20200205懺悔戒慎守業門Disciplining Ourselves and Respecting All Life
Recently, I’ve been deeply worried. Indeed, natural disasters have been occurring frequently around the world as Nature’s elements have become imbalanced. This is why I always feel very worried and concerned.
Bushfires in Australia are truly worrying. Even now, some are still burning. They’ve raged through forests and encroached on residential areas. For a very long time, bushfires have broken out in different spots, and some have yet to be put out.
Every day, I ask our Tzu Chi members in Australia: “Are you all safe and well? Have all the bushfires been put out?” And I’m always told: “It’s very hot and the fires are still burning.” Then, I tell them: “We must heighten our vigilance and pray with sincere piety.” Apart from guarding against bushfires, they’ve also been bringing care and aid to those affected. How can we assist in extinguishing the fires?
The fires are massive and hard to contain. I often say, “We must all live with vigilant care and sincere piety at all times. It’s not enough to mitigate disasters merely with manpower and resources. What’s most important is for people around the world to go vegetarian and pray for the world peace with sincere piety.” This is the only way we can mitigate disasters.
At the end of last year, we began to hear about the novel coronavirus. The virus spread unnoticed. By the time of the Chinese New Year, many confirmed cases had been reported. The number has been only increasing ever since. I’m very worried every single day due to the ever-increasing number of confirmed cases.
Let us calm and settle our minds and think about the epidemic this time. The coronavirus epidemic that broke out in Wuhan has spread to dozens of countries and regions. It may continue to spread due to convenient transportation and inevitable interactions between people. So, everyone feels insecure and worried.
Despite advanced medical technologies, there are still concerns about the treatment and prevention of the infectious disease. It’s best if we can all heighten our vigilance and protect ourselves from the disease. Otherwise, we will be easily infected with the disease and the epidemic will become even more widespread. How far will the virus spread? It is invisible to naked eyes and can spread everywhere.
Animals are also sentient beings. Why can’t many people refrain from eating meat? We must not eat meat or kill animals as birth and death is a law of nature and we must respect every living being’s right to live. We must respect all life with gratitude and love and live in harmony and reverence to sow blessings for the world. Isn’t this the right thing to do? Indeed, we must harbor gratitude to one another. With mutual gratitude and respect, we can live together in harmony.
However, we humans easily give rise to greed, anger, and ignorance and run after our desires. To satisfy our desires, we humans have killed animals for meat. We have killed and consumed animals the way the strong dominates over the weak. So, many animals have suffered from being killed by people. We humans truly must reflect on ourselves. We must heighten our vigilance, reflect on ourselves, and practice repentance. Let each of us be calm and self-disciplined.
The current epidemic outbreak is the way animals have struck back against humans. As we humans kill animals, they’ll take revenge on us. This is the bad karma from killing animals. We reap what we sow and the epidemic is a warning for us humans to understand that it is wrong to kill animals.
Humans and animals are similar in nature. The Buddha said that humans are close to animals as the nature of the Buddha and all living beings is one and the same. Human beings and all living beings share the same nature as the Buddha’s. Knowing that all living beings are interconnected, we must harbor respect and love so we can all live together in peace and harmony. Only then can we live in peace and sow blessings for the world. we need to reflect on this at all times.
首頁 