Lecturer: Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Emit the Fragrance of Virtue, Avoid Damaging It (飄德香莫損私德)
Everyone, when we practice we must uphold the precepts and follow the rules. We must have faith, vows and practice to emit the fragrance of virtue. Practice Great Love with kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Do not compromise your virtue or lack compassion.
Everyone, since we have resolved to practice, upholding precepts and following rules is our fundamental responsibility. If we do not practice upholding precepts, are we really in a spiritual training ground?
So, with these rules and precepts, we all need to establish faith, vows and practice. If we do not have faith that our vow is to engage in spiritual practice, if we do not have faith in our choice of beliefs, why would we practice? Since we have faith, we must be firm in our vows. With vows, we realize our practice through actions. So, we establish faith, vows and practice. When we have Right Faith, we need to be confident. When we make vows, we must realize our practice through actions.
If we can establish faith, vows and practice, no second will be wasted. With merits and virtues, we are inwardly humble, outwardly courteous. If we cultivate our virtues by interacting with others with virtue and morality, we will be welcomed and admired. We will emit the fragrance of virtue.
Our practice is inseparable from the Four Immeasurables. With loving-kindness, we hope everyone is happy. With compassion, we cannot bear for others to toil while we enjoy ourselves. Can we bear this? If we are kind, we want everyone to be happy. If something must be done, we do it together. Then everyone can be very happy.
They will also be happy while they work. So, if there is a task, let us share the work, and share the fruits of the work. This is a blessing. When others are working hard, we cannot bear it. We want to give too. We want to help and relieve their burdens. If they are overworked, we want to let them take a breather, let them rest while we take up their labors. This is called universal compassion.
If we are kind and compassionate, we treat others as ourselves. Since we want to be happy, we also hope that others are happy.
So, we share in the work and the benefits. This is how practitioners in a training ground live together in harmony. When work begins, we all do it together. When some begin to rest, everyone rests. This is a spiritual training ground for kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Of course, we must give up selfish love. We cannot just act to benefit ourselves. So, we let go of our sense of self to embrace Great Love.
If we do not eliminate attachment to self, we cannot truly give to benefit others. So, in our spiritual training ground we practice great Love with the Four Immeasurable. Do not compromise virtue or lack sympathy. We must not compromise our virtues. That happens when we do not want to inwardly cultivate our minds or outwardly practice giving. This compromises our virtue.
We each attain the virtue of our own practice. Spiritual practice is an individual matter. If you refuse to practice or be diligent, it has nothing to do with others. It just may bother some people.
So, if we do not practice, we compromise our virtue. Therefore let us not hurt ourselves. If we lead empty lives, we compromise our virtuous actions. We should always have a sense of sympathy.
The next section states, “We may have accepted offerings for nothing, without the virtue of precepts. For these and other transgressions today we repent completely.”
This part of the repentance text says we lack virtue. If we are petty about every small contribution, then we are lacking in virtue. Without the virtue of precepts, if we lack the Six Points of Unity in the community or do not advance on the Path, we “accept offerings for nothing.”
Ordinary monasteries accept others’ generosity. If we uphold precepts we have virtues of precepts, then we can accept offerings. We come to practice. If we do not practice, but accept offerings, not only do we lack virtue, we create karma. If you do not work in society and instead go to a practice center yet are unwilling to give, that is immoral. How can you then receive others’ offerings?
So, the Water Repentance states this very clearly. In our spiritual training ground, we need to establish faith, vows and practice.
Giving is a form of self-respect. If we can give, we need to be grateful to sentient beings. Whether we are grateful to or repaying them, we use the opportunity to practice. So spiritual practitioners need to repay the Four Graces they receive and relieve those suffering in the Three Destinies.
With the grace of our parents, we were born into this body. They gave us this opportunity to practice so we need to repay them. Since we can enter such a pure training ground, we need to be grateful for the Three Treasures, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Since we are grateful to them, wherever we are in this training ground, we must respect the Buddha in our minds and keep Dharma in our lives.
A training ground is created by a community, so respect the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. These are the inner virtues we cultivate.
We need to know to repay their grace. How could we be lax and live out our days sloppily? Could we really lead empty lives? We cannot.
In every minute and second of our daily lives we need to respect the Buddha, practice Dharma. We need to practice the Buddha’s teachings. So I always say, keep the Buddha in your heart, keep the Dharma in your actions.
In this community, we care for each other, and respect the grace of sentient beings. We need be grateful for all the farmers, the merchants, and the many things that sustain our lives. People’s success in their professions provides us with convenience in our life.
As I tell everyone, we must be frugal and cherish all things. We must cherish everything, whether water or electricity, the clothes we wear, or the things we use. Which of these isn’t a result of industry? Where does water come from? It is brought down from the mountains. There also needs to be a reservoir. Think about how convenient everyday life is. Every drop of water or grain of rice come from the contributions of many people. How can we not be grateful? So, we are grateful to sentient beings. We are also grateful to heaven and earth.
If the climate is mild and temperate and the Four Elements are in harmony, we can live peacefully between heaven and earth. So we must be grateful for nature.
There are Four Graces, the grace of parents, the grace of the Three Treasures, the grace of sentient beings, the grace of heaven and earth. We need to repay them all.
Since we want to repay this grace, we need to be grateful and give. We need to respect and admire them. Moreover, in this spiritual training ground, don’t we all share the work and share in the happiness of joyful outcomes? If we can leave the mundane world and enter a pure spiritual training ground, how can we not cherish this time and place as well as the people around us?
So, cherish every moment and use it to develop your Wisdom-life. Everyone, please mindful uphold precepts. Follow the rules, do not lead empty lives. If we “accept offerings for nothing, without virtue of precepts”, then “for these and other transgressions today we repent completely.”
Do not think, “We did not accept and offerings.” You did. From those farmers and manufacturers I just mentioned. What could be produced without collective labor? Money cannot fix everything. Everything must come from somewhere. It can be a gift or purchased with money. Whether it was given or purchased is not important, what is important is the materials have a source. Only after other people make their contribution can we use these things.
This is also a form of offering. We use the results of their hard work in our daily living. Think about it isn’t everything a product of others’ hard work? If we lead empty lives and just enjoy ourselves, we need to repent.
Next, “We may have beaten servants, used child laborers without regard for their hunger or thirst, without caring if they are hot or cold. We may have burned bridges or cut off the path. For these and other transgressions today we repent completely.”
Previously we talked about personal virtues, about our wan virtues. We need to always reflect on ourselves.
Now we are talking about behavior. Whether we are lay or monastic practitioners, we need to cherish others with love and care for them with compassion. In the past, people with money hired others to order around. There were male and female slaves, servants and domestic workers. Since they paid money for them, they ordered them around. Whether they hired adult or child laborers, they used them and forced them to labor, to work very hard.
But some people did not respect servants. They thought that since they were paid, they could treat them as animals, not as people. This is wrong. They did not care if they were thirsty, or if they were hungry. No matter how long the servants went without food, their master just cared about their labor, not their life. This is wrong.
The sun is hot during the summer. Would we care about them? Would we care about whether they can bear this heat? “Do not work so close to noon.”
“Come in.”
Or we might wonder whether the workplace might be too stressful for them. We should care about them. When it is cold and there is wind, rain or snow, are they dressed warmly? We need to care about others, whether they are hungry, thirsty, cold or hot. Though they are hired workers, they are people, too. We should be grateful to them. Without these laborers, we would not have clothes, food, dwellings or transportation. Our lives would not go so smoothly.
So, when we see laborers, we should have gratitude. We must be considerate of whether they are cold or hot, hungry or thirsty. Let us respect them and treat them with compassion.
I saw a news segment about a foreign laborer. She had long been separated from her father. She knew he had been in Taiwan. Since she came here to work, she was always looking for him. Her father was looking for her too. She was hired to take care of an old man, but when the time was up she had to go back. Later, after she went back, it turned out she had forgotten some things, and left them behind at this home. So, the old man looked up her information and discovered she was actually his daughter. They had searched for each other for 40 years.
Isn’t this world incredible? Something like this can actually happen. They were separated for 40 years and had both looked for each other. She actually worked for him, and they lived together for a few years, but did not discover it at the time. The people we hire, use, and order around, or fight with, complain about, hate, may have been relatives in a past life or will be in our future. So, let us be sympathetic and show Great Love.
Everyone, when we learn Buddhism, we need to do our duty well. Since we are engaged in spiritual practice, we must uphold precepts and follow rules. If we can do this, we will not make mistake in this training ground. Over time, our Wisdom –life will develop. Since we are resolved and vowed to practice, we have established faith, vows and practices; we have cultivated virtues and emit the fragrance of virtuous action. We practice Great Love with kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. We do not compromise virtues or lack sympathy. Do not just look on as other people give. This is also wrong. Let us be understanding when others do things.
Everyone, practice accumulates over each second. When the moment is gone it never returns. If we do not cultivate virtue, we truly lead empty lives. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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