20180613知恩回報心至誠Spreading Seeds of Love Around
I’m sure you all remember how Hurricane Harvey left a trail of destruction in Texas, the U.S., last year. Later, one hurricane after another brought much damage to islands of Central America and many houses there have yet to be restored. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, one of our Tzu Chi volunteers in Sint Maarten gave out bread to those affected every day.
At the time, as we didn’t have much rice to give out, we could only ration three cups of rice each household. Nonetheless, with every cup of rice our volunteers gave out, they encouraged the recipients to think good thoughts, speak kind words, and do good deeds. As they could still receive aid, albeit not much, in the aftermath of such a calamity, the locals all deeply cherished the aid we gave and made vows to do good and help others. In times of suffering, one shall feel content with even a little aid.
How about us here in Taiwan? As three cups of rice sufficient for a family? Yet, when people are divested of what they have due to a disaster, being given a little aid is much better than receiving no aid at all, and they shall cherish what they’ve received. Everyone, since we enjoy abundant resources in daily life, how can we not cherish what we have?
Also, not only did many locals in Sint Maarten have little to eat, but the roofs of their homes was also ripped off by the hurricane and have yet to be mended. So, we’ll continue to help them. We’ll do our best to help mend their roofs so they can stay dry in times of rain.
The locals in Sint Maarten truly have experienced much suffering. Also, there are some Haitians in Sint Maarten who have received rice from Tzu Chi. Inspired, they’ve since been saving money in coin banks to help others. Having learned that a strong quake hit Hualien, Taiwan, on February 6 this year, they asked our volunteers there to collect the money they’d saved in coin banks.
A few days ago, when I learned of what they did, I was truly very touched. They saved all they could. Although they couldn’t donate much, they’ve given with a sincere heart. I’m truly grateful. See how they wish to help. Poor as they are, they try their best to give. Also, they do so in return for our aid. I’m truly moved by their hearts of gratitude.
There are many touching stories in the world. We also see Portugal, which was affected by wildfires last year. Earlier this year, our Tzu Chi volunteers in Europe gathered together to bring aid to those affected. Seeing that ranches there were also ravaged by the fire, our volunteers felt deeply for those affected and held aid distributions there. This time, our volunteers organized volunteers training so the locals could learn more about Tzu Chi.
See how our volunteers relieve people’s suffering by serving as living bodhisattvas. Again and again, no matter how far the places are, they always reach out to help. In all, every day is an important day in Tzu Chi’s history. For over 50 years, we’ve done so much each and every day and left behind many footprints accordingly.
You can go to Tzu Chi’s website and click “Today in History”, and you’ll see many of Tzu Chi’s event and stories that occurred on the same day in previous years. So, every day, we can look back to many touching stories in our history. There’s much suffering in the world but there are also many touching stories.
This world is one with both suffering and joy. Such is life. The Buddha said that the world we live in is one with much suffering to endure. Yet, we can bear to live in this world because though there is much suffering, there are living bodhisattvas reaching out to the suffering and giving of themselves to spread love and warmth. So, we must deeply cherish this world where there are living bodhisattvas.
May our Tzu Chi volunteers unceasingly pass on our Jing Si Dharma linage, and lay out and pave our Tzu Chi Path each and every day so as to inspire more people to serve as living bodhisattvas by walking the Tzu Chi Path, cultivating themselves in the Jing Si linage, and passing on our linage to future generations.
I’m grateful to all our Tzu Chi members. Without you, we couldn’t lay out or pave the Tzu Chi Path, nor can we pass on our spirit of our Tzu Chi’s four missions. So, I’m truly grateful to you all. I also work very hard, yet I’m already advanced in age, which you all know very well. Given my age, I must seize time as well.
Everyone, as long as I have some strength, I’ll work with all my strength. We must seize our present lives to give, for there is no time left for us to wait any longer.
There are so many disasters happening around the world every day, but I don’t have much time to share with you. in all, with each passing second, we’re growing in wisdom but our lives also diminish as time passes by, so we truly must seize every second of our lives to give. I’m grateful to all our Tzu Chi members for continually caring for and supporting one another. Thank you all.
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