20140115聞法薰修 守護之愛 Seizing Time to Nurture Wisdom
See how heavy rain has triggered mudslides in Brazil. This is caused by man overdeveloping mountains. Apart from Brazil, Peru has been affected by disasters also caused by torrential rain. See how the Earth has suffered due to the imbalance in Mother Nature. In fact, such imbalance not only brings harm to the Earth, but also affects us.
So, we must cherish our life. Our life diminishes with each passing day. So, we need to work hard to nurture our wisdom every day. We should seize time to learn the Dharma. After taking the Dharma to heart, we’ll gain more understanding of it and our wisdom will grow. When our wisdom grows, our ignorance will lessen. As our life diminishes, I hope that our ignorance will decrease and our wisdom will increase.
This is what a spiritual cultivator needs to do. So, we should seize time to do this. Without learning the Dharma, we won’t know about life’s impermanence. Only when we realize that life is impermanent and full of suffering and see the devastation brought by disasters will we be awakened.
So, we must seize time to cultivate. We need to make good use of our time to nurture wisdom and to benefit people around the world. Today is Pharmacists Day. Every time when the days for doctors, pharmacists, medical technologists, nurses, etc. come, staff of our Tzu Chi hospitals will seize time to do volunteers work as a way to celebrate these occasions.
This is also a form of spiritual cultivation. For example, our hospital staff in Taichung went to a field and applied the fertilizer they made from the residues of Chinese herbal medicine on vegetables and fruits. Such is the cycle of love. The land provides us with food crops and herbs that we can make use of. After the herbs are harvested, made into medicine, and used by people, their residues can be made into fertilizers to nourish plants and the land.
The land provides for us and we give back to the land. Such cycle of love is very touching to see. By using their free time to do this, our hospital staff were also cultivating themselves I’m truly very moved to see how they made good use of their time and brought value to their lives by giving back to the land like this.
This is how we should seize time to give. Life is indeed impermanent. So, everyone, we truly must be mindful. We see Dr. Chinag at our hospital in Taichung. He is a very good neurosurgeon. In the past, he led a deluded life. However, karmic affinities brought him to our hospital in Taichung. Working there, he was inspired and decided to reform.
When he went with our volunteers on our medical outreach events, he saw many people in suffering and how Tzu Chi volunteers led their lives so meaningfully by giving of themselves to serve others. He was impressed and moved, so he changed his ways and quit smoking, drinking, etc. Having changed his mindset, he started to serve as a humane doctor. He knew he was wrong before. In the past, he didn’t think that life is impermanent.
To him, impermanence is a rare occurrence. That was how he saw it. But when he fell ill, he came to realize what impermanence truly means. He also experienced what it feels like to live in the three lower realms of hell, hungry ghosts and animals. Our karmic retributions can come to bear right in this lifetime. Why? When I first began chemotherapy, one of the side effects was sensory nerve damage.
In summer, I felt so cold that I had to huddle in thick clothes and comforters. Later, I read a Buddhist sutra and realized that it was called “frozen hell”. Another side effect was taste changes. Food didn’t taste the same anymore. They tasted different and funny.
So, I didn’t have any appetite at all no matter how delicious the dishes looked I started losing weight. My limbs slimmed down, but I had a big belly. It was exactly what a hungry ghost looks like I also experienced the animal realm i was injured, so I couldn’t walk and I had to crawl to get to the bathroom. At first, I felt sad. Then, it dawned on me that I crawled like an animal. This was my karmic retribution.
See how his wisdom has grown when he fell ill and his life was in danger. Fortunately, he has joined Tzu Chi and learned the Dharma. So, when he suffered from such a major illness, he made use of the Dharma to help himself. He has received treatment, and his condition has improved. When I was in Fengyuan this time, he and his parents came to see me and he told me he wished to go back to work soon.
As a doctor who has gone through much suffering from an illness, I believe he’ll be more thoughtful towards his patients and work harder to care for them. It truly has not been an easy road for him. Seeing how he has got better, I’m really happy.
All of his coworkers at our hospital in Taichung care very much about him and is very loving towards him. So, when he goes back to work, I’m sure they won’t burden him with too much work so that he can take it easy. And, through working, he will have a deeper understanding of the Dharma.
All this is possible because of love. In life, with perseverance and willpower, there’s no difficulty we can’t overcome. So, we need to seize time and make good use of our lives.
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