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Graceful Demeanor
Dharma Master Cheng Yen says that etiquettes contain principles. As we practice etiquettes, we are to realize the principles behind these etiquettes.
Take Tzu Chi’s eating etiquette for example. Tzu Chi volunteers are taught to practice the eating etiquette of “a dragon holding a pearl in its mouth and a phoenix's head drinking water.” “A dragon holding a pearl in its mouth” refers to the way one holds the bowl. We hold a bowl like a dragon's mouth holding a pearl. When holding a bowl, the thumb is on the top, next to the rim of the bowl, and the four fingers are closed together at the bottom of the bowl. “A phoenix's head drinking water” refers to the way one holds the chopsticks. We hold chopsticks like a phoenix's head drinking water. When holding chopsticks, our hand resembles a phoenix's head, and the chopsticks resemble a phoenix's beak. When we eat, we pick up our rice bowl and bring the food to our mouth rather than eat from the bowl on the table. Eating in this way resembles the majestic and graceful demeanor of an emperor.
While we eat, we contemplate where our food comes from. A lot of work goes into bringing the rice to our bowl. Besides the hard work of farmers, crops need favorable weather, sunlight, air, soil, etc. in order to grow. Thinking about this, gratitude and respect arise in our heart. So, when we eat, we’ll naturally sit upright, hold our bowls and chopsticks in a graceful manner and eat our food with respect.
In spiritual cultivation, we cultivate our heart and mind to have the Dharma. At the same time, we’re mindful of our conduct. Our conduct reflects the Dharma in our heart. With the Dharma in our heart and mind, we’ll naturally display a graceful demeanor.
Right now, we are living in the Dharma-degenerate era, a time period where the Dharma gradually disappears. As the Dharma disappears, people do not pay importance to rules of conduct, hence we see more and more unruly conduct in the world. Graceful and virtuous conduct are slowly disappearing. By practicing the Dharma through developing graceful demeanor, we’re keeping the Dharma alive in this world.
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Nurturing the Religious Spirit
In learning and practicing a religion, the most important thing is to learn its spirit. However, the Buddha’s teachings are so vast and profound, how does one go about learning it?
Dharma Master Cheng Yen says that since the Dharma is so vast and profound, if we were to finish learning all the Dharma before putting it into practice that would be too late. To Master, the way to learn, understand, and explore the Dharma is through volunteering and serving people. While we help people, we learn the Dharma. This is experiential learning.
To truly comprehend and awaken to the teachings, we must put the teachings into action. By continually volunteering and helping people, we deepen our understanding of the teachings. This is how we nurture the spirit of spiritual cultivation, or the spirit of religion.
Learning + Action = Awakening
Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Catholic Benedictine monk said:
The religions start from mysticism. There is no other way to start a religion. But, I compare this to a volcano that gushes forth ...and then ...the magma flows down the sides of the mountain and cools off. And when it reaches the bottom, it's just rocks. You'd never guess that there was fire in it. So after a couple of hundred years, or two thousand years or more, what was once alive is dead rock. Doctrine becomes doctrinaire. Morals become moralistic. Ritual becomes ritualistic. What do we do with it? We have to push through this crust and go to the fire that's within it.
When Master gives her teachings, she has already pushed through the crust and show people the fire, the spirit of Buddhism. She founded Tzu Chi and encourages people to volunteer and experience first-hand for themselves what it feels like to help people, gain Dharma joy, and realize the Buddha’s teachings. The way to find the fire is to serve and experience the teachings in our daily life.
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Rarity of the Dharma
Nowadays, with advanced technology, the Buddha’s teachings are made widely available on the internet. Yet, most people don’t think about the need for learning the Dharma, so they don’t access it. For Buddhists who have access to the Buddha’s teachings, they usually don’t think about how rare and precious it is to encounter the Dharma.
In the past, people had to travel long distances, sometimes by foot, to seek Dharma masters and learn the Buddha’s teachings. Because they harbored respect for the Dharma, once they learned it, they cherished the teachings, put them into practice, and gained insights.
The Lotus Sutra says that to encounter the Buddha is as rare as a one-eye sea turtle poking its head through the hole of a floating driftwood. In a vast ocean, what’s the chance of a one-eye sea turtle encountering a piece of wood floating in the water? Very small. The chance is even smaller for the turtle to poke its head through the hole of the wood when it swims to the surface of the ocean.
Having encountered the Dharma, let us cherish it and take it to heart so that we may benefit fully from the Buddha’s teachings.
Watch this episode of Life Wisdom where Dharma Master Cheng Yen talks about harboring gratitude and respect for the Dharma.
Life Wisdom - Calling to the Dharma in Our Hearts (人間菩提 - 度化人間惜善法)
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Making the Aspiration to Work with People
Our world is divided. What the world needs right now is for people to unite together to do greater good for the world. The challenge to doing this is that every person thinks differently and has different views. These differences pull people in different directions. How can we unite people together to have one heart? Dharma Master Cheng Yen says people need to make aspirations first.
Aspirations lead us to opportunities. Master encourages us to make the aspiration of working together with people in unity and harmony with love. People includes those we will meet in the future. By collaborating with people, now or in the future, we will form greater strength in doing good. When we don’t make aspirations, it would be hard to encounter affinities that provide us opportunities to do good, because in our consciousness, we don’t have the willingness to work with people. So, even if we encounter affinities presenting us with opportunities, we would avoid them and miss the opportunities to do good.
Master encourages us to further make this aspiration: in the future, when I encounter people who have affinities with me, may we work happily together for the greater good.
The strength of one person is limited. The combined effect of a large group of people is great. When we join our strength with others, we contribute to the greater good for the world.
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Touching the Spirit of the Three Refuges
Here is more on Master’s teachings on taking the three refuges. The following is from The Power of the Heart book.
Oftentimes, when we read spiritual texts such as the sutras or listen to a talk on the teachings, we feel a profound sense of peace and understanding. It is as if we have been led to the mountaintop, and the view is breathtaking. Our transcendent state of mind vanishes very quickly, however, after we return to our mundane everyday life. All it takes is for someone to do something that displeases us and our temper rises up.
Why is that inner state of transcendence and peace so fleeting?
When reading or hearing the teachings, we see the mountaintop so clearly, but when we bring our vision back to where we are, our two feet are still planted at the bottom of the mountain. We can see the peak, but we are not there yet. We still need to climb up the mountain by walking the path.
To do so, we need to nurture a heart of sincerity, purity, and great vows. As Buddhists, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. To touch the spirit of the Three Refuges, we will need to develop sincerity of heart, purity of heart, and greatness of vows
Sincerity of heart
The Buddha is our teacher. We take him as our teacher because he is someone who awoke to the truths and universal laws that govern life. This being so, we need to develop a very genuine and sincere desire to understand the truths he shared with us. This comes from first believing the Buddha to be enlightened, and then believing in the truth of what he said.
Firstly, we need to truly believe what he said about all of us having, deep within us, an enlightened nature—and that this is our true nature. We too are capable of attaining the same great awakening that he did.
We also need to truly believe what he tells us about the law of karma that governs this world, and the reality of collective karma. We need to understand that in our ignorance and wrong notions, we have acted in greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, and doubt, creating negative karma which accumulates into collective karma.
Still, we always think that we are right, never aware of how our actions may be wrong. That is why we need to turn inward and reflect, and then cleanse our hearts. Then we can be open to learning the Buddha’s teachings.
With that sincerity of heart and earnestness to learn, we will be able to come closer to understanding the truths that the Buddha shared with us. We can draw closer to that kind of enlightened understanding—touching it so that the Buddha’s heart becomes our own heart; our heart, the heart of a Buddha.
This all begins with faith in the Buddha’s awakening, from which a sincere desire to learn from him is born. Without such faith, how can we begin? Without such sincerity and earnestness to learn, how can we learn?
Purity of heart
While the universal truths that the Buddha tried to share with us are in fact very simple, because our hearts are not pure, we cannot access them. We cannot take them to heart and we continue in our habit patterns, still blind to many of life’s principles. That is why purifying our hearts is important.
How can we purify our hearts? By taming our afflictions and working on overcoming our unwholesome tendencies in daily living. Our personal habits and idiosyncrasies are based on these unwholesome tendencies, and when we exhibit them outwardly, they reflect the inner state of our mind. When our habits are very entrenched, it shows that our heart and mind are not very clean. The way to begin cleansing our hearts and minds is by repenting, working to eliminate our greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt, and by practicing the precepts.
We need a cleansed heart and mind in order to learn the true Buddhist teachings. When we try to learn them without this preparation, it is like pouring clean water into a dirty bucket: the water will get contaminated. Like the contaminated water, our understanding of the Buddha’s teachings will be distorted.
Learning the teachings with a clean heart and mind, we will be able to understand them correctly and touch the truth in them. This is what we should do when we study the sutras. Though many people recite sutras because they think it creates merit, focusing on the act of reciting, we should actually look to the sutras as sources of enlightened wisdom and strive to awaken to the principles they contain.
The sutras aren’t complicated; the teachings they contain are in fact very simple. When our heart and mind are clean, we can touch the essence of the teaching; our inner wisdom then can be brought forth and we can gain deep insight.
So, let us clean our heart and mind by eliminating our unwholesome habits, and with a pure heart strive to understand the essence of the teachings, enter deeply into the Dharma, and gain insight.
Greatness of vows
On the spiritual path, we must also harbor a deep desire and great vow to guide more people to join us on this path to awakening. In the world today, many people have lost sight of what life is about. Without a true sense of purpose, they go about life caught up in superficials.
We need to give rise to a sincere desire to help people come to understand and live out life’s true meaning. In our hearts, there needs to be such a great, selfless vow. If more people can come to understand the Buddha’s authentic teaching, they will gain wisdom and comprehend life’s true value.
Sincerity of heart, purity of heart, and greatness of vows are essential in our spiritual practice. Sincerity of heart means a sincere wish to understand the Buddha’s heart and the truths he awakened to. Purity of heart means genuine effort to cleanse our hearts so that we can touch the simple truth of the Buddha’s teachings. Greatness of vows means harboring a deep aspiration to inspire others to join us in walking the path. It is with such a heart that we should practice as Buddhists.
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Finding a Life Direction
November and December are time for overseas certification camps. These camps are very special because those attending the camps are volunteers from countries around the world. They are inspired by Tzu Chi and Dharma Master Cheng Yen, so they undertake training to become certified Tzu Chi volunteers. At the overseas certification camp, many newly-certified Tzu Chi volunteers take refuge in Buddhism. They take refuge in the Three Jewels, which are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. In Buddhism, taking refuge is a ceremony that people take to formally become a Buddhist. It shows their aspiration to follow the Buddha’s path and live by his teachings.
Although Buddhism is considered as a religion, Master says that it is more like a goal for our life. Buddhism guides people to lead a life of wisdom. The purpose of religion is to educate people about the purpose of life. Hence, Master has been using the Buddha’s teachings to guide people to do good and contribute to the greater good of the world, and at the same time, inspire people to take a spiritual path that would lead them back to their innate pure nature.
Since many overseas volunteers are not Chinese and many are of different faith, instead of explaining the meaning of taking refuge from the traditional Buddhist perspective, Master provides a broader interpretation for the meaning of taking refuge. The teaching below is paraphrased from her speech.
自皈依佛 當願眾生 體解大道 發無上心
I take refuge in the Buddha. May I and all living beings understand the great truths the Buddha shared with us and aspire to the same enlightenment that the Buddha attained.
Taking refuge in the Buddha is to attain a correct awakening. Buddha is a term for enlightenment. Awakening is about opening our heart to all living beings, not focusing only on ourselves. Every person has an innate nature of awakening. In taking refuge in the Buddha, we are also taking refuge in ourselves; we are to protect our heart and mind so that we don’t get spiritually lost.
In reciting the verse of taking refuge in the Buddha, we tell ourselves, “I’ve realized that I have the potential for awakening. I have faith in my Buddha nature and in my ability to inspire people. Thus, I aspire to walk the right path and also guide people to walk the right path.”
自皈依法 當願眾生 深入經藏 智慧如海
I take refuge in the Dharma. May I and all living beings deeply enter the treasury of the teachings and have wisdom vast as the sea.
Next is taking refuge in the Dharma. Dharma is about doing things correctly. For example, in giving people our love, we are to follow principles. We do not give love blindly; our love must be based on correct faith. Take family for example, we are to have a legitimate family, and our love for our family is based on loyalty. This applies to both the husband and the wife. One shouldn’t go astray. This is familial love. There are also principles involved when parents give love to their children, or when people give love to their neighbors or people in society.
Thus, in taking refuge in the Dharma, we are to learn principles and the Buddha’s teachings. When we have faith in the Dharma, we’ll gain wisdom. We will not go astray and be deluded. This is how the Dharma can guide us. When we study the sutra treasury deeply, which are principles, we’ll gain wisdom as vast as the sea.
自皈依僧 當願眾生 統理大眾 一切無礙 和南聖眾
I take refuge in the Sangha. May I and all living beings join together as one in harmony and work to guide all living beings onto the right path without obstruction.
Next is taking refuge in the sangha. This means that there’s a need for someone to guide people into Buddhism. I’m a Buddhist monastic. Hence, I expound the Dharma and guide people to join Buddhism and volunteer with Tzu Chi. Walking on the path of Tzu Chi is to work with people of all religions and help people in the world to have correct faith and not be spiritually lost. So, we are to guide people to give love and use their strength to help people in suffering. By bringing people’s efforts together, we can help a lot of people in suffering. Every person has his or her own affinities and can aspire to guide all living beings. May we set a goal for ourselves to have the strength to call forth people’s power of love, guide people to walk this broad path, and pave a broad path of wisdom and blessings in this world.
No matter which religion we follow, we are to take refuge in correct faith. People of all religious faith are to promote right understanding, right faith, and right Dharma in the world. We are to guide people toward the right path and create blessings for the world. This is what we aspire to do in taking refuge.
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A Beggar Transformed into a Bodhisattva
Every person has the potential to do good; all he needs is someone to awaken this potential.
Sixty-five years old Gain Manjhi used to be a beggar in Bodh Gaya, India. When he didn’t have work, he would go to the Sujata Temple to beg for food and money from passersby and tourists. One time, he got beaten by people on the streets. When Gain Manjhi’s neighbor saw this, he reported Gain Manjhi’s case to a Tzu Chi volunteer.
After learning that this elderly had no food to eat, no work, and needed to resort to begging in order to survive, Tzu Chi volunteers took on his case and made Gain Manjhi a Tzu Chi care recipient. Tzu Chi began to provide him with material necessities, including food. Now that Gain Manjhi no longer needs to worry about lacking necessities, volunteers invite him to take part in community service.
From Tzu Chi volunteers, Gain Manjhi learns how to help people in his village. The first person he helped was his friend Gangu Yadav, who used to be a beggar, suffered from a stroke, and has difficulty walking. Every day, Gain Manjhi helps Gangu Yadav with rehab exercises and massages his leg. With Gain Manjhi’s help and Tzu Chi’s medical assistance, Gangu Yadav is now able to walk without using a cane.
Gain Manjhi also learns to save a handful of rice daily to help the poor and goes around the village to promote Tzu Chi’s coin bank program to inspire kindness in residents. He used to be miserable and now has a radiant smile on his face. Gain Manjhi said, “I feel peace in my heart. I won’t go begging anymore. I want to help people. Even though I’m still poor, I want to be like Tzu Chi volunteers and do good deeds. What I can do is contribute my time and help those in need.”
Anyone can be a bodhisattva, a person who helps others. Gain Manjhi is an example of this. By learning from Tzu Chi volunteers, Gain Manjhi has transformed his life from being a receiver to being a giver.
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Your Future
Here’s a poem by Peace Pilgrim that resonates with Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s teaching of “the present is hope for the future”.
YOUR FUTURE
In this world you are given as you give
And you are forgiven as you forgive—
While you go your way
Through each lovely day
You create your future as you live.
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The Present is Hope for the Future
When I was translating Life Wisdom the other day, I was struck by what Dharma Master Cheng Yen said.
現在就是未來的希望
The present is hope for the future.
Over 40 years ago, Hualien, in eastern Taiwan, was a very rural region lacking in everything. When people fell seriously ill, medical care was inadequate to treat their illnesses. For the children in Hualien, in order to receive an education, they had to go to western Taiwan. Master felt deeply for the people who were suffering in Hualien. As there was a need for medical care and schools in Hualien, she set out to establish a hospital and then schools in Hualien. It took over 10 years to establish a comprehensive education, including kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, and two universities with graduate programs. The process was difficult and arduous. Back then, this was her vision and hope for Hualien. Now, Hualien has a Tzu Chi hospital for people to get medical care and Tzu Chi schools for students to receive an education. Master said, “The hope we had in the past has led Tzu Chi to develop into the size that we have now.”
Moving forward, she said, “The present is hope for the future.” What kind of world do we want for our future? With the world facing so many crises, where is the hope for our world? Our vision for the future may be a dream, but if we put it in action now, we are creating hope our future right now.
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Inspire and Transform People into Bodhisattvas
For Tzu Chi’s overseas certification camp, over 1,000 volunteers gathered in Taiwan to be certified as Tzu Chi volunteers. Before joining Tzu Chi, these volunteers were just ordinary people. After serving as volunteers and having gone through training, they’ve learned to be bodhisattvas. Dharma Master Cheng Yen encourages volunteers to keep on inspiring more people and guiding them to be bodhisattvas. The teaching below is paraphrased from her speech.
Today, you come to Taiwan to become a bodhisattva. After you return home, you are to help other people to become bodhisattvas. By inspiring people to serve as bodhisattvas, I hope next year, you’ll bring a group of volunteers to Taiwan to be certified. To inspire people and transform them from ordinary people into bodhisattvas requires guidance. This is the work of living bodhisattvas. As living bodhisattvas, you are to help people awaken and dispel their deluded thoughts.
When you see people in suffering, use your kindness to help them. This brings peace and harmony to society. When society is harmonious and the world peaceful, climate will be more stable. I’m very worried about climate change. The greenhouse effect keeps on increasing. This might lead to changes that humans cannot avoid. The solution to tackle climate change is to cherish and love all living beings, including animals. Though I don’t insist that people eat a vegetarian diet, I would like people to know that the root problem lies in our mouth. If less people eat meat, less livestock will be raised, less forest will be cut down, and there will be less killing in the world. Instead of using our mouth to create negative karma, we use our mouth to share the Dharma and encourage people to eat a vegetarian diet. This is doing good deeds.
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Passing on Tzu Chi’s Dharma
At Tzu Chi’s overseas certification camp, Dharma Master Cheng Yen saw many young people being certified. She is comforted to see that there are young people taking on Tzu Chi’s work and passing on Tzu Chi’s Dharma. This brings hope to the world. The teaching below is paraphrased from her speech.
I see a group of young newly-certified volunteers who aspire to carry out Tzu Chi’s work. I’m comforted to know that the Dharma and our Dharma lineage will be passed on, one generation after another. As I’m still alive, the volunteers certified by me are the first generation of Tzu Chi. Then, there’ll be a second generation and many generations after that.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha talked about the Dharma being relayed to the 50th person. I would like the Dharma to be passed on to 50 generations. For example, there are Tzu Chi volunteers whose family members are all Tzu Chi volunteers. Their family has become a Tzu Chi family. Every person in the Tzu Chi family passes on Tzu Chi’s values and spirit to their next generation. The parents pass on Tzu Chi’s values and spirit to their children, and their children then pass on Tzu Chi’s values and spirit to their children, so on and on forth.
As human population keeps on increasing, if the number of Tzu Chi family can increase generation after generation and the volunteers keep spreading and passing on Tzu Chi’s values and spirit, the world will always have enlightened living bodhisattvas to help people in suffering, purify the world, and bring peace and harmony to society.
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Seizing Time
At Tzu Chi’s overseas certification camp, Dharma Master Cheng Yen reminds newly-certified volunteers to seize time to cultivate diligently and to cherish the affinity they have with her. The teaching below is paraphrased from her speech.
Every day, I say to myself, “the daytime is over.” Then comes the evening. I think to myself, “when I open my eyes tomorrow, I’ll be certain that the 86,400 seconds of the previous day are all gone.” Then comes tomorrow. As I wake up in the morning, I’m grateful to the past 86,400 seconds.
At the Abode, at 3:50AM, we hear the sound of the striking board to wake us up to begin the day. In a typical family, people get up around 7AM. If a family has school age children, the parents would get up early before 7AM to prepare the children to go to school. Yet, there are people who are still sleeping at 8AM or 9AM. Compared to those still sleeping at 9AM, we at the Abode already have more than 5 hours of time to use.
By waking up early, we gain time, and we are ready to utilize each second of the day. Everything is accomplished through time. Every day at the Abode time is spent diligently for serving the world and to encourage Tzu Chi volunteers to do Tzu Chi work. All the tasks we do are done for the world regardless of what the tasks are. Even though the work we do are “for the world”, I always tell everyone that it’s essentially “for ourselves” because we are forming good affinities with many people. To attain Buddhahood, one must accumulate sufficient affinities. The more people we come in contact with, the more good affinities we accumulate.
In life, time is ticking away every day. This is especially the case for me as I am competing with time every day. I’m also struggling with life, and struggling to breathe. I’m working hard to find the breath to speak. You ought to be able to hear this through my voice that it isn’t easy for me to speak, and I need to use a lot of my strength. Volunteers, please cherish this time, cherish that I can still speak to you, so take every teaching to heart. Today, you have the affinity to hear me directly; would you be able to hear me the next time you’re here? No one knows.
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Filtering Out Bad Habits
At Tzu Chi’s overseas certification camp, in becoming a Tzu Chi volunteer, Dharma Master Cheng Yen gave newly-certified volunteers “spiritual homework” to work on. She encourages volunteers to purify themselves by “filtering out” bad habits. The teaching below is paraphrased from Master’s speech.
The world we live in now is filled with impurities and vices. What the world needs is more clean water to wash away the impurities. Tzu Chi volunteers are like clean water, with impurities already being filtered out. Many volunteers used to have bad habits, such as drinking, doing drugs, eating a lot of meat, etc. These bad habits are like impurities.
During the training period, we learned about Tzu Chi’s rules and precepts. We had the time to consider what things are deemed acceptable, and what rules we can follow. These rules and precepts help us filtering out our bad habits. In becoming a certified volunteer, we are to continue to filtering out our bad habits.
Here are some examples of how we can filter out our bad habits.
One example is forming good affinities with people we had conflicts with before. We can make a call or send a message via messaging app to those who have had disagreements or conflicts with us before and apologize. By resolving conflicts we had created in the past, we untangle ourselves from the knot of conflict and put our mind at ease.
Another example is eating a vegetarian diet. This is a way for us to expand our love, from loving humans to include loving animals.
A third example is to love not only our own family, our friends, and relatives, but also those who have nothing to do with us. When someone is in trouble, we go to help them; this is called love. This is how we nurture pure Great Love.
Watch how dirty water is being purified.
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#Buddhism#Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s teaching#Tzu Chi#spiritual practice#bad habit#self-improvement#Youtube
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Be a Friendly Buddhist
At Tzu Chi’s overseas certification camp, many newly-certified volunteers took refuge in Buddhism to become a Buddhist. Dharma Master Cheng Yen gave them the following teaching. The teaching below is paraphrased from her speech.
Master says that she respects all religions. It is not mandatory when one is certified as a Tzu Chi volunteer to take refuge in Buddhism. Those who do take refuge in Buddhism do so because they want to.
Master tells volunteers that she is very certain that the path of Dharma is a safe path. Although it’s a safe path, it’s up to the practitioner to step in the right direction, walk the right path, and start walking. Some people consider themselves as Buddhists, but they’re actually spiritually lost. Because they don’t know the correct Dharma, they do things that cause people to criticize Buddhism. This would be a great negative karma that we don’t want to bear. Thus, Buddhists have a responsibility to show Buddhism in a positive way. Master reminds Tzu Chi volunteers to learn the correct Dharma and practice the teachings in daily life. For example, if they had been rude to people before, now is the time to change themselves, resolve past conflicts, start anew, and learn to be more friendly and loving to all people.
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Everything is Accomplished Through Time
Dharma Master Cheng Yen always talks about time and says that time helps us accomplish things. Tzu Chi’s celebrating its 57th anniversary is the result of 57 years of service. A student’s receiving a high school diploma is the result of 12 years of education. The Buddha’s attaining enlightenment is the result of eons of spiritual cultivation. It is through time that things are achieved.
Time is invisible and intangible. If we are not aware of it, second after second, time is gone and we would not have accomplished anything. How can we better manage our time?
I’d like to share how I utilize time to write articles on Master’s teachings. Two years ago, Master mentioned that she would like her teachings to be written out in short writings for people to read every day. So, I started experimenting with writing short pieces. With other works on hand, however, it’s hard to produce a writing every day. To make time for writing, I use microresolution. Microresolution is a commitment to a limited, specific, and measurable change in behavior or attitude that produces an immediate and observable benefit. The microresolution I come up with is to write 15 minutes daily. Fifteen minutes is not a lot, yet the amount of effort put in adds up over time. In 2021, I wrote 41 articles and posted them on FB. In 2022, it was 35 articles. This writing habit continues to today.
We all have aspirations we want to accomplish. There are 86,400 seconds in a day for us to use, so seize each second and make good use of it to fulfill our aspirations.
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Cherishing Time Together, Parting Lovingly
Another type of suffering in life is parting with our loved ones, such as when our children leave home or when our family members pass away. We miss them very much, and we want them to be around us. How do we deal with this sense of loss?
Dharma Master Cheng Yen says that life is like a play. Each person writes the script of his play. This play is written out by the karma the person has created and the karmic affinities he had formed with people. With this insight into the law of karma, we come to understand that everything is the coming together of affinities. When something come together, it also means that they can be separated. Hence, separation is a part of life.
The grief or sadness that we experience when parting with our loved ones comes from our attachment to them. Yet, each person has his own life script to play out. Our children are to live their life according to the script they have written. Knowing that one day we will part with our loved ones, we are to cherish our time with them. Having formed good affinities with our loved ones, we plant seeds for meeting one another in the future. Hence, separation is not permanent. We part lovingly, give them our well-wishes, and hope to see them again when the affinity ripens.
The Buddha had cultivated enlightened love for eons of time. He expanded his small love, the love for one’s family, into Great Love, the love for all living beings in the world. Although the Buddha’s life in this world was only 80 years, he had been coming to this world again and again to deliver living beings. In each life time, he forms affinities with living beings so that in future lifetimes, when the affinities ripen, he’ll have the chance to meet them, share the Dharma with them, and guide them to enlightenment.
This article is part of the series on the Eight Sufferings.
#Buddhism#Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s teaching#Eight Suffering#spiritual practice#separation#karma#affinity
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Bringing Out the Essence of the Dharma
In yesterday’s Life Wisdom episode, Master talked about bringing out the essence of the Dharma. She also used a metaphor of going through piles of sand to panning for gold. For hundreds of lifetimes, Tzu Chi volunteers have been panning for gold within themselves. In this lifetime, they’ve found the gold. Master says that each Tzu Chi volunteer is like a speck of gold, very valuable and precious. To understand better the metaphor of panning for gold, read the article below.
Watch 20230607 Life Wisdom - Bringing Out the Essence of the Dharma with Our Genuine Sincerity (人間菩提 - 真純虔誠入法髓)
The Essence of Pure Wisdom**
Within wood, there is fire,
yet this fire comes into being
only if the wood is kindled.
Within sand, there is gold,
yet this gold is found
only by washing the sand.
Within our hearts, there is pure wisdom,
yet we can touch this wisdom
only if we realize it is there
and draw it forth.
In everything around us, there are profound principles; within each and every thing, there is an essence we often are not aware of. Take wood for example. Out in the wilderness, people can kindle a fire just by rubbing sticks of wood together. What gives the wood this potential for fire? It is the oil contained within it. This oil is what is extracted to make tea tree, sandalwood, or camphorwood essential oils. If we light these essential oils, we can produce fire. Normally, when we see a piece of wood, such as our wood table or chair, we rarely think of the oil in the wood or its potential for fire. But, if we are mindful, we can extract this essential oil.
Similarly, within sand, there can be gold. Gold prospectors go to streams to pan the sand for gold, using various tools such as a sieve to gradually filter out the different components. Slowly washing these out, they finally are left with the most valuable mineral in the sand—gold. Without this filtering, the sand would have just remained ordinary sand. Though the gold is there, it remains hidden.
There is something equally precious within our own hearts—our essence, which is pure wisdom. It is known as Buddha nature. Like the unwashed sand, if we remain unaware of this essence and do not mindfully search for it, it will remain buried, unseen and untouched.
The Buddha offered us many practices that can help us recover this pure wisdom. His teachings show us how we can clean our minds of afflictions and inner impurities. When we uncover more and more of this wisdom and operate out of our pure true nature, we will be able to see the things of this world clearly, as they really are.
Everything has its essence. Like the wood and sand, in us there is also an essence. If we can be mindful in “extracting” this essence, we can find our Buddha nature and touch pure wisdom.
** This article is from the Power of the Heart book.
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