20131104齊發善願‧護生護己To Behave with Humanity
Yesterday entrepreneurs from 11 countries who had gathered at the Jing Si Hall for a retreat shared their thoughts. It was very moving. For three days, they had set aside their personal preferences to follow our schedule and travel in teams walking in orderly lines. By following such discipline, didn’t they show harmonious teamwork? All the attendees interacted with one another harmoniously forming a very peaceful team.
Yesterday, every attendee who shared his or her thoughts onstage made vows.
I hope I can really be part of Tzu Chi I will actively volunteer and discover more living bodhisattvas in France to Join our Tzu Chi work.
This is truly very touching. Indeed there are bodhisattvas all around the world. Wherever there are disasters, bodhisattvas will show up to help. We saw news from Italy which had suffered earthquakes in May last year. To help the survivors, our volunteers from several countries in Europe came together and went to Italy.
Their utmost sincerity and love moved the local people, including a local official who saw such sincerity in the work of our volunteers. Also, the survivors were happy to accept our aid. With their conduct, our volunteers exemplify Tzu Chi’s spirit of Great Love.
They didn’t take credit for their work. Even though they did all the work locally, they still attributed their efforts to the founding of Tzu Chi in Taiwan. They took the aid recipients back in time to Tzu Chi’s beginning over 40 years ago on the tiny island of Taiwan with people saving a fifty cent coin daily in bamboo banks and now we work all over the world to give of ourselves with love. So, the Italians were moved and accepted Tzu Chi. They also treated our volunteers as their friends and family.
Last month, a local businessman invited Tzu Chi volunteers to go to Italy to celebrate the end-of-the-year holidays with them. The government sent cars to transport the attendees out of their respect and appreciation for Tzu Chi.
They remembered Tzu Chi’s love. When their country was devastated by disasters and their people had urgent needs, Tzu Chi volunteers from nearby countries worked together as a team to help their country and their people.
They always remember that. So, living in this world, why just love and care for our own family only? Actually, such true and pure love for others… when we are pious and have utmost sincerity, we will find that all humanity are closely connected with us, for they live on this same land with us.
We also saw news from Zamboanga, Philippines. In September, unrest erupted in Zamboanga aftera rebel group forcefully seized parts of the city. Those who fled the area were placed in shelters. Our Tzu Chi volunteers risked their safety.
Many organizations also donated material supplies to Tzu Chi to help those impacted collected the donated goods, organized and packaged them for distribution to people in need. Whether it was foodstuffs or daily necessities, they procured them locally. For a period of close to 20 days of fighting they carried out the relief work.
When our Zamboanga volunteer, Mr. Lim, returned to Hualien, I asked if everything had returned to normal. He said no. During the day, things may seem to have returned to normal, but at nighttime, the sound of gunshots could still be heard. So, many people are still afraid to go out and carry on normal activities.
But, he returned to Taiwan to thank Tzu Chi’s headquarters in Taiwan for giving them spiritual support during that period. Also, what they need most now is to help children return to school because many schools were damaged in the fighting. So, this time Mr. Lim came to report on their need for 160 temporary classrooms. We quickly started working on this. Our volunteers from Taipei, led by Mr.
Zhang, very mindfully developed a temporary classroom that is easy to assemble and can last them through their two-to three-year transition period. Our volunteers have been very mindful in considering building features to improve air ventilation, offer better protection from rain, etc. Right now, our volunteers in central Taiwan are standardizing the parts and preassembling them so that when all the parts are ready, they can be shipped to Zamboanga.
In October, the Philippines also suffered a major earthquake. The earthquake caused severe destruction Philippine Tzu Chi volunteers quickly went there to distribute aid. All in all, over the world, earthquakes are happening and extreme weather is causing disaster. Such disasters are very worrying to see.
Two, three days ago, we in Taiwan also had a 6.3-magnitude earthquake. We are very grateful to have come through it safe and well. Being safe and sound, we need to help people in need all the more. We humans need to behave with humanity if we are to be safe and have peace. Human beings need to coexist in harmony with all creatures.
But, some people are slaughtering other species. It pains us greatly to witness it. In Peru, there are fishermen who are hunting and killing sharks because there are people abroad who consider shark fins a delicacy and like to eat it. So, sharks are being killed to supply this. To catch sharks, they even kill dolphins to use as shark bait because sharks are lured by the bloody dolphin meat.
Don’t we humans also get lured by what we like to eat? The sharks, lured by the smell of dolphin beat, end up getting caught and killed Humans harm all these living creatures. What comes about for humankind? We end up with global warming and disasters and many diseases associated with meat a lot of other impacts and consequences are still unknown. So, much about our future is uncertain.
Yet, we humans still ignorantly continue our current lifestyle. So, everyone, we really need to settle our minds down and think carefully about how to live in a way that can ensure the health and wellbeing of the greater environment we live in, for only by having a sound natural environment can we have a good life, be safe and live in peace.
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