Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Develop Wisdom–life with Your Dharma-family (法親師恩長慧命)
Having been born into this world, we are enveloped in the grace of heaven and earth. We must be grateful for our parents’ kindness and have reverence and love for the ties of kin. As humans, we need to have gratitude for the grace of heaven and earth that embrace us.
If it were not for the earth, which nurtures and gives life to all, how would we be able to live each day with such freedom? Moreover, this body we have now came from our parents, from “the union of our father’s sperm and mother’s egg.” After we leave our mother’s womb, after we are born, our parents feed and raise us with kindness. This kindness is very great. So many parents work hard and suffer for the sake of the their children. Think about how great their kindness is. It can be likened to mountains and oceans, but it is taller and deeper. We always need to remember our parents’ kindness and not cause them worry. We can use the body that our parents gave us to work among and benefit people. This is dedicating merit to our parents and returning their grace.
Then the world can become warm and beautiful. Humans are quite amazing. In addition to the close ties with our parents, there are the ties of “kin.” We call our father’s siblings uncle or aunt, and their children are our paternal cousins. Our mothers may also have siblings. Their children are our maternal cousins. Our relatives are clearly delineated. We have blood ties and other relationships; directly or indirectly, we are related to all humans in the world. We need to cherish these connections.
Even if people are not our own siblings or of the same parents, even if they are the children of our aunts and uncles, whether they are our relative by blood or by marriage, we have ties with them all. We need to love and respect them. These ties are our “kin.”
Besides those who are closely related to us, whether by blood or by other connections, we also have ties to all sentient beings on Earth. We live in a greater community. In life, our transport, clothes, accommodations, and all the material things we use are only possible because of people who work in every different profession to bring us such goods. Since they produce, create or buy and sell these things, we are able to have this abundance and are able to live our lives. So, we need to be grateful for all these things and to all these people.
Really think about it. If everyone was grateful to everyone else, if we always repaid the grace we receive and were grateful for it, then this Earth on which we all live, would be harmonious and peaceful. It would be so heartwarming and joyful. Wouldn’t that be Pure Land on Earth?
Everything in the Dharma as Water text teaches us that we need to train our minds to be compassionate. It teaches us to experience the suffering of all beings and protect their lives by not killing or harming them. This is what Dharma as Water is always teachings us. In life, we cannot survive without water; in Buddhism, we cannot grow without Dharma. As humans, we cannot live without morals and rules.
So, we need to listen to and understand many things. Is understanding enough? It is still not enough. Thus the text continues to say, “From Beginningless Time until now, we may have socialized with our friends, or our teachers and classmates.”
The meaning of “socialize” is to interact in a friendly way. No matter who we are with, whether friends, acquaintances, or strangers, we want to be friendly in all our interactions. We say “etiquette is based on reciprocity.”
So, we treat each other with good manners and friendliness. This is true in all our relationships with people, especially with our teachers. In addition to our parents and relatives, we have teachers and classmates. We who have become monastics have the affinity with each other to all be practicing in the same place. So we are also classmates. Even if someone is our relative or sibling, we may not necessarily be with them next life, let alone have the same teacher, path and vow.
If we can all practice in the same place, with the same teacher, path and vow, developing our Wisdom-lives with the nurture of the Dharma, then of course, life after life, we will continue to be in this spiritual community. So, with our Dharma friends and relatives, we need to show even more gratitude and appreciation for one another.
The next passage is very straight-forward. Outside of the monastery, the average person still “lives with his or her parents, siblings and relatives. They deceive each other for their many necessities.”
This means that everyone is born with kin. Most people are originally very close to their relatives. Some people have many siblings and a large family. Before individual families start to branch out, they all “live together.” They share the same living space. Large families with many children will later have many in-laws. Everyone takes turns cooking, and sometimes they have conflicts. After they fight, though they continue to live under the same roof, they no longer cook together. But they still need to live together. They start to separate their living areas. At this point, the parents are still alive, and everyone does chores and farm work. They all work together in the same field. There may be conflicts about who uses more and who uses less. They think about how to obtain more, so their minds begin to discriminate. They begin to “deceive each other.” These thoughts slowly arise. Slowly, the family separates.
In the past, everyone in the village was related to one another. Everyone had kin throughout the village. It was like this in the past. In the Wang Village, everyone in the village has the surname Wang. There is also a Li Village and Zhang Village. These families slowly grew into entire villages. They are all related. They all use the same well for water. There may be dozens of households using the well. Slowly, it becomes more divided. These households will use this well, those households will use that well. When there are more people, things are divided into smaller parts. Then people’s minds discriminate more. This turns into “their many necessities.”
As there are more people, they need more things, so they need to split up more, and begin to “device each other.” If it reaches this point, conflicts between people lead to deception. Slowly, deception grows. Relatives become more distant, and then they become strangers. Then the entire society becomes broken.
Next it says, “We may harm neighbors and fellow villagers by moving fences and walls, seizing their property, changing guides and signs, robbing their assets, or occupying their fields and lands.”
If you think about it this way, everyone was originally close. A family is close, and everyone in a whole village may be related. But they became estranged, and the villagers became separated. A town was originally a village, then it became a town, got bigger and bigger because the population kept growing. Now we do not only have towns, we have townships, counties, cities, provinces. They are all divided up in different ways, getting bigger.
Starting with a village, the population grows, and then you have a town. Then will be a boundary with neighboring towns, that is the town line. Inside that, the village boundaries are drawn up. Then properties are demarcated, so that everything can be clear and fenced off. For some people fences are not enough. They pile up bricks to build a wall. This way they close themselves off, as they do not want other people to invade their territory. We make clearer and clearer divisions in the land because we fear others will encroach on our land. But sometimes we may get into a dispute and claim other people’s land. People seize each other’s land.
Sometimes two siblings want to move apart. But there is only one house to split between the brothers. Neither of the siblings will yield. What can they do？ In the past, there was this very interesting story. Two brothers’ parents had passed away, Their uncle was the family elder. The uncle came to divide up the property. How could he divide it so that it would be fair？ Neither of the siblings and their spouses would give way. “Alright, you both take out everything you own so we can take an inventory. How about he takes this？
“No way, I am already used to using it.”
“Then, I will give this piece to him.”
“No way, I should also have this piece.”
This uncle then said, “Regardless, this property must be divided.”
“How should we do this?”
“Let’s take this plate and break it in two. Here, you take a piece and he takes a piece. All the bowls and plates will be broken in two. This way everyone gets a piece. All the other benches, chairs, tables will likewise be broken in two. This way you get a piece, and he gets a piece.”
“What about the parent’s clothes?”
“I want them！”
“No, I want them！”
“Then we will cut them in two.”
When they had reached this point, of course the house also had to be split in two. At this time, they marked a line through the property. Just where did this boundary run?
“Is this on his side？ or is it on my side？”
These things should be indivisible. You can split up objects, but can you divide the heart？ Unfortunately, people’s hearts are divided first. This destroys relationships. This is suffering. As affection fades, hatred arises. Affection turns to hatred, hatred becomes resentment, and resentment turns to revenge. Then how can the world be harmonious?
The peaceful Pure Land on Earth that I mentioned turns into the defiled land of this world with these kinds of conflicts. What is next in the text？ “We may take advantage while in public service, seize homes and shops, extend town boundaries. For these and other transgressions we repent completely.”
In the past, we may have had problems ourselves, and we may have robbed people we do not know. We may have done some very subtle things; or we may have “taken advantage while in service” because of our greed and desires. We may have “seized homes and shops.” We may seize someone’s house, or their store, or even something bigger, like occupying a whole village or town. These are transgressions. There is no way to discuss them all, but we should all understand the principles.
We are all in this place of cultivation. This is especially true for Tzu Chi volunteers, who are in different places around the world, but all share the same Dharma-lineage and the same school of Buddhism. Everyone has the same Buddha-mind. This mind cannot be divided. If the Buddha-mind is divided, it becomes the ordinary mind. The ordinary mind has many issues. The Buddha-mind is a mind of great compassion. So, in our Dharma lineage, in our school of Buddhism everyone has the same Buddha-mind, the same Dharma. In daily life, we keep the Dharma in our actions, and remain in a state of meditation, in a calm and focused state. We keep ourselves on our path so that there are no disasters on Earth, and society becomes peaceful. We need to instruct all families to be harmonious. First we need to educate everyone so our minds can come together as one. This is the Buddha-mind.
Everyone, we need to always be mindful and keep the Buddha-mind in our hearts, keep the Dharma in our actions and carry out our teacher’s missions. This makes us a Dharma-family. So, everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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