20131019三界無安當戒慎Opening Our Hearts and Reaching Out to Disaster Survivors
Our hope and continued effort have been toward the goal of purifying people’s hearts and guiding people toward the right direction. But, it is not easy. As the Buddha said in the Lotus Sutra, for years, he has tried to guide living beings toward the right direction by offering many examples of karmic cause and effect and explaining life’s principles using metaphors. He even used the words “alarming” and “terrifying” to describe the danger they were in, in the effort to wake everyone up.
He warned of the looming crisis from calamitous natural disasters as well as war, famine and pandemic disease. With alarming disasters already happening, everyone really needs to wake up. But, people remain caught up in their greed and selfish desires. They still deluded do as they please, without thinking of the consequences. They are not willing to listen and take in the Dharma, so there is no way of guiding them onto the right track. Faced with their obstinate delusion, the Buddha could do little.
We also saw the history of disaster in Taiwan. In 1973, Typhoon Nora passed by Taiwan. On October 9, the day before Taiwan’s National Day, back then, in Taiwan, there was censorship of the press, especially around the time of National Day. The typhoon affected the southeastern coast. From Yuli all the way down to Dawu, many houses were destroyed and many roads were damaged. Many houses were also buried by gravel composed of fragments of marble.
For years, people had been using explosives to extract marble from the mountains. The large blocks of marble were taken away to be sold, while the small pieces of marble were left behind. So, with the heavy rains, they were washed down the mountain. Travelling from Yuli down to Taitung and Dawu, we saw the damage to the mountain landscape.
Also, at the time, besides censorship of the news, there was also a lack of reports because the roads, the rail, and bridges were all damaged. The roads only reopened 10 to 20 days later.
At that time, we had limited manpower and funds. But, the people’s suffering moved us to help. With only a small number of volunteers, but with the strength of love and perseverance, we started the relief effort. We solicited second-hand clothing at night and organized them during the day. Clothes that had holes or were dirty were amended and washed. Our volunteers also had to solicit donations. But, forty years ago, eastern Taiwan was relatively underdeveloped and impoverished. Would we be able to raise the needed funds?
So, we still had to make efforts to solicit donations in western Taiwan. But, the disaster was not reported in the news. How were we to let people know about it? So, we thought to send out letters. We quickly etched a letter on stencil and printed it using a mimeograph. We then sent the letter to all the monasteries that we knew. It was very difficult to carry out aid during that period. We did not know many people and most people in Taiwan at that time were not very well-off. Not many people knew of Tzu Chi’s charity work. So, the mission was very difficult.
We also prepared an aid distribution in Yuli. Afterwards, we continued with disaster surveys to learn of more areas in need and did follow-ups to provide further aid. We also had to raise funds at the same time as well as organize donated clothing. During that time, with so few volunteers, how were we able to accomplish so much? Also, after we prepared the supplies, we had to transport it to Taitung via a freight train.
Our supplies required several freight cars. Truly, back then, Tzu Chi had only just started in Taitung as well, so there were not many volunteers. In a word, as long as we have the will to help, we will have the strength to do it. That’s what we learn from this history.
We also saw that in Malaysia, on the morning of October 13, before sunrise, heavy rainfall caused a flash flood in Barat daya, Penang. That very day, Tzu Chi volunteers acted quickly to help hundreds of families affected by the flood. They immediately went to purchase food and water and distributed it to the flood affectees that very same night. Tzu Chi volunteers were efficient to provide aid on the same day of the disaster.
We also see that in Cambodia, local volunteers are responding to the flood disaster there. They have gathered supplies locally and distributed aid on October 13. At the end of September, low pressure from a typhoon in the region caused heavy rain that led to flooding which has continued due to more heavy rain. On October 13, local Tzu Chi volunteers distributed aid in the disaster area.
From all this, we can see that having love for others, people can overcome all kinds of challenges to deliver aid. There will always be challenges. They just need to be overcome. If we have love, which us resilient, we can overcome all challenges.
Thailand is also suffering from flooding. Since September, there has been continued heavy rain. Then, the remains of Nari brought more disaster. Tzu Chi volunteers have been providing hot meals. I heard that they will be returning to the disaster area for assessment as flood waters recede. In Ningbo, China, we will also need to do further disaster assessment.
In a word, there are a lot of disasters happening. We really should broaden our hearts and care about the problems people worldwide are facing. Tzu Chi volunteers have opened their hearts to reach out and give care to people in disaster, just as if they were their friends or family. Only when we all do this, people can quickly recover and return to a normal life.
Given all the suffering in life, we really need to be diligent in walking the path and live every moment mindfully.
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