20190614持經典範大醫王Remembering Dr. Tu Shih-mien
Yesterday, the staff of Tzu Chi’s four missions gathered together. The staff of each mission gave their reports in turn. It was very inspiring.
Take the medical mission for example, the superintendents and doctors reported on what the goal would be for each of our hospitals, how our doctors treated the patients, Improved their medical skills, And searched for the best methods to save people’s lives.
Nowadays, medical technology in Taiwan is quite developed. Decades ago, medical resources were lacking in Eastern Taiwan; without knowing the challenges ahead, I had an aspiration of building a hospital in Hualien.
This took quite a few years and we went through a lot of hardship, The first groundbreaking of the hospital finally took place on February 5, 1983. Construction on the hospital was a completed In 1986.
The hospital construction took less than three years. During the preparation and construction for building the hospital, Prof. Yang Sze-Piao, Dr. Tu Shih-mien, and Dr. Tseng Wen-ping gave us great to support.
Dr. Wang, the vice superintendent of the Cathay General Hospital also gave us great support. One time, I had a chat with Dr. Chen, the superintendent of the Cathay General Hospital.
I said to him, The Tzu Chi Hospital construction will be completed soon, who should be the hospital superintendent? This hasn’t been decided yet.
Supt. Chen asked me, Master, do you have anyone in mind the job? Hey said, I am thinking about Dr. Tu Shih-mien. Supt. Chen said, Master, don’t you know he has a liver illness, and Prof. so-and-so has already prognosed that he has a little over three months to live?
I said, I know, yet I remain hopeful, I hope that, people will piously pray for him. If he is to become our superintendent, many people will wish him well, and perhaps he will live longer.
Later, Supt. Chen said, Master if you have such faith, he is actually here today consulting patients. I said, can we ask him to come here? Together, with your help, we might be able to convince him.
Someone went to fetch for him right then. He seemed happy and was in good spirit. I said, Vice Supt. Tu, our hospital construction Is about to be completed. We really need to decide on a superintendent. Vice Supt. Tu, I would like to ask you.
He replied, there is a bomb inside my body that might go off any second. I said, you are not the only one with a bomb in your body, the bomb in me is bigger than your bomb because I have a heart condition, and I am taking Supt. Chen’s prescription.
So, life is impermanent. Those with an illness might not pass away first. Life is quite uncertain. At Tzu Chi, there are so many volunteers, when they learn about our superintendent, everyone will send their good wishes to you; I hope you can serve as an encouragement at the Tzu Chi Hospital.
He asked, Master, do you truly have that much confidence in me? I replied, yes. With his aspiration, Supt. Tu, served on the planning committee for the hospital despite being ill, and still treated patients at a hospital.
When he was hospitalized, and learned that he had three months left to live, he still hung up his doctors robe In his hospital room. I asked him, you are a patient now what is your role doing here?
He answered, my patients are on a hospital stay, I will make my rounds later. He accepted my call to be a superintendent. Such is how he served his patients regardless of his health conditions.
In the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, doesn’t it say that the great ship captain is ill, but he still deliver people to the other shore. Great Healers deliver living beings to a safe place from the shore of suffering.
The sutra told us what a Great Healers do. So, we know about a Great Healers from the sutra, but we are not doctors. Supt. Tu did not read the sutras, yet, he practiced as a doctor. From the sutra, we know what Great Healers do.
We only know this as knowledge, but Supt. Tu knew how to carry it out. So, it’s very important to have an aspiration. Supt. Tu had an illness, Yet he supported and help to Tzu Chi.
When he was prognosed as having only three months to live, he was very courageous to shoulder the responsibility of a superintendent. He then went on to live for five more years.
That was his aspiration, Which was truly powerful. Speaking of this, don’t forget Supt. Tu, and don’t forget that year. I truly missed him. He was a good doctor. When he served as a superintendent and an ENT doctor, he had a lot of patients.
He was nice to people. I had never seen him lose his temper. He was always smiling to people, even when he handled matters. Thus, he was a good person, a good doctor and an upright person. I truly admired him.
He lived a fulfilling and meaningful life, but he died too early. He only lived to his 60s. Such is life. Let us not forget that year, and let us not forget that date.
Tzu Chi has many hospitals, each with their own year of significance, people of significance, and their aspirations. People made aspirations and they head toward the same direction.
They had the same direction, but entered Tzu Chi at different times and shouldered Tzu Chi’s missions. Each person has his own Tzu Chi history.
There are so many things to be grateful for. There are so many stories about the first superintendents of Tzu Chi’s hospitals. Thus, let us remember those years, remember the people, and remember their aspirations.
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