20141220 欣見道場再添丁The Joy of Adding New Volunteers to the Tzu Chi Family
Tzu Chi’s certification ceremony takes place once a year. It is truly joyous to see new additions to Tzu Chi family. In addition, in response to the Ebola outbreak this year, to safeguard everyone's health and to avoid inconveniences related to travel when entering Taiwan, we opted to cancel our international certification ceremony and spiritual retreat this year. However, many volunteers said that they had already purchased their air tickets to return to Taiwan.
Therefore, they still came back to Taiwan. In today’s ceremony, volunteers from Malaysia, South Africa, Australia and the U.S are also being certified. Many thanks to the 80 volunteers from Taoyuan acting as hosts, accompanying these international volunteers for their entire trip in Taiwan. Among them are volunteer doctors and nurses traveling with them since their arrival at the airport, accompanying them to Kaohsiung. These medical volunteers told me how moved they were by these international volunteers.
Some experience discomfort due to the cold weather in Taiwan. Some have elevated blood pressure. Some have suffered from insomnia or asthma, and some have bodily discomfort or minor injuries. Yet, through all the difficulties, they persevered and chose to return to Taiwan. One volunteer, despite being confined to the wheelchair, still went on the stage to share.
She suffers from Dermatomyositis, an immune dysfunction disorder. It’s a very painful disease, with pain often spreading to joints, but she chose to brave through the bodily aches and decided to return to Taiwan despite all the pain she is experiencing. There is one volunteer who is undergoing dialysis, who also decided to return to Taiwan. There is one who has injuries and needs a walking aid, who also decided to come back to attend the certification ceremony. Their dedication and commitment truly touches me very much. We also see Tzu Chi Malaysia’s campaign to recruit one million members.
We see volunteers in Malaysia working in harmony, with united effort, pulling everyone’s heart together to pave the land of Malaysia with love regardless of their regions or office locations. All in all, living together in the same country, everyone must work together in harmony.
We also saw volunteers from South Africa whom I love to talk about often. In Africa, there are a lot of people in suffering Tzu Chi volunteer, Mr. Pan, and other local volunteers there have been spreading the seeds of love in Africa. Even though our charity work there provides limited financial assistance to improve the local economy as we only hold aid distributions a few times a year, however, we have helped them open their hearts and bring out their spiritual riches. So, even though they are poor, they are very happy in helping people.
This happiness cannot be acquired with money. This happiness comes from within, from sincerely helping people. It is the bodhisattva’s heart. A bodhisattva’s heart is a heart full with boundless love. See how volunteers in Africa can do this even with a language barrier making it hard to learn. yet, they are able to bring forth this genuine sincerity in caring for people. They can do this I believe, with the power of love, we can all do this. Therefore, everyone must harbor the spirit of loving kindness and compassion. With loving kindness, we wish everyone in the world to be safe and well.
With compassion, we can feel the pain and suffering of others and wish to alleviate their suffering. This is the spirit of loving kindness and compassion. With compassion for all, we serve the people in need and gain wisdom in the process of serving others. To have wisdom is to discern things clearly. We should use our wisdom to discern when and how to best apply the Buddha’s teachings to help living beings. This is unlocking our wisdom. With compassion, we serve all people equally regardless of their social status or religion.
So, with loving kindness and compassion in our heart, we go serve the people in need. We need to bring forth our wisdom so that we will have the ability to discern right from wrong. We must do what is right and refrain from doing harmful deeds.
Our faith must also be correct, not misguided. If our beliefs have become misguided even slightly we will go astray and endanger ourselves greatly. Our faith must focus on correct beliefs. Therefore, we have to have wisdom to discern right from wrong and good from bad. All Tzu Chi volunteers need to cultivate their wisdom and use it it to discern right from wrong. With wisdom, we also learn to treat everyone with equality. Compassion with wisdom help us to discern right from wrong and to treat everyone with equality.
The Buddha said that everyone has the Buddha nature so everyone is equal. Therefore, we must treat everyone with equality and give them our boundless love. So, today you’ve been certified as Tzu Chi commissioners and Tzu Cheng members. You need to bring forth your enlightened mind and have the same kind of heart and mind as the Buddha which has wisdom boundless as the sea. That is the wisdom of our nature, our Buddha nature. Our Bodhisattva mission of helping living beings requires such enlightened wisdom. It’s like the sea upon which the ship of compassion sails.
Such an enlightened heart and mind of vast wisdom is what we should strive for. Only then will our heart be big enough. Then, we won’t differentiate ourselves based on where we are from. We shouldn't do that. Our hearts need to be all inclusive, all embracing. Our mission should be to help all people in the world. So, we need to make sure that our views and beliefs are aligned with the Dharma and with this upright mind, let us spread love.
Let us, at every moment, do good to benefit others and also develop our wisdom life by diligently keeping the Dharma in mind so we can start to discern the Dharma in all the things we encounter and do every day. Then, our hearts and actions will always have Dharma.
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