20150402相互疼惜培新芽Living Out Love in Action
In central Europe, a powerful storm swept across parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, etc., causing widespread destruction in its path.The storm is said to be one of the worst storms to affect Germany in years.This is the imbalance of the element of Air.
We also see the imbalance of the element of Water, which will also bring much suffering to people--- The U.S. state of California has been affected by drought for four years now.
The grass there has become dry and brown and seemed lifeless. This is truly very worrying. In life, we need to live in harmony with one another and love and cherish one another. Only when we cherish one another, just like how we should cherish water, can we live in peace, and only then can the weather be favorable.
If we act on our feelings and give rise to unwholesome thoughts, it will be very difficult for the weather to be favorable. So, as long as our minds are in harmony, there’s nothing we cannot achieve.
Take for example a couple who had lost everything to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Having received 15,000 pesos around US$350 cash aid from Tzu Chi, they used the money to buy lumbers and started their own business.
They’ve been working hard for over a year, and their business is very successful. Inspired by Tzu Chi volunteer’s love, they adopted Tzu Chi’s practice of saving up coins to help the needy.
I also want to be a regular donor to Tzu Chi every month.They also commit to do more good deeds to give back to society. Such is the power of love.
We also see our endearing local volunteers in Zimbabwe. Many people in Zimbabwe are impoverished. Seeing that, our Taiwanese volunteer, Mr. Zhu, began to care for those in need there. Working together with our volunteers from South Africa, he started to guide the locals to see their spiritual wealth within and care for one another with love.Our local volunteers are poor, but they give with love nonetheless.
Amitofo.Amitofo. Thank you. See how a group of our local volunteers visited the needy and brought supplies to them from door to door.
During the trip, they saw how poor people are and how much they suffer. Be it the poor or the physically challenged, our volunteers served them with love, which is the most beautiful thing in the world, and helped them sincerely. They’ve lived out love in action.
This is also what our volunteers in Taiwan do for years--- In Taipei, there’s a family where the husband is a taxi driver and the wife is bedridden due to a stroke seven years ago. To take care of his wife, the husband can hardly go out to work.
My children didn’t know better. They told me they wanted to eat pizza. But we had no money. So, I told them that we could have it on Lunar New Year’s Day. They were too young to know. My wife’s friend asked me: “Let me contact Tzu Chi to help you.”
So, Tzu Chi volunteers in Taipei visited them. They started to give them financial aid every month, and regularly care for them like friends do. One of our volunteers even donated an electric bed to the wife. See, besides financial and material aid, the family has also received warm friendship from our volunteers. Our volunteers care for them with sincerity and have become their good friends.
They also provide their children with tuition aid. They’ve been caring for the family for seven years. This is how our volunteers care for the family with love.
Indeed, love is truly very powerful; it can fill our society with warmth and beauty. Its beauty lies in people who give unconditionally and are even grateful to those they help.
Also, in 2010 today, April2, we began to build temporary classrooms for a junior high school in yujing, Tainan. Due to a major earthquake, many schools there were damaged.While the government was rebuilding the schools, children had no classrooms to study in.
When the military came to help us move our desks, chairs, etc., we encountered a problem--- Where should we move these things to? We couldn’t just leave them outside. Then, I thought of Tzu Chi.
They quickly came to our school and within a week, they told us that they could build temporary classrooms for us.
From our experience of building temporary houses for people after the major earthquake in 1999, we know that these houses can be reused.It just so happened that our volunteers in Tainan had developed wood-plastic composites, which are processed lumber made of recycled plastic and wood wastes.
So, we immediately used this material to build the temporary classrooms for this school in Yujing. It looks just like wood and is very strong. These temporary classrooms have been reused several times--- In other parts of Taiwan where temporary classrooms were needed, these temporary classrooms were taken apart and reassembled again and again and put to good use.
Such is the power of love. Not only should we treat one another with love, we should also make good use of our resources, cherish them, and use them in places where they are most needed. I’m truly very grateful. This is how Tzu Chi volunteers tirelessly give with love to serve those in need in every corner of Taiwan. For things we should do, we’ll do it. This is the way Tzu Chi has always been.
Seeing how our volunteers reuse the temporary classrooms time and again, I’m truly very grateful and moved.I hope all of you can love everyone and everything around you with all your heart. It’s most important that we have a loving heart.
首頁 