20141217 - 積聚福慧當及時 Seizing Time to Cultivate Blessings and Wisdom
Time is running out. This is what I say almost every day. So, I cherish every day of my life very much. As a day passes, my life diminishes by a day; as a year goes by, my life shortens by a year. So, I try very hard to make good use of every day and every year of my life. Although time keeps ticking away and my life shortens accordingly. I’m full of gratitude every day. Every morning when I wake up and open my eyes, the first thought that crosses my mind is gratitude.
When I can still move my limbs, it means that I’ve passed another day in peace and safety. And at the start of a new day, I’ll remind myself to seize every second of the day. So, every day, I have two thoughts--- The first is that time is running out and the second is that I’m grateful. At the end of every year, I always remind everyone to be grateful for every day we’ve passed in peace and safety and to welcome in the days to come with a heart of sincere piety. For everyone in the coming year, we should greet it with a sincere heart.
This is what every Tzu Chi volunteer needs to bear in mind every day. All around the world, there’s much work for us to do. For my trip this time, I travel from north to south Taiwan. When I came to Kaohsiung, I first went to our chapter in Gangshan without notifying anyone. So, when we arrived it was very quiet. But then, we saw Ci Tong, our commissioner. She wore our formal uniform for commissioners. I wondered if she’d heard that I was coming.
So, I asked her, “Do you know I’m coming?” “No, I don’t.” she replied. I said, “Then why are you all dressed up?” She said: “ We just had an exhibition. “ It turned out that their exhibition on recycling just ended and they’d cleaned up everything. This showed that they’ve been holding events regularly. I then went to our recycling station there and saw a group of recycling volunteers. The place was so clean that there aren’t a fly. Many people were doing recycling there, but there was not one single fly or mosquito.
It was truly very clean. So, I said to them, “You’ve done a great job.” They replied, “Master told us to ask people to rinse their recyclables so there are no mosquitoes and flies here anymore.” It was truly moving to see. I also saw Mr. Su. Who is in charge of our recycling station there. He used to run a company. But see how dedicated he is to our recycling work now. When I arrived at our Jing Si Hall here, I was very touched by what I saw.
From a distance, I could see that the front gate was wide open and I could see from there how beautiful the interior of the hall is. What impressed me even more was that many people have been listening to my Dharma talk. When I went in the Jing Si Hall, I saw many notebooks of our volunteers on display. They even prepared a magnifier for me as some of the writings in the notebooks were very small. Altogether, there were over 500 notebooks. My effort to share the Dharma with you every day truly hasn’t gone to waste.
As I travel down south, I’ve seen many notebooks, and I can see that everyone has been learning the Dharma diligently, including one of our doctors. His notebooks were full of words in tiny writing and several colors. He used different colors of pens to write down what I said, sutra passages, verses, etc. He even jotted down his thoughts and how many times I’d coughed that day. Everyone has been learning the Dharma mindfully and is also living it out.
From everyone’s sharing I heard how our volunteers are caring for one another and how some people have seen past their problems in life and become free of afflictions. It’s very touching. Today, I’ve seen how beautiful you carry yourselves and how diligent you’re in learning the Dharma. With the Dharma in your hearts, I hope you can bring more peace and harmony to your families and our society. This is what we hope to achieve.
After you’re certified today, you need to emulate the Buddha’s heart, which is a heart of great compassion, which is to walk the Bodhisattva Path by working for people around the world and relieving the suffering of all living beings. Yesterday, on our Da Ai News, I saw news about Haiti. As I walked here, I was telling our volunteers from the U.S. what they should do to help Haiti. For the flooding in Cape Haitian last month, they have done what I had told them to do and have given out food supplies to flood victims.
The local priests and nuns were all very grateful. As I am traveling south in Taiwan, our U.S> volunteers have given out aid in Haiti. Except the rice from Taiwan they purchased the rest of food supplies locally to distribute to those affected by the flooding. In their effort to work for people around the world, they’ve also helped the people of Haiti. Your donating members may wonder why Tzu Chi is always conducting international relief.
The fact is, except for the rice all the food supplies were purchased by our U.S. volunteers. But they did not ask Taiwan for money as they’re in charge of the relief work in Haiti. They only ask me what they should do to help. This is the power of love. Such love has inspired the locals to work together with our volunteers to help their own people, despite having a different religion from us. This was the news I saw. See, our volunteers are literally working for people around the world.
For those who are certified today, please do not forget why you want to become a certified Tzu chi volunteer in the first place. Starting today, you are walking on the Bodhisattva Path. Before today, you were only preparing yourselves for this. So, please do not forget today. The hong-baos you have received were made with the royalties of my books published by Jing Si Publications, not from Tzu Chi Foundation. May you sow blessings and wisdom by giving yourselves for all humanity. My best wishes to you all.
首頁 