An environment where everyone mutually stimulates one another is healthy. In any area of competition, there will be someone who gets ahead and someone who falls behind. Inevitably, there will be some who fall so far behind they will not be able to make it. That area of competition, then, is not for them. They will have to switch to another field. That's neither your fault nor your concern. People who fail in one area will survive, and they may go on to succeed in another area.

If you are in a dog-eat-dog or unethical business, you should consider getting another job. Your livelihood should accord with your sense of Buddhadharma.

STUDENT:

Constantly trying to think of the benefit and welfare of sentient beings seems to be a great burden. Wouldn't this attitude itself become a vexation?

SHIH-FU:

It will not be a burden or vexation to one who understands the teachings of Buddhadharma, especially the principle of causes and conditions. As you try to help others, remember that sentient beings have their own causes and conditions, their own merit and virtue, their own karma. You cannot change that. You cannot take on other people's karma.

For example, two months ago about eighty of us went to India. In Nepal, an older woman in the group was knocked down by a water buffalo and she broke her leg. In spite of her handicap, she insisted on continuing with the group. She said, "I want to go, even if it kills me!"