Life Wisdom: Controlling Our Palate for a Peaceful World
Climate change has led to temperature extremes. In the U.S., large swaths of forests are still ravaged by wildfires. The blazes turn the night sky orange red and smoke can be seen everywhere during the day.
People there are very alarmed and concerned. The U.S. is a vast country. Yet, no matter how large a piece of land is, it can be destroyed by wildfires. Also, over the past few days, Hualien has been affected by earthquakes.
Nature's elements have become imbalanced, and due to the imbalance of the element of earth, tectonic plate boundaries are very active. The recent earthquakes in Hualien were quite strong. Indeed, natural disasters have been occurring very frequently.
Apart from earthquakes, we must also heighten our vigilance against the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic worries me deeply. We must always harbor sincere piety within, and those of us who are safe and well must heighten our vigilance.
I often tell our Tzu Chi doctors and nurses who are in close contact with COVID patients that while they care for the patients with love, they must also practice vigilance by wearing a full set of personal protective equipment. In all, we must be vigilant and sincerely pious. May this pandemic that has affected the whole world ease and end quickly. For that, we must all watch our actions.
Most disasters are brought about by our desire for meat and our unwholesome speech. Unwholesome speech can create turmoil in the world. Look at the manmade disasters in South Africa and Myanmar. Didn't the parties involved harm each other with unwholesome speech?
When people's minds are unsettled, social unrest will ensue. Greed can unsettle people's minds, and greed for meat is the most rampant desire as eating is a major part of everyday life. To eat meat, people kill animals cruelly, which creates bad karma.
Recently, I've been saying that bad karma has long been accumulating. Over the past century, agricultural and industrial development has contributed to the prosperity of society and a growth in world population. As more and more people eat meat, animal husbandry has been thriving. Many people raise livestock to provide meat for an even greater number of people.
Many people have meat every day and eat a lot of meat almost each meal. They keep eating meat as if their stomach were a bottomless pit. Each piece of meat means that a living being has been killed. How many animals will be killed for a pot of meat dish? Look at how people create bad karma (as a result of killing animals for food.) To bring about peace in the world, we must settle our mind and see and hear more about life's true principles. How can we enjoy good health and safety? We must settle our mind and listen.
As a saying goes, for peace to prevail in the world, there shouldn't be cries from the slaughterhouse at midnight. Indeed, at a time like this, we must all awaken. As disasters have been descending upon us, we must awaken and work harder to learn life's truths. Everyone, please pray for peace in the world with sincere piety.
In Malaysia, many endearing children have been encouraging their parents and grandparents to go vegetarian. They can explain each true principle behind vegetarianism very clearly. I have faith that they were my disciples in their past lives. They've come to this world again to pave the Tzu Chi Path for me so I can continue to walk this path in my next life. Thanks to their good affinities with me, they've come to this world again to benefit all.
To encourage their grandparents to go vegetarian, they've been practicing vegetarianism themselves. There are many of them.
“Grandma, would you like vegetarian pizza? Let me send a photo to you,” Jazper, student of Tzu Chi International School Kuala Lumpur asked his grandmother.
“Jazper, why are you a vegetarian?” / “I wish to protect the Earth. We wish to save the Earth,” he replied.
“What else?” / “We don't want to kill animals for food,” he continued.
“Grandma and Grandpa, I want to share with you that we should no longer eat meat. We must go vegetarian as animals are living beings too,” explained Wu Shi-yan, Jazper's friend who invited him to go vegetarian. They are still 7 years old.
“He has also encouraged his father to eat less meat and more vegetables. His father has changed a lot as he thinks that since our son has learned at school to love all animals, he should also do his part. He eats less meat and more vegetables now,” said Tan Sau Chan, Wu Shi-yan’s mother.
Indeed, these children give us much hope. They truly are little living bodhisattvas. Since children can practice vegetarianism, can't we adults do the same? While a seven-year-old can promote vegetarianism, we, who are dozens of years old, should also strive to promote vegetarianism so everyone can enjoy safety and good health. We must protect and love all animals. This is how we can safeguard our own lives and live a safe and peaceful life.
Sitemap