971227人間菩提英文版 Filling the Pages of Our Life with Good Deeds and Good Karma

人間菩提--厚實生命篇章
Filling the Pages of Our Life with Good Deeds and Good Karma


The Buddha has said that everyone is a buddha.
(are, at their true essence, the same)
But, hearing this, you’d say:
“But the Buddha is the Buddha, and I’m just me”
“The Buddha is so saintly and noble”
“I’m just an ordinary mundane being”
But in fact, the Buddha doesn’t see us as just a mundane being
He sees us as a buddha.
So, we ought to see ourselves as a buddha.
But we need to clearly recognize why it is that our circumstances always remain the same.
In truth, everyone’s circumstances are continually changing.
It’s not true they can’t be changed.
(It all comes down to)what karma we have created---
(if we’ve sown the seeds, then we’ll reap fruits)
If we can face everything that comes peacefully, then with each day the net amount of karma we have decreases. But if we (don’t accept our lot and we rant about it) and speak unwholesomely, act unwholesomely, or drink bad thoughts, then while suffering our karmic retribution, we create new bad karma.
So, when our karmic retribution comes to bear, we should accept it with a willing heart.
We must not be lax with ourselves, be self-indulgent or loosen our self-discipline.
This lifetime represents a fresh new book with clean pages and every day is a blank page upon which to write.
How should we write it?
What it written is all the things we have done.
All we do creates a karmic seed which is stored in our eighth consciousness.
So, we must truly think about how we want our blank page to be written for today.
We must think over it carefully.
Don’t let your mind run off on its own.
If we do that, then the day passes without any meaningful acts, and our page for today will just remain a blank page and that’s all.
Or, if we cannot tame our mind, then what we write into our book will be story after story of love, hate, strife, etc.
This is about our relationships with other people.
It all sows karmic seeds for the future.
Do you understand what I’m saying?
If you do good deeds, it’ll be written into this book.
Today, if we give people a bad attitude, it’s all written into our book.
(and forms) our habits and tendencies.
Our habits and tendencies in this life (were formed in past lives and we)continue to perpetuate the habit in this life.
The Buddha says that when our karma takes us into the cycle of rebirth, the cycle of rebirth, we cannot escape from it.
You often hear Buddhists talk about how to leave the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation.
Actually, the Buddha encouraged us (not to leave the cycle) but to return to the human world willingly, not because our karma takes us here but because we choose to come here.
For instance, I’ve come to Yilan County today. I planned this trip some time ago.
This trip was already planned out before.
My coming here today--- would b that be considered a good thing or a bad thing?
A good thing.
Therefore, you tell a lot of people to come.
After coming, how do you feel? Are you happy?
Happy.
Yes, for me, I’m doing a good thing and for you, you experience joy.
So, today, between us, we’ve formed good karmic ties or affinities.
They are ties of joy and positive ties and ties to good deeds (a wholesome tie)
So, in today’s page of your book, what’s written on it is joy.
For me, what’s written in my book is a good deed.
So, good deeds beget good karmic affinities and these ties carry across lifetimes.
These ties are written into your book, his book, and my book.
So, in our future lives, we will definitely be in each other’s lives.
This is for sure.
Now, we must quickly dedicate ourselves to (Tzu Chi’s Bodhisattva Path)
(and not lose our will to cultivate)
The Buddha has explained how karma works. If we accept our karmic retributions, then, (our store of bad karma will run out on its own) and the net store of bad karma decreases every day.
But, we must also create good karma every day.
(by doing good deeds)
The more we do, the greater our good karma.
Your being in Tzu Chi now.
(is something that was hard to come by)
At the very least, it required your perseverance as you underwent the entire training process.
Now that we’ve joined Tzu Chi, we should continue to carry out our aspiration.
We should not think:
“Since Master has certified me,”
“I’m a commissioner now”
“And I will always be a commissioner”
People might regard you as a commissioner
(but in terms of)
(the karmic seeds in your eighth consciousness,)
(you are only a commissioner if you’ve done)
(the work of a commissioner)
The two most important things in being a commissioner are forming good karmic affinities with others and then cultivating fields of blessings.
We need to cultivate the field of our mind and create blessings in it ourselves.
By forming good karmic affinities with others, we can inspire people.
So, every one, I hope that as a member of the Tzu Chi family--- a big family where the more people there are, the greater the blessings---we have to take up the responsibility of making our society better.
Although there is a global financial crisis going on right now with people losing their jobs and an economic downturn.
I believe if people in Taiwan can be more frugal and work diligently, this global financial crisis will quickly pass and the unemployment problem will ease up.
As long as people can calm and pacify their minds, and live their life with diligence and frugality.
Our society will prosper again.
What worries me most is, people not being able to rein in their minds.
Recently I often say that we should bless rather than curse ourselves by not going around saying that we’re poor.
(When we believe that we are blessed,)
(we are blessing ourselves)
In May of this year, a cyclone hit Myanmar, and an earthquake hit Sichuan, China.
The donations we received for these disasters were less than what past disasters received.
We’ve received much fewer donations this time even though we’ve also raised funds overseas.
This year, I’m very grateful to our volunteers in Canada and the U.S. for their dedication in raising funds because not as many people in Taiwan donated.
Not matter what we still need to help the people affected by the disaster.
We should always aspire to help people hit by disasters no matter where the disaster occur.
We should aspire to be a person who can help others.
Therefore, we must help people.
Only by helping others can we know about suffering and being blessed.
If we do not understand the truth of suffering, then we will not know how to create blessings and we won’t be able to walk the Tzu Chi path.
The reason I’m saying all this is because I want you to plant good seeds in your inner field.
We should also be a good farmer for the world and cultivate blessings in people’s field of mind.
And, don’t stop our spiritual cultivation.
If you stop cultivating yourself (you would have no spiritual growth)
So, in terms of our karma, we can choose to create blessings and good karma or create bad karma.
It’s all up to us.