Love equals Respect

        Throughout history, there have been serious discussions on the origin of life.  Scientists, philosophers, and theologians have put forth various theories and explanations trying to gain insight into the mystery of life.  In reality, to put in simply, love generates life.  Without it, the Saha world would never come to be.  Just as we love our parents and our parents love us, we are reborn as humans because our consciousness houses much love as well as hatred.

          Love has been widely promoted in today’s society.  It brings warmth to the world and like the sun, air, and water is necessary to survival.  However, we must be very careful in how we love.  We must exercise reason, compassion, respect and sincerity.  When our love is tainted, the consequences are ugly and abominable.

          We must remind ourselves that love is neither attachment nor possession, and it is not the source of selfishness and hatred.  Looking at today’s young people, we can see that in loving someone they wish for that person’s immortality, and in hating him/her they wish for his/ her death.  In reality, love is about sacrifice and giving.  It is to treasure, protect, and support the object of one’s affection.  If we were fond of money, we should spread our wealth.  If we adore fame, we should use it to shelter other people.  If we love knowledge, we should pass it on to the next generation.  If we have love, we should use it to bring about another’s happiness.  Marriage is the ultimate expression of two people’s commitment to a lifetime of unity and support.  In order for a marriage o work, the married couple must love each other properly.  Otherwise, their love becomes a noose around one another’s ankles.  Marriage is not a license to restrict personal freedom.  A person must not be blind or ignorant in love either.  Otherwise, he/she will live in total darkness or drown in the sea of suffering.

          True love is not a one-way street but an exchange of mutual affection.  It is to understand and comprehend intuitively what your loved ones are thinking and feeling.  Marriage is sometimes compared to an Italian opera, a French comedy, a British tragedy, an American farce, or a Chinese scandal.  It is a universal declaration of love and solidarity because love is good, beautiful, truthful, and pure.  People should not limit themselves to a narrow interpretation of love.  Rather, they should expand the concept to include not only themselves and their loved ones but also to extend to society, country, and the world in which they live.

          When the Buddha taught the Dharma, he was expressing his affection for all sentient beings by showing them its joy and benefits.  The great compassion of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva that relieves sentient beings from all suffering is also an expression of love.  To love is to benefit and help others accomplish something all that is good.  It is giving others respect, freedom, and convenience.

          Do we have the ability to extend our love to all living beings?  Can we love the tree as well as its branches?  In order to have altruistic love, we must learn to broaden the scope of our love through compassion and purify our love through wisdom.  We must treat our loved ones with respect and dignity, and be willing to sacrifice ourselves for their sake.    If we could be kind to each other and love one another unconditionally, our universe would grow by leaps and bounds.