20131016 珍惜糧食多造福 Keeping Our Desires in Check to Mitigate Disasters
As the Buddha predicted, the world we live in now is filled with impurities because people have created much negative karma collectively. That’s why many disasters occur, such as famines, epidemics, and wars, which are referred to as the Three Minor Calamities in Buddhism.
Take famines for example is there not enough food for everyone in the world? Is that why there are so many people living in hunger? It’s not. Actually, every year, about one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption gets lost or wasted. That’s why there are people starving.
So, famines are caused by man. And, because we kill many animals for food, we’ve created much negative karma, which has further led to many disasters, including manmade ones, such as wars. See how countries wage wars with one another and how people in the same country fight for power, etc., harming one another, causing much turmoil in society, and weakening their own country.
Such conflicts and wars are manmade disasters. There are also epidemics. Lately, as the flu season is approaching, doctors and health authorities in Taiwan have been encouraging certain people to get flu vaccines, such as the elderly and children. They appeal people to do so as an effort to prevent an outbreak of flu.
Nowadays, we’ve seen more and more cases of rare diseases and there are now more illnesses than in the past. All this has much to do with what we eat. So, we truly must reflect on ourselves. We should try to eat vegetarian. By eating vegetarian, we can nurture a loving heart, stay healthy, and help to prevent epidemics.
This is what we can do to help avert the Three Minor Calamities. Moreover, we should eat only 80% full. This is better for our health and we can share the remaining 20% with the needy. By doing so, we can be healthy and also help others. It’s better for our environment as well.
So, this is what everyone should do. If we continue our way, more natural disasters will ensue. Nature’s elements have become imbalanced. That’s why there are so many disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, storms, fires, etc. Yesterday, an earthquake hit the provinces of Cebu and Bohol in the Philippines.
In an instant, many buildings collapsed and many lives were lost. See how disasters can strike at any moment. We also see Penang, Malaysia. A few days ago, continuous heavy rain for many hours has triggered the worst flooding in ten years in the suburban southwest district of Penang.
Learning of the disaster, Tzu Chi volunteers immediately went to give out bread, bottled water and instant noodles to those affected. This is the flood disaster in Malaysia. And, in Thailand, it’s been over 20 days since many of its provinces have been affected by floods. One of the worst-hit provinces is Prachin Buri in the central Thailand, which has been inundated for more than half a month now.
Over the past two weeks, Tzu Chi volunteers have been providing hot meals to those affected. This is in Thailand. And in Afghanistan, there was a bomb attack yesterday. See how people’s minds have become imbalanced. Natural disasters bring suffering to people.
But manmade disasters, which are as result of people’s minds in disharmony, are worse than natural disasters as they’ll cause turmoil in a country. Yesterday morning, in Taiwan, a fire broke out in the mountains. Seeing this, I’m very worried.
The fires had been put out in most areas, but there was still one area where fires were still raging. Fortunately, by noon, the fires had been contained. But about 20 hectares of land have been burned. Taiwan is a small island, so it’s terrifying and worrying to see such a fire.
Everyone, see how disasters of earthquake, flooding, fire, and storm are occurring frequently around the world now. Every day, I seem to be raising the alarm about disasters in this world, telling you what disasters are occurring in which country.
Even though the disasters I talked about are occurring in other countries, I’m very anxious and worried because our world is in a desperate situation now with living beings’ collective negative karma manifesting. Yet, people are still indulging in their desires, pursing a life of pleasure and comfort. It’s truly ignorant of them.
And this fire of ignorance keeps on burning. Who has lit this fire of ignorance? It is us, and the ignorance in our hearts has caused all kind of disasters around the world. Today is World Food Day.
On this day, we should be reminded of the importance of cherishing our food. We see a short film made in the Philippines, which depicts how two young ladies couldn’t finish the fried chicken they’d ordered and threw the leftovers away, and their leftovers turned out to be a delicious meal of children of a poor family.
People in the past told us not to waste food, or we’d be punished by the Thunder Deity for not following life’s principles. That’s very true. Moreover, we shouldn’t eat meat as we must live in harmony with all living creatures in the world. And, when disasters occur, we must awaken to the lessons they bring.
All in all, we must follow life’s principles and not be ignorant, or we won’t be able to tell right from wrong.
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