| Human beings need to sacrifice the lives of plants and animals to sustain
their lives. People often eat vegetables, fish and animal meat without uttering a word about their taste. They sometimes throw the leftovers out without a moment's hesitation. If animals could see these deeds it would be like hell for them. In a similar way, in order to survive, we rely on the suffering and sacrifices of other people. The business world, too, with its ruthless, dog-eat-dog competition between companies, is an arena where many unseen sacrifices are made. All the products and services we receive are the fruits of the hard labors of others. It would be difficult to precisely understand how much unseen support and hard work of many people a single person depends on for his survival in a single day. I think, therefore, that it's important to reflect a little on the fact that each day we owe our survival to the sacrifice of death made by plants and animals, and to the sacrifice of their labor by our fellow human beings. Such a reflection leads us to another question: In what ways are we really useful to other people and how are we sacrificing ourselves for them? Sacrifice is an inescapable part of life for all people. However, if we work in the belief that our sacrifice for others is meaningless, we gradually grow dissatisfied and unhappy. This situation would make us miserable and eventually drive us into feeling that we are in hell. On the other hand, if we work willingly with a genuine desire to please others, without feeling the burden of sacrifice, we will without doubt in the long run find that life is wonderful. Parents serve their children without feeling that they are sacrificing themselves. As a result, a heavenly relationship of sublime trust is cultivated between parents and their children. Whether we feel that we are in hell or in heaven depends, I think, very much on how we see the world and how we behave. |
| Even though they do not possess minds like humans, plants and animals sacrifice their lives for us. The least we can do is to say, "That's delicious," when we eat them. |