The Importance of Sacrifice in Family Life : หน้า 18/207

4) Sacrifice or caga is the means to correct the problem of selfishness. Charity means sacrifice. There are 3 types: 1) Sacrifice of material objects 2) Sacrifice of comfort 3) Sacrifice of negative emotions, not keeping them in your mind. It is the basis for preparing one's mind for meditation. Sacrifice means generosity in living together as a family, placing the well-being of the family ahead of ourselves. A marriage is dependent upon the sacrifice of two individuals. If there is no sacrifice, then the family can not be supported. If a particular family does not practice sacrifice for the benefit of others in the family, and instead, take advantage of each other, it will be like they are living in a broken home. The basic sacrifice focuses on one's livelihood, which is of great importance. In particular, the husband and wife must think about the overall happiness of the family more than their individual happiness. The foundations of livelihood are the Four Requisites. However, the most important aspects one must know before allocating funds for the Four Requisites are: One must be able to distinguish between what you want and what your family needs. If you do not know how to distinguish between what you want and what you need, then your family will fall apart more and more every day. In the end there will be a feeling that one side was taken advantage of and the other side was selfish. Family members will end up living separately and they will not care about each other. For instance, suppose there is a family composed of a husband and a wife, but they do not have any children. Their combined income is limited. Just one bottle of the wife's perfume, and alcohol and wine for the husband reduces their budget for food every month. The feeling that each person is taken advantage of arises because they cannot distinguish between their individual desires and the needs of the family. Expensive perfume is unnecessary and luxurious. Alcohol and wine are one of the Roads to Ruin; they are substances that damage one's health and are of negative value to society. So if both the husband and the wife are unable to deem these expenses as unnecessary, it means that selfishness will bring damage to the family. A marriage is a life of budgets for the individual. One must have a foundation of sacrifice. But if one spends for one' The Warm Hearted Family The Heart of the Family The Warm Hearted Family 35 The Heart of the Family