20131115人間菩提 ~心志堅韌‧賑濟災民Counting Our Blessings and Helping People in the Philippines
“I’d like to share with everyone the arduous path I’d walked in my life. It was truly a bumpy path, and I hope no one will ever have to experience it.”
“Over ten years ago, in a very short period, my two daughters and my son were diagnosed with cancer. Every day, I felt like that a knife was cutting into my heart. I couldn’t eat or sleep. My husband also had cancer, so my daughter-in-law asked us to live with them.”
“The day I moved in happened to be Tzu Chi’s recycling day. So, I went to do recycling. As I did the work mindfully, I was able to smile again.”
“Master said that with an open heart come blessings. These words have shifted my perspective. Now, I am a changed person.”
We see our recycling volunteer, Grandma Lin. She is truly resilient. In her family, four people had cancer including herself. It was truly hard for her. Her husband and daughter passed away.
With proper medical care, her son who also has cancer is getting better now. Seeing that, I’m very happy and I give them my blessings. Apart from receiving chemotherapy, Grandma Lin also does many things to improve her condition. Now she looks like a healthy person.
So, when we fall ill, don’t be frightened and avoid the treatment we need or turn to folk remedies. We should take the medicine doctors prescribe and eat the food they suggest. In all, we should do whatever our body requires us to do and receive the right treatment to recover our health.
Granma Lin’s son and daughter-in-law are very filial and supportive to her and Grandma Lin is very positive and upbeat. The more challenges, the stronger she is. Although she is 78 years old and has cancer, she does many things to take care of herself. With what she has done, she’s survived her illness. Now she is very happy. We should look up on her.
Indeed, being safe and well is a blessing.
Look at Zamboanga City in the Philippines. In September, a rebel group seized parts of the city and burned down a large area. Over 20,000 families were affected and many schools were damaged. It was about 20 days later that the conflict came to an end.
I often say that when our society is peaceful and harmonious we are most blessed. So, when we are safe and well, we should be grateful. But, to be safe and well, we should harbor love in our hearts.
Look at the widespread devastation Super Typhoon Haiyan brought to the Philippines. Everyone, we truly need to be grateful for the peace and safety we have.
At this moment, as I sit here and share with you the condition of the typhoon survivors in the Philippines and how much they suffer, my heart aches. However, all we feel is heartache, but over there in the Philippines, people live in very harsh conditions and some even lost their beloved ones and their homes to the typhoon.
How heartrending this is for them. Although many countries have offered aid supplies, there is still a long way to go before every one of those affected can receive aid and care. So, Tzu Chi volunteers in Cebu, who are close to the disaster area, have gone to some towns to provide aid.
Taiwan’s military cargo planes carrying supplies have also arrived. After our volunteers in Cebu receive our supplies, they’ll begin to pack them and give them out to those in need.
Also, here in Taiwan, we are now setting up 160 temporary classrooms for children affected by the conflict in Zamboanga. But, as the typhoon survivors desperately need shelters, we’ve decided to move half of the temporary classrooms for the typhoon survivors to use.
Tzu Chi volunteers in Zamboanga will also take part in our relief effort this time. Indeed, only when we reach out to people in person can their minds be set at ease.
Be is Zamboanga or the places affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan this time, we’ll bring aid and care to those affected and continue to support them until they recover.
Apart from holding free clinics and providing temporary classrooms for children, we’ll also see what we can do to help them settle down by providing temporary housing to them. This way every family can have a place of their own.
When asked where the typhoon survivors live now, our volunteers said they stay in a stadium where over 60,000 people crowded together. So, everyone is emotionally distraught. That’s why we’ll need to provide them with temporary housing, which will be very sturdily built for them to live for a few years.
We don’t know how much temporary housing they need, but we’ll do whatever we can to help them.
I’m also very grateful to our volunteers in Malaysia. Learning of the disasters in the Philippines, they said to me: “Master, we’ll start soliciting donations and call on people to give.” I replied, “Very good. When everyone gives with love to sow blessings there’ll be less disasters and more peace and harmony in your society. So, you should do that now.”
I also hope that the people in Taiwan can learn from disaster and help those affected with love. If everyone can give of themselves with love, there’ll be true blessings for Taiwan.
We must also have wisdom. So, you should learn the Dharma and take it in. Only then can our wisdom grow. To sow blessings, we need to seize every opportunity to do good.
So, when you got to our recycling stations, I hope you can tell everyone: “Master said the Philippines need help. So, we should do what we can to help.”
At a time like this, we should unite our hearts as one and work together to help the suffering. As you’re caring for the Earth, I hope you can also care for people. Can you do that? “Yes”
This is a good opportunity for you to walk the Bodhisattva Path. The Philippines needs help. To emulate a Bodhisattva’s heart, wherever there are people in need, we should be there to help, and this is a good opportunity to do so.
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