How to deal with stress 如何面對壓力

如英法師

This is a brief recap of last week’s class from Dharma Master RuNg about dealing stress. I think it will help many of you as you all approach finals week.

School is important. Doing well in school is also important, but it's not our entire life. We may not acquire the necessary skills like interpersonal relationships or human qualities as we step into society simply by doing well in school. The dharma master gave an example of those who attend the best colleges and gets straight A's may seem to be very successful. However, when they go out to work, they are not successful because they may not be good at interacting with others or they may not know how to manage their emotions.

Thus, we need to think of what it is that we need that will make us a happier person whether now or in the future. We all know that simply getting good grades, studying, and doing well in school won't work.

The dharma master suggested praying to the Buddha or Master for help. Frankly, tell Buddha your difficulty and tell Buddha that you don't know what to do and ask him to help. However, before we pray to Buddha, we must have faith in him first. Though things may not turn out as we requested when we asked Buddha to help us, but if you have faith in him, no matter if the outcome is the way you expected or not, it happened for a good reason. 

Further, from a karma perspective, some people study very little and still get good grades while others study a lot and receive bad grades. This is related to the merits or blessings that we have accumulated from our previous lives and we’re simply receiving the fruition of our past karmic deeds.

To sum it all up, think of the stress that you feel when taking tests, projects, or papers from a long-term perspective (infinite lives) and you will be able to relax more.  As long you put in the effort, it's okay if the outcome is not as expected.

Good luck everyone!

【快樂心得分享】

<李思思>

我覺得如英法師講的很有道理，考試不是人生唯一的事情，現在學習好不好不是決定以後人生一定成功的唯一因素。重要的是在學習過程中學到的知識，結是不是最重要的，只要你努力過就不會後悔。還有每天要學習祈求。

<Jeff Hsu>

Pray that no matter what Buddha will help us when we face a challenge. Buddha may not help us the way we want to be helped, so we must have faith. The faith that if we succeed, it was Buddha that helped us. If we fail, it was also Buddha that helped us, maybe not short-term but in long-term.