20191016分秒累積長時修Seizing Every Moment to Learn the Dharma Diligently
Every day, Master gets up a little after three o’clock and is on a tight schedule the whole day. So, we must often remind ourselves to give back with a grateful heart and carry out our responsibilities with mindfulness.
I will keep working hard to awaken to life’s truths. Also, I hope that while walking the Bodhisattva Path, we can continue to carry out Tzu Chi’s work with mutual care and support. We are truly full of spiritual bliss on the Bodhisattva Path.
Having learned a lot in Tzu Chi, I can go bravely amongst people to serve. Apart from understanding the Dharma, we must also take it to heart and live it out.
Our Tzu Chi members truly work with diligence. This is how we walk the path of spiritual cultivation. We’ve learned the first half of the Lotus Sutra, including many parables expounded by the Buddha, and we’ve now entered its second half, coming near to understanding what it takes to be a Bodhisattva. As long as we continue to move forward, we can see what it is truly about. For that, we must be able to stand many tests on the way.
And, after we arrive at the destination, if we do not delve into what it takes to be a Bodhisattva, we will not truly understand it.
In the past, I liked to do Tzu Chi’s recycling work. as the work is about recyclables, it was easy to me. I found that it was difficult for me to get along with people. It was then that I understood I had still not learned enough about the Dharma.
We must also learn to get along with people rather than only learn to do things well. Everyone can do things well, but it is not easy for people to work together with the same heart. In Tzu Chi, I’ve learned to humble myself.
We might have had knots in our hearts and we’ve encountered many challenges when walking on the Tzu Chi Path. Even so, we’ve unraveled the knots and overcome the challenges one after another. Are we still able to untie our inner knots and overcome challenges on the path, if any? We still need to be as mindful as ever. It is truly hard work to untie the knots and overcome the challenges. So, everyone, please be mindful.
May all of you work mindfully to untie the knots in your hearts. May you also work mindfully to learn the Dharma and cleanse your hearts and minds by eliminating ignorance bit by bit. May you read Buddhist sutras page by page and take the truths to heart. This is how we untie our inner knots.
We cannot untie our inner knots without eliminating our ignorance, and if we do not eliminate our ignorance, it will be very hard indeed for us to take the Dharma to heart. So, may all of you be mindful. By abiding by our selfless vows to uphold life’s principles, our path in life will be very broad and vast. Each and every day, I seize every second to give. May you all seize every second to learn the Dharma. I truly hope that you can all take this to heart so even after a long period of time, you will still remember the truths you’ve learned.
At the Morning Volunteer Assembly yesterday, I mentioned the September 11 attacks in the U.S. as Taiwan is a long distance from New York, when the incident happened, New York was on the side of the Earth that faced the sun and it was morning there, and as Taiwan is on the other side of the Earth, it was evening here back then.
Even with the passing of long span of time, we can still find many truths about the universe and the Earth in the Dharma. Any of the Buddha’s teachings contains many true principles of life. So, we truly must open our minds. I often remind you that our heart must be as vast as the universe and be able to embrace everything. The Dharma is without the bounds of time and space.
What is a long span of time called in Buddhist sutras? It is generally called “countless eons,” which are as many as the countless sand grains in the Ganges River. The Dharma contains truths that came into being over countless eons of time. This is why the Dharma is profound. While it is easy to understand what countless eons are about, we must delve into the Dharma to understand it.
May we seize every second to do so over a long period of time so we will truly take the Dharma to heart. Also, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, our Tzu Chi members in New York and Taiwan prayed simultaneously with sincere piety despite the difference of day and night. We put our palms together and sent out prayers at the same time. This was made possible by technology.
And, with the aid of modern technology, we can understand the Dharma quickly and clearly. Vulture peak is in our own minds, as I often say: “Do not seek the Buddha far away on Vulture Peak as the Peak is in our own minds. There is an inner Buddha within all of us and that is where we should go for the Dharma.”
May we learn the Dharma and understand the true principles of life so we will always be full of spiritual bliss and grow in wisdom unceasingly.
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