20160714 愛心會合膚苦難 Awakening to Life`s Impermanence and Seizing Time to Give
The Buddha teaches us that all things are impermanent. That’s right. All tangible things in the world are a result of creation. Since they are created, they can’t last forever. So, all things are impermanent. No things created by our actions are everlasting. Everything in the world comes into being and then extinguishes.
Nothing is permanent. Don’t people also undergo the stages of birth, aging, illness and death? And doesn’t any living thing on earth change along with the alternation of the seasons?
The Buddha also told us that all material things form, abide, decay and annihilate. This is the law for everything in the world. Things form and then extinguish; in life, nothing is permanent. So, all things are first created and then cease to exist. They come into existence and then fade away. In the end, there’s nothing left of them.
This is the law of all phenomena in the world. In life, why do we suffer? Where dose our suffering come from? And how long can our happiness last? How many material possessions can we have? And how long can we own them? At the end of our life, when we draw in our last breath, we can take nothing with us.
When we die, we can take away nothing, but the karma we’ve created. So, what is it that we’re pursuing? We need to clearly understand this and know that only when our minds are free of afflictions can we have true joy. Indeed, if we pursuenothing, we won’t have worries. Without worries, we’ll be at ease and peace.This is the law of life.
Seeing how disasters like earthquakes, floods, fires, storms, etc. have become more frequent and intensive than they ever were before, can we not awaken to the lessons they bring us? Disasters are a result of our actions. Those who’ve awakened to this will be willing to give of themselves. And as long as one is willing to give, there’s nothing one cannot achieve.
After Typhoon Nepartak hit Taidong recently, Tzu Chi volunteers from all over Taiwan have gathered in Taidong to help. One of our local volunteers in Taidong suffered an automobile accident two years ago. (Despite this,) she insisted to show our volunteers from other areas around. She led a group of our volunteers to an affected area they were appointed to visit. She is from Taidong, so she knows the place well.
She is a very dedicated volunteer. Her automobile accident was very serious and everyone was worried about her. But she’s slowly recovering from it. However, after the typhoon when volunteers from other areas come to help, she wanted to help them to better help Taidong.
Taidong doesn’t have many volunteers, so when volunteers from other areas go there and are divided into different groups to serve different areas, she takes it upon herself to take one group to an affected area.
Another volunteer from Hualien has a heart condition. Despite this, she told her children that she’s experienced in disaster assessment and we needed experienced volunteers now, so she had to go. She’s really very experienced --- she shared with other volunteers how to communicate with those affected, what volunteers should say, what they should and should not ask and how to comfort those affected. Despite her serious heart condition, she still traveled all the way there from Hualien.
Indeed, everyone in the world is our family. To serve as a living bodhisattva, wherever there are people suffering, we need to reach out to them. This is the beauty of the humanity.
We also see how young people in Taidong gathered together to help with the cleanup. At a local girls’ senior high school, more than 1,000 people went to clean up the school yesterday.
“I’m from another school. After finishing cleaning our own school, we’re here to help clean up another.”
“I’m so thankful everyone is helping Taidong and our school like this.”
With more people, there’ll be more strength. See how the girls together could pick up a huge tree trunk and carry it away!
All in all, this is collective effort --- One person is too weak, two are not enough, and there are still insufficient. So, more people are needed as everyone is indispensable. When it comes to doing good, everyone should pitch in.
Thanks to such joint efforts, Taidong will recover sooner from the typhoon. This is how we should call on everyone to give with love as everyone in the world is our family. This is truly very moving.
Typhoon Nepartak, which affected so many people in Taiwan, also hit Fujian Province of China and caused great damage there. Tzu Chi volunteers in Fujian have mobilized to help.
See how they traveled on muddy roads to reach those affected. Local officials were relieved to see our volunteers and hope they can provide further relief to more people. This noon, a group of Tzu Chi volunteers flew from Taiwan to Fujian. In addition to local volunteers in Fujian, volunteers from Taiwan have also gone to help.
We really need to bring everyone’s love together, so we can have more strength to do more work. May the world be safe and well! Disasters abound, and many people are affected. But we can gather everyone’s love together and help those affected recover step by step. There is still so much to do! Let us seize time to give!
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