Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: An Open and Pure Heart Knows no Boundaries (心寬念純天地寬)
Be calm and even-tempered, and the world will be full of happiness. Bu understanding and accommodating, and the world will be wide open.
I often think, “If we always remain calm and amiable won’t we happily get along with others? What in the world could cause us to worry?” How can we be calm, even-tempered, and have joyful interactions? Only through being accommodating and understanding. If we train our minds to be understanding of all people and matters, then we will have no confrontations or disagreements. So, this is very important.
If we can do this, we will have open hearts and pure thoughts and the world will naturally be wide open. We will be welcomed everywhere on this Earth. The world is wide open, so we have great freedom. If people’s minds are harmonious, the climate will be suitable for everything to flourish. If we are vigilant and reverent, there will be no disasters in the world. If we are always reverent, we will remain vigilant of our conduct, and not cross boundaries or violate precepts. Then we will not have conflicts with people, matters or the world. Then won’t there be peace in the world? Wouldn’t this be a peaceful society without disasters or suffering?
Being calm and amiable brings joy to the world. Being understanding the accommodating will allow the world to be wide open. In a suitable climate, everything flourishes. With reverent vigilance, there are no disasters.
We must all take good care of our minds. If we do not, then thoughts will arise and manifest in our voice and appearance. If we are unhappy or angry, we speak harsh words. With greed, anger and ignorance, we gossip, lie and flatter. These all arise from our minds. So, we must really monitor them. Simply by moving their mouths, some people may cause others to harbor resentment until they die. A cycle of enmity thus continues through all subsequent lifetimes.
So, let us train our minds. We must be vigilant and reverent, and do our duty. Do not break the precepts. Precepts prevent wrongdoings and stop evil. We all-know that a safe environment is a blessing to us all, so do not incite or motivate others through words or actions to do bad things.
This section of text says that because of our karma of speech, because we insulted, disgraced or slandered others, some people, though good at heart, cannot help but harbor resentment toward us. With that resentment in their heart, a cycle of enmity and disaster is created.
At the slightest adversity, we grow more angry. We may curse, insult, slander or disgrace others, or act obscenely and vilely, causing others to harbor resentment for the rest of their lives.
Why is the world so turbulent? Why do people have such terrible affinities? They ceaselessly struggle against each other. This is the karmic law of cause and effect. If you slandered someone in a past life, or cursed or disgraced them, you sowed that seed of resentment, anger and hate in their minds, which creates a cycle of enmity so that disasters continuously arise.
Otherwise, why would there be so many disasters in the world? Because this enmity continuously accumulates, whenever a disaster occurs, people’s minds cannot calm down. Thus the grievances and enmity grow exponentially.
How can we stop the cycle of enmity and disasters? There is no end to it. Disasters and enmity continue endlessly and unabated.
“We may have complained about Heaven and Earth, admonished ghosts and deities, and denounced the saints and sages.”
Karma of speech can create a cycle of disasters. Once we open our mouths, negative speech karma is created leading to a vicious circle of disasters. Grievances breed further enmity. It has always been that way, and will continue on this way. The present is an extension of past lives. In our relationships, love and hatred, happiness and sorrow are all a result of conditions coming together.
Sometimes we love someone then we hate them, then we feel affection, then enmity. Why is everything hopelessly entangled? Because sentient beings are confused, they instantly feel victimized. If they can open their minds and take a step back, the world will open up. Whenever others criticize us, there is no way for us not to become afflicted. But we can let it pass, open our minds as soon as we become afflicted. Then we can resolve our sense of being wronged and become free.
When we are victimized, if we can open our minds, understand and take a step back, the world will be more open, and we can resolve injustices and be free.
If we do not want to feel that others have treated us badly and that we are constantly wronged, we need to be understanding and accommodating. No matter how people treat you, be grateful! We cannot gain wisdom without experience. Through these experiences we gain understanding and become wiser! I saw a piece of news. The title of the article had two words, “Tzu Chi.” A woman in the US volunteered with Tzu Chi, so she referred to herself as a Tzu Chi person. She had some property in Taiwan so she occasionally came back to deal with the property and the bank. A few years ago, as she was already pretty old, someone told her, “You don’t have to go to the bank, I’ll help you.”
So, they would call to tell her about interest rates, and which banks offered better benefits. During the next few years, she moved money around based on the information from these phone calls. The transactions totaled over NT$10,000,000.
One day, a man came to the bank to withdraw money. An employee thought it was strange that he came to the bank with access to many different people’s accounts, especially the one for this old woman. There had been a lot of activity in her account, but the teller had never actually seen her. This employee was very sharp, so he quickly notified the policemen in the bank. This man was alert and left as they approached. So the police were notified, and asked to investigate this man. What kind of person was he?
They discovered that this person was part of a group of scam artists. They notified the old woman, but instead, she treated the police’s call as a scam. She trusted the scammers, but did not trust the police, until they seized evidence of the scam and drove a police car to her house. She happened to be in Taiwan. When she saw the policemen in the police car, she finally realized how she had trusted those phone calls and transferred her money to that group, letting them manage her accounts. How much had she transferred? Around NT$12,000,000.
I do not really know her. But she referred to herself as a Tzu Chi person. She said they wanted her to
transfer another NT$6,000,000. She wanted to do so, but the bank kept warning her. She refused to listen. Thank goodness to transfer had not yet been processed by the time the police arrived.
I do not know if she is resentful or not. But because she called herself a Tzu Chi person, the headline said scammers targeted Tzu Chi people. It was a sensational title, so I read it.
Wasn’t losing this much money an injustice? If this old woman came and told me, “I’m very resentful, I’m suffering,” I would tell her, “Let bygones be bygones. Treat it as a donation. If you have so much money, why not donate it? If you did, wouldn’t you be very happy? You believed he provided a service for you, so you trusted him so much. Yet you did not trust the police or the bank You followed someone untrustworthy, and refused to listen to those telling the truth. So what can be done now? Since this has happened, just be understanding and accommodating.”
If she cannot see through this,
she will probably feel terrible about losing over NT$10,000,000.
But if she was understanding, she would say she was lucky the NT$6,000,000 was not transferred. Thankfully there were people protecting her.
Although those who deceive others are wrong, those who are deceived need to examine themselves. It happened because they were greedy and ignorant. Since it already happened, they need to resolve the feeling of victimization. Then they will not have thoughts of revenge.
So it is said, “Resolve injustice and be free.” That means if you do not feel victimized, there will be no thoughts of enmity or hatred. Feeling sad sometimes is unavoidable, but let it pass quickly. Then it will not entangle your mind. Entanglements create enmity and continue the cycle. Without victimization and enmity, there are no entanglements. It has always been like this and will continue on like this. It is endless.
If there is injustice and enmity, these entanglements continue on. Whether in the past, present, or future, there is no limit and no end to them. The moment something happens, we start complaining about Heaven and Earth. Some people really love to complain about others.
Sometimes people advise us with good intentions, but instead we find them troublesome, like when the bank and police tried to warn that woman, and she resentfully thought they were scammers. She complained about these phone calls, yet was happy when the scammers called her. That was her mindset.
As for the resentment toward Heaven and Earth, consider the weather. Sometimes it rains every day. Sometimes lack of rain causes a drought. So when it rains, we say “Great!”
If it keeps raining, then we complain, “What’s going on? Why won’t it stop raining?”
If it remains sunny without rain, there is a drought and we suffer. Then we also complain.
So people need to have wisdom. Without wisdom, we suffer. If we remain calm and even-tempered, the world is filled with happiness. If we are understanding and accommodating, the world is wide open.
Everyone, remember to be reverent and vigilant. Then there will be no disasters or suffering. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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