Patriarch shares NY message

His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch has delivered a New Year message highlighting decent actions that stem from good intentions and lessons to be learned from one’s sufferings.

In his annual New Year speech yesterday, His Holiness said the Lord Buddha has taught people to be mindful of one’s actions and their consequences.

The actions are founded on one’s intention — whether good or bad — which guides their physical conduct, speech and mind.

The Supreme Patriarch explained the principle is one of the rules of Dharma where a person’s action begs a consequence. This compels a person to be wary of what they do and not to be complacent to reap the reward, which is the avoidance of sufferings.

“If one wishes to embrace happiness and dreads suffering, they should refrain from foul behaviours, speech and mind.

“Everyone is free to choose whether to prevent defiled actions which are bound to happen,” His Holiness said.

However, such prevention is not attainable through practices of rituals or imploring someone else for help. The solution lies with mindful conduct and good deeds.

A person should not feel despondent or let themselves be consumed by sufferings. It does not help to be in despair or faulting others for one’s grievances.

“Rather, one should take the sufferings as a lesson and learn from them. They should come to terms with the reality of life that no one is spared the sufferings and make a vow not to engage in defilement,” said the Supreme Patriarch.