..续本文上一页causes of Buddhism.
In the Chinese Han region, there was a similar case. Before Master Dan Xia of the Tang dynasty was ordained as a monk, he was a Confucian scholar. One year he was going to Chang”an for an examination, and on his way he met a monk. When the monk asked him why he was going to Chang”an, he replied that he was going to attend an examination to become a government officer. The monk then said: “It is better to take an examination to become a Buddha than to take an examination to become an officer. Seeking worldly success imparts no significant value to your life. You should choose the profound Buddhist path instead.” Greatly inspired by the monk”s simple yet profound words, he was later ordained as a monk, eventually becoming one of the greatest Buddhist masters in history.
America”s “motor magnate,” Henry Ford, was able to change the course of his whole life by borrowing just one dollar from his father. With that one dollar as his starting capital, he slowly accumulated his wealth and ultimately created his world famous automobile empire.
The founder of Tzu Chi, in Taiwan, Master Cheng Yen, represents a similar case. Her philanthropy has spanned seventy-two countries, and now, every day, thousands of volunteers from Tzu Chi serve the public around the world. Yet, at the beginning, she was just an ordinary nun living in a hut. The idea to set up the charity came to her one day after encountering a pool of blood on the floor in a hospital. She found that it had come from a woman who had had difficulty during labor, but not being able to pay for medical care, had been made to leave the hospital. As a result, she made it her aspiration to build a hospital dedicated especially to caring for the poor. Later, she not only built the first Tzu Chi General Hospital, but she also managed to expand this charitable cause throughout the rest of the world. Forty-four years have passed since she began, and her philanthropic cause keeps growing every day. Those who have benefited from her kindness globally, whether the poor, the sick, or victims of disasters, are countless.
The Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, is a similar case. She originally lived in a convent, and had a peaceful, comfortable life. Then one day she encountered the helpless lepers outside the high walls of her convent, and resolutely abandoned her previous easy life to “serve the poorest of the poor.” From age twelve until age eighty-seven, she never lived for herself but for those in need, who were tormented by suffering. She built up her charitable organization in 123 countries, and many people have received her compassionate help. This goes to show that a thought can bring about huge and significant benefits to society.
Another example is Master Xuan Zang from the Tang Dynasty. While he was studying the scriptures, he found that some of them were incomplete, and there were many different interpretations of them. In order to explore and learn the truth of what the Lord Buddha had taught, he aspired to go west toward Tianzhu (India) to seek and learn the Dharma. He eventually undertook the long and arduous journey, and, after seventeen years brought back a large number of Sanskrit scriptures from India to Chang”an, which he then translated into Chinese. An immeasurable number of people have benefited greatly from his works, and he can be considered among the greatest translators in history.
The monk Jian Zhen, feeling that the Japanese Buddhist precepts were incomplete, attempted to cross the sea to Japan so that he could teach the Vinaya there. His first five attempts failed, but eventually he successfully arrived in Japan when he was sixty-six years old, established a lineage of the Vinaya, and promoted cultural exchanges between China and Japan. He was honore…
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