20220710盤點生命學中覺To Learn and to Awaken
What are the central principle and methods for Master to expound the Dharma? It’s just these four elements: People can know what she means, can carry it out, it will be applicable, and people can comprehend the teachings.
While serving with Tzu Chi, I feel that I have fewer afflictions and that Master’s Dharma can truly help us. Volunteers, useful words are teachings, words that can be taken to heart are also teachings; teachings are everywhere. When people use the teaching, they are awakened. They know how to learn the teachings and apply it. The Chinese character for to learn has the character of child, substitute that with the character of to see and the character becomes to awaken.
The learner thus becomes the awakened one. Ultimately, we are to have faith in ourselves. Everyone is born to learn, but let us learn the right things, what we learn should be beneficial to the world. Hence, I talk about taking an inventory of our life as a way to examine ourselves.
In reality, this is to self-reflect. When we keep talking about self-reflection, people are too used to it so they will not do it. Hence, I use a different term, to take an inventory. It means to self-reflect and to examine our deeds.
Are there missing components in our life? Ignorance is called leaks like water leaking away. Some people keep seeking for the truth in life, so they keep chasing after it and want to study Buddhism. Though they keep doing this, what they learned keep leaking away. It leaks wherever they go, and in the end, they are left with nothing, and they are empty after all.
So, take the inventory of the Dharma in our life, how much have we kept with us? Did we help ourselves with the Dharma? Do we have the Dharma to help ourselves? Think about whether we’ve been helped; only when we have been helped by the Dharma can we set examples for others to follow.
When you have done so, what you speak of, others will learn it. Volunteers reflect on this: in the beginning, what was your karmic affinity and what did you aspire to do? At this moment, we are here to talk about Tzu Chi. It’s especially that the world has so much suffering in various forms; such a miserable world calls for the enlightened love of bodhisattas to help all the living beings with various ways.
This is the karmic affinity of bodhisattvas. In today’s world, we can truly say that bodhisattvas are indeed helping the world. Tzu Chi volunteers around the world can take an inventory of their deeds in their life; those who have been serving a long time with their life, they should tell themselves at once: I’m grateful!
Making use of our body and our time, in the several decades since we’ve joined Tzu Chi, walked the Bodhisattva Path, and faced people in suffering. Let us take an inventory of our life: how many people have we guided? How many people have we helped? Though I often say that as we take a step we must lift up our back foot, but because we walk in this way, people walk along the path. Some take more steps, thus walking further. Some take less steps by not moving at all.
Like me, as I sit here talking, I have not traveled anywhere; yet, my heart is like the heart of an ordinary being, always attaching to something. I’m always concerned about world affairs. There are a lot of sufferings in the world, we should make good use of our time.
Volunteers, inspire people to serve as living bodhisattvas and fill the world with living bodhisattvas. Just by changing people’s thoughts, they can head in the right direction. By reaching out your hands and let other people grab on to your hands, you can bring them along.
Moreover, one person can help countless people. By continuously reaching out to people, we help people who are lost in this world and bring them to serve with us. So, people can help one another. This is learning to be living bodhisattvas, which is not hard to do. This is being a living bodhisattva. All we need to do is extend our hand to pull, push, or praise a person, we can help that person.
So, now is the time to practice the grand lesson. When can we turn this pandemic into something that is beneficial to people? This pandemic is trying to awaken people and stop people from giving rise to greed thus creating negative karma. Let us turn the situation around. Let us benefit living beings. Making use of the pandemic in this world, let us use the pandemic as a topic to teach people to awaken themselves and take an inventory of their life.
We want to learn to be a person who is awakened. I keep talking about a tiny ant climbing the Himalayas. This tiny ant will go beyond its strength and keep on climbing until it has gone through the entire Himalayas. No matter how many lifetimes or eons it takes, this tiny ant will continue to climb without stop0ping. I do not seek nirvana. I only seek to come to this world because only in this world are there living beings to be delivered.
This is my aspiration. That’s right. I share my aspiration with everyone to encourage you. I’m grateful to Tzu Chi volunteers around the world. You must keep on spreading your power of love and remember to invite more people to serve as living bodhisattvas. This is passing on the Bodhisattva spirit.