we aspire to help people, we can be bodhisattvas. In accepting the Dharma, through serving people, we turn our afflictions into Bodhi. Serving people provides us a way to learn the Dharma, a cultivation ground for bodhisattvas.
Thus, through engaging in worldly affairs, we pave a broad, straight path by serving people with the Dharma. One cannot become a bodhisattva without living beings. Therefore, we cannot practice the Dharma without people. We need to be mindful in doing this. After we accept the Buddha’s teachings, we need to spread the Dharma to benefit people. In doing so, we also benefit ourselves.
Serving people is how we walk on this broad, straight Bodhi Path. The Buddha taught us to serve amongst people. That’s how we walk the Bodhisattva Path. The journey is serving as bodhisattvas, and the destination is attaining Buddhahood. I often talk about this concept. So, everyone, please be mindful in taking in this concept.
In learning the Dharma, we can purify ourselves and others. We need to purify our heart by getting rid of our false views, wrong thinking, ignorance, afflictions, and delusions.
It’s so early, where are you going?
I’m going to the morning service.
You’re determined to attend it daily, why?
I won’t say I’m determined; I came to calm my heart. I’ve taken many wrong turns, and after I started working, I learned a lot of bad habits. Over the course of time, I have many bad habits. I hear the sound of people chanting the sutra, and the fact that everyone here gets up early to be at this place; the sound of chanting the Buddha’s name makes my heart very calm.
You know how to fix all of these?
Yes.
Do you fix things often?
Not now, but I did in the past. You learn a lot by observing how people fix them.
Witnessing other’s suffering makes the count their blessings. It’s to let them know that, one can live a simple life, which is not so complicated, and by wanting less, we’ll have fewer afflictions. When we think in a simple way, life seems easier, too.
Before, I didn’t believe people would give without expecting something in return, but I’ve been coming here for over a year, and truly feel there is someone who is serving society without asking for anything for return.
We must accept the Dharma in order to purify ourselves, and then do so for others. Only by purifying our hearts can we purify hearts of others. It is often said that the world is filled with a lot of turbidity. This has become a description of actual circumstance. A long, long time ago, in the Buddha’s time there isn’t any air pollution.
Nowadays, every day, people talk about air pollution. This is a type of turbidity. Yet, where did it come from? We indeed have turbidity in today’s world. Actually, such turbidity is created by mankind; they are delusion of people’s minds, incorrect views, afflictions, etc. Hence, in the world, there is a lot of turbidity. Such is the world of turbidity spoken by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago.
We see that a fishing village in Malaysia used to be surrounded by vast, beautiful sea with clean, fresh air. Over several decades, the development of the local tourism has brought many visitors to the place and to amass a lot of garbage around the place. Obviously, such as environmental pollution is man-made. Indeed, people’s greed can contaminate land and air.
Now, people are aware of the importance of environmental protection. When protecting the environment around us, we may forget to cultivate ourselves spiritually. Therefore, we must go amongst people to serve and to practice the Dharma.
As Buddhist practitioners, after having learned the Dharma, we must take it to heart and fully understand the teachings. Environmental protection should come forth from our heart, only by setting a good example can we inspire others to follow. If we do not purify ourselves spiritually, cleaning the external environment will be futile.
So, we should be mindful about this. We should delicate ourselves to be a good cultivator and seize time to sow seeds. The land needs plough, weeding, and being kept uncontaminated. Apart from protecting our environment, the most important is to sow wholesome seeds.
Our Dharma lineage and Tzu Chi Path are like this, which start from a seed that takes root from land, and sprouts into a big tree with many branches covered with lush foliage. It can withstand strong wind like typhoons. If we cut the root and replant the tree somewhere else, it will not withstand typhoons; despite having lush foliage on the treetop, the root of the tree is actually weak.
Our wisdom is like the root of the tree, so we must sow wholesome seeds. Everyone, we must be truly mindful. We must learn and emulate the Buddha’s heart. When learning to be a Buddha, we must tap into the Buddha’s heart and practice the Buddha’s teachings. Such is a true Buddhist practitioner. For this, we need to be very mindful.
首頁 