20170224發心立願拔眾苦Making Vows to Help Those in Suffering
“My husband is not able to work because his legs are injured. He can only sit. I am happy to received rice from you. It is of great help to us.”
“The 20 kg of rice is a great help to me and it will last me for whole month. You are full of compassion and I am sincerely thankful. Thank God and thank you”
We see that in the Philippines, a bag of rice contains boundless love. Last year on Christmas day, Typhoon Nock-ten (Nina) struck the Philippines and caused great damage to the province of Catanduanes affecting many local residents.
Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines quickly mobilized and after transportation was resumed, they travelled by various means to reach the island province of Catanduanes. Despite difficult road conditions and the inconvenience of transportation, they used various means of transportation to reach the disaster area.
Over 1,000 houses had their roof blown off. The affectees only asked for what they needed the most which was some metal sheets to fix their roofs. Tzu Chi volunteers also provided each household with 5,000 pesos of cash aid, which was sufficient to them.
We thought our relief effort had been completed. But, seeing that some houses were half-destroyed and many people there were still suffering. Tzu Chi volunteers visited the province of Catanduances again to distribute rice. Each household received a 20 kg bag of rice. A total of 7,792 households received rice.
The residents said that they were moved by Tzu Chi volunteers since most organizations that visited the area said they would come again but they never did. Tzu Chi volunteers not only provided timely aid to the affectees so they could buy metal sheets,
but also went there a second time to provide them with rice. The affectees were truly touched and grateful.
As I mentioned yesterday, in the Philippines there is an ancient tribe that has been living in poverty and suffering. Their lifestyle is similar to how their ancestors lived.
There was a man who received aid from Tzu Chi volunteers in Tacloban after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck the Philippines. He came from that ancient tribe. The tribal life is one of poverty and hardship.
“I lived here before, but the conflicts among the tribal chieftains forced me to take my family and flee.”
“Our tribes people don’t have enough to eat, and they only have unclean eater to drink, so they get sick very often.”
The volunteers went up the mountain and found his fellow tribes people living in hardship. There are many infants and young children. People live in simple houses. Many people cram into a small living space.
Tzu Chi volunteers could not bear to see this, so they quickly made preparations and travelled up to the mountain again to conduct an aid distribution.Living on Earth, some people are born into poverty due to their circumstantial and direct retribution.
Due to their karmic affinities, they have to endure great suffering in their life. That’s their karma.Speaking of karmic affinities, we need to seize our time to create blessings even in time of suffering.
We also see a 35 year-old man from Taitung who worked as a chef in Taipei. When he was in Taitung to visit his family, he had a car accident. Doctors had declared him brain dead. His mother, Mrs. Fang, is very courageous. Her elder brother passed away also in a car accident several years ago and was the first donor of the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital.
Now that her son had passed away, she thinks it would benefit no one if her son’s body was cremated. Therefore, she decided to help those in need of organ transplants by donating her son’s organs. This karmic affinity is truly inconceivable.
There is indeed much suffering in this world. In this world, besides natural disasters caused by imbalance in Mother Nature, there are also many man-made disasters. The disharmony in people’s minds leads to difference in views, which is the cause of many wars and conflicts.
We see that when man-made disasters occur, many innocent people suffer as a result. In the past, the United Nations declared famine in many countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, North Korea, Sudan, and many others. Seeing their suffering has led us to think about how we can help them.
Tzu Chi volunteers had been to Ethiopia to provide aid, and they witnessed great suffering there. Volunteers had also gone to North Korea to provide aid. The living environment there was clean and neat, unlike the conditions in Africa, where many people lived in great suffering.
However due to drought, people in Africa also suffer from starvation. Especially that after many years of war, starvation and poverty, people there are in great suffering.
All in all, there is so much suffering in this world that I cannot mention them all. What we should do is to make vows to help those in suffering in this world instead of thinking about going to other worlds. We should hurry and seize our time to help others.
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