1. Psychological Environmental Protection
Just now the sign language team performed two songs, "A Breathing Earth" and "Gardener of the Earth", which are about environmental protection of the earth and spiritual environmental protection.
Once the human heart is polluted, it is easy to produce greed, anger, doubt, pride, and suspicion: these "five poisons" cause many problems between people.
The more greed people have, the greater their desires. If you have one thousand yuan, you will think that if you can get nine thousand more, the total will be ten thousand yuan; but after you have ten thousand yuan, you will also think that if you can get nine thousand more, you can make one hundred thousand yuan... ..., when will this endless desire be filled? Just because it is difficult to fill the desires in the heart, people will live a mediocre life and be greedy, causing many social problems.
Recently, some media asked me for my opinion on the "Song Qili" incident. I think this is not a religious issue: the word "religion" contains the correct meaning of life purpose and correct life education. And this incident is actually taking advantage of people's confusion and greed for profit; so people cannot be greedy. Once they are greedy, they will be confused and lack wisdom.
"Angry" means losing one's temper. People who get angry easily will have a lot of troubles. Once troubles arise, it will be difficult to get along with the people around them.
There was a mother-in-law who loved her grandson very much, but her daughter-in-law thought she didn’t pay attention to hygiene and didn’t like her touching her child.
The husband couldn't stand it and said, "I was raised by my mother. Why don't you think that I am unhygienic, but you think of my mother?"
"Your mother is People of the older generation don’t have enough hygiene concepts. What if she accidentally feeds her child something unhygienic?”
Since it was difficult for the husband to communicate with his wife, he tried to influence her.
This gentleman planted an orchard; one day, he took a hoe and cut off the roots of several fruit trees: a few days later, the wife saw that the fruits fell one by one before they were ripe. , and when I looked underground, I found that the roots of the tree were also broken.
"Why are the roots broken?" she asked her husband in surprise.
The husband admitted that he cut it off himself.
"Why are you so stupid? Don't you know that if the root is broken, the fruit will not mature and will fall. Do you know how much you will lose?" the wife blamed.
The husband replied: "Yes, a tree cannot cut off its roots, and a person cannot cut off its roots - where would I be without my mother? You love our children; in the same way, my mother also loves me and her grandchildren. We do Children should be grateful to their mothers from the bottom of their hearts! ”
The wife thought for a while: That’s right! Why do I vomit with my mother-in-law every day? Why do you dislike and dislike your mother-in-law all day long?
Later, she looked at her mother-in-law from another angle and found that "my mother-in-law is actually very kind!" And "because of my mother-in-law, I have a husband"... She constantly adjusted her temper. Finally she became a very gentle daughter-in-law.
People always lose their temper and have disputes easily when they don’t understand the truth. Therefore, you must always keep your mind attuned, so that you will not lose your temper easily; because "anger" is also a pollution of the mind. If you can get rid of anger: the mind will be more peaceful.
2. The wise old man
"Doubt" means that you have lost your direction in life because you are wandering around among people, things, things and ideas. Some people know what they should do for society so that their lives will be meaningful; some people have lost themselves and live in confusion. Even if they have money, they don't know how to use it.
A while ago, newspapers published an article about a Thai businessman who owned a pair of cats with diamond eyes. He held a "wedding ceremony" for them in early October. The wedding scene alone cost 28,000 U.S. dollars, and 60,000 U.S. dollars were prepared as the cat bride’s “dowry.” The total cost was 88,000 U.S. dollars; and in order to show off wealth, on the wedding day, Thailand’s top officials were also invited to attend the wedding.
At that time, flash floods broke out in Thailand, causing the Mekong and Weinan rivers to surge. Thousands of victims were left homeless and without food. As soon as the local Tzu Chi staff received the news, they immediately prepared supplies and rushed to help.
Tzu Chi spent less than 20,000 US dollars on this relief material, but thousands of victims received timely rescue: But the businessman held a "wedding" for two cats , spent more than 80,000 US dollars, it is really stupid! If you have money but don't know how to use it to benefit people, such a life is actually very pitiful.
On the contrary, a wise life is very lovely. Last month, a group of Tzu Chi volunteers from the Kaohsiung area came to Hualien. Among them was an 82-year-old woman who came to see me, accompanied by her two daughters. The daughter said, "Master, my mother has a wish - to come The Jingshe looks at you."
I asked the old lady: "Now that you have seen me and fulfilled your wish, are you happy?"
"Yes! I am very happy. . And, I still have a wish to fulfill today."
I asked: "What else do you wish for?"
Her daughter answered on her behalf: "My mother. I want to donate one million yuan."
The old lady handed me the money very reverently, and I said, "Thank you for donating so much money. Did your children give you this money?"
She said: "No, this is the money I have saved for decades."
The daughter added on the side: Because my mother is very considerate of her children and planned it when she was young. As she gets older, there will always be times when she becomes unwell, so she saves a sum of money so that her children can use this money to help her with her funeral arrangements in the future when she gets sick or ends her life.
One day, the mother told her daughter: "I want to donate the money to help the Master build a hospital."
The daughter said to her mother: "We will give you money to help you complete the project." Is this wish a good one?"
This mother was very wise and immediately replied: "You have to use your own money to donate, and the money you give me is not considered a donation from me. However, if I give this All the money will be donated. When my last day comes, I will rely on you."
The daughter also explained to her mother the significance of body donation, which can be used for medical research by medical students, leaving her loved ones in the world.
After hearing this, the mother said: "This is the best! When the last day comes, this body can be given to the Master. There is no need to bury it or spend any money, and it can also benefit the medical field. . So the money should be used in meaningful ways, so I donated it all!"
In order to help me build the hospital, she donated all the money she had saved over the past ten or twenty years, and I filled out the body donation consent form and planned to donate my body to the students of Tzu Chi Medical College for anatomy practice at the end of my life. What a wise old man!
How to use money to be "valuable"? How to use it as "waste"? We need to think carefully about the value of life at ordinary times.
3. Wisdom and good ability
I often appeal: "There is no ownership in life, only the right to use." How should people use money? What kind of job should I do? How to use this body to fulfill its functions in life? This requires wise choice.
In life, "pride" is also a worry; many people nowadays often care about who is more capable than who? Who is stronger? In fact, human beings are equal. Even if people have high academic qualifications that are enviable, they can only be used professionally and intellectually. They only have "intellectual functions" but lack "wisdom and good abilities", which will not be of much help in life.
Look at today’s society, why is it so turbulent? It is because many people only have "intellectual functions" but lack "wisdom and good abilities". If it has intellectual functions, but cannot be used in the right way, it will be harmful to life. There is a term called "intelligent crime." In fact, wisdom is the purest good energy and will never commit crimes. It should be called "intelligent crime."
If a person is truly wise, he will understand himself and will not do anything beyond his duty.
Therefore, "wisdom" is the purest good energy, which is absolutely beneficial to life; "wisdom" is a function, which sometimes harms others and ourselves. We must give full play to wisdom and good energy.
Tzu Chi’s educational mission places great emphasis on the wisdom of good people and inspiring students’ conscience. If you only give him knowledge and functions, he cannot become a truly good doctor, so Tzu Chi Medical College attaches great importance to humanistic education. In addition to charity, medical care, education, and culture, Tzu Chi also has "six footprints" such as bone marrow database and international disaster relief. Regarding the bone marrow database, the CEO of the American branch, Huang Sixian, told me that yesterday, he had a phone call with the American branch and learned that on October 13, the day when Tzu Chi Dalin Hospital broke ground, more than a thousand American Tzu Chi people also gathered at the San Francisco hospital. In a large auditorium, there was a benefit performance and singing for the American Bone Marrow Database.
I often say that Tzu Chi's mission is a job that "the sun never sets". Just like it is night in Taiwan, but it is dawn in the United States, it is when the local Tzu Chi people start to work. . On this earth, there are Tzu Chi people all over the world, and they are engaged in relay races every day. After finishing here, they will do it over there, and after finishing there, they will do it here. This is the Tzu Chi village around the world, and each step and six steps are carried out simultaneously. .
In addition to the six major footprints, we are now promoting another "earth environmental protection" project.
To protect the earth, we must start from the heart. If everyone can be free from greed, anger, doubt, and self-conceit, we can work together, help each other, and carve out a pure land for the earth.
The beauty of Tzu Chi is that there is no one in the world that I don’t love, no one that I don’t forgive, and “no one that I don’t trust.” It purifies the stains and fuses the hearts between people.
4. Physiological environmental protection
After the inner greed, anger, suspicion, pride, and suspicion are purified, the next step is the purification of the body, that is, the purification of the physiology. As the saying goes, "health is happiness", no matter what you use, eat, wear or live, you must pay attention to hygiene; "dress", you must dress neatly and cleanly, not sloppily or dirty; if you can Dress neatly, even if it is coarse cloth, you can still look healthy.
As for "eating", mad cow disease and bovine epidemic fever were very popular a while ago, and some businessmen sold dead pigs, ducks, and chickens infected with the plague on the market; these are harmful Where have all the human things gone? In fact, they all go into people’s mouths.
There is a five-year-old child who has been a vegetarian since birth. Whenever he eats meat, he becomes very sad and vomits. I asked him why he doesn’t eat meat? He said: "Nowadays, many cattle are infected with mad cow disease and febrile disease... It's so scary! That's why I don't like to eat meat." At a young age, he knows that eating hygienic is really rare.
In our lives, food poisoning incidents are more frequent, so we must pay attention to physical hygiene. It's really not worth losing your health just for temporary gratification in a wonderful life.
In addition, modern people don’t like to walk. They go everywhere by car, and they pay great attention to the spaciousness and comfort of the car. In fact, the exhaust gas emitted by the vehicle pollutes the environment and is very harmful to health. We should make good use of our body's functions. We should walk and run more while our feet can still walk. This will not only strengthen our body but also reduce air pollution.
Physiological environmental protection is very important, human life is short. If you don't take good care of your short life, it would be a pity to waste time on seeing a doctor and taking medicine!
Therefore, the clothing, food, and accommodation do not need to be too luxurious and comfortable. The most important thing is to be hygienic and clean.
5. Environmental protection on earth
Typhoon Herb caused great disasters throughout the province. In Alishan District, nearly 2,000 millimeters of rain fell in two days, which is equivalent to the average in Taiwan. With annual rainfall, many places have been flooded by landslides, causing major disasters. It is true that "the world is impermanent and the country is fragile."
Two years ago, Typhoon Doug hit Taiwan and caused a catastrophic disaster. I remember when I went to investigate the disaster, I saw that the roads leading to Renai Township and Xinyi Township in Nantou County were "broken". Every time I walked, One step requires a leap. At that time, I suggested that Shenmu Village should be relocated as soon as possible because the place was no longer suitable for living. Tzu Chi people were also willing to help them rebuild their homes.
However, due to the inability to obtain land, Tzu Chi's village construction work has been delayed. This time, He Bo brought a serious disaster, causing the entire Shenmu Village to be submerged by earth and rocks.
Is all this a natural disaster? Or is it a man-made disaster?
In my opinion, man-made disasters come first and natural disasters follow. Such serious disasters occur because people destroy mountains and forests arbitrarily and fail to conserve soil and water, causing soil erosion.
Many years ago, I called on Tzu Chi people to be environmentally friendly and recycle resources. Tzu Chi people across the province immediately responded and implemented environmental protection work in various places. They formed Tzu Chi environmental volunteers and have been doing resource recycling in the community for a long time, which also influenced many people to join in the effort.
It is estimated that making fifty kilograms of paper requires a twenty-year-old tree. By analogy, the amount of paper recycled by Tzu Chi environmental volunteers in 84 years can be Saved 366,702 trees from being cut down.
Every book is the crystallization of wisdom left by the ancestors, but the paper in the book is made of trees. In order to pass on the wisdom of the ancestors and educate the next generation, we also take care of the trees and maintain them. natural environment, the only way is to engage in resource recycling.
I hope that everyone will start from the side and take care of the land we live in. On the one hand, we will recycle resources and on the other hand, we will control the generation of garbage.
Tzu Chi cooperates with Tianxia Magazine to hold the "Beautiful Taiwan, Clean Home" event on October 20. That day happens to be the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. At 9 a.m., Tzu Chi across the province People mobilized together to do environmental protection, cleaning indoors and outdoors, or streets and parks. This "999" symbolizes that from this moment on, everyone must always be environmentally friendly, always protect and clean their homes: this is not a temporary slogan, but must be implemented.
The resources of the earth are under our feet, and the pure land is around you and me. We create the garbage ourselves, and we must rely on ourselves to clean the earth. According to statistics, 40% of garbage can be recycled and reused, and some can be returned to the earth as organic fertilizer; as long as everyone works hard, sort the garbage and recycle reusable resources.
"When there is a hole in the sky, who is not sad; when the green mountains shed tears, who is not sad..." This song "Gardener of the Earth" expresses all the sad feelings. After the Typhoon Hubbard disaster, I felt very sad when I saw rocks collapsing piece by piece on TV. In fact, everyone can be a gardener of the earth. I hope everyone can mobilize to save the mountains and recycle resources together. Clean the earth.
Tzu Chi’s environmental protection volunteers saved more than 366,000 trees last year through recycling work, and from January to August this year, more than 280,000 trees were saved ; Reusing recycled resources can not only preserve a green forest, but also enrich life resources.
Life only has the right to use, not ownership; how to make good use of it depends on everyone’s wisdom. If everyone can face life with the concepts of psychological environmental protection, physical environmental protection and earth environmental protection, society will always be prosperous and life will always be happy and joyful!
I am grateful to National Chung Cheng University for providing the venue for me to get to know you all. I am endlessly grateful and wish you all happiness and wisdom!