20230625竹筒歲月善循環Be A Role Model of Life
Tzu Chi volunteers have been working to help the people in Bohol of the Philippines. Volunteers share their knowledge and expertise with people living in rural or mountainous areas. Some houses there have suffered severe damages, so volunteers shares their skills with the locals.
Since bamboo grows very fast, it's an excellent building material. Of course, what we also need is for our love to come together as well. Our love should come together like how the bamboo fits together to build a bamboo house. The bamboo culms are halved, and clasped together side by side to make a sturdy house.
By going to people and lending a helping hand, they can transform their life. The Buddha came to the world to teach the Bodhisattva Way and guide people to see suffering and help alleviate those suffering. Once people's suffering is alleviated, we are to share the Dharma with them. Volunteers have travelled to faraway places, helped people in need, and inspired them to serve with love.
This is Tzu Chi's ninth year in Bohol; it's almost a decade already, and the four mission are quite developed there. This year, because of Michael's efforts, Tzu Chi has been carrying out its work in four areas, with over 10,000 donating members.
In the past few months, the people of Bohol have raised over 1.7 million pesos for the Earthquake disaster in Turkey; despite it's just a little sum, people want to help as well.
It's inspiring. Volunteers give with genuine and sincere love. There are now many volunteers in Bohol. Nowadays, it's common for people to have a cell phone, and many people have a tablet as well. I want to encourage you that, when we think of someone, let us send them a message to say hi. Let us inspire the love in their heart and encourage them to interact with their neighbors and people in their village to see how people are.
I hope bodhisattvas can be found everywhere in the world. Only when people's love is inspired and everyone serves as a bodhisattva to create blessings in the world can disasters be mitigated and the impact of disasters be lessened.
I'm truly concerned with climate change in today's world; in the near future, climate change will be something unavoidable. I'm very concerned about it. There is no way other than to purify people's heart. Let us share the Dharma with everyone we meet, and inspire the love in everyone's heart; one heart can create one bit of blessing.
Only by creating blessings can disasters be mitigated. This is why I feel very grateful; as long as we inspire love in people, people everywhere have the ability to help others. I hope we can keep sharing this idea with everyone. Tzu Chi is the world of bodhisattvas; please do not underestimate yourselves.
Bodhisattvas are trained in the world; those who aspired to serve can all be called bodhisattvas. I'm very grateful to everyone and I also respect everyone. When I speak to volunteers, I would always address them as living bodhisattvas. My coming in contact with people comes from people's affinities with me.
People have affinities with me so they would happily accept what I say. Because they accept my teachings joyously, they volunteer with Tzu Chi. I hear volunteers say Master says to do this and Master hopes to do that. I'm very honored by this, and I'm truly grateful.
I also give everyone my sincerest blessings. To be honest, we take the Buddha's heart as our heart. Every one of us take the Buddha's heart as our heart, and all of you take my mission as your mission. We take the Buddha's heart and my mission together. The Buddha's heart is that of wisdom. My mission is about creating blessings. The two together is called cultivating both blessings and wisdom.
Tzu Chi volunteers have literally accomplished these two. You all love and care for one another and inspire one another. The Dharma is to inspire and purify people's hearts. Such is the use of Dharma.
Look at Bohol, volunteers use wisdom to guide the locals. As long as everyone unites together, creating blessings for people is very doable. This is why we need to carry out our Jing Si Dharma lineage through action and walk the Tzu Chi Path.
The point of Tzu Chi's coin bank program is not the money but to inspire people to truly understand Tzu Chi. This is Tzu Chi's way of pooling people's small donations together. It's not the case that the donor has to donate a lot of money and be an honorary board member.
An honorary board member knows to let go of material things. What they gain is blessing. Thus, we reap what we sow. By donating money to Tzu Chi, his donation goes into a sea of merits. If a person wants to do charity for himself, even if he donates 10 million dollars, how much aid can he provide?
He donates once, but can he donate 10 million dollars every month? When people donate coins every day, they nurture love and kindness every day. This is called forming lasting compassion because, every day, people say to themselves, I want to do good deeds and help people.
When people join their compassion and love together, there's Great Love. While doing this, we purify people's hearts. When we meet people, we tell them about Tzu Chi. This is purifying their hearts. Thus, I truly hope that volunteers talk to people about Tzu Chi often.
Not only can you inspire people, you can also strengthen your heart of cultivation. This is truly using wisdom to create blessings for people. Have you all heard what I said? Yes.
Especially the young people, they are to have a sense of mission to carry the rice baskets for the world. Rice baskets are woven carefully with bamboo, and we all carry them on our shoulders. We are to guide people to do this. Volunteers, you are all role models of life. I'm grateful to you, and I give you my blessings.
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