人間菩提 20150411 救援撫慰_菩薩家族 Then and Now: To Provide Relief Aid and Services
Yesterday in Taichung, Taiwan, a fatal accident took place at a construction site of city mass transit system. Tzu Chi volunteers hurried to the site of the accident and also to two local hospitals to provide services including religious chanting for the people killed. Accidents truly occur in the blink of an eye. So, we must be prudent and sincere in everything we do, whether doing construction work, walking on the streets, or staying at home. We must realize that in everything we do, impermanence can strike at any second.
We also see a very old piece of Tzu Chi history on disaster aid. Wherever there’s a disaster, Tzu Chi volunteers will quickly arrive at the scene to provide aid the disaster we saw happened on April 11, 1977. The location was the road next to the Rueisuei train station. On that road, a fire suddenly broke out at a hair salon and quickly spread to 79 buildings nearby. We can imagine how big the fire was. At that time, we did not have a telephone at the Abode. A Tzu Chi commissioner, Chen Chu Mei, in Rueisuei first called a volunteer, Jing Ci, in Hualien City and told her about the fire Jing Ci then came to the Abode and told us about this disaster.
When we learned of this, we quickly went to find out more information. Back then, information did not spread quickly. Television was not widely available, so we couldn’t receive information from the news like we do now. All we knew was the little information the volunteer told us from the phone call and we had to go into Hualien City to call the local volunteer directly. We then quickly gathered Tzu Chi volunteers to help. There were very few volunteers back then. Yet, it was a very big fire disaster. Nearly Tzu Chi volunteers, such as in Yuli and Rueisuei, quickly went to the disaster area to help.
I also went and arrived at the scene before volunteers from the neighboring Yuli Township. The fire truly caused huge damage. As we can see, the fire occurred at noon. Master Cheng Yen arrived at the disaster scene that same afternoon. In this picture, Master looked very anxious and worried. Yes. She looked very anxious and was hoping to give immediate care and support to the fire affectees. And I also heard that Master got there earlier than you did. Is this correct? As soon as I arrived at the scene from Yuli, the words that Master gently said to me made me feel rather ashamed of myself.
She said that Hualien City was nearer to Rueisuei than Yuli. In fact, Yuli is nearer to Rueisuei. She gently spoke to me about this without a smile. She was not joking but was teaching me to know my duty as a commissioner. After such a disaster, there were so many things that needed to be done urgently, how could I arrive so slowly? That was her message. After the fire disaster, of the 79b homes destroyed, more than 300 people immediately had to face livelihood related difficulties. Therefore Tzu Chi volunteers responded by distributing about 200,00 TWD cash aid in total and supplies including comforters to people in need.
Our distribution standard was based on the monthly salary of government employees. That was the standard used back then. At that time, we gave emergency cash of about 1,000 TWD to each family. For each additional family member, we gave an additional 200 to 300 TWD. For a family of five, six, seven, eight or any size larger than five, based on a family of five. We can see that received a different amount of emergency cash. Very clearly. We gave different amounts based on each family’s situation and recorded it down clearly.
This has been our practice. Due to different family size, we offered different amounts of emergency cash. More family members means higher living expenses, less family members means lower expenses. Therefore, we needed to create a name list. Everything was destroyed in that fire, however, even the local township government records. So, to find the local family registration was truly a bit tough. It just so happened that among the families impacted, there were Tzu Chi commissioners. About seventy families were impacted in this tightly connected rural neighborhood.
They remembered almost everyone’s name in every family. Although it was very difficult to find each family’s information, we still collected their names and each family’s situation. Looking back, that was what we had been through. When we go down memory lane and review many past events in all these decades, what we had seen, done, and been through was truly a lot. There are also those whose personal experience of disasters inspired them to become active in Tzu Chi, such as the Pan brothers in southern Taiwan. The younger brothers devoted himself to Tzu Chi after seeing Tzu Chi’s Typhoon Morakot relief.
Eventually, his older brother was won over by him to join Tzu Chi, though it took some time. But once the older brother joined, he even took the initiative to immediately cut down his plantation of betel nut trees even though it provided a major source of income. He did it, just like that. It was certainly no easy thing that he did. In a word, with just a change in thinking, a person can do many, many good things. Now, these brothers share the same goal to do good. This is the wife of my third son. My brother in law. My third son. My uncle. Yes, uncle. Hello, everyone. This is my sister. My grandchildren. Yes, my grandchildren.
These two are siblings. This is my second son “ Say hi”. This is my daughter in law, my second’s wife. The family’s all here. This is my younger brother, Pan Ji Li. If not for him, believe me , I’d never have joined Tzu Chi The Pan brothers truly brought many of their family members to join Tzu Chi. This is the power of love. They have broadened and expanded their love to protect the environment by devoting themselves to recycling, and to care for their communities by becoming Tzu Chi commissioners and Tzu Cheng members.
To think about it, the mother of the Pan brothers is truly a bodhisattva who gave birth to so many bodhisattvas. This truly remarkable. In my summary, as we review Tzu Chi’s past history and present work, we look forward to our future, which should be even better. With the power of love, if we can help inspire people to do good, bodhisattvas in our world will offer more light to save more people in suffering.
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