Date: July 21th, 2010 (Wednesday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Witnessing Pure, Selfless Love in South Africa 純淨之美在南非
Tzu Chi’s volunteer, Ms. Lyu Yue-Sia in South Africa said:
“The supplies for each family weight more than 30 kg.
So, it’d be very difficult for children to carry such heavy stuff home.
That’s why we brought all the supplies to school so that their families could come and help carry them home.”
One of aid recipient said:
“Thank you Tzu Chi, Thank you Taiwan”.
The other aid recipient said:
“Thank you very much.
We are appreciated all you done for us.
Keep one doing to every offer.
We need your help.
Thank you very much”.
These images we see are indeed very heartwarming and touching, but at the same time, our hearts also go out to the people there.
Indeed, Bodhisattvas come into being because there are people in need of help.
What are Bodhisattvas ?
Bodhisattvas are those who have established faith and make vows to practice what they believe.
They are here in this world to relieve the suffering of all living beings.
As living bodhisattvas, this is our mission.
To carry out such a mission, one person’s effort is not enough.
Even if there are many people, it is still not enough as the responsibility is very heavy.
That’s why we need to invite everyone in every corner of the world to take part and share with them life’s true principles, so that they’ll be able to understand and further live out what the Buddha guides us to do.
So, if there true principles can become more widespread around the world, then more people can come in contact with it, take it into their hearts and further put it practice.
If that were the case, the many people suffering in the world would be able to receive aid, as there’d be more people reaching out to help and even those who’d been helped could be inspired to help those worse off than them.
This is the best way to relieve suffering.
The footage we just saw was taken in South Africa, where we have a big group of Zulu volunteers there.
Although their skin color is different from ours, their hearts are the same as ours.
But most of them are very impoverished as many people in South Africa live in poverty.
Despite being materially poor, our Zulu volunteers are spiritually rich as they have a very beautiful heart.
Indeed, South Africa is very beautiful because the locals all have a very pure and beautiful heart.
With such a pure heart, they give without asking anything in return.
This is very admirable and praiseworthy.
It is now winter in South Africa, so the temperatures are very low and it is very cold there.
While everyone in South Africa was eagerly anticipating the World Cup, our local Tzu Chi volunteers gathered together to plan our winter aid distributions hoping to quickly bring supplies to those in need.
So, between May and September, our local Tzu Chi volunteers will be holding 60 winter aid distributions to help over 12,000 families in South Africa.
It is now July and soon it will be August.
So, right now our volunteers are holding one distribution after another.
Last month, in Bloemfontein, over 500 families received our supplies in a series of five distributions.
Two of these distributions were held at schools where impoverished children study and the other three were held in communities where the residents are living in unspeakably poor conditions.
So, from June 2 to 8, our volunteers went from site to site to hold five distributions.
What moved me very much to see is how spiritually rich the locals are.
Despite being poor, two aid recipients brought something to give to our volunteers after receiving supplies from us.
One wrapped it in paper while the other kept it in plastic bag.
And it was quite heavy.
What was it?
It turned out to be coins that they had saved up bit by bit.
Despite being so poor, they are still willing to make donations.
This is because last year when our volunteers went to distribution aid, they shared with the locals how they could also help others by saving a little a day.
Even if their contributions are small, what’s more important is for them to give rise to a good thought every day.
They listened and were inspired, and they truly put it into practice.
Some local ladies who have now become our volunteers even bought yarn and knitted 60 hats to give to those worse off than them, orphans, the elderly, those who are ill, etc.
This is how they were doing their best to help.
See how those locals who are helped by us can now give others a hand.
Aren’t they practicing true principles?
Our lives are played out according to the force of karma we created in our past lives.
So, where we are born and whether we are rich or poor is not something we can decide when we are born.
But upon hearing true principles, these locals established faith in them and further put them into practice as they know what they do is right.
That’s why they give of themselves so joyfully and see such actions as a matter of course.
It is truly very moving to see.
What’s even more touching to see is how a lady in charge of an orphanage in Johannesburg that Tzu Chi volunteers have been providing aid to invited our volunteers to visit a community of around 300 families, near a prison (some 50 km from Pretoria.)
These people are the families of the inmates of this prison and most of them are illegal immigrants.
So, when the assistant warden at this prison learned of how Tzu Chi volunteers have continually been giving of themselves selflessly to care for the children at this orphanage with love, he hoped that Tzu Chi volunteers could also help these families of the inmates.
When Tzu Chi volunteers visited them in June, they saw how impoverished these people are.
As it’s winter in South Africa, it is very cold.
But even the poorest that our volunteers visited had shelters made of corrugated iron, yet the places these people live in were patched together from ripped plastic garbage bags that had been thrown away by others.
Seeing that, our volunteers’ hearts went out to them.
Everyone, the kind of conditions they live in is not something that words can describe.
So, our volunteers immediately set out to buy goods for them.
It is truly heartbreaking to see how they live.
There are indeed many people in the world living in such harsh conditions.
It is truly hard to imagine what kind of life these people live, how they must feel, and how they can endure this.
It truly is hard to imagine.
So, we must learn to be grateful.
Seeing how these people suffer in South Africa,
we must learn to be content, grateful, understanding and forgiving and work with unity, harmony, mutual love and joint effort with one another, so that we can shoulder the mission of caring for people across all boundaries.
This is what every living bodhisattvas in the world must make an effort to do.
(Source: Da Ai TV 人間菩提)
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