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Only when the world is filled with love will it be a truly happy and heartwarming place."
The heart of a Bodhisattva is one that gives love to others. Such a loving heart is not short-lived, but lasts forever. I often speak of long-lasting, Great Love. A long-lasting love is endless and lasts lifetime after lifetime, while Great Love is infinite and boundless.
The mind of a Bodhisattva dwells in this single thought of Great Love, which lasts lifetime after lifetime and is infinite and inexhaustible. What we need to learn is to cultivate such a mind.
Everyone has love in their hearts, and there is love between people. There are also people who treat all sentient beings with the same kind of love.
There was once an old man who worked as a farmer. He needed a cow to work in his field and so, he kept a cow since young. This cow went to the field with him every day and worked very hard to plough the land. A couple of decades passed, and the farmer grew old. Due to his advanced age, he stopped planting in his field for almost three years. Although the land was no longer cultivated, he was very grateful to his cow. He would still take the cow out for grazing every day. When the sunset, he would bring the cow home and had even built a shed for it.
The old man was aware that he was getting on in years, so he was concerned about the future of the cow. Then, he let out the news that he was searching for a kind-hearted person to adopt his cow. Sometime later, he was glad to find someone willing to adopt his cow, but he had a condition: the person must not let the cow work again and certainly not kill it. The person who agreed to adopt the cow was a kind person, and he brought the cow back to his own land.
After some time, the old man went to visit the cow, and was saddened to see it being tied to a tree trunk. The sight pained him very much. Although the cow was not made to work and it was not slaughtered, but it was tied up all day, and this was unbearable to the old man. And so, the old man went to negotiate with the person who adopted his cow and told the latter that he wanted to take it back.
However, once again, the old man felt that he was getting older with each passing year, and he found it hard to take good care of his cow. Therefore, he released the news again to see if there was anyone who could help him take care of the cow. A gentleman was touched by the love of the old man for his cow and so, he said to him, "I am willing to help you look after this cow."
However, the old man still felt worried and said to the person, "I am grateful that you are willing to adopt my cow, but you have to write me a guarantee letter and promise that you will not abuse it, let it work or kill it. You must also let it enjoy freedom and protect it."
The words of the old man touched the kind-hearted person very much. Thus, he did as the old man had asked by putting his terms and conditions into writing without missing a single detail.
It is really heart-moving to read about this true story from the countryside. This is an example of someone who has love in his heart and is able to be grateful. I often say that people who are grateful have great love in their hearts. The old man was grateful to his cow for working hard and laboring for him for 10 to 20 years. Although it was just a cow, (he did not forget what it did for him). This is what it means to be grateful.
Seeing how the old cow received love and kindness from its owner in return, (I can’t help but relate that to human beings and think about how greatly parents sacrifice for their children).
The efforts parents put in for their children cannot be counted in days. Apart from putting in a lot of heavy and hard work, parents are also constantly thinking about the wellbeing of their children. They are giving of themselves for the sake of their children every minute and second.
Our parents have given us really great love and kindness. But how many of us have truly thought about and understood the pains and hard work of our parents? How many of us truly understand such painstaking and loving efforts? Parents give so much to their children, but we do not know how many children are able to give of themselves to their parents. When we look at the elderly in nursing homes, the sight really breaks our hearts……
Therefore, I often said that we should educate everyone to set up a “nursing home” at home. Nowadays, every household is a small family, and both the husband and wife have to go to work. So, I thought that it would be good to have elderly day care centres (like ours in Tzu Chi). When the adult children go to work during the day, they can send their elderly parents to the daycare centres, where there are people to look after them and keep them company. Their children can come and take them home after work, so at least, they can still enjoy family time together in the evenings.
I often say that parents are the role models of their children. When parents bring their elderly parents back home at night to look after them and spend time with them, they are setting a good example for their children. This is how a virtuous practice is passed down from one generation to the next, and it is only right and proper to do so.
In fact, we should not just do it for the sake of showing it to our children, but rather, we should take it as our responsibility to pass on such virtues to our posterity, so that the virtuous practices will be passed down generation after generation.
Some people suggested that we build nursing homes, but actually, what is important is family education. A moderate and appropriate solution to the elderly issue is to set up day care centres for the seniors, just like childcare centres for children. Bonding with others in love is very important in life. Only when the world is filled with love will it be a truly happy and heartwarming place.
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