20140122 敬天修德 齋戒護生Helping One Another and Cherishing All Life
Since over a week ago, many parts of Indonesia have been affected by flooding. In Jakarta alone, over 68,000 people have been evacuated. So, Tzu Chi volunteers immediately gathered at one of our Da Ai Villages in Jakarta to prepare hot meals for those affected. Our Jing Si Hall there has also taken in many flood victims.
To deliver supplies and meals to people, our volunteers even had to ride on rubber boats. As many areas have been flooded, Tzu Chi volunteers divided up to provide aid in different places. This is the flooding in Indonesia. For the past few days, I’ve been speaking of the Philippines. The news I saw truly brought me much comfort and joy.
After Typhoon Haiyan devastated, many people there live in hardship. But, as long as we can give with love, they’ll receive warmth and loving care from us. After the disaster, many locals have realized that life is impermanent and that small donations, when pooled together, can help many people in need.
This is because they’ve learned how people in countries around the world have contributed what they could to help them. So, they know that every tiny contribution counts and they are all very willing to give. They saved coins in PET bottles and brought the bottles to our volunteers as a way to give back to Tzu Chi.
We also see that our volunteers have helped build several temporary classrooms for a school in Tacloban founded by a Roman Catholic order. The school principal and teachers are all very moved.
I noticed that the principal wears our prayer bead on her wrist. It turned out that she got it from one of our volunteers. It’s truly heartwarming to see. Regardless of religion and nationality, people should love and help one another as well as thank and inspire one another like this.
Such love is truly very precious. So, no matter what we do, we should be mindful. In our daily life, we need to take care to respect and love Mother Nature and create blessings for our world. We should be grateful to Mother Nature for providing us with the resources we need.
Moreover, we should help one another and respect and cherish all living creatures. Recently, many people have caught the flu, and alarms have been raised for the H7N9 bird flu in China. To satisfy our palate, humans have killed and eaten many animals we’re now facing the consequences of this.
The bird flu virus is being passed on to humans, and there’s a risk of human-to-human transmission. Thanks to convenient transportation services, people nowadays travel more often then before. So, viruses can spread faster, which is alarming. So, we have to be on guard.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, people went everywhere with face masks on. That’s because everyone was scared of being infected. Too bad people are forgetful about these things.
That year, a couple in Hon Kong was infected with SARS. The husband died, but the wife survived. Though deeply grieved, the wife stayed strong for her two children. One day, she chanced upon Da Ai TV.
I was very down, so I took the remote control and switched from channel to channel. Then, I saw a Buddhist Dharma master I thought to myself: “How in the world is there such a channel?” As I was not interested, I switched again. She saw me talking on TV, and she thought I was preaching, so she switched channels again. Aren’t most people like that? She thought it was a religious channel, so she switched away. But, the workings of karmic affinities are beyond our control.
A few days later, I saw the Master on TV again I thought: “It doesn’t hurt to hear what she’s talking about” After listening for a while, I broke down in tears. Although I couldn’t understand her words, I could read the subtitles and it felt like the Master was talking to me. After that, she started watching Da Ai TV and got to know more about Tzu Chi.
Later, she came across a Tzu Chi volunteer in her neighborhood and began to take part in Tzu Chi’s work. Last year, she also participated in our musical adaptation on repentance and attended our study group. She’s now a very dedicated Tzu Chi volunteer.
All this is karmic affinities. As long as the karmic affinities are deep, it’s never too late for them to manifest. But can we take our time and wait for them to manifest? We must be diligent in doing good and even more so in spreading wholesome teachings. Nowadays, technology is very advanced.
So, we must make use of it to spread the Dharma to inspire goodness in people and help them cleanse away the impurities in the hearts. Only then can everyone give rise to love. Otherwise, many people’s hearts are filled with desire. We must reduce our desires. In life, what we truly need are basic living necessities that we cannot do without. We should use only what we need.
For example, we need to eat every day. But, is it necessary to kill animals for their meat? No, it’s not. We eat meat only to satisfy our palate. See how the children from our kindergarten in Kaohsuing took to the streets to promote vegetarianism. At such a young age, they can overcome their desire for meat, but many of us adults can’t do it. It’s very sad.
Living in this world, we need to understand how suffering in life comes about. Please do not think that you won’t make a difference. Doing the right things should start with ourselves. This is the mindset everyone should have.
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