20131127 日出而作 清淨淡泊Recycling to Mitigate Disasters
Every time I go to the recycling station, it takes me 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop. Two other volunteers will go with me. During our bus rides, I’d ask people next to me, “What do you do?” If they aren’t working, I’d say, “You can come with me to do recycling” Some would happily agree. I’d then tell them that by doing recycling, they’re sowing blessings.
Then, I’d make appointments with them. Some people just wouldn’t come with me, so I’d ask them again and again until they agreed. Now they’re all very happy doing recycling. Some people even invited their neighbors to come
I’ve recruited 15 people on my bus rides thank you, Master We’ll inspire more volunteers to do recycling and help save the Earth
I’m very grateful to our recycling volunteers for their hard work. Even during bus rides, they’ve recruited more than ten people to do recycling. If everone can inspire ten people to be our recycling volunteers, I’m sure our recycling station here will be full of people giving of themselves for the Earth
But, I hope you can also look after your safety and have enough sleep. For the elderly volunteers, please don’t go out to do recycling before daybreak. When it’s still dark outside, please do not go outside. You can stay home to pay respects to the Buddha.
Take myself for example I wake up at 3:30 a.m. and then I pay respects to the Buddha and read sutras. When it’s time, I go to the hall to give my Dharma talk. All this is done indoors. So, please don’t go out too early in the morning. If you get up early, you can prostrate to the Buddha, which is also a good exercise.
This way, you won’t waste any time in the morning just like how I don’t waste time I share my daily routine with you so you know what I do every morning and can also do the same I’d also like to share with you why I refer to our recycling volunteers as “grassroots bodhisattvas”
Be it a blade of grass or a tree, their roots can serve to protect the land, and this is exactly what you’re doing. Your work involves collecting cans, plastic bottles, etc., and then sorting and recycling them. What you do may seem insignificant, but it helps to protect the environment.
With what you do, you allow the land to breathe. If we cover our mouth and nose with a plastic bag, we won’t be able to breathe and we’ll die. It’s the same with the land. To keep the land healthy, we have to let it breathe freely. When we plant rice, vegetables, etc. in the fields, the land will become bright green and it helps to protect the land.
Similarly, what you do also helps to protect our environment and allows the land to breathe freely. Every morning, after our sitting meditation, I often share with everyone: “It is so quiet that I can even” “hear the land breathing” The breathing of the land is truly audible, and it means the land is healthy.
As I often say, the roots of grass and trees can help to conserve soil and water. A big tree has branches, leaves and deep roots. When it rains, tree can help to absorb the rainwater. Over time, the water will gradually be released. So, I truly feel that, with our volunteers doing recycling work and trees conserving soil and water, our Earth can be better protected.
I’m very grateful to our recycling volunteers. What you do shows your respect and love to Mother Nature. All of us love, respect, and cherish the land we live on. So, we mustn’t continue to pollute it, which will bring about disasters. Our recycling volunteers, commissioners and Tzu Cheng members often share with people that we should eat more simply and live more frugally.
See, many recyclables we’ve collected are still useable. So, we should use things as long as possible and shouldn’t discard them shortly after we buy them. If we do, there’ll be more garbage and less resources. Now that we’ve collected things people throw away, we should make good use of them
We can also remake them into useful things. This is what it means to cherish resources and how we can show our love and respect to Nature and sow blessings for the world. To sow blessings, we must start with purifying people’s minds. Only when people’s minds are purified will they live frugally and cherish resources.
Then, Nature’s balance will be gradually restored. When we use things frugally, factories will manufacture less goods and in turn, there’ll be less pollution and climate conditions will be less erratic.
So, if everyone can start with themselves by living a frugal life, we can save resources and reduce pollution. To do that, we need to purify people’s minds first. By doing recycling work, we sow blessings for the world. By purifying people’s minds, we help to bring about favorable weather.
So, if everyone can do recycling and live more frugally, there’ll naturally be less disasters. When people’s minds are pure, the weather will become favorable. Lately, the 2013 U.N. Climate Change Conference was held, which aimed to forge an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions .
The severe disaster in the Philippines this time is the result of extreme climate conditions. So, the Philippines called for concrete steps to fight global warming. However, some countries refused to make commitments as they’re expanding their economy and industries, which creates a lot of pollution and does great harm to the environment.
Every country is aware of this. Unfortunately, people cannot curb their desires, so we keep developing, which destroys our environment I hope people can awaken to the lessons disasters bring. Yet, it’ll take pain and time for people to realize this.
So, being safe and well in Taiwan, we should harbor a heart of utmost sincerity, live a simpler life, and develop a healthier mindset. We need to care for our land more mindfully. Let us pray sincerely for people in Taiwan and around the world to be safe and well
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