20150619人間菩提 ~ 珍惜資源‧無語良師The Importance of Cherishing Resources
A while ago in Taiwan, we had watched water levels in reservoirs dropping. Later on, it rained and water levels in reservoirs had increased, however, we really need to pay special attention to water usages.
Some places in the world are in drought. In North Korea, the ground is so dry that people there fear a famine will come soon. Now China is willing to help North Korea probably by sending in food. When North Korea has a shortage of food, its neighboring country can provide aid. When the ground water on Earth dries up, which neighboring planet can we borrow water from?
Scientists have identified that global population growth increasingly stresses the world’s water supplies as more water is being drawn than being replenished. We must be on heightened alert about this. A scientist said that at the current depletion rate, the world’s largest aquifers will be depleted. Another scientist also warned, “We need to get our heads together on how we manage groundwater—because we’re running out of it. Therefore, we truly must cherish water when using it.
We see that our environment really needs people to take care of it. We see this elderly grandmother in her nineties still insisting on doing recycling. This volunteer was Mrs. Chang Dingri. She started doing recycling when she was 76 years old.
“This is a senior home, where they take care of old people.”
“The elderly here are younger than you. They are younger and live a better life.”
“You are elderly too. You live a happier life.”
“I’m happy doing recycling. Sitting around chatting to neighbors is a waste of time. Doing something meaningful. Amituofo, thank you.”
Her life was full of hardship. She grew up in a farming family. Her father passed away when she was young. Knowing that farming makes a hard life, her mother married her to a businessman hoping to give her a good life. Yet, she ended up having to work very hard after marriage. Such is her karma. Even though her mother wanted her to have an easier life by marrying her to a businessman, little did she know that running a business also required hard work.
It is said that when her mother learned how, after marriage, she lived a life that’s worse off than at home and even suffered from domestic abuse, her mother felt very guilty and committed suicide by drinking alkaline water. She also felt very guilty, believing her mother died because of her. She blamed herself very much for this and carried this guilt with her.
She realized that such was her fate and accepted her life until the year when she was 76 years old and saw volunteers doing recycling on Da Ai TV. She saw how happy the elderly volunteers can be in doing recycling. That was the year she joined Tzu Chi’s recycling.
When she was 80 years old, she became certified as a Tzu Chi commissioner. Though she was certified at the age of 80, she worked as hard as other volunteers. She recruited quite a few donating members. Despite being illiterate, she managed to keep up a clear record of donations.
“Mrs. Wang, today is the fifteenth, I come to collect donation from you. That’s 300 NT dollars for three of them.
“For November?” “For October.”
“Please write the number 300 here.”
“What is the name?”
“Let her tell you”
“My surname is Hong”
“Can you tear off the paper for me?”
“Who do you ask to write it down for you?”
“I ask my donors to write their names and fold the paper up. My children don’t want me to collect donations. But I and my donor members are good friends. We don’t want to stop.”
“Granny, you are truly wonderful.”
“I will really miss them if I stop coming”
“It looks as you are wrapping the medicine powder.”
“Yes, it does look like so”
“She has a good record-keeping system.”
“This person gave me the donation for the following months till December.”
“The person lives in Houzhuang Li. His donation is for up to December. Yes”
“You know the donor when you unfold the note.” “Yes, roughly.”
“She has good memory.”
She folded up the money and notes just like wrapping the medicine powder and kept the folded notes inside until she met up with someone to record them. Then, they will unfold the money and notes one by one and record down the donations in her donation record book for her. See, she had started this when she was certified at the age of 80 and carried it on until she was 92 when she passed away. During these 12 years, she collected donations in this way.
Moreover, she wasted no time away by dedicating herself wholly in doing recycling. Apart from recruiting members and collecting donations from them, she also devoted herself in doing recycling.
Now her body had come back to Tzu Chi University. What a wise decision she had made. In fact, life is full of suffering. Although her life was full of hardship, once she encountered the Dharma, upon contact, she made a great vow. This is what I described as the committed bodhisattva in today’s morning Dharma talk. Her mind was firm and unwavering. She was fully committed with patience and endurance.
At 92 years old, she passed away and donated her body to the silent mentor program. For her to dedicate her life in helping others and Mother Nature, it is truly not easy. However, in life, if it is the right thing, just do it and seize every second in life to do good, never purposely do the wrong thing. If it is the right thing, just do it. Let us seize the time to do good. She really managed her time well in life by waking up around 4 a.m. every morning to collect recyclables in her neighborhood.
Therefore, in this lifetime, she had one a lot of good deeds. We should look up to her as our role model and follow her example of “just do it”.
Today is also the closing ceremony of simulation surgeries in the silent mentor program where the wishes of the body donors are fulfilled. This time around 90 physicians participated in this simulation learning program. The Asst. Supt from Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital shared his team’s experience in home visits and documenting the life stories of their silent mentors. These silent mentors made history.
In summary, to have such ending makes their lives very worthy because they had the Asst. Supt.
physicians and directors from various hospitals visiting their homes to document their life stories for the record. This is truly not a simple achievement. There are many touching life stories from these volunteers. Let us learn from them and keep up with our Tzu Chi work.
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