20210704啟悲運智凡轉聖Transforming Knowledge into Wisdom
I can go hungry, but not the children. They need milk, food and clothes. When my husband could still earn money, our family was able to get by. If there wasn’t enough food to go around, I would starve myself so that I could feed the children. I feel so helpless that I can only cry. When we are hungry and thirsty, I worry how I’m going to survive. How will I fee my children? There’s no one to help us.
I worked at a hotel before the outbreak; there was food and things I needed there. But because of the lockdown, the hotel was closed. I have to come here and sleep here. When there is food, I eat. I feel so helpless.
What we have seen, we truly feel very sad. We care about everywhere in the world, let alone the homeland of the Buddha, the origin of our wisdom-life.
I’m grateful to the staff at our Religious Affairs Department like our Deputy CEO Simon Shyong, they are in charge of this affair and take on the cases quickly as they come. When there’s a case, they take it on, and work on it right away. We see their reports daily. In the letter, organizations tell us what they need. Mostly, they need PPEs and medical supplies.
In India, Mr. Vivek works tirelessly to carry out Tzu Chi work, deliver aid, and help people in hardships. Truly, without his help in India, even if we want to help, we cannot do anything, so, we are very grateful. Besides him, there is also Mr. Pravin Bhalesin, a entrepreneurs, in India. I often say that time, space and people must come together for things to happen.
Hence, having affinities is crucial. Another example, as we see Denise now, because of her, we have Dino’s help and it is because of Dino, Denise can shoulder the responsibility for our Tzu Chi work in Mozambique. Due to these two people, several thousands of people have received help. For a period of time, they provided meals for over 7,000 people every day.
Think about it, as long as one person has aspired, many people can be helped and have a full stomach. But, is that enough? I think education is needed as education is the only way to transform one’s life. Therefore, we are going to build schools there. Now, it is in the planning stage, and we need to work hard on it. When there are people, there’ll be strength, and around the world now, people want to help, but someone must initiate it.
When there are things we can do, we should do them quickly. We are just taking the lead, and hoping that other companies can also see the value of making some contribution to our society, and more people can help the world together.
With love, we can love and cherish all living beings on earth. Naturally, everyone on earth will be a bodhisattva. Ordinary people can be transformed into sages. With wisdom, we can live a life of a sage, which is a being with enlightened love.
If we only have knowledge, then we would only know and understand that the world has a lot of material resources. Some people, when they see other people live in a luxurious place, they are jealous. If they cannot get what they want, they use tactics. In this world, many people seek after their wants. When they cannot get what they want and if their mindsets go astray, they might create very heavy negative karma.
So, now is the time for us to learn the grand lessons. This pandemic is invisible and intangible. I hope that as I give my talk here, my voice can spread far and wide. Wherever my voice reaches, every place, even people’s houses, can be a cultivation ground. When a home becomes a cultivation ground, that place will have Dharma protectors, and that place becomes an auspicious place.
So, we need to often play out loud voices of Dharma as Dharma protectors listen to the Dharma. This is why I often say that there are invisible spirits around us. There is always a deity three inches above our head. This is why we need to speak good words all the time.
When we eat clean food, such a grains, it makes our body healthy and keeps our heart pure, without any burden. By not eating meat, we don’t create karmic debts as we don’t need to pay back the amount of meat we eat to the animals. We need to understand the law of karma. Everyone needs to know this.
Right now, I must say this, we need to promote vegetarianism. Only when everyone eats a vegetarian diet will we not need to raise livestock and stop polluting the land and air. There’s a shortage of water on Earth now. While humans drink one cup of water, animals drink gallons of water. We need to use a lot of water to raise animals. Also a lot of feed is needed to make animals feel full. But, only a few pieces of meat are served on the table.
Let us activate wisdom by turning our knowledge into wisdom. By turning insights on the knowledge, we acquire wisdom. Volunteers, I hope everyone can understand my words and take them as Dharma teachings then your home will be a cultivation ground, an auspicious place filled with Dharma protectors.
首頁 