Teacher’s Discourse: Make strong aspirations, not lament
Teacher said, “Buddha Dharma helps us investigate extensively and reveals the truth of suffering of life, aging, sickness and death.
Bodhisattvas do not fear or lament about the lack of hope/brightness in the world. While we want to renounce and attain liberation from the affairs of this world, we cannot despise the world we live in. As a practitioner with Bodhicitta, when we encounter problems, we should focus on making positive aspirations and avoid lamenting.
When we come across someone who is not compassionate, we should not grumble about that person not having compassion. In fact, we should use the opportunity to make strong aspirations to become even more compassionate ourselves. And when we see someone who does not have wisdom, we must equally make a strong resolution to become a person with wisdom. Similarly, when we see someone being injurious towards another, we need to resolve within our hearts that we should become one who does not cause harm to others at all.
In face of agonizing situations, we should not lament or even exhibit disgust. A lot of us merely mouth the words on benefitting the welfare of all sentient beings, yet deep down, we are finding sentient beings more and more loathsome, and dislike interacting with them. Or perhaps we may start feeling that everyone seems to be our karmic debtors. Such a mentality is really unacceptable. In the eyes of a Bodhisattva, there are actually no true karmic debtors. Why? Because every single sentient being is someone dear to us for many lifetimes.
When we are lamenting, it is as if we are absorbing the black fumes from the other party, causing ourselves to become tainted by it. Even if the current living conditions are imbued with darkness, Bodhisattvas are courageous and will neither lament nor become despair. Because, even in utter darkness, they see themselves as the first ray of light. You become your own ray of light. We have to learn and put such thinking into practice, constantly make aspirations and not lament.
When you can actually make such aspirations (about not lamenting), you will not let any negative emotions or disturbing thoughts occupy your mind. Do make strong virtuous aspirations. Even if you cannot attain them now, it does not matter as long as you believe that one day you can definitely achieve it. Now, there will always be some people whom we do not have favourable conditions to help. So, in such situations, the best way for us is to make strong aspirations and seek blessings on their behalf.
Please do not underestimate the power of “intention”. From research studies conducted by neuro-scientists, when we create an intention in our minds, our brains emit wave vibrations of a certain frequency. Such vibrations do collectively impact the Earth’s magnetic field. In Hawaii, there is a particular psychologist who works in a mental health hospital. Every day, while facing his patients, he echoes the following four statements:
“I am sorry. I love you. Please forgive me. Thank you.”
Eventually, those patients completely recovered. This is attributable to the strength of the virtuous aspirations that comes from the heart.
Hence, to a Bodhisattva, there is no worry of darkness, nor is there any worry about the ignorance of sentient beings. He only worries about the strength of his own aspiration – whether it is lacking or not. Thus, we need to constantly make virtuous aspirations. This is a very important practice of Bodhisattva deeds along the path towards Buddhahood.
老师开示：要发愿、不要抱怨
老师说：佛法帮助我们终究地探索和解答了生老病死苦
菩萨不会害怕、抱怨这个世界没有光明，我们要出离、出世，但是不要厌世。一个有菩提心的修行人，发现问题的时候要发愿，而不要抱怨。
看到别人不慈悲，不用去抱怨他不慈悲，应该发愿自己要成为更慈悲的人；看到别人没有智慧的时候，发愿我要成为一个有智慧的人；看到别人在伤害他人的时候，发愿要成为一个不会伤害别人的人。
遇到烦恼的境界，不是去抱怨，或者去厌恶。我们很多人是嘴巴上讲著要利益众生，结果越来越厌恶众生、讨厌跟人互动，或是觉得每个人都是冤亲债主，这样不行的。对菩萨来说，并没有真正的冤亲债主。为什么呢？因为每个生命，都是我们多生多世的亲人。
当我们在抱怨，就像是把对方的黑烟吸过来，自己也就跟著一起黑了。即使现在所处的生活环境，让你觉得很黑暗，菩萨都有勇气不去抱怨、也不气馁，因为就算很黑暗，我就是那第一道光啊！成为自己的那道光。我们要学习、实践这个事情，要发愿不要抱怨。
当你能够这样发愿，就不会让那些负面情绪和烦恼佔据了你的心。发下善愿，即使现在做不到也没有关系，但要相信有一天自己能做到。现在有一些人暂时没有因缘帮到他，这个时候最好的方法，就是为他发愿和祝福。
不要小看“心念”的力量，脑神经科学家研究，我们念头散发出来的脑波，对于整个世界的磁场是有影响的。在夏威夷有一个心理医生，他在一个精神病院裡，每天对著那些精神病人讲四句话：
“对不起，我爱你，请原谅我，谢谢你。”
结果，那些病人都好了。这就是内心善愿的力量。
所以，对一个菩萨来说，不会担心黑暗，也不会担心无明的众生，只担心自己的愿力不够。所以，我们要经常发善愿，这是学习菩萨道很重要的修持。