【Description】
Many people are familiar with how to preserve health but not with how to preserve fate. Having knowledge of health preservation decreases one’s chances of sickness and increases longevity. Having knowledge of fate preservation strengthens vitality and therefore leads to health, longevity, wealth, and auspiciousness, and allows these blessings to be passed down to future generations. How can we safeguard our positive fate? In this teaching video, Grandmaster JinBodhi gives detailed guidance on how to increase merits and obtain eternal health and auspiciousness through our daily interactions with people.
【You will learn】
- How to live a simple life
- The role of each member in a family
- The importance of trust and integrity in a family
- The importance of respecting the future
- The merits of chanting and helping others
- The wisdom in relationships
- The principles of making friends
【Featured aphorisms】
- Forget who you helped but remember those who helped you.
- Building trust is key to stopping children from lying.
- Chant 10,000 times and your wishes will come true.
- Helping one person is worth more than 10,000 pieces of gold.
- Saving a hundred lives is worth more than building a 9-story pagoda.
- Control your speech; the more you talk, the more likely you will make a mistake.
- Tolerance shows your wisdom and compassion; never be harsh on others.
- Leave a way out for people no matter how bad they are.
- If you want to control your emotions and speak kindly, you must first learn to be compassionate.
- Be rational; never make decisions when you are emotionally unstable.
- Keep calm to stay rational.
- Without moral standards, it’s hard for people to control their actions.
- Choose friends who are kind and righteous in their thoughts and actions.
- Behave well and make yourself a good role model to your descendants.
- To sustain your family name, pass on virtues as family inheritance.
【Content】
Alright. Hello, everyone. (Hello, Master.) I am back again for our latest topic: fate. We have been exchanging our knowledge of fate. We are learning together, exploring the underlying rules of fate. I think it is quite interesting. Honestly, doing this with you has inspired me a lot. It is made me more certain that fate, though unpredictable, does have a certain pattern to it.
Fate is fun but also deep. You can’t summarize it with just one picture. It is really deep. Regardless of its depth, if you study it thoroughly, you will discover some patterns in it. Based on my studies, human fate encompasses various aspects in the form of energy, such as longevity, wealth, power, health, appearance… And yes, it involves our children too. That is about it. Our fate is the combination of energies in these aspects. The energy in our fate will be allocated into the aspects mentioned above. We are born with different fates, or to be exact, energies.
Today’s teaching is about how to pass on virtues and how virtues can improve our fate. “Be virtuous” is what I always advocate. You can be grateful for what you have today, but you won’t know what awaits you tomorrow. Can you continue living the next day with what you have today? Can your future generations inherit your wealth and virtues? Regardless of your age, there are things you must do in order to continue living with auspiciousness. It can also help to pass it on to future generations. You can forge your own good fate if you work hard enough.
I have summarized a few things to share with you. First of all, have a down-to-earth, frugal lifestyle. You can do this many ways; let’s start with eating. We will die if we don’t eat. No food, no energy, and we will die. How should we eat? People talk about nutrients these days. My nutritious diet is simple; don’t complicate things. I eat porridge, rice with some veggies, that is it. Food doesn’t come easily. The process of growing food and putting it on the table takes blood and sweat. Lots of farm labor is involved in growing crops; the process of turning crops into food is also very labor-intensive.
Also, dress in a down-to-earth style. Don’t be too obsessed with namebrand clothing. Designer brands are much more expensive than ordinary items. Look at the designer items on the glass shelves. They are expensive, right? I am talking about designer clothes, bags, watches, accessories, etc. They cost a lot. You can live just fine without them. You need to make simple, frugal living a habit; the benefit is that we save our energy. The most important things in our lives are longevity, wealth, appearance, health, our future generations, career, family, etc. We need energy to keep all these in order.
A rich man may think it is no big deal to spend on namebrand items. For example, a billionaire spends a few hundred thousand on watches and bags. It is only a tiny percentage of all the assets. Considering what he has, it is not “lavish” at all. The thing is, you are intentionally spending on things you don’t need. It is like making small holes in your tires to release the air. The tires will go flat in less than a week. What if you don’t make the holes? The tires won’t go flat, right? You won’t even need to add air to them for 2 years. If you puncture them, they will lose air, even if the holes are tiny. That is how it is. Think about it.
Also, there are other lifeforms besides humans, such as spirits, demons, ghosts and gods. The gods bring you auspiciousness. If the gods see how lavishly you spend, they will think you don’t cherish what you have. The gods will take back all the wealth and auspiciousness. You are going to lose everything. You think you are smart when you manage your wealth well, not putting all the eggs in one basket. You think you can predict everything, but life is unpredictable.
The gods can break your source of income in the blink of an eye. Your money will be confiscated and a broken family awaits. When your luck has run out and the gods have abandoned you, you are left with nothing. Pain is all you are left with. Respect the gods. Be grateful to your ancestors who built a legacy which has given you food, education, clothing and shelter today. You shouldn’t live lavishly, spend foolishly, and waste your life. Otherwise, karma will find you.
It is OK to be rich, but we must keep an ordinary mind. If I always go to high-end restaurants and eat the most expensive dishes, can I say I am keeping an ordinary mind? No, not like that. Even if I can afford expensive dishes, I still eat what I normally like; normally I like to eat porridge and pickles prepared by my mom and grandma. Now I am rich, and these foods are still my favorites. I will just eat different vegetables, celery at one meal, and spinach at another meal; that provides diverse nutrition for the body. Don’t think: “I am rich, so I can keep eating expensive food; I can afford to live like this forever.” It is not like this.
Causality isn’t as simple as 1 + 1 = 2. It’s deeper than that. Your one part of gratitude will be rewarded 10- or 100-fold. But if you angered the deities, they’ll strip away the blessings you were given. Then, you will be left with nothing. You won’t have any idea how things are taken away from you. Business tycoons around the world are now giving back to society by doing more charity work. The more they contribute, the higher their mental states are, and the more money they make. Only those with morality can succeed in this world. This is the truth.
Live and eat frugally to protect your life energy. Keep a normal mind even when you’re rich. Be grateful and avoid lavish lifestyles to have the gods’ blessings.
Alright, let’s talk about morality. This is a very broad topic. Forget those you helped, and remember those who helped you. First of all, forget your good deeds. No need to jot down or remember the good deeds you’ve done. No need to brag about your donation to disaster relief. It is OK to encourage more people to join your cause. Don’t do that because you want to be famous. No need to remember what or whom you have helped. If you do that, you get less Divine return. Say, you helped by donating $10,000 and then told everyone about it. As such, you would only get returns worth $1,000, $500 or even $10. You get fewer merits and blessings in return. That is why you shouldn’t remember whom you have helped.
And, you mustn’t forget those who helped you. You are ungrateful if you do. So, never forget. Repay them in the future when you can afford it. Remember the gratitude and try to repay it. Respect and be filial to your parents. As the old saying goes, “A crow has filial piety and so feeds its aging parents; a lamb on its knees being nursed shows appreciation to its mother.” Of all the good virtues of humans, filial piety should be the first.
If someone doesn’t feed their aging parents and isn’t filial to them, don’t become friends with them. If they can treat their parents that way, how could they treat you well? This sort of friend is a self-interested friend. Friendship is nothing for them. To judge if someone is a worthy friend, judge them by how they treat their parents. Disregarding those who raised you is an act of cruelty and heartlessness.
Also, family order should be maintained. Keep the hierarchy in mind. What does that mean? What we do in our family is determined by our rank. Take our grandparents for example. They are the elders of a family. As the elders, they should take care of what they should take care of, but not take care of too much. Figuring out what they should take care of is very important.
For example, don’t get involved in the quarrels between son and daughter-in-law; don’t get involved in the conflicts between grandchildren. Just pretend not to see or hear what they are doing. Let the young ones settle their conflicts themselves and learn their own lessons. The elders should stay away from the affairs of the young ones. This is called the distinction of the elder and the junior.
You are older, so stay away from family affairs. If you are consulted by a young one, you need to think seriously and provide the wise solutions. When addressing your juniors, be serious. You can’t say “I thought you were dead” to a junior whom you haven’t met in a long time. It is indecent and inappropriate. It is like cursing your own bloodline. So, don’t do that.
Many people haven’t been taught like this. Their family order is messed up, so they’re doing and saying wrong things; that will cause a big mess. This mess between family generations will be a disaster. If you obey the order and do the right thing, your family will prosper and everyone will be surrounded by happiness and joy. That is what I call an auspicious family. Take note; this is important.
Also, honor all promises made between family members. Many people don’t think it is important to keep promises to family members. A book was recommended to me; the book tells the story of a father and his young son. The father put his son on the table. He bought 2 bags of fried chicken. He said, “Son, jump. I will catch you and give you the chicken. “Alright”, the boy said. So, the son jumped from the table and hurt himself badly. He cried loudly and his mom came over to check on him. “Dad said he was going to catch me, but he lied!” “Blame yourself for trusting me”, the dad said. The mom was very angry. “You call yourself a father?” “I am teaching our son; never trust anybody, parents included.”
To me, this is so wrong. I have no respect for the father. His son learned no wisdom, compassion or love from him, just suspicion. If you can’t trust anyone in the world, how are you going to be happy? The kid is going to have trust issues with everyone around him. How can he treat people sincerely? I would rather be cheated than distrust everyone. At least, I want to feel sincerity within my family. I want to feel true love; that is real happiness. Family members should help each other. That is what I call a happy family. Don’t lie to your family.
Having someone you can trust is happiness, especially for children. Parents can be the reason for children’s trust issues. Take children’s homework for example. “Are you done with your homework?” This is a typical question asked by parents. “Yup, I am done.” The child wasn’t looking at his parent when answering. “You are lying, right? I won’t fall for that. You are too young for this trick.” “Why don’t you trust me?” The kid might even cry. The kid thinks, “I have done my homework, but my dad doesn’t trust me.”
That kid could even get a whacking. Why? Because he was looking away for a while. Why did the kid do that? Maybe he played a game for a while after finishing his homework. That’s not a crime, right? He finished his homework. He got whacked because his parent didn’t trust him. No trust exists between parents and children. After being beaten, children will have trust issues with their parents. To avoid getting punished, the kid will get better at lying. The kid will tend to lie or cheat in his future life. They don’t easily feel happy.
Trust between family members is important. Children can become full of lies or worse if their parents don’t trust them. I have done some thorough studies myself. I was quite shocked by my findings. When children are not trusted by their parents for a long time, they will have concentration issues. They will find it hard to focus on whatever they are doing. What can this lead to in the future? Probably conflicts in marriage, or conflicts between parents and children. With troubled parents, all you get is troubled kids. Trust is crucial.
Don’t judge too quickly whether someone is lying to you. Sincerity is the best medicine for trust issues. Happiness is having someone who believes in you. That is at the family level. What about trust between bosses and workers, or a king and his people? What benefits can trust bring to a family, an enterprise or small business? Happiness, wealth and more profit. Everything is possible with mutual trust. Trustworthiness is worth more than gold. Be a trustworthy person no matter where you are. You earn trust by telling no lies and being an honest person. Telling truth is always better than telling lies.
Also, don’t make empty promises. When you make a promise, make sure you honor it. Once you promise something, try your best to realize it. My mom used to tell me, “Men, gods, they all want you to honor your promise.” Don’t make empty promises to Buddha. You said, “After you help my son, I will burn joss sticks, kowtow and build a temple for you.” After Buddha blessed your son, you did nothing. I am not sure how it feels to be remembered by Buddha for not keeping your promises.
Say, you operate an orchard with a partner; you promise to divide the profit with him. When you receive the profit, you don’t want to keep your promise. You want to share only 5,000 while you’ve actually received 10,000. No credibility at all. What could happen from this? You could lose a friend, or, at worst, your life. That is why keeping promises is important.
Next, I would like to remind you of one thing: Prioritize moral principles over benefits. Moral principles are far more important than benefits. Care for your friends. Help the poor. Have empathy and help victims of disasters. Do one good deed a day, always give and offer. Ordinary people only focus on short-term benefits. We want to pass on our wealth to our future generations. Often, it only reaches as far as the second generation. The main reason for this is our shortsightedness. We care too much for short-term benefits instead of long-term ones.
Be grateful and filial to your parents and repay them. Keep the family order. Good faith is worth a fortune in gold. Value moral principles and be farsighted.
Next, moral cultivation. You may not know Heaven, but you ought to know Mother Nature, for Nature’s creations are visible to you. The Divine beings might seem distant to you, but you must have respect for Heaven and Earth. Respect Nature, the Buddha, bodhisattvas, causality and the future. Why the future? Because if you respect it, you won’t ruin it. So, respect your unknown future. Love and cherish life. Think seriously about what I have said.
The future is yet to come, but you need to respect it. You have no idea whether you are going to live past tomorrow. The same goes for what will happen to your children in the future. In that case, how can you not respect the future? When you have no respect for causality, you will be too bold and do whatever you want. You might unknowingly do things that may ruin your life in future. I have lots of respect for all I have mentioned.
With respect, we will keep an eye on our actions and behave carefully. We would think twice about the outcomes while doing anything. As such, we will live every day well and educate our children patiently. We don’t want our children to learn bad behaviors, such as cheating, lying, talking nonsense, making empty promises, or being irresponsible, which can mean dying young. This is dangerous.
For ignorant mortals like us, the biggest challenge is the temptations before us. Many have died after a few glasses of liquor, without the slightest idea of what they have done. Live every day carefully, mind your words. Think twice before making promises. If you are unsure, chant 100,000 times, and you will be blessed as you wish. It sounds lame, but that’s the truth. Saving a life gets you more than 10,000 gold pieces. Do more good deeds; go help more people.
Seek peace and wisdom. How? Chanting. Always try to help people. Just solving afflictions for others will get you lots of merits, let alone saving another life. That is a good deed. The merits of saving lives are tremendous. You will know when you receive the blessings in return. They are worth more than 10,000 gold pieces. Saving a hundred lives is worth more than building a 9-story pagoda. You know how much a massive 9-story pagoda costs. It probably costs a world.
If you save people from all walks of life, you will get massive merits in return. Such merits will greatly benefit not only yourselves but also your future generations. With the Buddha’s blessings, you will live an auspicious life. Your good deeds will get you the Buddha’s blessings, which can manifest all your wishes immediately. Don’t set the bar too high, as it prevents you from having a concrete action plan. All my advice comes from my life experiences. If you follow my words, you can expect an auspicious life.
Take a moment daily to reflect on what you have done. Do you have the time? Surely you do, it only takes 10 minutes a day. You can spend 10-20 minutes at night, before bedtime, or in the morning after you are done with your chores. Calm down and reflect on what you have done. You need to reflect on your mentality for the day. You want to be a kind person, but you have cursed others; reflect on the negative results.
Repent immediately for what you have done wrong. Once you have the intention or take action to hurt others, karmic results will appear. Who does the karmic retribution strike? It could be you, or those who share the same bloodline with you, your husband, wife, etc. In short, those you are related to. That is how karmic retribution works. Now you see why reflecting on ourselves is important.
Fear and respect the future and causality. Mind your words and actions and their consequences. Do more good deeds and chant often. Reflect thoroughly on daily deeds.
Next, always think ahead and avoid acting at the last moment. It means you should always think ahead. Don’t start digging a well after you feel thirsty. What if it is a dry area without water? So, with compassion, always plan ahead. Before your child is born, you should have a plan for their future: How are you going to educate them and shape their character? It is because you worry for your child’s future. Don’t wait until your child has gone astray and say, “What happened?”
Your regret comes from your lack of planning and preparation with regard to becoming a parent. Parents directly affect their children’s future. If you are truly virtuous parents, unless causality decides otherwise, your children will end up filial, virtuous and sensible. Watch them excel academically and professionally. Parenting is not just about the right method; your mentality and state of mind are crucial for your children’s future success.
Next, tolerance shows one’s wisdom; hostility shows one’s evil nature. Some people always fight with others, argue with others, can’t stand criticism, and throw punches over a single unpleasant comment; they are savage and uncultured. Forgiveness is a sign of compassion and wisdom. Always forgive others as much as possible, and leave a lifeline for your enemies. This is great advice that you can apply under all circumstances.
Bad things happen when we can’t control our anger. Then we start to hurt others verbally or physically. Learn to accept everything that doesn’t go your way. Learn to be compassionate. With compassion comes forgiveness. Be like a great ocean that contains all. Life is full of ups and downs. Learn to accept; it may look like you are passive and wronged, but that is how forgiveness, compassion and love are nurtured. These qualities positively transform your fate and create lots of merits. Forgiveness is an invaluable quality. Again, always leave your enemies a lifeline, no matter how much you hate them.
What else? Know when to stop; the more you speak, the more your words let you down. Many people can’t control their speech. Some behave like they’re drunk; they have no idea about their speech. The more you talk, the more you put yourself in trouble. Words can bring pain too. More talking causes greater pain. Sometimes, you don’t even know who you’ve offended. Yes, control your emotions and your speech. When we learn about compassion, we learn about kindness in our mind, speech and actions, right? Practice compassion and kindness when you speak.
Don’t decide, act or discuss when you are feeling great anger, sadness or joy. You are not calm when these emotions cloud your mind. When you are clouded, you don’t judge clearly. Without clear judgment, it is easy to make a wrong decision. You may even inflict great pain on others. Be sensible. Don’t make a judgment or decision when you are emotional. Only when you are calm can you be rational and composed. You won’t behave improperly.
Let’s talk about making friends. Befriend those who are moral, righteous, noble, kind, positive and gentle. Avoid those who do illegal activities. Avoid drug addicts and risk-takers. Be cautious when making friends. You don’t want to get yourself into danger, right? Avoid those who scam people. If you have friends who scam others, it is hard to keep yourself clean. To judge a person, look at his friends. If someone is surrounded by scammers, he could be one of them.
Those who are in the antique business say, “Stay away from dealers who sell you counterfeits.” All antique scammers start with selling their first piece of counterfeit. A little mischief is all it takes for hell to break loose. That is how it is. Again, befriend those who are moral, righteous, positive and kind.
Thanks to our karmic connections, we have exchanged our ideas about fate. How can we be blessed with merits, luck, longevity and good future generations? What I have said are self-cultivation reminders for you. Only by cultivating yourself well can you help cultivate your future generations. Be kind, compassionate and moral when you are dealing with people. This is how you influence the younger generations with compassion, forgiveness and kindness. Make sure the virtues get inherited by your future generations. This is also how we pass down auspiciousness.
Always plan ahead. Be forgiving. Mind your speech. Choose your friends carefully.