Chapter 4 Four Things Young Buddhists Should Pay Attention to

On the first day of school in the first lunar month, Bingzi gave a speech at the Buddhist Yangzheng Yuan of Nanputuo Temple It has been more than a year since Yangzhengyuan was opened.The reputation outside is very good. This is because it is hosted by Master Ruijin, and it has been warmly cared for by all the masters, so it can have such achievements. When I came to Xiamen this time, I had to visit here, and I was very happy.The arrangement in every aspect is perfect, even the ground is swept clean, so that it is not easy to see it in other places. When I was seriously ill in Quanzhou Cao'an, I owe you to write a letter, and each of you signed it, expressing condolences to my illness; I also owe you to pray to Buddha for seven days, repent on my behalf, and other things like this, which made me feel sick. Thank you very much!

In a few months, I will go to Sunlight Rock on Gulangyu Island to facilitate retreat.The period is probably quite long, and I'm afraid it won't come every now and then, so I deliberately come here to talk to you. There are four things I want to talk to you about today: one is cherishing blessings, the other is hard work, the third is keeping the precepts, and the fourth is self-esteem, all young Buddhists should pay attention to. How many people remember each other in Jianglou 1. Cherish blessings "Xi" means to cherish, and "Fu" means blessing.Even if we are blessed, we should cherish them and never waste them.You should know: In the age of the Dharma, people's blessings are very meager. If you don't cherish this meager blessing, you will suffer great pain. The ancients said "extreme joy begets sorrow", which is what it means!I remember when I was a child, my father asked someone to write a couplet. It was a sentence written by Duke Liu Wending of the Qing Dynasty, which was hung high on the pillar in the hall. Wealth and fortune."My elder brother often taught me to read this sentence, and I read it well. From now on, I will pay great attention to dressing or eating, and I dare not spoil even a grain of rice; and my mother often teaches I, the clothes I wear are always careful not to be damaged or polluted.This is because my mother and elder brother are afraid that if I don’t cherish food and clothing, I will lose my blessings and die in a short life, so they often warn me like this.

As you all know, my father died when I was five years old!When I was seven years old, I practiced handwriting and wrote blindly with a whole sheet of paper. I didn't care about it at all. When my mother saw it, she said sternly: "My child! You should know! When your father was alive, don't say such a big whole sheet I don’t want to waste the paper, and I don’t even want to throw away the inch-long paper!” Mother’s words also mean to cherish blessings! Because I had such family education, it was deeply imprinted in my mind, and when I got older, I didn't care less about food and clothing for a while; even after I became a monk, I still keep this habit until now.Everyone, please look at the pair of yellow shoes on my feet. They were given to me by a monk who was praying to Buddha seven times in Hangzhou in 1920.And if you are free, you can come to my room to have a look. My quilt is still used before I became a monk; I also have an umbrella, which was also bought in 1911.These things, even if there are tatters, can be stitched with a needle and thread, and they are still as good as new.It can be used to the best of my life!However, the little shirts and trousers I wear and the arhat sandals need to be changed every five or six years. Other than that, most of the clothes are made when I was at home or when I was just a monk.

In the past, people often gave me good clothes or other precious things, but most of them I passed on to others.Because I know my fortune is poor, good things do not have the guts to take advantage of them.Another example is eating. I only eat some good things when I am sick. Other than that, I never dare to buy good things casually. Cherishing blessings is not my idea alone, even the old Master Yinguang, the great virtue of the Pure Land School, is also like this. Someone gave him white fungus and other supplements, but he himself was always unwilling to eat them, so he sent them to Guanzong Temple to make offerings to Master Dixian.Someone asked him, "Master! Why don't you take good supplements?" He said, "My fortune is so thin that I can't bear it."

He is an old man—Master Yinguang, with a straightforward temperament. He usually only asks whether people are right or wrong, and doesn't care about human feelings.A few years ago, a convert disciple, a well-known layman in Gulangyu Island, went to visit him and had a meal with him. He shouted loudly: "How lucky are you to be able to waste rice like this! You have to eat it up!" Everyone!Remember all the above words!You should know: Even if we have very good fortune, we can only enjoy three parts, and the rest can be reserved for later enjoyment; maybe you can be big-hearted and willing to use my blessing to donate to all sentient beings and enjoy it together, that would be even better.

The long embankment tree is old and there are many people Two, labor "Xi" is practice, and "labor" is labor.Now let’s talk about Xilao: Everyone, please look at your body. There are two hands on the top and two feet on the bottom. They were originally born for labor.If you don't use him to practice hard work, not only will you have two hands and two feet, but it will definitely be harmful to your body.In other words: If you work regularly, your body must be healthy.And we need to know that labor is a duty of human beings. Not only ordinary monks have to practice labor, but even when we reach the status of Buddha, we have to work frequently. Now let me tell you the story of Buddha’s labor:

The so-called Buddha is Sakyamuni Buddha.When ordinary people think about it, when the Buddha was alive, he always thought that he was the same as the abbot and the monk now. He had a robe master and a waiter who were always waiting for him, and the Buddha himself did not have to do anything; So I picked up the broom to sweep the floor. Many disciples came to help sweep the floor when they saw it. After a while, they swept the floor very clean.The Buddha was delighted to see it, and then went to the lecture hall to preach, saying: "If a person sweeps the floor, he can get five kinds of merit..."

Another time, when the Buddha and Ananda went out for a parade, they met a drunken disciple on the road, who was already unconscious. The bucket soaked up water and asked Ananda to wash him clean. One day, the Buddha saw that the wooden lintel in front of the door was broken, so he repaired it himself. Once, a disciple was sick and no one took care of him. The Buddha asked him, "Why is no one taking care of you when you are sick?" Now I am sick, so no one will take care of me." Hearing this, the Buddha said, "If no one comes to take care of you, let me take care of you!"

He washed the sick disciple's filth from urine and feces, and cleaned his bed. Then he helped him to bed.From this we can see how hard the Buddha is.Buddha is by no means like the people of today, who require others to do everything for them, and sit and enjoy the blessings by themselves.These facts are based on the scriptures and are not just words. Now let me tell you two more things for everyone to hear: Aluta, a great disciple recorded in the Amitabha Sutra, was blind and unable to take care of himself, so the Buddha cut clothes for him and asked other disciples help. Once, the Buddha saw an old bhikkhu whose eyes were blurred and wanted to wear a needle to sew clothes, but his eyes could not see clearly. He cried out, "Who can thread a needle for me!"

After hearing this, the Buddha immediately agreed, "I will wear it for you." The examples cited above are sufficient to prove that the Buddha is always laboring.I hope that you, too, will follow the example of Buddha, and do everything by yourself instead of relying on others. 3. Precepts I think you will always understand the meaning of the word "keeping the precepts"!We don't mean to cultivate to the status of Bodhisattva or Buddha, but even if we want to be human again in the next life, we must at least be able to observe the five precepts.It's a pity that although there are many people who take the precepts, it's just a name, but there are very few who can actually keep the precepts.You should know: After taking the precepts, if you don’t keep the precepts, the crime you commit will be double that of those who don’t. That’s why I always advise people not to take the precepts casually.As for the current situation of preaching precepts in general, it is really painful to see, I really can't bear to say it!I think it is best to take the precepts according to one's own strength, and you must not perfunctory the appearance and look for troubles.

The most important precepts are, needless to say, killing, stealing, sexual immorality, and lying. In addition, drinking and eating meat are also easily ridiculed.As for smoking, although there is no clear text in the law, it is easy to be ridiculed by people in our country's customs, and it is always right not to eat. 4. Self-esteem "Respect" means respect, and "self-esteem" means respecting oneself, but people like others to respect me, but they don't know that I respect myself; I don't know that in order to be respected by others, I must start with respecting myself.How to respect yourself?It's just that I always think: I will be a great person, and I will be a great person.For example, if we want to be a pure and pure eminent monk, we should take the transmission of the eminent monks and read it, and see what they do, and I will do the same. Then, you should follow the Bodhisattva's actions recorded in the scriptures and follow your strength.This is self-esteem.But self-esteem is different from Gonggao; Gonggao is self-important, arrogant and random behavior; self-esteem is self-improvement of one's own virtue, and there is no intention of looking down on others in it. Everyone, you must not think that you are a child, a young monk, you can do everything casually, and you can't say that I am an ordinary monk, how can I dare to hope to be an eminent monk or a great Bodhisattva.Do everything by yourself, and if you have lofty ambitions, there is nothing you can't do. If you think like this: I dare not hope to become an eminent monk or a great Bodhisattva, then I will do things casually, or even give up on myself and go down the road of degeneration, isn’t that very dangerous?You should know that although you are young, you must have high ambition! I have another word, I want to tell everyone that we are now monks according to the Buddha, and we are in a very honorable position. In terms of the form of shaving our hair and wearing cassocks, we are also models of human beings and heavenly beings. Kings and heavenly beings come to worship , we can all sit back and enjoy it.Do you know this truth?From now on, you should respect yourself and never be careless. The above four items are the ones that monks should pay the most attention to, and I won’t say much about the others.I'm going to retreat soon, so I'm sorry that I can't talk with you often.But I still want to talk about the law in the pass, about three or four times a week, if you encounter menstruation, you might as well come and listen!It is a great pleasure to meet you today.I just hope that you will keep the four things I said in mind as a permanent memorial!It's been a long time, my God, I'm sorry!Feel sorry!