2015/03/30珍惜資源守護愛Creating a World with Enlightened Love
To make Earth Hour this past Saturday, people and landmarks across the world turned off their lights at night for an hour. This reminds people to work together to save energy and reduce carbon footprints by starting with details in life, including turning off lights and saving every drop of water. We must pay special attention to these details to protect nature and its resources and to maintain its harmonious balance.
In Myanmar, we see developments in efforts to love and care for the environment. A local volunteer and his mother truly recognize the value of recycling. He provides the space in front of his home for recycling. His mother and people from their village also join the recycling mission. We need everyone to join in and recycle. Even people far away in Myanmar are doing recycling in their community.
We also saw in Fengyuan, Taiwan, a filial and generous son, Mr. Zhang Qing-sen. Nine years ago, he provided a piece of land to Tzu Chi for setting up a recycling station. His mother became a recycling volunteer too. With his mother getting older, he is concerned about her safety going to and from the recycling station. He is very filial. So, he goes to the recycling station and brings home recyclables that his mother is familiar with for her to do the sorting at home.
Such a loving mother-son relationship. To fulfill his mother’s wish and make her happy, he provided land and personally gets involved in recycling. This love is truly heartwarming.
Such familial affection is widely seen in other sentient beings as well as in humans. In the news from India, a baby elephant accidentally got stuck in a well. The mother elephant tried to rescue her baby; somehow, the more she tried, more mud got pushed into the well. In the 11-hour struggle, the mother elephant wailed and cried in tears, desperately wanting to rescue her baby. See, such a nature of love and affection does not only belong to human beings, animals can also show such affection.
The distressed cries of the mother elephant attracted the nearby villagers who came to the rescue and saved the baby elephant by clearing the heap of sand deposited near the well. The mother elephant then wrapped her trunk around her baby’s body and pulled him out. What love living creatures have. Even animals such as these show such love and devotion and distress when their baby is in danger. Aren’t living creatures full of love and feeling?
All living beings have the Buddha nature, the inherent potential for enlightened wisdom. Those learning the way of the Buddha and walking the Bodhisattva Path are called “beings with enlightened love” for they understand life’s truths and so, they are full of love and compassion for living beings. The wellbeing of others is their wellbeing, so when others are suffering, it pains them and they cannot bear for others to suffer. Such caring is very moving.
We really need to cherish such humanity and capacity for feeling and cherish all that we’re given by nature and take good care of them to make them last. We also need to protect our land. We need to cherish everything out of thankfulness and care for all people in our lives.
In Quezon City, Philippines, many children from impoverished families in grade 6 of elementary school are helped by Tzu Chi volunteers with the hope that they can go on to high school. So, to encourage them to further their studies, volunteers gave each of them a dictionary to boost their confidence in studying. Such is the wholehearted well-wishes from Tzu Chi volunteers. Also, volunteers taught these children to express their gratitude to their teachers by holding a ceremony to express their respect to their teachers for their teaching guidance.
This is how Tzu Chi volunteers mentor them in their development. Such enlightened love is truly heartwarming. We also saw the love from Tzu Chi doctors, Dr. Chang first served at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital for six years. Then, he went to Yilan and opened his own clinic. When an earthquake struck Taiwan in 1999, he suddenly realized how impermanent life was and decided to serve in a remote area with dire medical needs. He went to Kuanshan Tzu Chi Hospital, which had no obstetric and gynecology department.
For a woman to give birth or have her prenatal visits, she needed to go to Taitung, Hualien or Yuli, located far away. Therefore, Dr. Chang closed his clinic and went to serve at Kuanshan Tzu Chi Hospital, bringing his medical equipment with him to safeguard the health of pregnant women and help women in childbirth to deliver healthy babies. This is truly touching. Indeed, to have a hospital and doctors right in the community is a blessing for patients. We also see a young woman, Ms. Peng, who used to suffer from malignant osteogenic sarcoma of the mandible.
The medical team from Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital save this young lady with love. We always try our best to help patients. With love, the medical team removed her tumors and reconstructed her jawbone to give her back a normal-looking face. That is why Ms. Peng holds Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital and the love she’d received near and dear to her heart. She often comes back for a visit and also volunteers at the hospital.
This is a cycle of love. These heartwarming life stories show cycles of love and kindness. It is truly inspiring to live in this world of enlightened love. Ms. Peng is a mother now with a son. Look at her son playing with a Tzu Chi volunteer who is like his grandmother. Patients and Tzu Chi volunteers are like family. This is enlightened love. In summary, love is always here in our world as long as we are mindful and work hard to bring it to this world.
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