Although you may be tired, don't slack off in realizing your ideals; wholeheartedly devote yourself to benefiting all beings with joy. In this way, you will lead a meaningful and diligent life.

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. There are 84,000 afflictions in a person's mind. As time soundlessly slips away, afflictions continuously rise and fall in people's minds. Our physical lives will end some day, but our wisdom lives are everlasting. So as spiritual cultivators, we must seize each moment to tame our minds and to keep afflictions from arising.

Afflictions cause us to create endless bad karma through our words, thoughts, and actions. Human beings are easily influenced by their living environment. When everything goes smoothly, we are deliriously happy. When things don't go the way we expect, we lament and cry in distress. Because our minds constantly change with external conditions, we can never be in peace, nor can we make effective use of our wisdom. This is how it is with unenlightened people.

Greed, anger, and delusion, which all produce afflictions, are viruses in our minds. Among the three, delusion is the worst. Without delusion, we would be able to extinguish anger and greed and thus stop creating bad karma through our actions, words, or thoughts. If we do not constantly calm our minds, the viruses will keep reproducing themselves. Moreover, the viruses of different people will cross-infect each other, creating common bad karma.

The Buddha taught us, "The afflictions you have are like poisonous serpents sleeping in your mind. You must use the hook of the precepts to quickly drive the serpents away. When they are gone, you can then rest at ease." In Tzu Chi, many people have conquered their ignorance and live diligent lives. Although they toil all the time in their efforts to help others, their hearts are full of joy and happiness. They have changed from leading insipid lives to helping and motivating others to join them.

Protecting the earth creates blessings

There is an old couple in Taiwan who lead a simple and frugal life. The husband was once a military officer, but after he got married, he and his wife began eating only one meal a day and seldom spent money on any luxurious enjoyments. When their house needed to be fixed or their walls needed to be repainted, they often did everything themselves.

Although they are thrifty themselves, they are generous and loving towards others. Determined to help the underprivileged, they joined Tzu Chi. They have donated millions of New Taiwan dollars and often volunteer in hospitals or collect recyclable items on the streets. "How can you help others when you live, eat, and dress so plainly?" their neighbors ask them curiously. They reply, "Tzu Chi is a charity organization. If more people join Tzu Chi, there will be more strength to help the needy all over the world. Furthermore, compared to the multitudes of children living in starvation, we are really quite well off."

These hardworking spouses work hard to protect the earth and to cherish their lives. They choose not to have any disputes with anyone over anything; they thus befriend many nice people and lead their lives to the fullest. This husband and wife are truly good role models for young people.

Enriching one's life mindfully

At four o'clock every morning, a group of volunteers gathers at the Tzu Chi recycling station in Chungho, Taipei, to sort through piles of recyclable items. Lin, the person in charge of this recycling station, professionally manages the recycling work and encourages his neighbors to join the cause.

Lin believes that recycling is a way to cherish resources and blessings. With a little effort, the recyclable items can be sold at higher prices so that the money earned can be donated to Tzu Chi. He and other volunteers classify items including paper into categories such as white paper, semi-white paper, printer paper, newspapers, thick cardboard, etc. By doing so, the recycled paper can then be sold at twice the original price.

Although Lin is expanding his life meaningfully, he used to lead a deluded life, indulging in dissolute partying and drinking every day with his fair-weather friends.

In life, the vice of covetousness is the most detrimental to one's character and reputation. Craving fun, alcohol, women, and so forth corrupts one's mind. If one can wake up in time, one can still pull oneself out of such traps. But if one becomes obsessed and unwilling to let go, then one will become vexed and trapped by one's cravings.

When Lin joined Tzu Chi, he took up a vegetarian diet and got rid of his cravings. Gradually his fair-weather friends left him; those who stayed also shared his altruism. Now he fully devotes his time to doing recycling work. With his wife's support, he provided a piece of land for the recycling station. Every day he happily sorts through trash with other volunteers.

I am grateful to our recycling volunteers. They protect and care for the earth with their hands. Moreover, they donate all income from selling recyclable materials to support our Tzu Chi TV station so that the station can continue to purify the minds of people all over the world through quality programs. The volunteers' contributions are thus very important.

To be able to help others is diligence

In Kuala Lumpur, an impoverished mother and her daughter have transformed themselves from care-recipients to care-givers. They initially had a great sense of inferiority because their bodies were covered in grape-like tumors. Their appearance was so appalling that many people would not dare to look at them. Tzu Chi people were not afraid; instead they gently cared for them again and again. The mother and daughter finally overcame their mental hurdles and mustered enough courage to begin selling chili peppers in the market to support themselves. They vowed to pull themselves out of poverty.

In the beginning, people would look at them curiously. But these two women were not troubled and always smiled instead to people walking by. Gradually, people began to accept their unusual appearance and buy peppers from them. Now the women are able to sustain themselves.

Touched by the love of Tzu Chi people, the mother and daughter have become recycling volunteers. Every day after they finish their business, they collect discarded cartons from the market. Although they are not able to move around easily, they persevere in this worthy cause.

Wouldn't you say they are now working hard to become care-givers? In life, as long as we head in the right direction and work diligently toward our goals, we will open a broad path for ourselves.

Some people remain self-centered throughout their lives. Because their life paths are based on achieving their own ends, they often create a lot of friction while dealing with people. This is detrimental to society, their families, and themselves.

But if we can set ourselves free from our egocentric attitudes, we will be able to broaden the scope of our lives to embrace others. So why not open our minds and give love? If everyone can work together with love and harmony, the combined strength will make the world a very beautiful place.

Don't miss the chance to grow

The SARS epidemic is indeed a big test for mankind. According to news reports, parents of some medical students even wanted the government to temporarily suspend the students' hospital internships because they were afraid their children might contract the SARS virus. I really felt sorry to hear this news. The fundamental goal of medical schools should be to nurture brave and loving "great healers." What would be a better opportunity for them to achieve this goal than learning from this SARS epidemic? Medical students should use this rare opportunity to learn how to protect themselves as well as help SARS patients. They need to fully realize that the mission of saving lives will rest upon their shoulders when they become physicians. So they should not fearfully run away or retreat from where they are needed.

In life, no matter which field we are in, we must diligently perform our roles and bravely march forward. In this way, our lives will become successful. If parents overprotect their children, they will cause them to miss precious opportunities to grow. This would truly be a pity.

I was comforted to learn that a medical student, who is a sixth year student at our Tzu Chi medical school and a member of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Association, volunteered to measure the temperatures of people entering the Tzu Chi branch office in Taipei. While most people were trying to avoid public areas, she bravely reported to our hospital to begin her internship.

To perform one's duties well is to abide by the precepts. To be completely giving in helping others is a form of charity. Life is a long path full of tests. To live a successful life, we must always be vigilant, making sure our life's voyage is going in the right direction and heading towards it with perseverance.

We must not even harbor the slightest deviant thoughts because they will affect our minds and influence society. So we must take good care of our minds, nurture our inner goodness, and be kind to others.

In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, there is an old woman who has suffered from polio since childhood. Unfortunately, she had a car accident a few years ago, so she has to walk with a cane now. When she heard that Tzu Chi was encouraging people to take up vegetarian diets, she and some other volunteers opened a vegetarian restaurant. Their intention is to encourage more people to eat vegetarian food. The old woman also donates all the restaurant's daily earnings to our foundation.

Her son, unwilling to let his mother work so hard, told her that he would offer his support to her only when she could walk without a cane. The old woman knew that her son had given her an impossible mission, but if she did not seize the chance to do it, her life would be wasted anyway. So she came up with a brilliant idea--she used a cart to support herself. Furthermore, she could now deliver vegetables to her restaurant by cart at three o'clock each morning.

Her creativity and resolution in overcoming her difficulties touched 20 of her friends. They began to help her wash and prepare vegetables every day. Even her landlord decided to join them in her spare time; she would drive the old woman home every night regardless of the weather. How adorable these people are!

Seven ways to eliminate afflictions

How do we extinguish greed, anger, and delusion to reveal our innate pure nature? The Samadhi Water Repentance teaches that this can be achieved if we can be ashamed, be frightened, renounce the past, bring forth the bodhi mind, see friends and foes equally, repay the Buddha's grace, and see the empty nature of sin.

Our mind, which tells us to do good or bad, is the root of everything. If we can practice these seven ways which the Buddha has showed us in our everyday lives, then we can clean out our afflictions layer by layer.

People who know how to be ashamed will look deeply into themselves. We should be ashamed of our laziness and our countless wrongdoings. We should be frightened of the law of cause and effect and thus be careful in our thoughts, words, and actions. Exterior conditions are full of temptations and traps. If we are ashamed and afraid of the law of cause and effect, then we can differentiate between things we must do and things we mustn't do. Otherwise, we run the risk of continuing to commit wrongdoings and even becoming too arrogant to admit our mistakes.

Because of greed, people suffer. People who cannot get the love they crave will become jealous and hateful. Only those who know how to renounce their afflictions, delusions, and infatuations will stop themselves from falling into a morass of attachments. Then when one helps others with an untainted mind, one can bring forth the bodhi mind. When one can compassionately love all living beings without favoritism, one will be able to treat everyone, foes and friends, alike. Everyone possesses an innate pure nature, but we cover it over with layers of ignorance. Fortunately, we can scrape away our ignorance and let the light of our pure wisdom shine forth again by using the Buddha's teachings. We must be grateful to the Buddha.

If we can genuinely and thoroughly understand the Truth, no longer have deluded thinking, and repent until we are totally cleansed spiritually, then we will see the empty nature of sin--nothing in the world has a fixed nature, including sin itself.

How can you lead a satisfactory life? If you have the proper direction and mindset and strive diligently toward your goals, then you will be happy and content. Your life will be at its most diligent when you can cultivate your spirit and willingly devote yourself to helping all living beings. I hope each of you will preserve your purity, cherish yourself, emulate the behavior of all buddhas and bodhisattvas, endeavor to attain enlightenment and to help others attain enlightenment as your life goal, repent of past wrongdoings, and unceasingly strive on the Path of the Bodhisattvas.