20141016以愛施眾‧息心達本 Relieving Suffering and Cherishing Our Resources
I see countess reasons to work for Tzu Chi. I will continue to serve and devote all my time to Tzu Chi.
Tzu Chi volunteers have been caring for the people in Haiti for years now. Since the major earthquake in 2010, our volunteers from the U.S. have been helping those in need in Haiti. In June, they held rice distributions in Port-au-Prince.
A group of school teachers also came to get the rice. Although they are poor and don’t have fine clothes to wear, they are very committed to children’s education. In this world, see how different everyone’s life can be. Some people are impoverished.
For example, the people in Lesotho are also poor, but they are content. Having received the rise from Taiwan, they’re very happy already. The rice can only bring them temporary relief. In the long term, they still have to live in poverty. This is the life of the poor.
The people in Taiwan are relatively well-off, so we should count our blessings. In life, no one knows for sure when impermanence will strike. In my Dharma talk this morning, I spoke of the Three major Calamities and the Three minor Calamities.
The Three Major Calamities refer to natural disasters of wind, fire and water. See how they occur more and more frequently in more and more places. If it goes on like this, the Earth will be destroyed in the end. The Three Minor Calamities are epidemics, famines and wars. They’re caused by man.
When we don’t cherish our resources, Nature’s elements will become imbalanced. Then, it won’t rain when it should, or when it rains, it pours nonstop, bringing about widespread flooding.
In places affected by drought, crops cannot grow, leading to famine. All these disasters are caused by man because we’ve wasted to much of our resources. So, we really should cherish our resources.
In the past, people always asked their children to pick up the rice they’d dropped on the floor or they’d be punished by the Thunder Deity. This is how people in the old days taught their children not to waste food. They truly cherished everything they had.
This is what people nowadays should learn to do--- to be more diligent and frugal. That’s why I often remind people to cherish what they have. Why do industries have to keep excavating the Earth of resources?
Everyone should think about that and reflect upon themselves--- Many of the things we use in our daily living are made will the resources of the Earth. Almost everything we use are made with the resources acquired by digging and wounding the Earth.
So, we should cherish the things we have and not replace them with new ones at every turn. When things are still useable, we should not discard them. We really should cherish our resources.
See how many people in the world are short of resources. Due to the Syrian Civil War, over one million people have fled to Turkey. We even see children rummaged through garbage looking for food. This is what’s happening now to a group of people in another part of the world.
They fled their country and couldn’t go home. For now, they can only live in another country. What suffering they endure. Fortunately, our volunteer in Turkey, Mr. Faisal Hu, has seen their plight. He felt for them. So, he worked with a local professor to hold aid distributions for the Syrian-refugees at a local foundation and a mosque.
Before the aid distributions, they needed to survey who were most in need. These people are all refugees, but our volunteers hoped that the supplies could be given to those who needed them the most as there were limited supplies.
So, they had to explain to those who couldn’t receive our aid that others needed aid more than they did so they would understand when seeing others collecting supplies, but they did not.
On average, each family has six members. So, we had to give them enough supplies. A family of six could receive over 30 kg of supplies. But how long could they last for a family of six? They really suffer a lot.
Life is truly filled with suffering. Seeing that, we must be mindfully alert and aware at all times. Only when we work to cultivate virtue and do good to sow blessings can we mitigate famines, wars and epidemics.
Though called the Three Minor Calamities, once these happen, they are not minor at all. Look at how the Ebola epidemic that started in West Africa has the whole world in fear. It is indeed very worrying. So, I hope everyone can perceive the reality and truth.
As Tzu Chi members, we need to overcome our mundane mind and return to our true enlightened mind. Our true nature is pure, good, and kind. That is our true nature, and it is full of goodness and wisdom. So, don’t get blinded by rhetoric.
We need to know true from false and have a discerning mind. So, we need to be very mindful. There is never enough time to all that needs to be done. But, through time, we create negative karma if we do bad or sow blessings if we do good.
So, we must make good use of time and choose the bright way of goodness and humaneness. Let us all encourage and support one another in taking this direction. May our society be in peace and people’s minds in harmony.
首頁 
