Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Gratitude is the Source of Blessings (感恩是惜福的資糧)
Whenever I can sit and have a quiet moment, I reflect and ask myself: in life, there are Four Forms of Birth, Six Realms; why is this cycle so full of suffering? Buddha wanted us to contemplate and understand the intrinsic suffering in life. Not only do we need to investigate this cycle we should also understand the Four Noble Truths and Six Paramitas. We should first understand the suffering of the Four Forms of Birth.
The Buddha taught us to know suffering. This world is filled with suffering. But where does suffering come from? It comes from the gathering of karmic forces which results in our present suffering. How do we eliminate suffering? We must practice the Way. We must practice, or else we will suffer unspeakably as we continue to be reborn in the Four Forms and Six Realms.
People are stuck in the Four Forms of Birth, in the Human Realm. Some go through life as if in a dream. If you talk about suffering, they say, “What suffering? I do whatever I want every day. I get to eat and play every day. I get whatever my heart desires!” Living like this, these people do not know about the impermanence of life, so they continue to create and accumulate all kinds of karma. They do not know about painful consequences, so they do not strive to cultivate the way.
That is why we have to examine the suffering in the Four Forms of Birth and understand the truth in the Four Noble Truths. If we take this dual approach, through cultivating the Six Paramitas, we can eliminate and free ourselves from the suffering of a cyclic existence. So, Dharma includes the Four Noble Truths and the Six Paramitas. As ordinary human beings, we should look into the Four Forms of Birth and Six Realms.
Four Forms of Birth may cause all wrongdoings. The Four Forms of Birth: womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born, transformation-born.
As we have mentioned yesterday, there are Four Forms of Birth. The first is womb-born, which means they are carried in the womb, and when they are born they look similar to their adult form. For example, humans are carried in their mother’s womb for ten months (40 weeks), and then born in human form. Pigs, cows, horses, sheep. deer, etc., are the same. Pigs are born in pig-form, cows in cow-form, house in house-form, deer in deer-form. These animals are all womb-born. After a certain period of development in the womb, they are born.
The process of pregnancy is very toilsome, not only for the mother, but also for the fetus in the womb. There is no telling how it will turn out. Some people are born beautiful, adorable with fair skin and delicate features. However, after birth, some slowly become dissatisfied with themselves. Some complain that their eyes are too small. Some complain that their noses are too flat. There are all sorts of complaints, so nowadays many people undergo plastic surgery, or get other work done, because they are dissatisfied with themselves.
These features are created during pregnancy, their shape cannot be controlled by the mother or the baby. Being born with five sense organs and four limbs intact should be good enough. Some people are not so fortunate. Some babies are even born deformed. We are all born into our mothers’ embrace, but how do we develop over time?
You probably still remember the little “Bubble-Dragon” born in our Tzu Chi hospital. His mother was only 14 when she had him. She was very young. His father was frivolous, so they ended up with a child. The child has been suffering since birth. His skin was incompletely formed. Doctors utilized all their expertise to treat him. But his condition was due to an incomplete genome, hence he was born without fully-developed skin. It was heart-wrenching.
Even though many people in our hospital loved him, his own parents could not shoulder this burden and asked to give him up. His parents gave him up, but there were still many people who adored and cherished him. They tried everything to treat him, but nothing could be done. Despite all this, he grew older. We visited him often and brought him here for some holidays. But he suffers so much！ First, he was given up by his parents at birth. Second, the pain of his incomplete skin tortures him every second of every day in his life. Now his skin is slowly becoming deformed. The children that grew up with him still play in harmony with him, and others have not given up on him. But as he grows older, he is beginning to give up on himself because he is suffering tremendously all the time.
Everyone, for humans alone the process of pregnancy and birth is uncertain, we don’t know whether the Six Sense Organs or even the skin will be complete. We cannot simply ask for and receive perfection. This is the development of the womb-born; not everything can happen according to our wishes. It is not possible.
So when we are born healthy and with all four limbs, do we remember to cherish our blessings? Do we strive to appreciate and return the grace of our parents? Are we grateful? Do you know to be grateful for this healthy body that our parents have given us? For our parents, the period of pregnancy is hard work. Perhaps we do not even know that we should be grateful to them for this complete, functional body.
Do you remember that before the Filipino conjoined twins were separated, Principal Yang of Tzu Chi Elementary brought some students to visit them? This is a form of life education, to learn that they should be grateful for and cherish being healthy and free.
There were two second-graders who happened to be twins. After they saw the conjoined twins they were asked, “Would you like to share your thoughts now that you have seen them?”
To everyone’s surprise, one of these adorable children said “I know it must be hard for them to be connected. I am very grateful to my mom and dad that my brother and I are not conjoined. I am grateful to my mom.” You see, he is a twins, naturally he thanks his mother for the fact that he and his brother were not born attached.
This is a second-grader; he is only eight years old. When he saw the babies, he already knew he should be thankful can appreciate and cherish their blessings. In turn, they will create more blessings.
Gratitude is the fuel for cherishing blessings. One who is grateful. Cherishes everything that one has and will benefit others in return to create more blessings in the world.
But many people are ungrateful and unappreciative. They are not respectful toward their parents, and do not cherish the material goods they have. They feel that, other than humans, all creatures are meant to be consumed; so people can enjoy the taste, nutrients, and energy that they provide. These poor living creatures are subjected to “survival of the fittest.” It is very sad. Take pigs as an example. They are raised to be eaten. If many people eat one pig, they collectively shoulder this karma. It is said, "eat four ounces, repay it in double." If a pig is killed and eaten by many people, all will pay their share in time. But nowadays, a pig is not split among many people. Instead, one pig is eaten by only a few, or even one table. Do you know about suckling pigs? It is a new-born pig which has not even tasted milk, and is taken to the kitchen to be cooked and served. Some people think that all animals are meant to be eaten by people. So, many people eat without constraint.
It is not enough for them to eat a large pig, they have to get a tiny one and split it among only a few people. Do you remember what is written in the Earth Treasury Sutra? When you recite it, remember the bright-eyed girl's mother. She had a lot of karma from killing. How did she acquire that karma? She enjoyed eating fish, but she did not like to eat big fish. Instead, she liked the tiny ones that are caught with one cast of the fishing net. Sometimes stores sell anchovies, perhaps they are similar.
They are tiny. With one reach of the chopsticks, you could pick up countless small fish. Just like that, you can swallow so many lives in one mouthful and create karma.
Human are called the most sentient of all beings. There are so many creatures in the world. The lives of these animals are ended to satisfy our appetites. So I say the human stomach is a mass grave. It is a tomb for many; we ingest corpses of all kinds. Humans are indeed the dirtiest and the cruelest animal. We try to find a way to swallow all forms of life. In the past, even if people loved to eat, at least they ate less; and split the karmic retribution between many, so their burdens were lighter. But now, people create heavier karma. A life is now taken, abused, and consumed by fewer people. That is why if people nowadays are ill or suffer accidents, it is more painful than in the past. Such unspeakable suffering!
We really have to know about the suffering in life. The truth of suffering: where does it come from? We need to think about the Four Forms of Birth, how we accumulate so many bad karmic causes that result in so many painful retributions. We should think about these truths and how they correlate to the behavior of ordinary human beings.
We must be mindful.
Suffering is a form of karmic retribution. As the seed of suffering was planted in the past, we now reap the fruits of suffering. Only by cultivating the Way, can we eliminate all suffering.
Everyone, it is scary that womb-born beings cruelly kill one another. No wonder there are now many natural and man-made disasters. We brought this on ourselves; it is caused by humans. While humans can cause so many disasters, they can also create many blessings. It depends on a single thought. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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