20131018人間菩提-水患關懷．弘法入心Spreading Wholesome Teachings to Purify People`s Hearts and Minds
In some rural areas in Zhejiang Province, China, there are many people who live in impoverishment and rely on financial aid from the government.
Last week, they were affected by flooding. How they must have suffered. But, we see Tzu Chi volunteers going door to door to bring supplies and comfort to those affected, caring for them as though they their families. Such images are truly heartwarming and beautiful.
The local officials told our volunteers that there are 20 or so more villages in need of help. I’m truly very grateful to President Yin of the hypermarket chain, RT-Mart. He said that they have a store there, and no matter what relief supplies our volunteers needed, they would provide them immediately. So, our volunteers have carefully thought about what supplies people needed most so they wouldn’t go to waste after we gave them out to people.
Our volunteers are still busy with the relief work now. They also seized this opportunity to survey what to prepare for our winter aid distributions. After the flooding, have people’s comforters gotten drenched with water? What other supplies do people need? So, during the relief work this time, our volunteers also took care to see what people need so they can prepare it for them at the coming winter aid distributions.
Yesterday, I saw on the news that here in Taiwan, a helicopter that was scheduled to ship supplies to a weather station in a mountain crashed. It is truly very sad to see. The family and friends of the victims are all heartbroken.
The weather station was set up there in order to provide more accurate weather information to people and better prepare them for typhoons, heavy rains, etc. Workers serve there year in, year out. The accident killed two pilots and a worker of the weather station, breaking the hearts of their families.
They were to ship supplies to the weather station, not to do sightseeing. Workers at the weather station give of themselves to safeguard our safety. So, we should always be grateful to these unsung heroes who give of themselves like this. It’s truly sad to see. We should remember what they’d done for us.
In Laos, there was also a plane crash. There were 49 people on board who were from 11 different countries. See, they were born in different countries but died in the same place. Just like what the Buddha taught his disciples as we go through the cycles of rebirth life after life, each of us had been born in many different paces, and had died in many different places, too.
Such accidents in life are truly unpredictable. So, living in this world, we must seize and cherish the opportunity to learn the Buddha’s teachings. We should also know that when major disasters occur, we should awaken to the lessons they bring and take them to heart.
The Buddha teaches us to hold on to our initial aspirations. I spoke of this at my Dharma talk this morning. In learning the Buddha’s way we must take in his teachings. The Buddha encourages us to learn all Dharma and practice all that is good. So, we must mindfully learn all Dharma as all of them are wholesome teachings. And only when we hold on to our initial aspirations can we truly take the Dharma to heart. Only then can we awaken our wisdom and penetrate all truths. Then, we won’t give rise to ignorance and afflictions and create much negative karma through committing wrongdoings.
Natural disasters are brought about by the negative karma we create collectively. So now, we need to quickly take in all wholesome teachings so that our minds can be purified and we won’t give rise to
unwholesome thoughts and create negative karma easily. That’s why we need to purify people’s minds and inspire goodness in them so they can further share wholesome teachings with others.
See how Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong are either presenting or preparing for the musical adaptations on repentance or filial piety as a way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tzu Chi there. By doing so, they can share wholesome teachings with the locals.
Our local volunteers in Malaysia will give a total of 20 presentations of the musical adaptation on filial piety in different parts across Malaysia. Prior to the presentations, our collegiate volunteers worked hard to invite college students and people in their communities to participate in the musical.
Having taken part, many of them have come to realize that they’ve never been grateful to their parents. Some even realized how disrespectful they had been to their parents. This is because, after months of study groups and rehearsals, those taking part including college students and the locals have learned many of life’s principles and been inspired to do good and be filial.
By participating in the musical, they have taken wholesome teachings to heart and changed their wrong ways. This is how we can use the Buddha’s teachings to educate people. Our volunteers in Singapore and Hong Kong are also doing the same. They’ve all been working hard to prepare for the musical adaptations to help purify people’s hearts and minds. I’m truly grateful to them.
Indeed, in times of peace and safety we should start purifying people’s minds. Only when people’s minds are in harmony can society enjoy peace and safety.
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