慈濟傳播人文志業基金會

The Illustrated Jing Si Aphorisms

Translated by E E Ho and W.L. Rathje; drawings by Tsai Chih-chung; coloring by May E. Gu

The Buddha says:

A person comes in contact with the world through his eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body.

Those who do not guard their senses and who become confused and tempted by the world are not really cultivating themselves.

Only those who firmly guard their senses and keep their minds tranquil are truly cultivating themselves.

If you want to be loved and accepted, you should first take good care of your tone of voice and your conduct. Your words and actions are cultivated in the midst of the adversities of daily life.

You must cultivate patience and giving, because cultivation is a matter of personal self-awareness.

Students nowadays are hard to teach. This is especially true of students who were assigned to our university because of their entrance examination scores, and not because it was their first choice. When they come with a sense of frustration, it becomes more difficult to guide their education.

Just because they are more difficult to teach, more effort from the heart is needed. They can gradually be molded through the influence of the environment around them. True stories of ordinary people who are kind and beautiful in everyday life are the best lessons for these students.