20131128人間之寶‧同體大悲 Caring for the Earth and Helping the Suffering
At this time every year, we get to meet one another with great joy. Earlier, I walked around the second floor and saw that it was full of people, all of whom are our recycling volunteers. I often say that recycling volunteers are my treasures. In fact, they’re the treasures of our world.
They care for the Earth and make it clean. Indeed, the hearts of our recycling volunteers are truly very clean and redolent. To safeguard the Earth, our hearts really need to be very clean, as if they could send out a fragrant scent. See how many recycling volunteers we have.
They use their hands to care for the Earth by collecting and sorting cans, plastic bottles, paper, etc. so that these recyclables can be remade into other useful things. This way, we’ll never be short of resources.
See how we can use plastic bottles to make blankets. For our relief work in the Philippines this time, we’ve given out over 50,000 blankets. We’re now preparing another 30,000 blankets to be sent to the Philippines. For many years, wherever there are people affected by disasters, we’ll give them our blankets.
So I’d like to use this opportunity to thank our recycling volunteers. The blankets are very useful to those in need especially in winter. So, I’m very grateful to our recycling volunteers. Most important, what they do helps to protect the Earth. Look at how people’s desires have brought so much impurity to the world.
The greed and desires of people have brought many disasters to the world and much turmoil to people’s minds. So, we also need to purify people’s minds, and that is called “spiritual recycling”. When we use our hands to do recycling work, that’s called “physical recycling”. So, we need to do both physical recycling and spiritual recycling.
If we can do so, disasters will gradually be mitigated and the effect of global warming will gradually diminish. Then, the Earth will be safe and well. So, what our recycling volunteers do is protect the environment and safeguard Mother Nature and the world. How meritorious their work is.
Everyone, we also need to promote vegetarianism. I’ve been eating vegetarian since my teenage years. So, it’s been nearly 60 years and I’m still fine. So, please don’t think that without meat, one will be unhealthy. It’s not so. It’s all about our desires and perspective.
Whatever young children learn, they take it deeply to heart. For example, when they see animals being slaughtered, the image will leave a deep imprint in their minds and they’ll know that the animals bleed and hurt. So, they don’t want to eat meat. Their hearts are very pure and clean, so they take in what they see as it is.
Such a pure heart is the same as the true nature of the Buddha. So, if we can instill wholesome values in children, they’ll be able to influence their families and our society. We also heard how our collegiate volunteers. We also heard how our collegiate volunteers are learning the Dharma and giving of themselves to help others. How pure and clean their hearts are.
We also see an urn filled with coins donated by children from our kindergarten. This is how we can nurture children from a young age. If we can do so, in this world, there’ll be more people following wholesome practices in their daily living and passing on correct values to others.
Hearing that you are listening to my Dharma talks every morning, I’m truly very happy. On the morning I left for my trip this time, I shared with everyone that when we live in abundance, we should count our blessings. As we enjoy a well-to-do life here in Taiwan, we should count our blessings and further give of ourselves to help others.
We should share our blessings with others by giving of our love to help the needy. Only then can we earn respect from people. In the Philippines, we’re now helping people in three areas.
In the aftermath of the recent typhoon, we’ve given out aid in Tacloban and Ormoc and started a cash-to-work program in Tacloban. And in September, the armed conflict in Zamboanga had affected 20,000 families and displaced over 100,000 people. Also, last month, a strong earthquake hit Bohol, leveling my houses.
As our volunteers are still working to help them, a super typhoon struck, claiming many lives. So, for those of us living in peace and safety, we should count our blessings and further sow more blessings by giving of ourselves to help those who are suffering.
In the Philippines, many aid groups from other countries have witnessed the love from Taiwan and Tzu Chi volunteers around the world. There is still much awaiting to be done there. So, we should pool together the love of everyone in the world to help the people in the Philippines.
Indeed, living in abundance, we should count our blessings. This is what I said in my Dharma talk on Nov. 8. From my Dharma talks every morning, you can hear how I explain events in the world with the Buddha’s teachings.
The Buddha’s teachings can be applied to everything in the world. So, many things that happen in the world can be explained with the Buddha’s teachings, allowing us to see things in a different light. The Buddha’s teachings are true and good, but only when we take them to heart will we be able to use them to help others.
Again, when we live in abundance, we should count our blessings and give of ourselves to help others. With the light of our wisdom, we can light up the Bodhi path for others, which will lead us to the wondrous Dharma that is supreme and incomparable. The Dharma is truly valuable.
Everyone, the Buddha’s wisdom has been passed on to us. For the sake of our future generations, we need to learn it and truly understand it so we can further pass it on and keep the wheel of Dharma turning for all eternity.
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