What is our duty
What is our calling
If we are not clear on this, then we will have wasted our chance as a person. If we do not understand this matter, then having been born muddled, we grow up and get old in confusion, and before long we pass onto a bewildered death. Birth, old age, sickness and death cannot be avoided by anyone; only if we can understand them will we not have lived in vain. What is our inborn duty as people
What is our responsibility
We should live in harmony as a group, and get along with everyone. We should not quarrel or split up, or greedily steal from one another, or seek from outside. We will naturally obtain that which rightfully should come to us; there”s no need to be greedy for that which should not come to us. We should just hold to our own position, fulfill our own responsibilities, and not be selfish, self-benefiting, or dishonest. If we can be this way, the world will be at peace. Even if you don”t tell it to be at peace it will be. Even if you don”t tell it to be in harmony, it will be. Why isn”t it peaceful and harmonious now
It”s because people seek outside, and don”t know to return the light and reflect within themselves. Every day, they let their six organs - the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, run after sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, and dharmas. Chasing and turning in circles, they get all upside-down over these sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, and dharmas, and forget their basic duty as people. That”s why all of you young friends, little children as well as those rich in life experience, should clearly recognize your heavenly destiny, your responsibility and calling. Then the world will turn around. There will be an earthshaking change; the atmosphere will be different, and the polluted air will become pure. Then when we have this clean air to breathe, we will become healthy and live a long time.
Just now I talked about not fighting, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not wanting personal advantages, and not telling lies. And someone, I don”t know if it was a young person or a child, objected, "In the world if you don”t fight, how can you survive
If you”re not greedy, how can you survive
If you”re not selfish, how can you make it in this world
If you don”t want personal advantages, how can you survive
If you also don”t tell lies, how can you last
This is certainly a problem! So I disagree with what you said, and think only someone with no wisdom would say this." What you say is absolutely right - it”s just because I have no wisdom that I speak in this stupid way. Look at a newborn baby - What does he contend about
What is he greedy for
What does he seek for
What is he selfish about
What personal benefits does he want
How can he tell lies
He manifests the original innocence and purity of the self-nature. But as soon as people grow up..."Natures are close": our natures are close to the Buddha-nature. "Through habits they deviate": our bad habits and faults sometimes take us far from the Way. Learning to contend, to be greedy, to seek, to be selfish, to want self-benefit, and to deceive others, with such habits we really leave the spiritual Way far behind! If we can always safeguard our primal innocence, and be childlike, we will never grow old or die. That”s why I said if you can relinquish the five desires for wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep, then health and longevity will naturally be yours. If you cannot put down these five desires for wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep, if you cannot see through them, then you will run farther and farther away from the Way, running until you become old, until you die - this is what will inevitably happen. If you can get rid of these six faults (fighting, greed, seeking,…
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