20150822虔誠造福齊擁護 To Create Blessings Sincerely
For the past few days, Typhoon Goni meaning swan in Korean has been moving leisurely over the Pacific Ocean. We are very concerned about its direction. As it moves over the ocean, we hope Typhoon Goni will be compassionate and quickly veer off to head more northeast. Then Taiwan will be safe and well. We are very worried about the weather because there’s a medical conference in Hualien today.
Scholars, hundreds of guests, and over 700 attendees from various countries all gather at Hualien for the conference. This is such a big event with over 1,000 participants. Many Tzu Chi volunteers are also involved in giving support to this event. With the attendees, guests and Tzu Chi volunteers, totaling over 1,000 people at the conference, we’re very worried that the typhoon may disrupt the conference.
Therefore, we have to pray sincerely that everything will go well. Of course, not only do we sincerely pray for Hualien, we also pray for the whole Taiwan. We are even more concerned about the disaster area in Wulai District in northern Taiwan, where some families live deep in the mountains are still cleaning up from the last typhoon. They live very deep and high up in the mountain.
The road into their area has finally been restored. For the coming typhoon, the government plans to evacuate the community to safe area after the road is opened because it is not safe to live where they live in the mountain. Therefore, engineers and repairs crews have risked their lives to restore the road into Fushan Li and cleared all the debris off the road for the residents to evacuate. This is very hard work.
I am even more worry about the mountain because its structure has been weakened, and with the coming typhoon, i am afraid the outcome will be unimaginable. I am especially concerned for the old town of Wulai where Tzu Chi volunteers had went there and helped with its cleanup for several days. It is a tourist attraction with hot spring and many large hotels. The cleanup has just ended.
Will this coming typhoon make all the prior cleanup in vain? Indeed, I am very worried. However, all of us should always practice being sincerely vigilant while we prepare for the coming typhoon. It will be best that after being prepared, no disaster happens. This shows our sincerely for taking the typhoon seriously. Sandbags were delivered to Wulai, and residents are using the sandbags as a barrier to block mudslide and floodwaters. They just finished cleaning their properties and are now preparing for the coming Typhoon Goni.
My heart truly goes out to them as I saw their preparation work on the news. I am also very grateful to volunteers’ help. Early this morning, I saw Mr. Li and asked him how many days in Wulai he had served. He replied that for about 7 to 8 days. He had served there for 7 to 8 days, when he is around my age. At such an old age, he still led volunteers to commit themselves to do service work.
With such courage, he has applied his perseverance, patience as well as insightfulness in leading and inspiring groups of volunteers to go to mudflow affected areas of Wulai District, Guishan Li in Xindian District and several other places to do cleanup work. I am truly very grateful to him. We should pay a lot of attention to Earth, which has been damaged and polluted by mankind instead of being cherished. As the pollution gets worse, Mother Nature goes more out of balance and climate change becomes more drastic, which leads to the consequence of extreme weathers.
This date in history, on August 22, 1986, Typhoon Wayne with mid-level intensity made landfall in Taiwan. This Typhoon made landfall twice in Taiwan. Warnings were issued three separate times as the typhoon changed direction four times and traveled in circles. This was truly the result of a collective karma. It did not have a simple path where it came close to Taiwan and then went away. It did more. It came, then turned around and circled about. The severity of a disaster depends on whether the people have been very sincere.
To mitigate a disaster, we need to be sincere and create blessings. Only by v=create blessings can we mitigate disasters. We have to be sincerely pious all the time. How to eliminate disasters? Going to temples to worship and pray only shows your faith and piety. If we lacked sincerity in our daily life and in our interaction with people, should something happens to us, it will be of no use to pray to the Buddha for help and protection.
Therefore in daily life, we need to develop a sincere love for others and educate people to be diligent and practical. This is possible for everyone to adopt, act on and truly be a role model for humanity. Look at the Tzu Cheng team leader Mr. Li. For many years, he has taken on the responsibility of leading the volunteers in service from the prime of his life to now old age. He is about my age, and we are both old now. However, he has nurtured many volunteers from seeds into big trees with firm roots. Now he still leads volunteers by nurturing their mind.
This is what I meaning by educating people to be diligent and practical. He does not issue orders. He leads by example. This is how Tzu Chi is able to respond to needs. When there is a disaster or a need in our society, volunteers take initiative to come forward en masse and give of themselves. This is a role model for people to learn how to give sincere love and be diligent and practical.
In summary, the power of love is a force that will truly quell disasters. Therefore, we must practice caution with sincerity and always be grateful and respectful with love.
If we can achieve this and if everyone in the world can also achieve this goal, Earth will be a pure land.
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