20171215齊為臺灣造福緣 Working Together to Create Blessings for Taiwan
Seeing Tzu Chi’s seeds of love sprouting and growing into a Bodhi forest, I am happy. As life diminishes with each passing day, I see volunteers aging. It is the law of nature that people grow old, their health and memory deteriorate, etc. Such is the law of nature.
What is special about the Tzu Chi family is volunteers caring for their fellow volunteers; they have a close bond, and with love, they take turns to care for volunteers who are ill. Since the start of my tour, in all the places that I’ve visited, I saw that the love and care among volunteers surpass family love.
I thought to myself: despite life has many inescapable sufferings, (fortunately, there are volunteers.) The Buddha told us that what happens to us in life is due to karma. We are blessed because we have encountered the Dharma in this life, and cultivated together in the Tzu Chi family. Our volunteers truly offer comfort to their fellow volunteers with genuine love.
Sometimes, when I see our volunteers supporting each other, I would think: Without being in Tzu Chi, they wouldn’t have such fellow volunteers to care for them. In Tzu Chi, we practice loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. We show love even to strangers. A long as we have affinity to reach them, we give them care. In caring for people in need, we are grateful to them for giving us the opportunity to serve.
If the people who need help are our fellow volunteers, we should feel closer to them because we have worked together in caring for care recipients and volunteering in the community. We have supported one another in carrying out our missions.
We are closed bonded by following the same teacher, having the same missions, and walk the same path. When a volunteer falls ill or encounters family hardships, other volunteers can give the most apt help because they could feel his pain as if it were their own, and his suffering were their own suffering. They are very closed.
Seeing this, I feel it is so fortunate that he is in Tzu Chi, surrounded and cared by his fellow volunteers. Fellow volunteers stood by him throughout the whole hardship. He was never alone. During the trip, I am grateful and praise the volunteers for caring for their fellow volunteers. Everything I saw and heard is praiseworthy.
I thank them from the bottom of my heart. We see that there are a lot of sufferings in the world. Tzu Chi volunteers are united in heart, and cared for people in need with love and action. This is the treasure of Taiwan. Kindness and love are truly how we, people in Taiwan, show the world this beauty of humanity.
We hope the create blessings for Taiwan with this power of love. We are blessed to be the ones who help others. We want to give of ourselves and create blessings for Taiwan. We want Taiwan to have peace and harmony. Those who are safe and well can help people.
Tzu Chi pools together every volunteer’s efforts from around the world to help people in need, so Taiwan is connected to the world with the power of love. Everyone can feel this. So, we need to recruit new volunteers. Time goes by very quickly. We need to seize the time; otherwise, with each passing second, our life diminishes.
We should make the best use of our life to serve. Our wisdom-life is nurtured through giving our power of love to the world. We should cherish this karmic affinity.
We, Jing Si disciples of Kaohsiung, vow to master: We will be diligent in spreading the Dharma and cultivating the fields of blessings. We will be vegetarian and form good affinities. We will make good use of technology to pass on the Jing Si Dharma lineage. We will learn the Dharma, take it to heart, and carry out the spirit of the lotus Sutra.
Volunteers, this is how we accumulate the power of love. There is much suffering in this world, and life is full of hardships. However, the world also has a lot of joy because there are living bodhisattvas. In order to help those in suffering, we need bodhisattvas in this world. With a heart of bodhisattva, we serve people.
Indeed, we have learned that in times of crisis, we must know right from wrong. We must clearly understand that when facing cries of the present times, we should use our great wisdom and compassion. More importantly, we need to deeply repent ay all the time. (We gain blessings for the good deeds we do.) Every good deed we do would nurture our wisdom-life. We should avoid creating any bad karma; otherwise, it will bring about unbearable consequences.
I would like to encourage you to work together with one heart, know right from wrong, and repent deeply. I am grateful to you. May you cultivate both wisdom and blessings, and walk the Bodhisattva path every day. I am grateful and touched. I am grateful to everyone. I am touched. Don’t forget the aspiration and vow you have made now. Thank you. May you cultivate both wisdom and blessings, and have a happy New Year. Thank you.
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