Life Wisdom: To Always Strive toward Kindness
“My spine and my back are disappointments; I can’t carry anything heavy, my bones have aged, they are weak, and now, my knees are weak,” said Peng Hu Lan-ying, Tzu Chi volunteer.
“Wherever she goes, people praise her. Though she might lack in bodily strength, she does no less than young people,” said Peng Shi-guo, son of Peng Hu Lan-ying.
“I’m really moved, because it’s tiring work, and she works hard,” said Qiu Xue-yu, her neighbor.
“She’s so old, and she’s done this for 20 years,” said Zhuang He-shun, her neighbor.
“She says she’ll keep doing this as long as she’s alive. We really respect her, really,” said Xiao Guo-qing, her neighbor.
“I told her, Mama Peng, take some time off. She said, when I’m home I just sleep; I get tired from sleeping! I’m still coming to the recycling station. She’s full of spirit no matter how long she’s there,” said Liang Yu-zhu, Tzu Chi Volunteer.
“Now, my hands and feet are working, I have energy, so, I must do my best to serve while I still can. so, I must do my best to serve while I still can,” said Peng Hu Lan-ying.
We must be very clear to know what life is about. We must engage deeply in listening to the Buddha’s teachings; time will keep on passing by without stopping for a millisecond. As milliseconds keep passing by, what can we truly hold on to? There’s nothing we can hold on to. In life, humans go through aging and illness, I do, too, and such is the imperfection of life, which is the suffering said by the Buddha, and time cannot be stopped.
Everything changes and is impermanent, and that is due to the passing of time. Therefore, people get old and suffer from unexpected illnesses. That is why I often say that let us create blessings. In our future life, we will gain from the blessings we’ve created in this life. If we did not create blessings in this life, it’s hard to be sure whether we will be born in this world for our next life.
Coming to this world, it is hard to predict what kind of environment we will find ourselves in due to our affinities. Because we have served and created blessings in the world, in this life, we are happy to see one another, we do good deeds together, have nice interactions, and spread Great Love all over the world. We have this kind of compassion for people in the world, and to be sure, we will bring with us this seed of kindness to our future lives.
It’s like your growing vegetables now. The seed of the vegetable includes the past of its plant. In the past, this plant grew, flowered and bore fruits, which produced this seed. We then plant this seed in soil; we might pick its leaves for food, or the leaves simply withered and dried up. However, this seed is planted in our garden. We take good care of it and use it to form good affinities with everyone. This is something that makes everyone happy.
Our world should be like this; we should talk about Tzu Chi’s spirit and share Great Love with people. During this wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s better for us not to travel to places. Yet, we can all go to Tzu Chi’s campuses, while facing and taking care of the land, we can talk to vegetables, and say loving words to the land. So, let us form lasting compassion and spread Great Love; when people in the world have lasting compassion, people’s hearts will be pure.
Volunteers, I am really happy and also truly grateful. I’m grateful to everyone for your caring and loving one another. I am also grateful for all modern technology we have available to us. Listening to volunteers attending online study groups, I am also very happy. Volunteers are willing to take my Dharma and the words I said to heart, and also seize time to use technology to share their insights with others online. This is indeed a world of living bodhisattvas.
The Buddha talked about taking the appropriate form to help living beings or had incarnations in many billions of places, which means all places can be our cultivation ground. Aren’t our online study groups a proof for this? All places can be our cultivation ground. Think about this, haven’t you and I exerted our remarkable abilities? Haven’t you and I been able to show up in many different places? So, our direction is correct.
I remember, not long ago, I said, “I started Tzu Chi, and volunteers will not regret serving with Tzu Chi.” Perhaps, everyone still remembers this. I started this Tzu Chi Path, many volunteers have joined to pave this path, and are now together to broaden this path into the Bodhisattva Path. We are all the first generation of Tzu Chi. In our lifetime, we create and develop Tzu Chi. This is how we create a world filled with enlightened love. In walking the Bodhisattva Path, we develop wisdom while giving our love.
Tzu Chi volunteers, our karmic affinities are ripened at this time. So, we must be more sincerely pious. Time passes second by second, day after day, and year after year. Time passes very quickly. Karmic affinity is something we need to seize right at the moment. So, we have to seize the karmic affinity. Truly, we need to seize the affinity to quickly inspire those who have not been inspired.
For those who have been inspired, we need to nurture their kindness. Isn’t there a teaching that says to bring forth kind thoughts in our minds and nurture the kind thoughts that we already have. We all have the Dharma in our hearts. When we gather together, with the Dharma in our hearts,we create a force of purity that can transform living beings. We need to seize the karmic affinity of having the Dharma in our world.
Even a vegetable garden can form good affinities with people. So, we need to seize whatever karmic affinities we have. I’m grateful to volunteers. I give them my blessings. May they cultivate diligently on the Bodhisattva Path, gain both blessings and wisdom, form a closer bond with their fellow volunteers, and help one another on the path. To continue our affinities in future lifetimes depends on our forming strong affinities with one another in this lifetime.
May everyone spread love across the world. We must hold on tightly to the relationships we’ve formed in this life to continue them in our future lives. I give blessings to everyone, thank you.
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