20150529人間菩提 ~ 愛心開闊共生息 Unending Great Love to Care for the World
We see that that U.S. stated of California is now experiencing one of the worst droughts in its history. Some people have started placing the blame on population growth due to immigration. If views like these continue to be perpetuated there will be inevitably be conflict which will cause turmoil and disaster.
But what is the real cause of the water shortage? Why the serious lack of rainfall? What is the cause of climate change which creates such extreme weather conditions? The big picture is that due to greed for wealth and a better lifestyle, humankind has overexploited nature’s resources, and caused severe damage to the environmental.
We have to realize that we only have one planet. How much resources are there really? The key is to understand this, so that we each start using less resources. I often encourage everyone to eat a smaller meal so more food can go to the hungry.
Now in France, the amount of food wasted per year is about 5.6 million tons. According to statistics, Taiwan, though a small island, also wastes 2.75 million tonnes of food per year. According to a report from an UN aid agency, extreme weather conditions and insurgencies have disrupted the food supply. There are about 800 million people suffering from hunger around the world.
We see that in Zimbabwe this year, due to its worst drought in years, crops have failed and people who are already poor are suffering even more. Think about them and how hard their lives must be. This is happening in southern Africa.
Food shortage may become an even bigger problem. In Madagascar, we see a mother holding a malnourished child who is eating a wild cactus fruit as emergency food. What helpless circumstances. We must truly think deeply.
The prosperous countries have plenty of extra food. If people there can bring out their Great Love for the ones going hungry, they will realize the need to stop wasting food, which is to waste no food that is still edible. I look forward to seeing everyone cherish everything that is still usable to help the one in need.
Tzu Chi volunteers in the U.S. and Australia have been working with food banks for years. Take bread, for example, if it’s past its sell-by date, normally it would be thrown away. Seeing how wasteful that is, Tzu Chi volunteers have talked to the stores and now collect the leftover bread. Apart from the bread, they also do the same for many other kinds of food.
Tzu Chi volunteers organize the food supplies, so people in need can pick out the food they want as if they were doing grocery shopping in a supermarket without having to pay the cost of it. It is truly a very good way to help those in need through food banks.
This is what Tzu Chi volunteers in many countries have been doing for years. I’m truly grateful to our volunteers for organizing or serving in the food banks. They’re truly lent a helping hand. People just need to open their hearts and spare some of their time and effort, then they can help bring food filled with love to the people in need.
In Nepal, we see many heartwarming stories. Tzu Chi’s relief and medical team and volunteers have gone to Nepal and given of themselves in a relay of love for over one month. Currently, our sixth medical relief team is there to provide aid.
One of the members is Dr. Lee Seow Kheng from Penang of Malaysia, who works at Tzu Chi’s dialysis center. She went there with Tzu Chi’s fourth medical team and has seen many people suffering in Nepal. Serving there, she believes the quake survivors need her.
She readily stayed and continued to work with Tzu Chi’s fifth medical team and now with the sixth team as well. She stays there to serve out of love as she continues to give of herself. At night, she also prepares medicine to be used for the next day. During the daytime, she has to endure the heat working inside the tents.
When caring for the patients who are sick or injured, she treats them with love and tenderness. During the breaks, she immediately gathered local children and organized fun activities for them to keep their spirits up and make them smile. Seeing her dedication, I am truly very touched.
Volunteer doctors from Taiwan were deeply touched by her. To think that such a young doctor can be so willing to serve in hardship and opens her heart to bring out Great Love, they praise her very much.
“Those using words to spread the Dharma are just lecturers. Those who influence others with their actions and the Dharma are our teachers. Although she is younger than us, with her performance in Nepal, she is actually our teacher.”
Indeed, it takes actions to guide others to do good deeds and to inspire love in their hearts. She sets a good example for people.
Our world has so much disaster and suffering. What can we do and how to save all the ones in suffering? This morning in my Dharma talk, I mentioned we need not worry about how many people we can save. As long as we can go to them and extend our helping hands to them, we do our best to help with what capacity we have and in the amount of time that we have.
Just do it, but with patience and endurance, including bearing with the hardship serving under the unbearable hot weather, witnessing the quake survivors’ suffering amidst the devastation and damages, and facing patient wailing in pain every day. However, with love and endurance, we’ll naturally muster our strength to stay in the disaster area for a very long time to help the quake survivors.
Seeing the love and dedication from volunteers is truly touching. However, this quake has caused severe devastation in Nepal. We do not know how long it will take us to provide homes for the quake survivors. Their suffering is truly deep and great.
All in all, no matter how long it will take, we must continue our effort to help them and keep on giving with unending Great Love. Let us all share the common goal of living in harmony with Mother Nature, cherishing all material goods, and giving of ourselves for the respect of all living beings’ lives.
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