20150419關懷互信向光明

主題: 20150419關懷互信向光明周二 9月 01, 2015 5:11 am

20150419關懷互信向光明Self-Affirmation with Discipline

Isn’t this clean and neat?
Yes, but so many of you have to come and help.
As long as you’re happy living here, it is worth it.

This help is a big deal to us because for 14 years here, I look after her. We don’t get this help.

I love you. Tzu Chi does not only help my mother. They also help me and motivate me. They never give up with me.

Tzu Chi, thank you very much. You gave us financial help first and then built a home for my mother. Now, you also give my daughter a scholarship. Even if, one day, when I leave this world, I will never forget this.

I really appreciate you giving my grandmother a home and supporting me to finish my degree. I could not attend college after high school because my family has no money. If you did not show up, I could not attend college.

Fortunately there are living bodhisattvas in this world who are caring and warm to help these people in need. We see such living bodhisattvas displaying great loving-kindness and great compassion for all in this world. They apply the Dharma to help this world and in their life.

Living bodhisattvas apply the Dharma in their daily life. When they see people in suffering, they still want to help even if these people are strangers to them, who are not their friends, family, or have any kind of relationship with them.With Dharma deeply rooted in their hearts, however, they are always compassionate to all the people in this world and hope everyone in this world can live a peaceful, safe and happy life.

Such spirit is called great loving-kindness to all. Though these people are not related to us, all that we wish for everyone in this world is for them to live a peaceful and happy life. This is the spirit of great loving-kindness for all.

There is also the spirit of great compassion, which is to live in harmony with everyone and everything in this world. The phrases, “feeling the pain and suffering of others as our own” and “helping the people in suffering to fulfill our bodhisattva vows”, are not merely words from the sutras. They describe our true experiences from helping the people in need. When we see people in hardship and suffering, we feel for them and cannot bear to see them suffer.

To have this spirit of great compassion, it does not come from just listening to talks about it, but from our personal experiences of helping people.

For the overseas volunteers who are here in Taiwan, to report on the Tzu Chi work, they’ve done in their countries when putting all their individual Tzu Chi work together, collectively they show this greater spirit of loving-kindness and compassion for all and also treating everyone equally. This displaying of love, of caring for everyone equally, is truly touching.

Therefore, I hope everyone in this world can contribute themselves and give of their love. This will make our world a more peaceful place because, with the climate changes now, our environment is changing.

We also see damages done to the environment made by humans. For examples, in Mexico, an oil spill has contaminated rivers, which has impacted water supplies that people rely on for drinking water. More than 100,000 people are left without fresh water as a result of human activities.

However, we also see heartwarming news. On the 26th anniversary celebration of the sister state agreement between Taiwan and New Jersey, New Jersey government issued a certificate of appreciation to Tzu Chi for thanking Tzu Chi volunteers’ timely help in disaster recovery after Hurricane Sandy. A lot of survivors were helped by Tzu Chi where we provided material aid and emotional support. Therefore, they were very grateful.

The Great Love of Tzu Chi is valued and recognized by the world, it is also an important help to the Taiwanese government in building diplomatic relationships. I also want to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Tzu Chi.

Such recognition and support truly feels very good to have. However, we must receive this with humbleness. When we know that it is the right thing to do, just do it. We must appreciate our values, but without being arrogant. There are a lot more we need to do, so we must form good affinities with others to have the leverage to help with world affairs.

Yesterday, Tzu Chi volunteers from various countries have gathered together for an annual meeting. It is not easy to have them together. The attendees are local volunteer leaders or heads of various functions. Their international activity report commenced yesterday starting with reports from volunteers from the Philippines, Hong Kong as well as Singapore. What they shared with us were indeed truly touching.

While Hong Kongappears very prosperous, yet, many people there suffer spiritually. It is the same in Singapore. There is a case of an inmate who, with Tzu Chi’s help, is able to see bright hope.

Although he used to have substance abuse problem and ended up in prison several times, Tzu Chi volunteers never stopped giving him love and care.

We keep helping him to build up his confidence. He even encourages me.

Master, we love you. Keep up your good work.“Our heart and mind must remain very calm and do not be distressed by what others do.”These are words that I often say to Tzu Chi volunteers.

Recently, it has been the other way around. Many people came to see me and told me of this. It is really good of them. This shows that everyone has taken the Dharma to heart and are reaching out with the Dharma to encourage one another. This is truly wonderful.

主題: 20150420 - 以法除苦善養心周二 9月 01, 2015 5:22 am

20150420 - 以法除苦善養心 Serving as Living Bodhisattvas to Benefit Our World

We see the images of living bodhisattvas. They are ordinary people in this world, but what they do is really extraordinary and also very moving.

They are able to do so much touching work because there are people living in suffering beyond our imagination.

In this world, there’s indeed much suffering that we can’t even imagine.

Seeing how people suffer in this world, the Buddha teaches us the reality of suffering. If there were no suffering in the world, Buddhist teachings would not be needed. With the help of Buddhist teachings, we can train to become living bodhisattvas.

We heard young, adorable children from one of our kindergartens in the U.S. make vows to lead their lives with mindfulness.

To create a peaceful world, we in the U.S. must awaken first. Grandmaster and everyone, please see how we lead our lives with mindfulness.

If we use too much water, water will run out. So, just a little water is enough. Turn off the light to save electricity. Don’t throw plastic bottles away because they can be recycled. I’m helping my mom rinse the rice. The used water can water plants. Hello, Grandmaster. Please don’t worry.

There’ll be more and more people doing what we just showed you and the U.S. will become more and more beautiful.

For a peaceful world, we in the U.S. must awaken. Grandmaster, I love you.

They said they in the U.S. must awaken in order to bring peace to the world. How are they going to do that?

They started with caring for the Earth by doing recycling work, helping their parents with house chores at home, cherishing water and electricity, etc.

See, children can learn, so we should guide them from a young age. Our U.S. volunteers are really mindful. Hearing their report yesterday, I was very moved.

What moved me even more is that since July last year, they’ve been listening to my Dharma talk every day. During this period, they’d experienced major snowstorms.

Despite such harsh weather since last July up till now, the total attendance of our volunteers to my Dharma talk has reached over 100,000.

This is truly not easy. I’m truly very moved. This is really no easy feat. What’s even more touching is their effort to share the Dharma with others. See how they send Tzu Chi’s publications to prisons and to go interact with the inmates. Many of the inmates were inspired and wrote letters to share with our volunteers how they’ve changed.

Some donated stamps to Tzu Chi and others expressed that they hope to receive more of our publications as they find them very useful.

Many are resolved to reform. Their minds have become free, and they are determined to help others from now on.

I’m sure that their future will be filled with hope, light and beauty.

In recognition of our volunteers’ service in Santa Rosa, California, the mayor has designated a Tzu Chi Day.

Apart from doing various work to serve the local community, our volunteers also care for the homeless and share wholesome teachings with them.

Many have even been inspired to lead a normal life again. No matter who people are, this is how our volunteers share true principles with everyone according to their aptitudes and levels of understanding, so they can easily take them in and benefit. Seeing how our U.S. volunteers not only learn the Dharma, but also pass it on to others. I’m really very moved. Our U.S. volunteers serve several countries in the world. So, like the children said, they must awaken and lead their lives mindfully. Only then can they have pure minds, and help bring peace to the world. This is very important. That’s why I told our U.S. volunteers yesterday that I hope they can nurture their wisdom. With wisdom, their minds will not be tainted when they go amongst people to serve.

Seeing what they’ve done, I’m very moved. This time, in order to better serve our volunteers from abroad, Tzu Chi members in Taiwan have come together and taken up different work.

Supt. Chien from our hospital in Taichung also brought his staff to the Abode to help. They came to Hualien by train last Friday.

When they arrived, it was already 8 p.m. They helped prepare the meals on Saturday. Be it the supt., asst. supt., doctors, or department heads, they gave of themselves to give us a hand.

Many of the dishes were prepared by them. They took the 6 p.m. train back to Taichung on Saturday.

When they came to say good-bye before they left, I could still smell food on them.

It was truly very moving. This was the second time. Asst. Supt. Hsu came to help. He said last year, he also helped in the kitchen.

I remember last year he told me that he’d never chopped vegetables for over 1,000 people to eat.

This year, he’s learned to use a spatula which is truly very remarkable of him. In life, there’s nothing one cannot do.

As long as we try, we can do it well. I’m truly very grateful. I’m grateful to Tzu Chi members in Taiwan for working together to serve our volunteers from abroad. This is indeed very moving.14:21:41