There is this Chinese New Year  couplet that says:

"With great virtue come blessings,
 With harmony comes felicity."

       “With great virtue come blessings”. We use different utensils to hold different things. For example,  we use a cup to hold water and a bowl to hold rice. What then can hold a blessing? The answer is virtue. The more virtuous a person is, the more blessings will come his way. To be virtuous is to benefit and help others, and to strive to be a better person.

       “With harmony comes felicity”. People living in harmony with one another create unity, success, wealth and peace. It is what we Chinese say,  “Harmony brings prosperity”, “A happy family is a family that thrives, a nation in harmony is a nation that sees peace”. In the same way, a harmonious community flourishes.

       A Dharma practitioner aims to achieve peace and harmony of the mind. If the various parts within our bodies are out of balance, we get sick. If our minds are unsettled, we feel troubled. By extension, family discord brings unhappiness; social disharmony leads to social instability; a country with internal conflicts becomes weak; disputes among countries cause wars.

       This underlines the importance of harmony.

　　A Dharma practitioner always considers that any faults that arise are his. He realizes that all his successes, failures, sufferings or happiness are the results of his own actions in the past. Therefore, he never blames fate or others. Instead, he takes the great challenges in life as developments that can eliminate his old karma, enhance his blessing and wisdom and improve his patience.

       Let us be congenial and avoid disputes, be amicable and tolerant. Let us be caring and supportive of each other. As one of the Attributes of the Pure Land School says: be compassionate and understanding to other people and be modest and amiable in deportment.

(Translated by the Pure Land School Translation Team;
edited by Householder Fojin)