DDM Global News
Blessing for 2021 from Dharma Drum Mountain Abbot President, Ven. Guo Huei
Hello, everyone. Happy new year. I'm Dharma Drum Mountain's abbot president Guo Huei. I'd like to wish everyone a most auspicious new year. May everything go well with you, and may you be filled with Dharma joy. Dharma Drum Mountain's annual theme for this year is "Peace and Ease". By treating others compassionately, we'll be at peace at all times. By applying wisdom to keep ourselves at peace, we'll be carefree wherever we go.
Although the novel coronavirus pandemic has continued for almost an entire year, we should still keep an even mind to face it, accept it, deal with it, and let it go. Let us jointly pray and make a wish that the pandemic will soon be over so that our lives can get back to normal as soon as possible.
Putting in efforts in the present moment to create opportunities
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, our lives have been more or less affected. For some families, their jobs or their livelihood have somehow also been affected. However, the Buddhist teachings tell us that material deprivation or insufficiency may cause us some inconvenience, but that stability in our mind and peace in our spirit are even more important. That is, we should return to the mind. The pandemic can prompt all humanity in the world to reflect and contemplate, to see if we can therefore jointly generate a great compassionate mind, to show more care and concern for each other, with more open-mindedness and tolerance. Furthermore, we should treat our bigger environment as a whole with a caring mind, and, towards earth's resources, practice sustainable management as much as possible, by cherishing our limited resources. This way, I believe, not only our generation will be able to enjoy peace and happiness, we can also help the next generation to manage their lives on this planet with ease and peace, continuing to live, and survive.
Emulating Guanyin Bodhisattva, bringing peace to ourselves and others
For peace and ease, we can also learn the spirit of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Guanyin Bodhisattva is Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. His epithet "Avalokiteśvara" indicates that we should emulate his spirit to listen and answer the sounds of suffering, because other people are actually connected to us in terms of causes and conditions. From the Buddhist perspective, this is how it is. So for our every minute and every second of existence, it is all thanks to many, many conditions, interactions, and supports that make the continuation of our life possible. So, we show gratitude towards our life, and relish our life. This way, we will naturally use compassion to treat others. Also, we should constantly apply the spirit of Guanyin Bodhisattva: perceiving that the five aggregates are empty in nature. That is, all phenomena in the world only exist temporarily. They don't exist permanently. So when we have smooth sailing and success, we mustn't become complacent. When we're experiencing setbacks or difficulties, we mustn't get disheartened. We apply our wisdom to treat people, things, objects, and the environment. As we face them, the people, things, and objects actually mirror the state of our mind, as a reflection. We should constantly reflect on our mind, and let go of our attachment or insistence, or what we call affliction. By doing so, we'll be able to feel at ease at all times. This represents Guanyin Bodhisattva perceiving that the five aggregates are all empty in nature. This is a very useful method.
Mutual trust and help, for a world of happiness and wellbeing
In this new year, may you all have peace and ease. Not only do we pray for ourselves, we should also pray for others. We should pray for our family, we should pray for others, whether we know them or not, and we should also pray for all people in the world. In 2021, may all people can enjoy peace and ease. Amituofo!