February 13th is the last day of the Year of the Ox, after this day, we enter the Year of Tiger and wished everyone a [Fortune Comes from Good Karma] (Chinese word for Fortune and Tiger have the same pronunciation, fu). At each year’s new year’s eve when we gather around the stove, I have expectations along with disciples’ gathering around the stove, that everyone, through the connection with Buddha Dharma and Good Karma, can unite and be diligent in passing on the tradition of Buddha’s Dharma...
Within rarely acquired human form, we should store more reserves which consist of our wisdom, fortunes and virtues. We need to save them, to store an endless and boundless amount of reserves so that throughout our numerous lifetimes, we will have a more fruitful life and more fruitful results. No matter how much good fortune we have, it will never be enough. Therefore, I wish everyone can sincerely improve his or her own condition of getting fortune and virtue.
Our lives, everything we have can be changed in a blink of an eye. Therefore, in this non-permanent transformation, we need to cherish even more of what we have learned and to study Buddha’s permanent, non-obstructive wisdom, and compassionate benevolent karma. Under these three types of learning, let us be able to extend this heritage. Especially during the non-ordinary period which has plenty of disasters and misfortunes, we should pass on Buddha’s Dharma in order to benefit all sentient beings. Let them escape from suffering and avoid all types of calamities and disasters.
Everyone has an eternal non-changing enlightened nature. This enlighten nature allows us to see through external illusions and to incorporate mind and to see clearly our original nature. Through seeing clearly our original nature, we can observe the various good and bad that this world has, and to realize that these are but a type of illusion that begins and ends. These things are known as our causes and effects of fortune and virtue. Dependent conditions are external changes. Direct condition is the result of what we have done in the past, be it good or bad, which culminated into this body.
From the view of Buddha Dharma, we should use this direct conditioning body in order to let it be completed with a righteous view. Then we practice compassionate charity. As to the benevolent and the wicked, we should conclude both good and bad with amity - to maintain benevolent karma and harmony. Our lifetime of learning Buddhism should be like this. Believe in the cause and the effect because they are our future lives and also karma to our direct and dependent conditions. The cause and the effect is the result of our mutual buildup between the direct and the dependent conditions and our past causes and effects.
Therefore, in this lifetime, we should do well of the cause and the effect. We have to see how much improvement we have made in learning Buddhism. Each year, do we have sufficient self-contained and compassionate heart to assist all sentient beings. Do we see our self-contained and compassionate heart? If we are constantly equipped with this self-contained and compassionate heart, then we will have great understanding and able to carry through Buddha’s Dharma. Though life is short, we could utilize life to its fullest. As such, our benevolent karma will be sufficient.
Therefore, throughout our lifetimes, I wish everyone could develop bodhi mind, becoming buddha, and ferry others through hardship in order to solidify the bodhi mind. All benevolent karma comes from the solidified bodhi heart. Let us never back away from the path of bodhisattva and to develop our bodhi mind.
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