Date: April 25, 2008 (Friday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Yesterday, I saw a news report that, in Taiwan, there are now around 20,000 foreign laborers who are waiting for jobs. Taiwan hired over 360,000 foreign laborers, but they have now become a problem to Taiwan. Taiwan is such a small island and people’s way of living has continually been changing over the decades. People are no longer willing to work long hours or shoulder more responsibilities. They also fear doing laborious work but instead like to spend their time doing recreational activities, exercising, etc. They refuse to do house chores and instead use the time to work out or relax. So they hire people to do their housework for them. As a consequence, they have now become indolent and lazy. All they want to do is enjoy life and spend money. Seeing people’s attitude to life in Taiwan makes me very worried. Furthermore, we see so many countries in the world already suffering from food shortages. The Three Major Calamities the Buddha spoke of, disasters of water, fire, and wind, are already happening one after another before our eyes. Take Australia for example. Australia used to grow enough grains that it could help feed 20 million people around the world. But six consecutive years of drought have reduced Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent. With that, Australia has problems feeding even its own people, let alone supplying grains to other countries. Because of the drought in Australia, many rice fields have to be left fallow, leading to a sharp decrease in grain production. They have no choice but to leave the land fallow. Even nine out of ten rice mills there have now shut down. So, everyone, we mustn’t be ignorant to this crisis that concerns all of us. Even if we have money, one day, there may not even be rice to be bought. I really don’t know what we can do by that time. The world population has kept increasing. Mothers nowadays no longer breastfeed their babies. If babies can be breastfed, how much resources can be saved? First, there would be no need for milk bottles and no need for powdered milk. To get milk, we have to raise cows. So, without such a demand for cow’s milk, we would not have to raise so many cows. Turning cow’s milk into powdered milk also requires processing and manufacturing, etc. You also need containers to package the powder, boiled water to mix with the powder, sterilizers to sterilize the bottles, milk bottles to feed the babies with, and many, many more things. Doesn’t the production of all these things release a lot of greenhouse gases? All this adds up. See how easy it is to breastfeed a baby. When the baby is hungry, the mother just has to hold him to her breast. That is the bond that brings a mother and child close to one another. This is how close a mother and child can be. All in all, I really don’t know why people do not follow the natural course of things. It truly is very worrying and frightening.
The price of commodities have been rising and there’s shortage of grains. Thinking about it makes me very worried. This is already happening in the Philippines and many people cannot afford to buy rice. Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines have now increased the amount of rice given to the impoverished. But I don’t know how much longer they can afford to continue providing this extra supply. In an impoverished area of Caloocan city, two major fires occurred in three days. Tzu Chi volunteers also went to provide timely aid and give out rice to those affected. At the Philippine community called Dreamland, we used to give out 5 kg of rice every 3 months. Now, we give out 10 kg per month. This is because it is getting harder and harder for them to find a job, thus causing the poor to become even poorer. So, it is getting harder and harder for Tzu Chi volunteers to carry out relief work.
Indonesia’s government has also sought Tzu Chi Indonesia to help provide aid to a village of 4,000 families in North Jakarta as they face the crisis of having no food. So, Tzu Chi volunteers have been asked to distribute aid to the people there. Tzu Chi volunteers have gone door-to-door to give out 4,500 tickets so these families can go collect rice. See, the burden to provide aid is getting heavier. What’s more frightening is the kind of situation affecting North Korea. Because of drought, they can no longer grow crops. Originally, S. Korea provided aid to N. Korea but S. Korea is also suffering grain shortage now. So, North Korea has been hoping that we can provide aid to them. But, many countries have now placed restrictions on rice exports. For example, China has also placed a ban on rice export. Where exactly can we buy rice that we can ship and give to North Korea? That is why I say at least we can still talk about the rise in the cost of rice right now, but in the future, there may not even be rice to buy. I really don’t know how we will be able to carry out our relief work. It truly is very worrying. Living here in Taiwan, we truly must be aware and vigilant of what is happening around us. We really must pull ourselves out of the inclination for comfort and leisure, wanting to eat well and live the good life but have a non-stressful job with good pay and a short commute. Don’t think that way. See how some of the foreign laborers in Taiwan are now facing the threat of losing their jobs. Where are these 20,000 or so laborers to go? My heart truly goes out to them. Everyone, we really must practice doing one good deed every day where we make a small donation every day. If we can all do this, pooling all the coins together, we should be able to make a great difference. So, if every one of us can contribute a little, pooled together, it can do a lot. In the future, where are we going to get the relief supplies from? It’s very worrying.
Commoditiy prices are already rising significantly. In the Buddhist sutras, the Buddha had said that when famine, which is among the Three Minor Calamities, occurred, that would last for seven years. Can you imagine? Seven years. If we do not hasten to make a change right now, there will not only be a seven-year famine, but also a seven-month epidemic. Not only will we suffer an epidemic that lasts seven months--- We all still remember the SARS outbreak. Fortunately, it was put under control within a short period of time. Otherwise, if it had become a major epidemic, it may have lasted seven months. If the food crisis we’re facing deteriorates, and the prices of petroleum an other goods keep rising, serious wars may break out. Everyone, we must be humbly pious and sincerely prudent. We must do good and nurture virtue. Only when we have virtue will we have good karma. Only when we’ve created good karma can there be less disasters. We must understand this. This is what the Sakyamuni Buddha explained over 2,000 years ago. With the advances in technology that we have, we can now see all that is happening around the world. For events that happen in countless places around the world, we can obtain the information with the technology we have. Everyone, we really must call on every person to do one good deed a day. Even a small act of kindness is okay. Only then can we eliminate disasters. I often speak of how one good deed can eliminate thousands of disasters. This doesn’t mean that when I do one good deed myself I alone can help to eliminate disasters. No. It means that only when each and every one of us can do one good deed a day will the force of the good karma we’ve created be strong enough to avert disasters.
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Yesterday, I saw a news report that, in Taiwan, there are now around 20,000 foreign laborers who are waiting for jobs. Taiwan hired over 360,000 foreign laborers, but they have now become a problem to Taiwan. Taiwan is such a small island and people’s way of living has continually been changing over the decades. People are no longer willing to work long hours or shoulder more responsibilities. They also fear doing laborious work but instead like to spend their time doing recreational activities, exercising, etc. They refuse to do house chores and instead use the time to work out or relax. So they hire people to do their housework for them. As a consequence, they have now become indolent and lazy. All they want to do is enjoy life and spend money. Seeing people’s attitude to life in Taiwan makes me very worried. Furthermore, we see so many countries in the world already suffering from food shortages. The Three Major Calamities the Buddha spoke of, disasters of water, fire, and wind, are already happening one after another before our eyes. Take Australia for example. Australia used to grow enough grains that it could help feed 20 million people around the world. But six consecutive years of drought have reduced Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent. With that, Australia has problems feeding even its own people, let alone supplying grains to other countries. Because of the drought in Australia, many rice fields have to be left fallow, leading to a sharp decrease in grain production. They have no choice but to leave the land fallow. Even nine out of ten rice mills there have now shut down. So, everyone, we mustn’t be ignorant to this crisis that concerns all of us. Even if we have money, one day, there may not even be rice to be bought. I really don’t know what we can do by that time. The world population has kept increasing. Mothers nowadays no longer breastfeed their babies. If babies can be breastfed, how much resources can be saved? First, there would be no need for milk bottles and no need for powdered milk. To get milk, we have to raise cows. So, without such a demand for cow’s milk, we would not have to raise so many cows. Turning cow’s milk into powdered milk also requires processing and manufacturing, etc. You also need containers to package the powder, boiled water to mix with the powder, sterilizers to sterilize the bottles, milk bottles to feed the babies with, and many, many more things. Doesn’t the production of all these things release a lot of greenhouse gases? All this adds up. See how easy it is to breastfeed a baby. When the baby is hungry, the mother just has to hold him to her breast. That is the bond that brings a mother and child close to one another. This is how close a mother and child can be. All in all, I really don’t know why people do not follow the natural course of things. It truly is very worrying and frightening.
The price of commodities have been rising and there’s shortage of grains. Thinking about it makes me very worried. This is already happening in the Philippines and many people cannot afford to buy rice. Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines have now increased the amount of rice given to the impoverished. But I don’t know how much longer they can afford to continue providing this extra supply. In an impoverished area of Caloocan city, two major fires occurred in three days. Tzu Chi volunteers also went to provide timely aid and give out rice to those affected. At the Philippine community called Dreamland, we used to give out 5 kg of rice every 3 months. Now, we give out 10 kg per month. This is because it is getting harder and harder for them to find a job, thus causing the poor to become even poorer. So, it is getting harder and harder for Tzu Chi volunteers to carry out relief work.
Indonesia’s government has also sought Tzu Chi Indonesia to help provide aid to a village of 4,000 families in North Jakarta as they face the crisis of having no food. So, Tzu Chi volunteers have been asked to distribute aid to the people there. Tzu Chi volunteers have gone door-to-door to give out 4,500 tickets so these families can go collect rice. See, the burden to provide aid is getting heavier. What’s more frightening is the kind of situation affecting North Korea. Because of drought, they can no longer grow crops. Originally, S. Korea provided aid to N. Korea but S. Korea is also suffering grain shortage now. So, North Korea has been hoping that we can provide aid to them. But, many countries have now placed restrictions on rice exports. For example, China has also placed a ban on rice export. Where exactly can we buy rice that we can ship and give to North Korea? That is why I say at least we can still talk about the rise in the cost of rice right now, but in the future, there may not even be rice to buy. I really don’t know how we will be able to carry out our relief work. It truly is very worrying. Living here in Taiwan, we truly must be aware and vigilant of what is happening around us. We really must pull ourselves out of the inclination for comfort and leisure, wanting to eat well and live the good life but have a non-stressful job with good pay and a short commute. Don’t think that way. See how some of the foreign laborers in Taiwan are now facing the threat of losing their jobs. Where are these 20,000 or so laborers to go? My heart truly goes out to them. Everyone, we really must practice doing one good deed every day where we make a small donation every day. If we can all do this, pooling all the coins together, we should be able to make a great difference. So, if every one of us can contribute a little, pooled together, it can do a lot. In the future, where are we going to get the relief supplies from? It’s very worrying.
Commoditiy prices are already rising significantly. In the Buddhist sutras, the Buddha had said that when famine, which is among the Three Minor Calamities, occurred, that would last for seven years. Can you imagine? Seven years. If we do not hasten to make a change right now, there will not only be a seven-year famine, but also a seven-month epidemic. Not only will we suffer an epidemic that lasts seven months--- We all still remember the SARS outbreak. Fortunately, it was put under control within a short period of time. Otherwise, if it had become a major epidemic, it may have lasted seven months. If the food crisis we’re facing deteriorates, and the prices of petroleum an other goods keep rising, serious wars may break out. Everyone, we must be humbly pious and sincerely prudent. We must do good and nurture virtue. Only when we have virtue will we have good karma. Only when we’ve created good karma can there be less disasters. We must understand this. This is what the Sakyamuni Buddha explained over 2,000 years ago. With the advances in technology that we have, we can now see all that is happening around the world. For events that happen in countless places around the world, we can obtain the information with the technology we have. Everyone, we really must call on every person to do one good deed a day. Even a small act of kindness is okay. Only then can we eliminate disasters. I often speak of how one good deed can eliminate thousands of disasters. This doesn’t mean that when I do one good deed myself I alone can help to eliminate disasters. No. It means that only when each and every one of us can do one good deed a day will the force of the good karma we’ve created be strong enough to avert disasters.
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