20170222用慈施悲啟大愛Seizing Time to Give to Bring Warmth to Our World
We’re Tzu chi volunteers. You still need to see a doctor on Monday. The steep slope is challenging to me. Which household?
This one. No 50. Let’s take a short break first. Yeah. Let’s take a break.
Yuli is a big town in Hualien. Yet, we don’t have a lot of volunteers there. They are all quite senior. Take Mr. Lin Yu-long for example. He joined Tzu Chi over 20 years ago. Ms. Liang Mei-ying is very senior, too. Both of them have devoted to Tzu Chi for nearly 30 years.
Mr. Lin used to be in charge of Tzu Chi’s work in the entire Zhuoxi Township. He said that Zhuoxi is too vast for him to get everything well managed. He asked me if I can take care of northern Zhuoxi. I said, “That’s no problem.”
Most of our volunteers there are at their 70’s with some of them even nearing 80. Although they are advanced in age, they still tirelessly go wherever they need to go and often climb up steep hill slopes to visit our aid or care recipients. For 490 households, we have only a little more than 100 volunteers in place and they have to go across the whole township to care for the needy.
In addition, they have to visit our new care or aid recipients. They also go with our doctors for regular free medical home visits. Besides medical service and relief work, they are also committed to recycling. Seeing them shoulder so many responsibilities which are quite a burden for their age. I feel really very touched.
Today we have many of our regional coordinators here. All of us did recycling yesterday from morning to noon. It was quite hot yesterday and quite a few of us got so exhausted that they cannot come here today. Those who are present today are actually very tired, too. For a long time, and almost every day, we’ve had scarce volunteers resources. I really don’t have the heart to see our aged volunteers wear more than one hat.
The volunteers that you just mentioned mostly had surgery before. Yet, despite their illnesses, they were worried about lagging behind in their work. Putting on a waist brace, they came back for work after surgery. Our team leader is no exception. When there’s an event, you can see seven or eight of them still devoting themselves with their corrective waist braces on.
We see that they always keep their work in mind. Not yet recovering from surgery, they put on waist braces and went back for work instead of staying home. Each of them, when at work, wears a waist brace or need pad. They really seize every moment to serve. We see how Mr. Lin devotes himself.
When I was 16, I started to learn to worship Buddha and chant sutras. Yet, I never thought of how to be a real Buddhist. Later, I listened to Master’s teachings and came to realize that we have to put the Buddha’s teachings into practice, not just worshipping to pray for blessings.
Now he knows what it means to be a Buddhist. From Mr. Lin, we understand that we really need to devote ourselves to benefit people. He once had eye surgery and the doctor advised that he not do any work for one month. Yet, he said he felt bad staying at home and doing nothing. He thought it’s better to continue his volunteer work. He really lives life to the fullest, which is truly remarkable.
Indeed, to have a meaningful life is to seize every second to serve and care for who ever needs our help. Although we have such devoting volunteers as Mr. Lin in Yuli, we need to recruit more volunteers to join efforts for our missions there in the future because our current volunteers there are all advanced in age. We need more volunteers to give with love.
The Buddha expected his disciples to pass on his teachings. We also need to inspire more people to pass on the spirit of helping the needy. See, our volunteers climb hills to care for people and work hard in recycling. They are truly remarkable. They are indeed living bodhisattvas with great achievements.
If we can all give with love and care for the needy in our neighborhoods then they will always be well cared for. We see a senior lady who lives with her son in Luzhou, New Taipei City. She makes a living by collecting recyclables, which have piled up in her place.
I’ve kept the recyclables because my son told me that the value of recyclables has been dropping. But I didn’t expect that they would gradually add up to be so much.
For years, the recyclables have filled up every corner of the house. She has collected recyclables for over 10 years. She truly leads a hard life.
I often see rats running around. I live on the fifth floor where there are rats, too. I had no idea that there are so many recyclables inside her house.
Nearly 80 volunteers went to clean up her house. It took them three and a half hours to thoroughly cleanse it. Although the toilet is unbearably smelly our volunteers, vowing to help the needy like bodhisattvas do, still went forward to help. It is truly touching to see that.
Thank you so much. There are so many of you coming to help. It’s really great. Without you she wouldn’t have agreed to have her house cleaned up. I’m so touched. I just can’t thank you enough.
If people can help one another small efforts can add up and make a great difference. In all, to care for the Earth, we need to purify people’s minds first. To bring peace to the world, we need to inspire love in people. This is very important.
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