20141010 慎防病毒‧戒殺茹素Vegetarianism: The Solution to Prevent Disease
There’s so much suffering in the world. There are wars as well as natural disasters. There’s also the Ebola outbreak. With all these happening, we can really feel how our world now is in turmoil, full of impurities and crises. The Buddha had told of Three Major Calamities and Three Minor Calamities. These are all happening now and they all result from the hearts of humanity being out of balance. This truly worries us.
The outbreak of the Ebola virus is not just confined to Africa now. It has spread to other continents. Europe and North America are taking more serious precautions at the borders to screen travelers who enter into their countries because of a confirmed case in the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. has stepped up its preparedness and is on high alert for disease prevention and control. This is a very concerning development.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol had enhanced screening measures to prevent an outbreak. The same is true for the U.K. Arriving passengers will need to pass through enhanced screening to enter into the country.
There is also a suspected case in Macedonia. A British man who travelled to Macedonia on Oct 2 died a few days later after having shown symptoms of the Virus. The authorities suspect that this man died from Ebola and have sent samples to Germany for testing to see if he had died from Ebola. They are very cautious in handling this suspected case.
Everyone is scared of this Ebola outbreak. This disease is not just Africa’s problem. It has become a global concern. In the Buddhist sutras, we can already find the Buddha saying that one day, epidemics of infectious disease will, in just seven months, spread to the whole world, becoming a global pandemic. Indeed, this Ebola outbreak has already gone on for over seven months and it has yet to be contained. It is truly very worrying.
For the Ebola case in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also quarantined some people. For the people being quarantined, there is one family who needs help from Tzu Chi volunteers. The CDS asked Tzu Chi to provided daily necessities and food to the family.
The local Tzu Chi volunteers readily agreed and went ahead with the preparation of daily necessities for them. Being isolated in the quarantine center, they are not allowed to go home.
Seeing this, reminded me of the 2003 SARS epidemic. Tzu Chi volunteers in Taiwan also provided material supplies to those quarantined in the hospitals or to those quarantined in their homes. Tzu Chi volunteers in Hong Kong also did the same. Out of selfless Great Love, they also provided face masks, Jing Si Aphorism cards and other materials to calm people’s fear for anxiety.
That was many years ago and now we see this Ebola disease occurring in the U.S. People there are also very concerned. U.S. Tzu Chi volunteers are also providing daily necessities to the family quarantined.
However, we must exercise wisdom in our work to stay alert and safe while delivering supplies per the requests to help the people in need. So, walking the Bodhisattva Path we must learn the Dharma to transform ourselves while actively giving of ourselves to help others. This is the way of living bodhisattvas. Seeing our volunteers doing this, I’m very touched.
It’s wonderful to have bodhisattva in the world. But, the best would be for such crises not to happen in the first place. The non harmoniousness of people’s hearts is really a hidden danger that may cause crisis at any time.
Epidemics of infectious disease also cause a lot of fear and anxiety. It doesn’t only threaten human life. It also creates widespread fear. This all takes place in the contact between human beings. Diseases are also spread from one person to another.
But what is the ultimate source of such epidemics? It’s all due to our desire for meat. So, people have contact with infected animals or eat infected meat. So, it’s due to what we choose to eat. If we don’t solve the problem from the root, it’ll be hard to eliminate epidemics like these.
About 40 years ago in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the disease was first identified in a village and named after the nearby Ebola River. This infectious disease has no known treatment but globally, researchers are working very hard to find a cure for Ebola.
These viruses exist in the animal kingdom. Animals have their own set of viruses. In the human world, we have viruses of our own. But when these two worlds cross, mutation of viruses and infection start. More and more, in the coming times, we’ll have to be even more alert and on guard.
The root solution to such crises is to purify the hearts of humanity. The U.S. already has on case of Ebola, so the government has taken heightened measures in the effort to prevent spread of the disease. But, besides this, we ought to make a long term effort to solve the problem from the root and work on educating the public to be wise in making the right decisions. And we ought to very clearly let all know that humans and animals should coexist in peace without encroaching upon one another.
That means don’t kill animals, eat their meat, etc. Only when all living creatures coexist peacefully can we really be safe from such crises
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