20190908息欲造福淨濁世 Working Harmoniously Together to Benefit the World
The Buddha said that a kalpa is a very long period of time in which living beings create collective negative karma. When negative karma keeps on accumulating with turbidites amassing to a point, the world enters the era of decay, in which the laws of Nature is destroyed and everything in this world undergoes destruction.
Right now, Mother Nature is out of balance. The most urgent and worrying thing now is large forests being burned in many parts of the world. Right now, we are entering the era of decay.
In the era of decay, the world is filled with five turbidites. Where do turbidites come from? Humans created them. A kalpa is a long time. Humans have created turbidites over a very long period of time. Generations after generations, humans’ desires have grown. Each generation’s desire for material goods grows bigger than the previous generation, and the things they consume become garbage.
Garbage becomes filthy things. Garbage is buried underground or burned, which damage the land and pollutes the air. When air becomes polluted, naturally, air currents become out of balance.
Recently, Hurricane Dorian caused devastation as it swept across the Bahamas; many people lost their lives and thousands of houses were destroyed. It reached the U.S. and made landfall in North Carolina. Despite weakening, it was still equivalent to a typhoon of moderate-intensity. As it swept the coast of North Carolina, the hurricane spawned many destructive tornadoes. Battered by the stormy rain and waves, an island looked as if it had sunk into the sea. Disasters such floods, storms and wildfires occur in places on our Earth.
After floods disasters occurred in the Philippines, Tzu Chi volunteers there quickly launched a cash aid livelihood program to mobilize the affectees to join in the cleanup effort and employed heavy construction equipment to aid manpower. What they have to do next is to do disaster survey by visiting the affectees house by house. This is how we carry out disaster relief.
This is how we carry our disaster relief. Now, there are so many disasters happening around the world. People should try truly raising their awareness about disasters. The earth is a big living place for all of us. We must pray with sincere piety for all living beings to be safe and well.
While Mother Nature is out of balance, people’s hearts become out of balance as their greed desires, afflictions, and ignorance grow. It every one of us can be sincerely pious and our heart in Harmony, our world will become safe and peaceful. All in all, we all have to be sincerely pious and stay vigilant to pray for a safe and peaceful world.
A large number of people are in suffering, hence, suffering coexists with the world; suffering exists as the world exists, such is the concept of suffering expounded by the Buddha. In the world, suffering can be seen everywhere, it will always exist in the world for eternity.
Take the African country Zimbabwe for example, it is a country that receives long-term assistance from us. The Agriculture and Food Agency of Taiwan donates rice for us to do distribute to countries with the greatest needs, which include Zimbabwe. A Tzu Chi volunteer came upon a school there, it uses a three-tier system; the students in the afternoon class live in the poorest neighborhood.
These students attend class on an empty stomach, so Tzu Chi volunteers began to distribute food that can sustain their lives, and everyone was very happy. They are already in high school, if we help them, they will be able to lead a stable life in the future.
Over 700 students received food distribution and were very happy, when we think about this, we also feel very happy. The food can solve their hunger for a short period of time, which is very useful, and we can imagine how happy they must be. If every one of us can save a little bit of rice, a little bit of money, and a little bit of household consumables, how many affectees or people in need can we help? Therefore, as we witness suffering, let us count our blessings, and create more blessings.
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