The world of Tzu Chi September 2020 (Vol.126)

TZU CHI 126 47 REMINDERS UNDER THE SALA TREES cause and effect, and that people who do good deeds go to hell?” The elder said, “I’ve never heard that people who do good deeds go to hell.” The manifested person then brought the elder to see people suffering in hell and said, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask that person if he came to hell because he did good deeds.” The person he was referring to was, in fact, and illusion created by Sovereign Sakra. The suffering person told the elder, “I practised the ten good deeds to help others when I was alive, and I sank into hell because of that.” The elder asked him, “You helped people and went to hell; what about those who were helped by you?” The person answered, “The people I helped went to heaven!” The elder said, “Good! Then I’m relieved. As long as those who are helped can go to heaven, then what does it matter if I alone go to hell?” This further strengthened his spiritual aspirations, and he vowed to continue helping other people and exercising his selfless heart of a Bodhisattva. Sovereign Sakra was very moved by this. He silently admitted defeats, and gave rise to limitless respect for the elder. He therefore made a vow, “If you continue to walk the Bodhisattva Path, I will always provide support for you.” The elder who walked the Bodhisattva Path was later to become Sakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha kept practising diligently for three great asankya kalpas , and throughout that time, Sovereign Sakra kept testing him and supporting him. When he finally became the Buddha, Sovereign Sakra also sought refuge under him. Thus, as spiritual practitioners, we must purify our minds. Our minds need to be pure, and we need to do all good deeds without reservation. We must give without asking for any kind of merits and must be concerned solely with helping others. Do not do good deeds for the sake of gaining merits, but walk the Bodhisattva Path with a pure heart and do good deeds for the sake of relieving sentient beings’ suffering. When we encounter karmic retributions, we should have no fear, but always maintain our spiritual aspirations. This is true purity. For instance, the goal of doctors and nurses is to help their patients. Tzu Chi Hospital has large numbers of patients. When they are admitted, the hospital personnel mindfully take care of them, and once they have recovered, they are simply discharged from the hospital. The hospital personnel are not taking care of patients for the sake of forming connections with the patients, nor do they have any prior special relationships with them. Their actions are done solely for the sake of helping the patients to recover. We should have the same simple mindset. Exercising our abilities to save others is our responsibility, so we should not think about seeking merits. “They must not participate in worldly affairs.” We, who have left our worldly family to become monastics, did this because we do not wish to be distracted by too many worldly matters. However, today’s society is very complicated and suffering sentient beings are found everywhere, so even though we would like not to participate in worldly matters, we cannot disregard these suffering sentient beings. This is why I often say that Tzu Chi’s mission must not get mixed up with political issues, but we