20180916敬慎信解誠受持To Be Sincere and Pious in Taking in the Dharma
Before I joined Tzu Chi, I drank about six cans of beer, smoked two packs of cigarettes, and chewed two bags of betel nuts daily. Then, I thought, I shouldn’t waste my life like this. So, I decided to quit drinking. Having learned the Dharma for the past year cleanse away my ignorance and afflictions. Every day I learn a little bit and live a meaningful life.
Every day, I harbor the thought of forming good affinities with everyone. That’s how I live my life, in interacting with people and in dealing with matters. Master’s teachings are very applicable to life. As long as you’re willing to learn, and practice her teachings, one day you will feel the wonders of the Dharma gradually transforming your heart.
Tzu Chi gives us the direction of the Bodhisattva Path. Master gives me the teachings. I need to use them. After I use them, I gain. If you have medicine and you don’t take it, you will not get better, so it’s best to go see a doctor. Our heart needs the Dharma.
One must be mindful to comprehend the Dharma. When we learn teachings from sutras, people have different capabilities and comprehend different things as well. Nevertheless, in listening to Dharma talks, the foremost thing is being mindful. As we listen, we are to use a simple heart to listen mindfully for the sounds and the teachings; once we’ve taken the teachings to heart, we can being to contemplate about it.
Some people say, “after hearing a teaching, If I don’t quickly think about what that means, or put it in words that I can understand, I would forgot. When I think back, I might forgot all the things I heard.” Indeed, for our memory, how do we train ourselves to store the Dharma in our memory upon learning it?
Ananda was someone who could do that. Upon hearing a teaching, he could remember it correctly. When he shared the teachings again, he could clearly explain the teachings with the right use of language, word choice, and meaning. Such is what Ananda could do. The Dharma was deep within Ananda’s heart. Hopefully, we can all have this spirit of Ananda, something we can work toward.
In addition to the enlightenment and the wisdom of the Buddha, we are to train ourselves to learn the Dharma like Ananda did. In learning the Dharma expounded by the Buddha, we are to be mindful in learning what the Buddha had said. The Buddha existed over 2,500 years ago. It was a long time ago. Even today, we are to share the Dharma as the way we’re heard it.
We read aloud, read silently, chant, and understand the meaning of the sutras; as we comprehend the Dharma, it’s like we reside in the holy mountain.
Master gives her teachings very earnestly; we truly must seize this affinity. Going to Master’s Dharma talks is like attending a Dharma service at the holy mountain. You know, what is passed is passed. Such as opportunity is so rare and special. If we know to cherish it, we’ll gain from it.
Like a caring parent, Master often worries that we do not grow in our wisdom-life. It’s easy to make a vow but difficult to persevere with it. The teachings of Master are so good. After attending the talks, I’d organize the notes I took. Before I just recited sutra verses. I could do this quite well, for I just simply read them out loud. Yet, I couldn’t understand some of the verses.
After attending the Dharma talks, hearing Master explain the teachings again and again, I could fully understand the teachings of the Buddha written in the sutra and gain wisdom from them.
What does it feel like to become awakened? The most important is to live out of Dharma after having had a clear understanding of it. Rather than reciting and speaking about it, our body responds to it, and then we take action to practice it accordingly. Only when we actual practice it can we truly understand the meaning.
This is taking in and upholding the Dharma, which teach us how to practice; we must take action to practice them. Then, we gain insights and can truly understand the Dharma. Therefore, we must be truly mindful about this and learn how to go amongst people to give of ourselves and help people in suffering.
The Buddha taught us to learn to serve people selflessly and walk the Bodhisattva Path first. Walking the Bodhisattva Path means that after we understand and believe in the Dharma, we are sincere and pious in taking in the Dharma. In doing so, we apply the Dharma in our everyday interaction with others
In interacting with people with wrong views, we need to let them see things clearly via various ways. In interacting with people with ignorance, we need to guide them. Yet, to help people go in the right direction, we need to first understand the Dharma. If we don’t help ourselves to understand the Dharma how are we going to guide people? If we don’t know our direction and the path to walk on, how can we tell people which path to take?
Thus, we need to start with ourselves. We need to learn the Dharma, develop faith in it, understand it, and accept it. After accepting the Dharma, we need to practice it. As we practice the Dharma, we have to deepen our faith and understanding of the Dharma. Only then can we truly realize and connect with life’s principles.
Humans live in this world, on the earth, under the sky. The world protects all living beings and provides resources for humans to survive. In return, humans need to protect the world. To do this, we need to use wisdom of discernment and impartiality.
We know life’s principles and use the wisdom of impartiality to cherish and love everything in this world. We have to be very mindful in this. Time keeps on passing by as I am talking. Do you remember the teachings I said?
When you take the teachings to heart, they stay in your memory. To have faith, understanding and be able to remember the Dharma requires us to learn the Dharma attentively. To truly the Dharma, we need to practice it. If we don’t practice it, we would waste our life.
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