20200214精進力行大藏經Creating Tzu Chi’s Sutra Treasury
I am truly grateful that I’ve encountered Master in my life. I am grateful to Master; her teachings have truly cleansed away a lot of impurities in my heart. Having attended her Morning Dharma Talk for some time, the biggest changes in me is my temper. Secondly, I am quite shy; I know I need to learn to be a living Bodhisattva, so, in the past, though I would come to Tzu Chi’s activities, I’d rather remain quiet. People invited me to volunteer. I went to volunteer, and left. Now, I am more open to interacting with people, and I also go to other communities to learn with everyone.
I am full of joy. With diligence, we will keep on moving forward. As we walk on the Bodhisattva Path, taking one step forward, we create blessings; taking another step, we nurture our wisdom. We are creating blessings in the world and nurturing our wisdom-life. Fundamentally, the Bodhisattva Path is to help people in suffering.
At Tzu Chi, We ask everyone to be in unity and harmony, and learn to work together with concerted efforts and mutual love. Actually, we are to count our blessings, as the weather has been favorable where we are, and acts to purify people’s hearts are somewhat prevalent.
I give Jing Si Aphorisms books to people; I bring home 10 copies at once. I‘ve given out 100 copies more. My husband purchased them for me.
I hope that, in promoting acts of kindness, I do my best to help within my ability.
I have been donating to Tzu Chi since I received my first paycheck. It‘s been 30 years and I’ve been supportive to my mother on this journey; I’m very proud of her.
Tzu Chi volunteers, you can inspire every member in your family to join Tzu Chi. How many donating members you have, that is how many hearts you can purify. I am not alone in calling to purify people’s hearts, you are also purifying people’s hearts, and you do so more directly than I do; I am only the knot of the bundle of rice dumplings. Have you heard of this concept? An organization with a structure is as necessary as the knot of the bundle of rice dumplings.
We must not stop purifying people’s hearts as the climate has changed drastically. We need to respect life. We need to nurture a love for life, be grateful, and respect one another. We need to learn to foster the spirit of harmony and prevent conflicts.
Around the world, What I am worried about now is that people are in conflict with one another. So, we should not have conflicts; we should have a pure heart, and create blessings together. Let us turn conflicts into opportunities for creating blessings in the world.
I hope the climate can be balanced in the weather becomes favorable so that the world can be at peace. This all has to do with human activities. So, what we can do is go ahead and do the right things. In working with people, sometimes it is difficult. Such is the world we live in; it’s full of difficulties. When we overcome all difficulties and get all the people to unite as one, everyone will become a living Bodhisattva.
So, as bodhisattvas, our focus is on helping living beings in suffering. Everyone has the same heart and the same direction. There is no conflict, and everyone works together in unity and harmony with love.
Of course, we need to recruit more volunteers. When the Buddha was alive, in the Chapter of the Dharma Teachers of the Lotus Sutra, it was very clear that The Buddha was recruiting Bodhisattvas. In expounding that chapter, I kept reiterating that the Buddha was recruiting bodhisattvas in this world.
And now, we need to learn the spirit of the Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva. During this time, I exerted myself to prepare Dharma talks. No matter how busy I am during the day, at night, I need to finish the verses for the Morning Dharma Talk on the following day. When I gave a talk in the past, I did not need to prepare verses because there was no need to put words on the screen.
To expound the Lotus Sutra now, I need to work very hard, because this is how Tzu Chi started by paving a path with the sutra’s teachings. I did not expound a lot of sutra’s teachings but led volunteers to carry out Tzu Chi’s work. I paved the path with the teachings, but did not explicitly referred to the sutra. I continue to pave the path until volunteers joined together and formed a group of living bodhisattvas.
Then, I tell people about a path that has been paved with the sutra’s teachings. Now, we’ve connected the path to life’s principles, which lead us to the sutra’s teachings. Thus, sutras show us life’s principles, which point us to the right path to walk on.
We need to keep going. There are still many living beings that need to be helped and inspired. We need to inspire them to serve as living bodhisattvas. Now, certified volunteers, volunteers in training, and everyone else are all here. At Tzu Chi, we need to be thoughtful when interacting with others.
No matters how the work is assigned, the information should be passed on to all volunteers in the group, so those who want to participate in the activities also have the opportunity to serve. We do not restrict people from serving nor say, how come you show up today? You are not listed for today‘s activity.
Doing this would disappoint people and hurt their aspiration. People get hurt by us, and we do not even know we have harmed them. So, if they are happy to volunteer with us, we should welcome and praise them happily. When a person sincerely devotes himself in doing something meaningful in life, he will never regret what he did. Such is their value in life.
So, volunteers, we truly have to serve as Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva. I have worked as hard as I can to finish expounding Chapter 20 of the Lotus Sutra, the Chapter of the Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva, which is the fundamental part of the sutra. The first half of the Lotus Sutra talks about The acts of Bodhisattvas. The second half is the fundamental part.
We’ve covered Chapter 1 to Chapter 20. The Chapter of Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva Is the most important part within the fundamental part, which I’ve finished expounding. Though it is a story, it carries the essence of the Buddha’s teachings which is the root of the ways of the bodhisattvas. So, volunteers, you have to be mindful.
I have tried as hard as I can to finish Chapter 20. In order to finish expounding this chapter, I have truly worked hard. In daytime, I have to attend many meetings, meet people, and oversee Tzu Chi missions across the world. At 6 pm, my meetings are over. I have some time to my own. At 7 pm, I start working again. By the time I can turn in to sleep is after 10 pm.
This is my daily routine. At 3 am in the morning, another day starts again. I have seized every second in my life to its fullest, without a break, In order to expound to you the Buddha’s teachings. Volunteers, please take in what I have expounded, verse by verse, sentence by sentence. I have kept making it clear to volunteers that I am not only expounding the sutra, I am sharing Tzu Chi and Tzu Chi’s Sutra treasury with everyone.
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