The world of Tzu Chi March 2021 (Vol.132)

2021 • 03 50 harma B lessings are like a handful of seeds: they must be scattered and sown to yield a plentiful harvest in the future. In life, we ought to bear in mind the idea to “take joy in helping others”. Wealthy people have the ability to help others, but they may lack the opportunity to contribute or do not know how to go about doing so. Therefore, we are working ceaselessly to educate and encourage the rich in order to sustain their good karma and develop their roots of goodness. We use “loving-kindness” as our method for teaching the rich to help the poor. We must all take good care of our own roots of goodness and at the same time nurture others’ merits and virtues. Only by doing so can we be said to “never let them loose”. The danger of letting the five desires loose The Buddha then continued, saying, “If you do not control the Five Roots, not only will the five desires have no limits and be impossible to restrain…” If we let our Five Roots loose, our eyes will view material forms improperly, our ears will listen to decadent sounds, and out of a craving for taste, we will kill animals and eat all kinds of sentient beings. These are all examples of “indulging the Five Roots and coveting for the five desires”. Nowadays, people’s minds are restless because they cannot restrain their five desires, which leads them to create much negative karma. I saw an article in the news. In eastern [Taiwan], a young man told his father that he wanted to get married, but his father said, “You are only 20 years old, and your business career is not established yet; what kind of marriage can you get? You should know that getting married is easy, but supporting a family is not.” “Then, give me the money to start a business,” the son said. His father replied, “You have no business experience at all. You should first get a job to gain some experience, then we can discuss this matter again later.” The young man was unable to get what he wanted, so he grew to resent his father. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, until one night, he stabbed his father 23 times in his bed! In a scenario such as this, where are human ethics and morality to be found?All the chaos of today’s society is caused by people’s minds craving the five desires. Once the Five Roots are let loose, not only will we crave the five desires, but we may also commit all kinds of transgressions. Once we get to that point, our future will be obscured, and we CHAPTER 3 - REFRAIN ONE’S MIND