Greed for material gain or excessive affection toward the opposite sex can be seen as major sources of worry. A person's craving for money and material enjoyment is like a bottomless pit that can never be satisfied. When we have a million dollars, we hope to increase the figure to two or three million. Some people originally lead a peaceful and unencumbered life, but their mental tranquility soon turns into a vicious tempest when they unexpectedly acquire some material benefit or a large fortune.

A story goes like this: By chance, a poor man saw an unguarded parcel on a mountain trail. Out of curiosity, he opened it and saw many gold nuggets inside. He happily counted the nuggets and started mulling over the hundreds of ways in which to squander the unexpected fortune. At that moment, a man ran toward him with sweat dripping from his face and said, "Sir, thank you so much for looking after my parcel. I am grateful to you for waiting for me."

"Wait... you said it is yours? Can you tell me what is inside?" inquired the poor man.

"Altogether there are 35 gold nuggets," replied the man assertively.

The poor man then counted, "One, two, three... Indeed, 35 gold nuggets."

Reluctantly, he gave the parcel back to its grateful owner and watched him walk away joyfully. "How stupid I was... I should have left the scene as soon as I found the parcel," the poor man regretfully blamed himself. His mind was full of self-accusation and worry. His originally quiet mind was no longer peaceful, and his physical condition rapidly deteriorated to such a bad state that he could hardly eat or drink. It never occurred to him that the parcel of gold did not belong to him in the first place. Eventually, the anguish of losing such a big fortune that he had owned, even so briefly, was too strong to bear. He finally chose to end his life by jumping from a steep cliff. How sad!

Lisa, a close friend of mine, was stationed in mainland China under a long-term contract with her company. Realizing she would be living there for a long time, she decided to sell her luxurious apartment in Taipei. Because there are still many restrictions on money transfers between China and Taiwan, she decided to entrust the proceeds from the sale to one of her sisters to handle. When the rest of her sisters found out how wealthy she was, they greedily started asking her for help. "It'll be easier for us to look after our parents if we can drive them around. Could you please buy a car for us?" asked one sister. "Since you can't help take care of our parents in person, you should at least pay for the caretaker that we've hired," urged the other.

Lisa complained about this dreadful situation to me over the phone. "When facing a large sum of cash right in front of our eyes, how many of us can remain steadfast and keep a tight rein on our greed?" I asked Lisa. What made the event even more unbearable for her was that she witnessed this display of wicked human nature in her own sisters. It would be hard for anybody to keep one's sisters at arm's length when facing all these unpleasant requests. I could only console her by saying that she should be happy, as she at least has an abundance out of which to give.

I often see Tzu Chi volunteers wearing big smiles on their faces when they serve the needy. They truly practice Master Cheng Yen's teaching, "The less you think of yourself, the happier you are." When they act unselfishly to give of themselves to others, without being aware of it they transform the lower side of their human nature into noble characteristics such as compassion and altruism. How encouraging!