Positive Belief vs Superstition 3/7 - Buy Heaven Ticket with 7 Sacred Treasures 正信 vs 迷信

(English subtitles) Lectured by Daoist teacher Rui-Lie Lee (李瑞烈, 1921-2015)
Subtitles:
Then what is the 7 Sacred Treasures? Let's see a phrase in the Gratefulness Scripture The 7 Sacred Treasures are, Belief, Diligence, Precepts, Shame, to Listen and to Give, Endurance, Calmness and Wisdom. Here already includes the Six Paramita. The 1st Paramita is to give and do charity. The 2nd is to take precepts. The 3rd is endurance(forbearance). The 4th is diligence. The 5th is calmness(peace).The 6th is wisdom. In addition to the 6 paramita,there is another, belief. There is one more, shame. and one more, to listen. These add up to 7 sacred treasures.
Why are Listen and Give put together? Listen is to listen to sermon. Give is to give alms and do charity. Someone asks why to put Listen and Give together. If one wants to give but doesn't listen to sermon, he becomes an avidya(ignorant) good man. What is an avidya good man? He doesn't know how to do good deeds. Sometimes, he does good deeds but commit sin. After listening to the sermon, you are able to know what you can do, and what you cannot do. That's the point. So when doing good deeds, you can't just focus on doing good deeds.
2:00
I ever met someone who said. “Why do I need to listen to sermon? As long as I have a big heart. You are listening to the sermon. Do you do good deeds more than me? It's awful to say this. Hence, if a man learns the way and doesn't listen to the sermon but only blindly does good deeds, he won't do the right thing. It is like dogs with a good fate or cats with a good fate. They did a lot of good deeds in their previous lives, so they were reborn as pets in this life. Why did they become animals if they did many good deeds? Yeah, that's because they didn't listen to the sermon. Because they made the money in immoral ways, ran a business against their conscience.
However, they are willing to do good deeds. But their good fortune cannot offset their sins. Because he did good deeds, he got good fortune. But he did illegal business, he has to get punished. So he is reborn as an animal to suffer. He is pampered by people, which is his good fortune. Do you think it's fine not to listen to the sermon? Many people do good things wrongly.
Some ask, Is it good to give money to the temples? Good, I didn't say it's bad. But you have to know first what this temple is doing. If this temple is running a business, and nobody is preaching or practicing. You'd better not give money to them. You are creating an opportunity for the abbots to corrupt.
4:00
If this temple has set up a place to teach people. If this temple are doing charity, the monks of this temple practice diligently. If so, you offer money to them, you have boundless merit.
I have been to a temple in Tainan. I don't say its name. At that time, I went with a group of people to offer incense. It was 20 years ago. That temple is very big. Inside, it's running a touring business. Visitors need to buy a ticket to enter. Even have to pay to enter a washroom.
At that time, a man told me: “Mr. Lee, I really had no choice but to shit under the tree behind the temple. What can I do now?” Why did you shit under the tree instead of going to the washroom? “No, they require 5 NT$ (0.2 US$) to buy tissue paper. I don't have change. I gave him 100 bucks, he didn't give me change. I returned the tissue paper and didn't shit. It's outrageous that he said not to give me change. I had no choice but to go and shit under a tree.” It's troublesome. I then ran into the temple and told a monk. “A guy just ran behind the temple and pooped a huge pile of shit under a tree. I think you should go to clean. Or, people will pass by. It's too smelly to come in the future.”
6:05
The monk then scolded: No manners... whatever. “ You shouldn't scold him,” I said, “you should blame yourself. He just said he went to washroom and was asked for 5 buck. He took out a 100 bill, but he didn't give change and wanted to take the 100 bill. Therefore, he didn't shit and went to shit behind the temple. Can't you just make it free?” But we need to hire people to clean up. “Does this Buddhist temple have no money to hire workers to clean up that? If people are unhappy, they won't offer money for incense and candle. You'd better make it convenient for clients. Even if you borrow from a private house, they won't ask for money. Not to mention you are a Buddhist temple, a great compassionate place. So, people spread the message that it is inconvenient in this temple. Hence, believers don't come and offer you money. You will lose resources. After my lecture, he had nothing to say.”
You don't offer money to the temple like this. It is annoying. If you go to a Buddhist temple, and they are collecting money, yet you help them raise money. They say Amitabha on the surface and laugh at you behind, crazy. Really. Then you are avidyā (ignorant). It's ok to give him money.