20210714 懵懂逐欲莫為之Easing the Pandemic by Curbing Our Desires
Every day, I watch the news and what I wish most to see and hear is that the COVID-19 pandemic is about to end. Every day, I'm worried that cases would rise again. Time feels slow due to the pandemic. The only way to end it is for everyone to live with vigilance and sincere piety. We truly must be sincerely pious and learn the crucial lessons taught by the pandemic.
Some may think that what's happening in the world has nothing to do with them. They are in a wild chase for more wealth rather than keeping their desires in check or learning more about the current situation of the pandemic around the world. Many stories about the pandemic attest to the truth of suffering that was expounded by the Buddha. Where does suffering come from? People's minds.
In times of peace, many people would give rise to greed, anger, and ignorance, and with insatiable greed, they'd give rise to many afflictions. Even when the pandemic has erupted, they remain deluded by their desires and continue to seek self-interest rather than looking at the origin of the pandemic.
The larger we let our desires grow, the worse the pandemic will become. If we do not keep our desires in check, more outbreaks will ensue. Contrarily, if we can all tame our minds and keep our desires in check, the pandemic will ease off. Although we can ease the pandemic by curbing our desires, it is not easy for one to do so.
This is why I keep saying that it's hard to describe my worry with words. Over two years ago, before the pandemic occurred, I'd said that I was so worried that I couldn't describe my worry with words. Also, it's of little use to call on people to keep their desires in check. As it's hard for people to do so, it's useless for me to say any more. It's truly difficult to call on everyone to keep our desires in check.
If we can all protect every animal with loving- kindness and compassion, everyone can live a safe and happy life, the world can be at peace, and all living beings can live together in harmony. Yet, humans often hurt animals. Due to their desire for meat, many people are far from living in harmony with animals.
Craving the taste of meat, they kill animals, have them boiled, pan-fried, or deep-fried, chop them into pieces, and consume their meat. As they keep consuming animals rather than curb their desire for meat, it's hard for there to be safety and peace in the world. We often see and hear about natural and manmade disasters. To understand why disasters occur and why we humans suffer from disasters, we need to look at how we humans treat animals is related to how Mother Nature treats us.
Heavy bad karma comes to bear over time. Many animals have been killed and chopped, and animals that are raised for food are always afraid of being killed. These are the karmic consequences suffered by the animals. Many of us are creating bad karma (as a result of killing animals for food.) So, after we pass away, we may be reborn as animals and harmed and killed by those who were animals in their previous lives. This is a cycle of retaliation.
We should understand this clearly. We must not seek to satisfy our desires. Otherwise, we will continue to create bad karma. As we know we need to keep away from evil and practice goodness, we must stop evil actions at once. For that, we must first curb our greed and desires. Now, we must inspire everyone to do good and give with great, selfless love. For that, we must encourage everyone to love and protect all animals. This is very important.
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