人之初，性本善
The seed of compassion is inherent in all human beings. We all have the potential for kindness and compassion.
However evil spreads far more easily. It takes the form of anger, jealousy, hatred, etc. It moves so fast that it creates a very efficient vicious cycle.
Edmund Burke once said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".
According to Buddha, we are now in the third and last age of the Dharma - 末法, the age in which the Dharma declines.
When Buddha was alive and teaching the Dharma, the Demon King saw the good that he was doing and in spite of his jealousy, could not do anything to stop Buddha.
However, he went to Buddha and told him. You are around and so your teachings are held more dearly and strongly by those that you are teaching. The day will come when you are no longer around and I will send my offspring to infiltrate your ranks. They will don the robes of monks and teach falsehoods. People will be unable to discern between the truth and the lies.
Buddha heard his words and a tear flowed down his cheeks in compassion for he knew it to be true.
As individuals, what can we do?
When the roots of our actions are good intentions, there is much good that can be derived for everyone else around us.
When the roots of our actions are evil and selfish intentions, much evil will arise from these actions.
Sharing some stories of some good people here.
A sister got given away by her parents due to a fortune tellers predictions and through an unfortunate chain of events. She turned out very ok but the neighbours who adopted her didn't give her an education. She ended up doing well and self taught herself English, etc and though she married and had kids early, she still worked her way up to a senior government position. Her brothers and sisters, when they were finally reunited went and bought her a house and gave her a piece of land. Really taught me the value of sharing.
A large agency boss shared with me his life story the other day. He told me the reason why he supported this developer was not because of money but because he was broke for most of his life and started life as an agent only in his late thirties. When he went for interviews, it was all done through buses. The boss gave him a chance and he did pretty well.
Later after a few months he got a car to speed up his access to his customers. His first car, a second hand, 4500 Proton Saga broke down only after 1 month. His car was stuck in the workshop and faced with no other choice, he was really very down. A very very kind soul (Mr Soh) then decided to help him out and lent him the 800 RM without question to fix the car. He never let Mr Soh down and supported him throughout. Until today, they are still close buddies and good business friends.
Another large agency, the lady boss, accepted and trained a former pub girl and went all out to help her, even passing the agent her own cases which were near to closure. She also helped her kick her habits and went on eventually through the training and teachings by her lady boss, eventually she became a lady boss in her own right.
A boss of a large agency, accepted a manual worker and groomed him to become top sales. The boss himself was groomed by a Datuk who always believed in giving people chances. I heard only good things about this Datuk so far and i am sure he is a good man in his own right.
I remain very humbled by the good i can see in people.
