20180815飲水思源報重恩The Seventh Lunar Month---A Month of Joy, Gratitude and Filial Piety
The seventh lunar month is a month of joy. Back in the Buddha’s time, a three-month summer retreat would begin on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month as the Buddha hoped that his disciples could seize this occasion to contemplate deeply, listen to his teachings with mindfulness, and awaken to the much suffering in the world.
People’s suffering arises when they give rise to ignorance and various types of afflictions through their deeds, speech, and thoughts. And as they do so, they also create negative karma that in turn leads to disasters that harm the Earth. What they do undermines morality, too.
So, through the summer retreat, eth Buddha hoped that his disciples settle down together in one place and focus on spiritual cultivation. Also, people’s life diminishes as time passes by and monastics meant to pass on the many true principles of the Dharma. This is also the reason that the Buddha decided that all his disciples should focus on spiritual cultivation in one place.
Also, as time passes by quickly, if his disciples had set to out in the morning to beg for alms and returned at noon time, a good part of the daytime would have passed. So, the Buddha hoped that his disciples could completely engage in spiritual cultivation with lay practitioners providing food for them so his disciples could nurture their wisdom-life and the lay practitioners could understand the true meaning of making offerings.
As lay practitioners considered that making offerings to the Buddha and his disciples could create merits for themselves, the Buddha allowed lay practitioners to provide food for him and his disciples. This way, lay practitioners could have opportunities to make offerings to the Buddha and the Sangha and sow blessings through the offerings. On the other hand, his disciples could also completely engage in spiritual cultivation.
See how the Buddha guided everyone according to their aptitudes and backgrounds so lay practitioners could make offerings and his disciples could focus on spiritual growth by listening to his teachings and contemplating on the true meanings of the Buddha’s teachings over the past year.
As the Buddha’s disciples were amongst people for most part of the year, the Buddha also hoped that his disciples could mindfully contemplate during these three months on what they’d seen before. Such are the purposes of the summer retreat. As the Buddha decided that his disciples should focus on spiritual cultivation during these three months, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month marked the end of the summer retreat.
And after focusing on spiritual cultivation and contemplating on both the Buddha’s teachings and what they’d seen amongst people over the three months they would share their growth and realizations with each other and the Buddha would examine if what they’d shared was right. If their views true and correct the Buddha would feel very happy.
Around 60 Tzu Chi volunteers from Malaysia also shared their growth and realizations when they came to Taiwan, again, to learn more about our work. They heard our senior volunteers share about their experiences in doing our charity work, including how long they’ve been serving, what kinds of work they’ve been carrying out, and what approaches they’ve been using.
Having learned much this time, our volunteers from Malaysia have now deepened their faith and will continue to dedicate themselves. Because of this, I’m truly filled with joy. Our senior volunteers shared their approaches and experiences about reaching out to those in need and inspiring them to give, and our volunteers from as far away as Malaysia have taken what they’ve learned as precious values that they should live out in Malaysia. Such is how the Dharma can be passed on.
A while ago, Tzu Chi volunteers in central Taiwan also went to Malaysia to learn from local volunteers there, and they’ve come back saying that they are deeply moved and have learned much, too, and that they’ll seize time to get back on track and continue to work hard.
Indeed, over time, their conviction for our work might have become slightly weakened. Now, having seen how our volunteers in Malaysia dedicate s, they’ve felt motivated to continue to work hard. Like our volunteers in Taiwan, our volunteers in Malaysia have long been reaching out to countless people in suffering, so they might also have kind of slackened. Nonetheless, they’ve come to learn from our volunteers in Taiwan and have thereby become energized to continue to work hard again.
In the same way, as the Buddha’s time was over 2,500 years ago, we can only pass on the Dharma and the spirit of the Buddha by sharing with others our experiences and thoughts learned from the Dharma, applying it to perceive the world, and living it out serving people. We must seize time to care for others and pass on the Dharma to them because we truly do not have enough time as our life diminished day by day.
And as disasters have been frequently occurring, we must also stay vigilant and sincerely pious. Our volunteers have been holding events in many places for the seventh lunar month, which is a month of auspiciousness as the Buddha would feel great joy in this month.
It’s also a month for us to show gratitude to our parents and also to Mother Nature, because if there is no good weather or good soil, we cannot have such abundant crops. We must also be grateful to all things and living beings in the world. May all of us harbor gratitude, cultivate ourselves, and give of ourselves at all times to benefit the humanity.