Chua Duoc Su

Most of you misunderstand the law of cause and effect. You confuse it with the fatalism that the suffering person has a predetermined fate and must now endure it. As a Buddhist, you should not think like that. Because the Buddha once taught:

- Cultivation is to change karma.

Moreover, in the world, people have also said:

- In the past and present, people have decided to overcome heaven a lot.

Therefore, you should not entrust your life to fate but recognize and change your fate. Indeed. Some people are born into poverty, maybe mistreated when they are young, do not have the opportunity to sit in school much, and have a little disability, but their understanding of life helps them have a meaningful life. Meanwhile, others, are born into rich, wealthy families, are beautiful, intelligent, well-educated, and have many good conditions that are worthy of admiration. But they waste their lives because of addiction and alcohol. So half of the karma you have created, maybe one life, or many lives from the past, is the ingredient you need to make half of the cake of your life. The very important other half is what you do with the ingredients in the present of your life. In other words, as you have created bad causes, it is time for you to receive them. Instead of sitting there lamenting your fate, blaming yourself, blaming others, blaming life, you use what you have to change your karma, so please confirm the Buddha's teaching:

- Cultivation is changing karma.

This teaching is still valid today. If you try your best in peace and serenity to change your circumstances, that means there is always something you can do with the ingredients of a day in your life. If you can do it, that is great, but if you can't, there is nothing to be sad about. Because worrying won't get you anywhere, and you shouldn't throw yourself into drinking gambling, or drug addiction... When you're indulging in debauchery, you can forget all your troubles and worries, but when you're sober, you can't solve anything. According to the teachings of the venerable monks, instead of those times, you should calmly recite Buddha's name, meditate, or go for a walking meditation, which is called immobility in the world:

- The world moves but your mind doesn't move.

Or you can sit and enjoy a cup of tea. Somewhere in a book about World War II, I heard the following story told by a soldier who was a teacher:

- At that time, he was a young soldier, far from home, timid, and marching in the jungles of Burma. A scout came back to report to the captain that his company was surrounded by a large number of Japanese troops on all sides. So nine out of ten died, and one out of ten lived!

He thought that his captain would order a bloody path, very bloody so that maybe some of them could escape. If they couldn't escape, they would have some Japanese soldiers as companions on their way to the afterlife. That was the duty of a soldier.

But his captain was a very experienced man. He ordered everyone to stay still, sit down, keep their minds calm and peaceful, and make tea to drink together. The young soldier thought that his captain was crazy! Being surrounded by the enemy, in danger, and about to die like this, how could he sit together peacefully drinking tea?

In the army, especially during wartime, discipline is discipline, that must be followed. And everyone thought that this was their last cup of tea. While they had not finished the tea, the scout came back and whispered to the captain in charge. The report content, I don't know what the scout reported, but then the Captain in command stood up and announced:

- The enemy has moved their troops. The escape route is ready. Get ready. Withdraw silently. We're on our way!

So everyone escaped safely. This young soldier also said that he was saved from death by the captain's wisdom, not only when Burma surrounded him but many other times. He thought he was trapped in a siege in many battles, with no way out, just waiting to die. If he hadn't remembered the experience he had in Burma, he would have fought and certainly made the situation worse. Every time he encountered a problem, he would remember the old experience and sit down, drink a cup of tea, and solve everything.

The earth rotates, and life changes impermanently. Therefore, the Venerables encourage you, if you encounter a problem, keep your mind peaceful, and be peaceful at all times, if you need to drink tea, then drink tea, if you don't like to drink tea, please remember the saying:

- If there is nothing to do, then do nothing.

Conserve your strength and wait for the opportunity to act effectively. This is obvious, but it can also save your life, help you not create bad karma, or help you not make the situation worse, which is the story:

- There was an athlete who was good at swimming, but he had retired. One day he was walking with an old friend in a wonderful natural place. The two of them came to a secluded, beautiful beach in the late afternoon sun. Hot and inviting by the clear blue water, he invited his friend to swim, but the other one couldn't swim. So he jumped into the water alone. After only a few minutes of jumping in the waves, he was pulled out to sea by the current. This beach was notoriously dangerous because of the strong currents, as he later discovered. He tried to swim upstream toward the shore, but he soon realized that the current was very strong. He relaxed and let himself drift, as he had been taught.

It took a lot of courage to stay calm as he felt himself drifting farther and farther away from shore. However, a few hundred yards from shore the current began to weaken. He then began to swim parallel to the shore to escape the current, then changed direction and swam toward shore.

The time it took to swim in had drained him of every last bit of energy, and he was completely exhausted by the time he reached shore. He knew for sure that if he had not let himself drift downstream and swam upstream, he would have drowned. This story proves the truth of the saying:

- If there is nothing to do, do nothing

That is life-saving wisdom. When the current is stronger than you can handle, then you should go with the flow. When you feel you have enough strength, then you will start working. The same goes for life. In society, sometimes everything seems to go your way, but not always as you wish. Sometimes you have to work hard, sometimes you have headaches and fatigue with many challenges. If you do not keep your mind peaceful at all times to solve problems, you are a failure, so you must be extremely peaceful and calm at all times. Life flows smoothly, life is messy, but if you skillfully arrange it, you will still overcome everything.

Time is as long as it is endless, but human life is limited, so you need to have an ending. Everything can happen, even the unexpected. So do not waste sweet moments, even if the situation is extremely difficult. The future has not come and is uncertain, you cannot say for sure what will happen. But when it comes to life, every problem that has an answer needs to be decided. But how do you decide?

In other words, when you need to make a decision and don't know how to decide, you should stop, rest, and wait. Soon, when you have no doubts, your mind is at peace, everything becomes clear, and the decision will suddenly come to you. Every decision has its purpose. If that purpose is reasonable to you, you will carry it out. If not, you wait a little longer. There will always be another decision that is better and more interesting.

That is how you choose to make decisions in life. You gather all the facts so that you can wait for the decision to come. The right decision is always there if you wait patiently. It often comes suddenly when you least think of it.

Every decision is related to your life, to help you have good intentions, and to help orient your lifeboat to the shore of enlightenment, you should cultivate many good causes to awaken your conscience, your loving-kindness, your compassion, your joy, and your equanimity. Never ask others to do this or that for you while you entrust your whole destiny to others. Anyone of you who wants to awaken loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity is not difficult for you to do. The only problem is whether you want to awaken it or not. When you do not want to awaken it, you cannot do even a small thing. But when you want to awaken it or change it, even if it is a demon or a robber, you can change it.

In short, you should always keep your mind pure. When you have a peaceful life, you can solve all the difficulties you face.