..续本文上一页uld teach it to others. When someone we know has fallen on hard times and doesn”t know how to get out of his or her predicament, a little word of Dhamma advice could be extremely useful, and could give him or her the strength to carry on. These days we are lacking in Dhamma. When in trouble, we don”t know where to turn to for support and encouragement because we haven”t been going to the temples to listen to the Dhamma teaching, to train and develop our mind. So when we run into troubles we wouldn”t know how to cope with them when in fact they could all be easily dealt with if we could accept the fact that whatever will be, will be. We must face up to reality. Whatever we do we would have to pay for it sooner or later.

　　If we did something wrong, accept it and be ready to face the consequences. If we should lose everything, so be it. If we think like this, there would be nobody committing suicide. But these days when we are confronted with unfavorable outcome, we wouldn”t know what to do except thinking of killing ourselves to escape from it, not realizing that we could only kill only the body. The mind would continue to suffer in hell. When we are reborn as a human being again, we would commit suicide again when we run into troubles that we couldn”t cope with. The Buddha says that for each suicide committed another 500 suicides would follow in future human existences because it”s habit forming

　　The only way to break this vicious circle is to turn to Dhamma and use it to cope with our adversity. Use patience, perseverance and tolerance to face up to our problem, however severe it may be. We must not run away, even if it means going to jail or condemnation, just think of it as the consequence of our past unwholesome kamma. Once it”s paid off it would be gone forever.

　　Most of us probably think that to make merits is to give to charity only when in fact there are other ways to make merits. Like eating, we don”t eat rice alone; we also consume vegetables and fruits. Our body needs the five food groups in order for it to be strong and healthy. Similarly, our mind would only develop if we cultivate the ten ways to make merits. It is therefore incumbent on us to put what we hear today into practice. Then and only then would we reap the favorable outcome of bliss and prosperity.

《Ten Ways to Make Merits》全文阅读结束。