| [ Buddhism ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): Enlight (D.S.) 날 짜 (Date): 2000년 10월 19일 목요일 오전 02시 52분 24초 제 목(Title): Untie the Nine Knots in the Heart 7 The Seventh Knot Desire Is the Origin of Endless Suffering In society today, some people crave prestige and some covet wealth. They always feel that they lack something, and so they never stop trying to get something. Because of their insatiable desires, they have thousands of knots in their hearts which can never be undone. What a miserable life they have! In addition to material things, some people are obsessed with affection. When the knot is too tight, they impulsively choose the wrong way to solve the problem. For instance, not long ago, an actress committed suicide because of the entanglements of love. After emergency treatment, the doctor declared her brain-dead. Since she could not be saved, her family decided to donate her organs to save other people. However, since most of her organs had been deprived of oxygen for too long, they had become useless. Only her corneas could be donated. In her career, she was already a rather famous actress and she had no financial difficulties. However, because of her problems in her love life, she gave up everything and ended her own life, thus distressing her family and saddening her fans. How pitiful her life was! We Chinese often say, "Nine out of ten matters will not turn out the way we expect." After all, we cannot have everything we wish. Desire is insatiable. To what extent can we ever be satisfied? Unless we can untie the knots of our desires, most of us will never be satisfied with what we have. Another purpose of studying the Buddha's teachings is to detach ourselves from temptations--in other words not to be greedy. We have to train ourselves in our daily lives. -------------------------------------- Show me your smile ------------- |