..續本文上一頁house was broken into and many things were stolen. Hearing this, one of his friends wrote to console him. He wrote back, saying: “Dear friend, thank you for your letter, I am all right and at peace now. This is because of the following reasons: firstly, the thief only stole things from me but did not hurt me at all; secondly, the thief has stolen some of my things instead of all of my things; thirdly, and most luckily for me, it was the man rather than me who became a thief.” The key of this story lies in the last sentence: “It was the man rather than me who became a thief.” Therefore, we should never act against our pure conscience no matter how we are treated by others. We would rather risk ourselves than leave others in danger; and under no circumstances should we forego our virtuous qualities.
Society today is besieged with many complex issues. People have become reluctant to give elders a hand or to save a child due to media misinformation that highly publicizes isolated negative incidents in order to appeal to the masses. As a result, people just wants to defend themselves and inpidualism bursts like a flood. Upon encountering a dubious situation, people will retreat lest they get into trouble. But every man with a conscience, especially those who have studied Mahayana Buddhism, must go ahead and do the right thing when the situation presents itself.
Currently, in Tibet the moral values may not seem as bad; people will offer a helping hand wherever they see others are hurt. Not too long ago while I was on the road, I happened to see a motorcyclist in his 50s skid on the snow and break his leg; he bled profusely and suffered severe injuries. At that time a dozen cars stopped by the road and people got busy helping him—some covered the victim with warm coats, some bandaged his leg, still others were prepared to drive him to a hospital 20 miles away. No one was ready to run away. I was quite touched to witness such a scene and felt that for now a case like the “Death of Wang Yue” would unlikely be repeated itself in Tibet. Why
It is because the Tibetans have religious faith in their hearts.
Young folks like you may not appreciate the value of having faith. To those who have it, faith points out the direction of life. You know, we don”t arrive in this world by accident, like mushrooms popping out from the ground without any cause and condition. Neither do we depart from this world like a candle goes out, leaving no trace behind. Rather, we have been cycling in samsara since time without beginning. In this life we are born as a human through the power of our past karma; what we are to become the next life is in turn dictated by our good and bad deeds in this life.
However, many people are totally ignorant of the law of causality and think life is merely scores of years to live; never do they bother to consider what will happen after they die. Such shortsightedness is senseless. Really, when you have time, you should read Buddhist scriptures to understand life as Buddha has taught it. Regarding our cycling in samsara, it is not merely one life or two that awaits us; and the evil deeds we commit in this life will unfailingly bear their fruits which we must experience in our future life, even though for now there is no apparent retribution or reward.
For someone without much education, ignorance of the principle of cause and effect is forgivable. But there is no excuse for you college students, as you supposedly have received a formal education and gained a higher level of knowledge than farmers or shepherds. If you do not know the truth of life and are oblivious of the law of causality that good deeds, as well as bad ones, will rebound back to the doer, it is absolutely lamentable!
Nowadays in university, some teachers just …
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