Life Wisdom: Making Good Use of Life by Seizing Time to Give
Those of us who are present are all safe and well. Let us express our gratitude to everyone we meet. Let us be grateful to everyone for keeping the environment clean so we can all enjoy good health. I often say that every morning when I wake up, the first thought crossing my mind is gratitude. I'm grateful that I'm still safe and well and that I can still sit up, get out of bed, and enjoy good mobility.
I'm filled with gratitude at the beginning of every day.
Everyone, I express my gratitude many times a day and I hope you can express your gratitude often too. Let us harbor gratitude within at each moment. When we give rise to gratitude, surely we will be free of worry. Time slips away second by second. Just now, while taking the stairs, I expressed my gratitude with each step. I'm also grateful for being able to walk here, sit down, and give a talk to you all. With gratitude comes great joy. So, may you always harbor gratitude within and express gratitude to everyone as I do. When we enjoy good health and mobility, we must express our gratitude.
This year marks Tzu Chi's 55th anniversary and we've been carrying out recycling work for nearly 32 years. Most of you who are present are our recycling volunteers. Everyone, you've all been doing recycling very diligently, caring for the land, cherishing resources, and protecting the environment. As you work hard to recycle, you help to keep communities clean. You collect discarded recyclables so they can be remade into new, useful things. This is how you cherish resources and bring new life to what'd otherwise become waste. You've all been doing recycling with love and dedication, so I keep expressing my gratitude to you.
I often say that we must seize the time we have. That's why we all gather here today. I can see our recycling volunteers before me and you can see me too. I take a tour only once or twice a year. In the early days, I took a tour each month. Later on, as there was not enough time, I took a tour twice a year. Now, it's hard for me to take a tour even twice a year, for time is still not enough and I don't have the strength to do so. Our body declines with the passing of time, and it's so subtle that I don't know and it's so subtle that I don't know when my strength will all be taken away. No one can escape aging, which is a law of Nature. In the past, every day I'd think about what I should do to benefit all on the following day. I was capable of making plans actively.
But now, I'm wondering if, in the following hour, I'll be capable of completing my talk, walking down the stage, and returning to my seat. I'm not sure if I can do all of this. The Buddha told us that life is impermanent. We must understand this. Apart from life's impermanence, the Buddha also told us that all life is equal. Just now, we've also talked about vegetarianism, which reminds us to learn the crucial lesson of cultivating genuine and all-embracing love. The Buddha taught us to love all beings and things.
Everyone, as you work hard to recycle, you've truly extended your love to everything. Look at this piece of paper. This side is blank though the other side is covered with printed black words, so I can still use this paper by writing on its blank side. I will first write with a pencil, then with a ballpoint pen, and finally with a writing brush. Having used it three times, it's like the paper has three lifetimes. As this paper is used three times, it's as if it were given three lifetimes.
So, when we put our lives into good use, we are living a fulfilling life. Every morning when I wake up, I'm grateful for still being able to put my life into good use by working to benefit humanity and the world.
Everyone, we have a common goal of caring for the Earth. We must find ways to inspire goodness in all so everyone can do good and serve as a living bodhisattva.
I always call you "living bodhisattvas." Indeed, you are all living bodhisattvas. Although we are all getting older as time passes by, I feel that as you all give with genuine sincerity and work together to do good, you are indeed truly beautiful.
You all practice integrity, which is very beautiful. Thank you all. Please continue to pool everyone's love together.
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