The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.113)

2019 • 08 54 Buddha said to his disciples, “When you look down from here, the mountains and rivers, cities and forests, and everything in the world is on fire.” Why did Buddha say that? O ne day, Buddha was leading more than 1,000 monks to beg for food when they approached Gayasiras Mountain. This place stirred up many memories for Buddha. From the top of the mountain, he looked off into the distance. “If you look towards the northeast from here,” Buddha said to his disciples, “you can see the streets in the city of Gaya. To the east is the Nairanjana River, and farther away is the place where I studied, did my spiritual formation and was Enlightened. When you look down from here, the mountains and rivers, cities and forests, and everything in the world is on fire.” However, all the disciples saw was tranquillity. Why did Buddha say that everything was on fire? Buddha noticed that everyone was puzzled, so he explained. “My disciples, now listen carefully. Human eyes burn, the ears burn, the nose burns, the tongue burns, and most importantly, even the mind burns. For example, the eyes are attracted to appearances, and in the desire for appearances the mind cannot be in peace. The ears hear something and the mind is attracted to the sound. The nose and tongue cling to smell and taste. Due to the craving for the flavour of food and drink, the mind cannot rest in a pure state. In sum, in everything the body comes in contact with, we look for physical enjoyment, and thus we create bad karma.” “All these desires come from the mind. The fires of anger, greed and delusion continually burn in our mind, so the five organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the body – continue to suffer. The senses and the mind keep on burning, so this world is never in peace. The fires of greed, anger and delusion are destroying us.” Buddha’s way of teaching was to use examples from daily life. Human reactions come from the five senses. When we encounter something with our senses, our minds react, and we feel either anger, greed or delusion. Because of these emotions, our mental processes and our behaviour go astray, like wild fires destroying everything. Every day, we can open the newspaper and read disturbing reports of disasters aster Cheng Yen Tells Stories The Fire of the Senses