This is a story to show how when we contribute and put ourselves last, we can be first and people will in return give us back:

"One plum tree with a lot of fruits on it was damaged by fruit collecting boys. Some boys collect fruit by breaking the branches and some by hitting the branches with stick. The other plum tree that never produces fruit said to the fruitful tree, 'I have no fruit so I do not get hurt by the boys.' The fruitful tree said, 'Without any contributions, your life is meaningless.' The unfruitful tree replied, 'I dont care!' A few years later, there is a drought and all the boys are watering the fruitful tree. The unfruitful tree without water naturally dies."

From this example, we can ask ourselves. Can a selfish employee stay long in a company? Which person do we like to get along with? Which person do we like to give a helping hand to? Obviously the answer is the unselfish person instead of the selfish person. Likewise with family we can ask ourselves which type of family can last longer. A family with helping and unselfish members will stay united and live peacefully whereas a family with selfish members will fight among themselves for the family properties.

"Heaven is everlasting, Earth is long enduring. The reason that Heaven and Earth are everlasting is that they do not live for self. Therefore they can long endure." said Lao Tze.

Young boys and girls often easily say that their love is eternal and everlasting like Heaven and Earth. What they do not know is that broken heart comes along after a great love very often. Love dies easily too because it is for the self. This is real and how often we can see man with many wives. It is definitely for the self when one love dies and another one blooms. The most beautiful girl in the world can also suffer from broken heart likewise the most handsome or richest man.

Heaven and Earth are busy looking after all things. They make all things grow incessantly. This means if we are busy like Heaven and Earth looking after the lives of all sentient beings, we could be everlasting like Heaven and Earth. If we look after our life only and reserve all the money for ourselves, it would be like the unfruitful plum tree. If there is no sacrifice, it is impossible to be everlasting like Heaven and Earth.

Saints put themselves last, yet find themselves to be the first. They put body aside, yet the body exists. This is an example from the teaching of my Heavenly Teacher JiGong:

"When a mother raises a son or a daughter, she would never consider what the child can give her in the future before she offers her care. Since she has given birth to him, she only knows of loving him and caring for him. She also understands clearly that he may disappoint her when he grows up, but she still misses him and takes care of him, even to the extent of taking on his guilt and dying for him. Dying for him without resentment and without regret, this is the heart of a mother, and is exactly the heart of Buddha.

A kindly mother will do this for her son and daughter. Buddhas and Saints had also given up their own personal feelings while they were living in the world and offered all their love to numerous living beings. The way they treat numerous beings is the same as a mother treats her child. They advise and transform them, and they are willing to take their sins on themselves. They vowed that 'not until all living beings are saved, they will not become Buddha.' Which Saint does not have this heart? The Saints of the Five Religions (Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam) came from different places, but they all had the same aspiration and they all gave up themselves for the multitude.

If you take the Great Body and numerous beings into consideration whenever you start a thought, utter a word and do one thing, then you are doing a great thing, then you are a Great Man. If you keep doing this for a long, long time, and all the way until the very last thought, wont your virtue be on par with that of Heaven and Earth?"

Author: T.A Chew