20141130清淨源頭做環保To Turn Things Around with Recycling
Being certified as a Tzu Chi recycling volunteer means that doing recycling is not just about collecting recyclables that people threw away. It is more than that. Recycling volunteers also listen to the Dharma. They follow my Dharma talks and learn diligently. Not only do they listen to the Dharma, they also practice it very mindfully to cherish the environment and to care about the society. They start with recycling and then they also learn the Dharma and take it to heart. They pay attention to Tzu Chi’s rules etiquettes and follow them very well.
They switched to eating vegetarian and got rid of their bad habits, such as smoking, drinking, gambling, chewing betel nuts, or treating family members harshly. They slowly improve themselves and get rid of their bad habits, almost to the point of following the same precepts as certified Tzu Chi volunteers. To drop their past bad habits takes cultivation. The recycling station is truly a place for them to cultivate. They learn to get rid of all their past bad habits.
Then, they can become a certificated recycling volunteer. With their achievement, it proves our society has become healthier because people got rid of their “spiritualgarbage” of greed, anger, and ignorance in their hearts, just like how we deal with garbage. We pick out recyclables, clean them and reuse it to make into new products. Garbage that cannot be reused needs to be quickly disposed of by giving them to the garbage truck for proper waste disposal. To protect our Earth we should collect recyclables, sort them carefully, and reuse them.
Tzu Chi’s recycling program has transformed into a public education now. You see, teachers bring their students to Tzu Chi’s recycling station to learn how recycling volunteers sort the recyclables. They elderly volunteers teach the students what materials we use in daily life can be recycled and how to protect the environment. Students working on their Ph. D. also come to Tzu Chi’s recycling station to learn and to get a hands-on experience on recycling.
They listen to the elderly volunteers talk about recycling and with their education background, they analyze and explore deeply the principles behind it and use what they’ve learned for their doctoral dissertation. Hence, recycling truly contains profound principles that attract people of all ages, from young children to college students to even the elderly. Elderly volunteers, such as Lin Qiang, who had been doing recycling since she was in her eighties until she was close to 100 years old.
“I have to do this, otherwise I’ll fall ill.”
“How come?”
“You know, doing recycling will make us healthier.”
You see how agile she was. This year, she turns 107. I remembered the year when I saw her. She was 100 years old. When she stepped out from the crowd to show herself, she asked me to guess how old she was. I replied, “80 years old?”“No,” she said, “100 years old.”I was very shocked. I have not seen her for many years.
Now, she is 107 years old. She still thinks clearly, and she seems to be full of energy. With her old age, she cannot see clearly. So, her family doesn’t want her to go out recycling for fear of her falling and hurting herself. Therefore, for the past few years, she has been staying at home. When people visit her, she talks to them about recycling.
“I do recycling to protect our future generations.”
When recycling first started in Madou, she was one of the leading recycling volunteers doing recycling and set an example for others to follow. In Taiwan, Tzu Chi’s recycling volunteers are very dedicated. They are helping the Earth to heal from the impacts of climate change. Though their help is on a very small scale, by recycling, diligently, they have set a role model for visitors from many countries to learn about Tzu Chi’s recycling mission when they are in Taiwan.
I hope Tzu Chi starts to lead the world to recycle more. Then, gradually, more people will follow suit. Yet, a gradual effect is not enough to turn things around. However, there is little I can do as such is the world’s collective karma. People only focus on profit. So, a country becomes engrossed in its own profits and disregards their impact to the climate change and global warming making the weather become more extreme.
This is all due to industrial development, which pumps fossil-fuel to manufacture products. This process damages the earth and is the root cause for many disasters. When disasters strike and bring suffering to people, who will truly help the disaster survivors? We should put ourselves in their situation. Though this is people’s collective karma, in start doing recycling, we hope to show the world the principles on how to care for our Earth by recycling and reusing these available resources.
Of course, while showing people how to recycle, we need to educate the public and teach people to reduce their consumption and to save their money by cherishing what they already have. Especially now in Taiwan, there’s a concern for water shortage as many reservoirs experience low water levels.So, in our daily life, we should also cherish water resources. In our recycling drive, if we collect clean recyclables, reusing them will not consume a lot of additional water resources, which is a consideration for our recycling mission.
All in all, the recyclables should be kept clean. Then processing these recyclables will not waste a lot of water. This is all part of environmental protection. So, please be more mindful in recycling. If people can do this in recycling, that is how we cultivate ourselves, by helping people to apply the concepts in their daily life, after we know the concepts. Recycling station is also a place of cultivation.
To all recycling bodhisattvas, I watch the Da Ai TV program about recycling volunteers every day. I praise you all the time for what you do. Seeing you doing recycling and learning the Dharma so diligently makes me truly happy. I really cherish you recycling bodhisattvas. In this lifetime and for all future lifetimes, I will always be grateful to you. I can never do enough to repay you for many lifetimes to come.
Therefore, I have to keep up with my cultivation. I hope there can be favorable weather in the world and more people to walk the Bodhisattva Path. So, doing recycling is walking the Bodhisattva Path.
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