The world of Tzu Chi January 2021 (Vol.130)

TZU CHI 130 47 REMINDERS UNDER THE SALA TREES This story illustrates how the Buddha engaged in spiritual practice in his past life, and how he endlessly expounded the Dharma to sentient beings. Even after falling into the base environment of the animal realm, he still constantly gave rise to a repentant mindset and continued to teach the law of karma. We reap what we have sown—the karma we create brings about the retributions we receive. In the human realm, negative karma and positive karma are often intertwined. Some people come from very wealthy families; this is a blessing for them, but their dependents often quarrel and provoke afflictions amongst each other. This is negative karma. So, whether we do good or evil is determined by our thoughts at each moment. We have to uphold the precepts well so that we can bring forth goodness in our practice. “Without pure precepts, no merits and virtues of goodness can arise.” If we do not uphold the pure precepts, there is no way for merits and virtues of goodness to arise. What are “merits and virtues”? Inner modesty is “merits”, while being outwardly courteous and accommodating is “virtues”. We must work hard and not become self-important just because we have a little bit of talent and receive compliments from others. We should be like the rice stalks in the field: the fuller the rice ears are, the lower they hang. In the same way, the more competent we become, the more humble we should be. We should take other people’s compliments or praises as reminders to ourselves not to get carried away, so that we treat people and matters with an “unaffected mindset”. Everything in life is achieved through cooperation between people. I often say that a single person cannot eat all the rice under the sky, nor accomplish all the works in the world. Therefore, we should be grateful to each other. Within the Sangha, we must be even more grateful to each other. In order to have a good spiritual training ground, everyone in the Sangha must have a grateful heart. Only then can our spiritual training ground be beautiful. What kind of person is the most beautiful? One who feels gratitude is the most beautiful, because with gratitude, there is no high-minded, prideful arrogance. With gratitude in our hearts, we can be humble and courteous, always wearing a smile and speaking with gentleness. Therefore, merits and virtues come from our inner modesty and are expressed outwardly through courtesy and accommodation towards others. “Therefore, you must know that the precepts are the most safe and stable place where merits and virtues abide.” We should know that by upholding precepts, we are able to strengthen all kinds of merits and virtues. As long as we can uphold the pure precepts, we will be able to achieve liberation in the future. Before we speak, we must first mindfully confirm the truth of the situation we talk about. When we deal with matters, we must be patient so that we can bring our work to completion. Only in this way do we attain merits and virtue from upholding the precepts. We must not fear hard work, and our minds must be focused. We must beware of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If our thoughts deviate even slightly, we will stray further and further from the path. Therefore, we must conscientiously uphold the pure precepts. (To be continued in the next issue) * This article is extracted from the book “Reminders under the Sala Trees – A Commentary on the Sutra of the Buddha’s Bequeathed Teachings”.