English

Buddhism is against laziness and promotes diligence. It offers praise to the diligent person. It teaches people to initially work harder for himself, then for his parents, family, religion, and close relatives, as well as the more distant ones.

The world will be worth living when we treat all other beings as our own relatives. We should, at least, support our actual relatives for their continued well-being. Upon completing this we can expand our hearts to others and treat all people as our extensive family. As a result, the earth will be more calm and peaceful.

Before we come to know what is good or bad,meritorious or unmeritorious, we have already committed evil deeds. Once the retribution of these negative actions manifests itself, it is almost too late to perform acts of penance and reform ourselves. But even if we could promptly correct ourselves, the seed of the bad actions that still remains can cause obstacles in our lives. On the other side, one who has never performed evil deeds will live out his life peacefully.

1) Giving (Dana) is a foundation and a basic virtue of doing good deeds. It can be compared to the first step on the stairway to heaven and is generally the easiest method of performing a good deed and gaining merit.

Hence, we must make sure that we fulfill our task to the best of our ability, doing it with right view, right understanding, and in accordance to what is required. By having our work done completely and successfully, we can improve ourselves and our environment.

In Buddhism, in a married life, "Being able to cherish one's spouse" is a true blessing.

Delight will arise in our minds when our good deeds or accomplishments bring forth their results. The more we express good actions, the more we become delightful. This quality of mind can possibly extend our lifespan and also promote good health.

"Even if we were to carry our parents, one on each shoulder, for a hundred years, feeding and also allowing them to excrete on our shoulders, it would still be insufficient to repay our debt of gratitude to them."

Whoever can develop artful speech has the potential to do more good deeds for the benefits of the world than one with only physical ability.

To safeguard oneself or others from troubles, both qualities of wisdom and ability must be artfully applied with discipline. A person who lacks discipline would not be able to consider what is proper or improper, what should be said or left unsaid, what should be seen or not seen. As a result, he is prone to choose or engage himself in the wrong acts which lead to destruction.

At the core of Buddhism, "artfulness in application" means "being wise in application." However, no matter how learned a person is, he can hardly meet success in life if his actions are without the artful application of his knowledge. Take this proverb as an example, "Overwhelmed with knowledge, one still does not survive." It means a scholar is not always a capable person because artfulness in application of one's knowledge takes true determination and skill.

And so, wisdom is something everyone seeks and should seek. A person who obtains wisdom from listening a lot and understanding what he has heard is known as "A Person of Great Knowledge."

A merchant will be rich depending on good location,Investment, and management.  A gardener will be rich depending on good soil,seedlings, and management.  A layperson who lives in a suitable environment, and has accrued merits in the past, but does not continue to do good deeds will lose his merit, no longer be supported by his environment, and will depart from this life early.

Even though merit cannot be seen, it is something that can be sensed; one can feel after he performs a meritorious deed that his mind is refreshed and full. The quality of merit can improve and develop one's state of mind; it becomes stable, pure, bright, boundless, unworried, full, and light. The mind graced with merit is responsible and reliable to perform work or any task of daily life. Beyond that, the merit collected in one's mind will continue to yield positive results in one's life.

According to Buddhist teachings, our surroundings and circumstances have a great impact on one's progress and life. The proper environment can deliver a life of good health, self-development, and spiritual progress. Favorable environment not only supports the improvements of our body and mind, but it also contributes to the progression of our careers. This environment also acts as encouragement to continue our virtuous conduct. Supportive and suitable environments are described as "Patirupadesvasa" by the Lord Buddha.

One of the most difficult jobs in the world to do is the job of teaching the idea of what is right and what is wrong. And because of that, whoever is able to teach us to see what is right should be someone we will always respect and pay homage to for our whole lives.

Someone who is truly wise is one who has the good judgement to intentionally abstain from evil deeds and rejoice in practicing righteousness, moral conduct, and honesty. He will have the good conscience to discriminate what is right or wrong, good or evil, meritorious or unmeritorious, and proper or improper. 

People aspire to be good and be recognized by those around them. However, not everyone will achieve this. The main cause for lacking such achievement is one's own failure to distinguish and judge each experience and situation in the world to be right or wrong, good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome, proper or improper. For instance, the acts of drinking alcohol, gam-bling, lying, adultery, are perceived as acceptable to do. In actuality, these acts are not acceptable at all,and therefore people suffer the repercussions without understanding the reason why. As a result, they continue on with these wrong acts in their lives. These types of people hardly achieve true accomplishments.