20140507 推己及人惜資源 Taking Care of Our Minds for a Better World
Look at the sectarian conflict in the Central African Republic CAR. Actually, it’s not a conflict between religions, but a conflict of people’s views. And see how that has led to such brutal fighting and killing. Not only were peacekeepers attacked, but three staff from Doctors Without Borders were also killed in an armed robbery at its clinic. Members from Doctors Without Borders are all full of love.
They often go to dangerous areas to provide medical aid and health care to those in need. They truly serve with love. But see how people’s ignorance and delusion have led to this conflict and blinded people’s minds. That’s why they even hurt those who were there to help them. This is caused by ignorance. It is people’s ignorance that has caused so many man-made and natural disasters in the world.
People in the CAR truly suffer unspeakably. They are poor to begin with and now they’re affected by the conflict. See what ignorance can do to our world. We also see India. In New Delhi, the temperature is so high that the city feels like an oven. On the top of that, insufficient rainfall has caused water shortages there. So, the locals held a ritual to pray for rain. As drought worsens, it’s impossible to farm. Why is it so hot in India and what has caused the drought there? Why does all this happen?
Have people thought about that? Actually, all this is a result of what we do in our daily living. So, if we don’t return to a simpler lifestyle, there’s no use praying for rain. And if it still doesn’t rain people will get even more frustrated. In fact, the only thing we can do to help is to keep our actions in check and lead a simpler life. Water is the source of all life.
Apart from India, Myanmar is also faced with severe water shortages, which are very worrying. Here in Taiwan, due to the lack of rain, the water levels at the Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan have also been dropping. For a sculpture of nine frogs stacking on the top of one another in the lake, usually only one frog can be seen. But now, the water levels have dropped so low that we can see eight of them.
Not long ago, we also heard the authorities talk about water rationing. So, why don’t we discipline ourselves and use water sparingly? Just think, if every one of us can use a little less water and save a cup of water every day, there’ll be a vat of water for others to use. So, we truly must use water sparingly. See how Jing-yi in Fengyuan, Taiwan cherishes water. She collects the water from rinsing our hair to flush the toilet.
At her beauty salon, she will share with others how to save water. When she washes people’s hair, she’ll collect the water for other purposes, such as mopping the floor, watering plants, etc. Master said our blessings can be used up one day. I don’t want that to happen. So, I do what Master teaches us to do. I use garbage enzyme to wash clothes and reuse the water to flush the toilet so it won’t smell.
This is how we can cherish water and use it sparingly, and this is what everyone can do. Wee also see water rationing in Malaysia. To reuse water for washing the dishes, we have to squat down. It’s very tiring. We used to think that water comes automatically. It wasn’t until we turned on the faucet and no water came out that we started to sense the serious problem of water shortage.
Water can be reused for multiple purposes. This is what we can do in our daily living. Everyone can do this as long as they’re inspired to cherish our resources with love. We also see heartwarming events held at our recycling stations May 11 is Mother’s Day, Buddha Day, and Tzu Chi Day. To celebrate Mother’s Day, our volunteers invited their mothers to the gatherings held at our recycling stations to express their gratitude to their mothers. I love you, mom. She does recycling all day.
And when she comes home she helps with house chores. I’m so blessed that my mom is still around so that I can take care of her. I want to say, “I love you, mom”. I didn’t know raising kids is such hard work until I became a father. At the events, our volunteers thanked their mothers or grandmothers for their love and wished them a happy Mother’s Day. See how they expressed their love to their mothers.
It truly felt like one big family. I was very heartwarming and touching. In Malaysia, Tzu Chi volunteers have been caring for the residents of a home for ADIS patients since 2010. This is how our volunteers care fro everyone equally with love. As Buddha Day is approaching, a few days ago, our volunteers even went there to hold a Buddha Day Ceremony for the residents to pay respects to the Buddha.
This is the way of living bodhisattvas. Our volunteers not only care for the Earth, but they love everyone around them all the more. They discriminate no one. See how they went to the home to interact with the AIDS patients with respect and gave them an opportunity to pay their sincere respects to the Buddha. This is truly very touching. All in all, such power of love comes from our hearts such power of love comes from our hearts.
But, disasters also originate from our hearts. So, when our hearts are in disharmony, society will not be peaceful. When society is not peaceful, there will be disasters in the world. All disasters come from our hearts when the fire of ignorance rages within us.