20180129同心協力勤行道Working in Unity with Concerted Efforts on the Bodhisattva Path
Tsu Chi volunteer Yang Chinchung, “We were truly blessed. In 1984, I became a donating member. In 1988, I went to the Abode for a seven-day spiritual retreat. Then in 1989, it was the inauguration of our Junior College of Nuring. Ever since then, I have participated in every Tzu Chi event.”
Tzu Chi volunteer Huang Isheng, “I am very grateful for this opportunity. In the early days, Mr. Yang, others, and I went to Taipei for Tzu Chi gatherings. At the time, there was no Tzu Cheng team.
It was called the Bao Quan team Security team. We went to the gathering together, and there were already four Bao Quan teams in Taipei, so volunteers in Taipei suggested to us that we could form a team in Taoyuan.
So, after we returned, we started to recruit members. First, we had a place for meetings, and then more and more people joined. After the 921 Earthquake in 1999, there was a surge of volunteers because everyone could feel the impermanence of life and the unpredictability of natural disasters. As Master says, bodhisattvas emerged from the ground, one after another.”
We heard sharings of senior volunteers who have joined Tzu Chi for more than 30 years. In the 1980s, I came to Taoyuan. In a small gather place, volunteers trained many new volunteers, full of Tzu Chi’s spirit.
Since then, they’ve carried out Tzu Chi’s work in Taoyuan. I even gave a talk while sitting on a chair on top of stacked boxes. I was younger back then; that was about thirty years ago, in my middle age.
I was much more agile then, but now I can’t do that anymore. Now, I’m grateful for even just walking in a straight line. I’m grateful for being able to walk steadily.
My health is not as good as before. This is why I keep reminding everyone that we must seize time to serve without wasting any second of our lives. If you had not wasted time in your life, you would have made progress on the path with all the solid steps you took.
Therefore we say, step by step, we pave a path that protects Mother Earth. In the same way, we’ve paved a long path with our heart. If we don’t pave the path, or stop doing it in the middle of the path, all our effort in the part that we have paved will be wasted.
So, I hope that we can make good use of our life. We see our Jing Si Hall in Taoyuan. It has a long corridor. As I walked in the corridor, I saw posters that show how Tzu Chi started in the early days, and also how volunteers in Taoyuan carried out activities.
It showed their unity and harmony. Seeing this, I was touched and comforted. I praised them for what they’ve done. We must cherish our history, and more importantly, we must respect what’s ahead of us.
We Truly need to seize time, and cherish what’s ahead of us. We’ve witnessed what we have done here; each step we took was solid. Without our humble start, we would not have this dignified Jing Si Hall.
Without the stacked boxes back then, how could we have this big stage now? We mustn’t overlook our humble start several decades ago. Without it, we would not have this wonderful venue for cultivation. We should cherish it.
So now, we should really recruit new volunteers in the communities with the spirit of when we started Tzu Chi. With more people, the more strength we have. As we join together, we can accomplish great deeds that benefit people.
Look at the residents in Heliu Village. In 2015, Typhoon Soudelor destroyed their houses. We are grateful to the mayor of Taoyuan City. He actively helped us so Tzu Chi was able to start the construction work in a short time. Last year, we completed the hosing complex for the residents of Heliu Village.
It is like what we did for the affectees of Typhoon Morakot, which struck which struck Taiwan in August 2009. The disaster situation in central and southern Taiwan, especially Kaohsiung and Pingtung, was very severe.
At that time, we were very touched and full of gratitude to the local governments. The local government officials had the right direction, perseverance, determination, and also a lot of love.
With all parties working in unity and harmony, in a short period of time, affectees had safe and sturdy houses to live in. We build one Great Love Village in Shanlin of Kaohsiung and another in Changjhih of Pingtung.
As long as all volunteers of the Tzu Chi family work with one heart, wherever there’s a need, we would go there and provide what they need. We should aspire and make vows to give of ourselves with love to help people in suffering in the world.
We should aspire to be a person who helps others. The greatest treasure of Taiwan is the love and kindness of its people. We need to keep giving of ourselves and accumulating the power of love.
This can help us grow in wisdom-life. We need to transform our consciousnesses into wisdoms, put our wisdoms together, and nourish our wisdom-life. So, we should seize every moment and make the best of our time.
I am grateful. Everyone has integrated unity, harmony, and mutual love together to make a collective concerted effort as an offering to me. I happily accept your offering.
Indeed, if every one of you makes an effort and works together, there will be hope in our society and the world. Tough you think you are making offerings to me, in fact, you are nourishing your own wisdom-life.
Seeing your wisdom-life grow brings me the greatest joy. I am truly happy. This is the best offering to me. Do you understand? Yes. Good. I will give all of you my blessings.
I hope you can always be in harmony as you are now. So that I will not need to worry about you. I hope you can walk the Bodhisattva Path steadily and grow in wisdom-life. Stay diligent. I wish everyone be mindful.
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