The Source of a Spiritual Life

Before we came across Buddhadharma, we seemed to live from day to day. After we've encountered Dharma, we finally know how to live our lives. It is to find a breakthrough in life, to solve our fear of aging, illness, and death. Everything is impermanent as described in the Diamond Sutra, “All conditioned dharmas are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow. Like dew and lightning. Thus they should be perceived.” As we are surrounded by impermanent phenomena, we must be free from cyclic living and dying. We must realize the meaning that, "all that is conditioned are impermanent, all dharmas are empty and devoid of self." Only by uncovering our spiritual nature could we then part from the suffering of birth, aging, illness, and death. 

This very essence of spirituality is the quality of mankind. We must explore to understand and realize it. Know that our body and mind are delusional. As we break free from these obscurations, we can rediscover our spiritual selves. Meanwhile, we'd be able to solve all kinds of uncertain problems. Time goes by real fast and impermanence is everywhere. Only through Dharma practice could we know how to live our lives to the fullest value.  

It’s the new year, that time of the year where people’s wishes for happiness heighten. What is this happiness that we should seek? By practicing Dharma, we learn that the ultimate happiness is to be free from living and dying. Furthermore, we can realize the importance of the Buddha activity, which is to apply loving-kindness and compassion to every detail in life. As we spread love widely, this is to “live to serve, dedicate life to lives”. Be sure to sow the seeds of positivity and perform virtuous conduct. Knowing the working of the karmic principle, we can adjust our conduct accordingly for the ultimate happiness. That way, we’re accumulating great virtues. 

The cyclic existence is an infinite recording of everyday life – which will come into effect in the future. Therefore, we should cultivate a beautiful and happy future by sowing good seeds of causes for positive results. We're fortunate enough to encounter Dharma, we must seize the opportunity to be free from the cyclic existence and to engender bodhicitta. Do not waste our lives like a fly buzzing around aimlessly until the end of time. In the end, nothing meaningful gets accomplished but more karmic debts. Hence, the new year serves as a reminder of impermanence. If we wish for good fortune, we must take every moment to cultivate the seeds of happiness and the four immeasurables (loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity) in life. 

I hope that every one of you would cherish the time to practice Dharma. Study it to transform our lives. We can transform our afflicted minds into wisdom and nonvirtues into virtues. Let’s work hard on the path towards Buddhahood. May we all attain enlightenment to liberate sentient beings. Let’s practice to purify our intents and engage in all virtues!