Be A Responsible Buddhist

In Buddhism, we believe that the purpose of life is to be happy and share happiness with others without making anyone unhappy. In order to fulfill this wonderful dream for all, we have to look inward to find genuine answers. First of all, one has to think seriously about what makes us unhappy and the answer is right in front of us. As long as inner poisons such as anger, jealousy, and attachment remain, then suffering will never disappear from us. When we are unhappy, we all eagerly hope to be happy, and in order to be happy we generally believe that we have to acquire wealth, power, and fame, however, these will not guarantee us happiness. If they did, then people who live in developed countries would always be happy. However, this is not the reality. Thus, development may bring temporal relief, but it can also bring new problems. For instance based on our scientific developments, today we can build destructive weapons which are capable of completely destroying each other. There are even people who seem to take pride in this. Also, in the name of comfort we destroy forests which we actually need for oxygen. We also pollute our waterways, destroying another important source of life. One way or another many of the things we are doing today are actually shortening our precious life spans and destroying the only place we can call, “home sweet home.” Therefore, although we may not have all the answers, we still have to answer for all the wrong things happening today. In my opinion, we should discourage the development of weapons and promote respect, love, and care towards others. We have to encourage the preservation of our beautiful forests and waterways for the sake of the next generation. We should not let ego grow in our hearts. We should not think about how difficult solutions are, but about how small a price it is to pay for our own well-being. It is late but not too late to fix our mistakes, and so we have to act now.