Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Place: March 27, 2008 - Jing-Si Memorial Hall in Kaohsiung
Indeed, as Tzu Chi volunteers, we must all remember that we are Buddhists, so we need to dedicate ourselves for the sake of Buddhism and for all living beings. This is the mission that my Master gave me. Being your Master, of course, I also want this to be your life’s mission. We should have a broad and spacious heart, one that can embrace the whole universe, not distinguishing between nations, religious faiths or ethnic groups. We should truly emulate the heart of the Buddha and love all living beings on this Earth equality. If fact, throughout our lives, as it is with the law of nature, for each year that passes, we have one less year to live. We don’t gain a year but actually lose a year. None of us know how may times we’ve returned to this Earth (in our past lives) and how may times we’ve cycled through the six realms. But ours is truly a very blessed life since it is very rare to have the chance to be born as a human (and to encounter Buddhism). What is even more fortunate is that we are all characters in the same play. We have all been born into the same era and are all enacting roles on the same stage of Taiwan in the same play. The role I play is your Master and the role you play is my disciple. So, we have different duties and play different roles. So, we should all work hard to play our roles well. We must all believe in the karmic law of cause and effect and listen to my dharma teachings mindfully since Buddhist teachings are applicable to our daily lives. Buddhism states that all material thing, the body and the mind go through four fundamental phases of charge. In terms of material things, the Buddha had told us before that everything we see on the Earth is all referred to as material things---Including the Earth. All this is matter. The Buddha had told us that the day will come when it will eventually be destroyed. So, the Earth will enter into the era of decay. Isn’t that what is happening now? Yesterday, I heard on Da Ai News that a large hunk of Antarctica’s Wilkins ice Shelf has started to collapse. It’s happening sooner and to a more serious extent than was previously expected. Does the collapse of the Ice Shelf have anything to do with us here in Taiwan? Of course it does. Since it is a sheet of lice in the sea and Taiwan is an island. So we should know that living on this Earth, we are all connected as one no matter where we are. So, living on this planet as we do. Our fate is intertwined with the fate of the Earth.
You should all watch more of Da Ai TV. With so many Tzu Chi volunteers in so many countries across the world as soon as there is a disaster in the local area, they’ll immediately send news to us here in Taiwan. All the footage we see taken in foreign countries are all the work of our documenting volunteers which they send back to us right after they film it. Though we’d see the suffering caused by the various disasters in different countries across the world and we’d feel great sorrow at that. It serves to let us know that life is impermanent and helps us to appreciate even more deeply what the Buddha meant by: “The land is fragile”. In the Sutra of Bodhisattvas Eight Realizations, the Buddha had said that the land’s is fragile. Now, we see that major and minor natural disasters are continuously occurring. So, in seeing the occurrence of such alarming disasters, we should all awaken to the lessons that they bring. So, at this moment, we should be even more dedicated to our mission than ever before. I see how all you bodhisattvas give of yourselves to selflessly, but just giving of our love is not enough, we need to purify the hearts and minds of others as well. Truly, seeing our Tzu Chi volunteers, especially our recycling volunteers. I truly love and cherish our recycling volunteers. Of course I cherish each and every one of you, too. It’s just that seeing the efforts of recycling volunteers. Everyday, I’ll watch our program on recycling volunteers and each and every story happening at each recycling station very mindfully. Each time, I’d face the television and say “Thank you. You’re really admirable” “I truly respect you”. Moreover, I’m grateful that everyone does recycling so willingly. From doing recycling, everyone is filled with the inner spiritual joy while cultivating both blessing and wisdom.
I’ve expounded the Dharma and put out there all the means to absorb the Dharma. If you still think “I’m just cultivating blessings, not wisdom”, then you’d be wrong. You’ve not only listened to Dharma but you’re also making use of it. And, like a experiment, you can see results. If we just listed to Dharma teachings and only remain at “listening” without actually using them and getting involved, we wouldn’t know what suffering was nor know to cherish our blessings. Before we understand that life is impermanent, we wouldn’t be able to give rise to wisdom. So from what we witness & experience, we come to realize the law of impermanence of ourselves. The Buddha came to this world to expound Dharma in order to guide us to see that life is impermanent and that we should make the most of our time because life and death is only separated by a breath and we should seize all the time we have to do all we can on the Path. So I often say to everyone “Seize the good resolutions of the moment and hold onto them forever”. If the vow you have made today is what’s right, then you should act upon it. You should carry them out as only by dong so will you experience and understand the teachings.
Everyone, we should strive for “the big self” which is selfless and all-inclusive. This “big self” isn’t about being “big” & arrogant. The “big self” is the “collective self” where the “self” is we and other as one whole. That is “big self”. It is a “self” that includes all living beings. That is “big self”. It is “big” because it is all-inclusive. It envelops everything---all things and all beings. That is “big self”. We should strive for a broad and spacious heart --- that is the “big self” that we should strive for. It is selfless, all-inclusive, all-encompassing. We shouldn’t think “I’m more capable than you.”. “Why should I do as you say?” “I’m more senior than you” “Why should I let you tell me what to do?” That’s the arrogant, egotistical self. If your ego is too big, people would not be able to take you into their hearts. Instead, we should learn to humble ourselves to become as tiny as a nano unit that despite being so tiny can have a great impact. So, we need to be even more mindful. If we can more mindful, then we can have even more of an impact by letting people all across the world know that we should all expand our hearts to do all that we can to protect and cherish this land that we live on for the use of future generations to come. I hope that the Earth will be strong and healthy Earth and that won’t decay further and continually be destroyed. Don’t think nothing of the power of every tiny effort to do good. If fact a single drop of water can also become very powerful just as now our tiny contribution of love can still influence and inspire a lot of people. So everyone, you are all disciples of the Jing Si lineage who walk on the Tzu Chi dharma path. All you are my good disciples. We should strive to be self-disciplined, hardworking, frugal and perseverant in the face of hardship. To walk to Tzu Chi path, we must uphold virtue and proprieties and we must truly carry out the Four immeasurables in our world. So, I hope that everyone will be more mindful.
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