Date: Aug 2nd,2010 (Monday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Life Made Meaningful through the Six Paramitas 恆為苦難行六度
A reporter asked:
“What makes you happiest? Or what do you remember most?”
A Tzu Chi’s volunteer, Mr. Li Yingju answered:
“Inspiring people to join Tzu Chi makes me the happiest.”
“For example, last month, my mother and I together raised NT$200,000 for the hospital. I feel good about it.”
We saw our volunteer Yingju. Many Tzu Chi volunteers know him.
There’s no Tzu Chi volunteer in Hualien who doesn’t know him.
Our longtime hospital volunteers who serve year-round know him very well.
Seeing the footage, it brought me back to 30 or 40 years ago.
In the footage, I saw Yingju’s mother, Jing De. She was one of Tzu Chi’s earliest volunteers. She joined when Tzu Chi was founded. She was very dedicated.
Her involvement in Tzu Chi inspired her children to join Tzu Chi.
Over the years, she continued to dedicate herself and sometime ago, she passed away.
Her son along with her daughter-in-law also became Tzu Chi volunteers and their efforts have been captured on film.
After our Tzu Chi hospital opened, Yingju volunteered in the E.R. regularly.
He visited fellow volunteers who became ill and also the poor who received Tzu Chi’s aid. He was involved in all of this.
A Tzu Chi’s volunteer, Mr. Li Yingju said:
“Master has told me we’re blessed if we can sleep soundly at night, have a healthy appetite, genuinely smile and be healthy enough to serve. I’ve taken her words to heart.”
“Master’s teachings have kept me healthy. So, I can do recycling work, charitable work, and all sorts of volunteer work.”
“In the years ahead, I’ll continue serving as I do now. I won’t stop doing this. I thing being a Tzu Chi volunteer has been my most enjoyable job in life.”
How truly grateful I am to them. I am grateful to their whole family. Three generations of their family have been involved in Tzu Chi.
Actually, last year he experienced a heartbreaking life event --- the death of his wife. I, too, grieved her passing deeply.
I believe her death hit him very hard. But, he never unburdened his grief on others.
After her death, however, he discovered that his health was deteriorating.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer of an advanced stage. He was very brave about it.
With what physical strength he still had, he continued to help people and use his body to the fullest.
All that he did has been captured on camera, and seeing the footage, it’s just as if he were still alive and with us. Like his wife and his mother, Tzu Chi volunteers will forever remember them in their hearts.
They had nurtured their wisdom-life through diligently doing Tzu Chi’s work.
Yingju has been in Tzu Chi for close to 40 years.
During all of that time, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to Tzu Chi and truly nurtured his wisdom-life.
In leading a meaningful life, he and his wife passed on the spirit of love to their children through their personal example.
This morning, their children came to the Adobe. I also told them to carry on this love and continue their parents’ example.
That’s right. Everyone needs to nurture their wisdom-life.
I hope that Yingju, with his aspiration, can be reborn into this world again and continue to help the people in need.
Everyone, we need to make good use of the time we have.
As time passes, our time in life diminishes.
Yet, we can nurture our wisdom-life through giving of ourselves to benefit others. Yingju’s story is the best example of this.
Indeed, time continually passes, so we must seize time to make the most of our life.
It is now August. With their love, Tzu Chi volunteers devote themselves every day, all year round.
It is now August. Yesterday, I spoke of past typhoons that had occurred in August in Taiwan.
They was also the devastating flood that occurred on August 7, 1959 which was 51 years ago.
On August 8, 1994, Typhoon Doung struck Taiwan. In 1996, Typhoon Herb struck Taiwan on August 1.
Then, Typhoon Morakot hit on August 8, 2009.
It’s almost a year now since it happened.
Disasters that happened 40 or 50 years ago seem remote to us.
Yet, for the more recent ones, such as the disasters of 1994 or 1996, we’d be able to recall its devastation more vividly.
Not to mention Typhoon Morakot of 2009.
It was just a year ago. How could we forget?
We can bear witness to it. We didn’t only just see it.
At the time, all of our Four Missions got involved in the relief effort.
We translated our love into concrete actions and got involved to help.
Tzu Chi members tried to do all they could but there were many obstacles along the way making it a very difficult process.
Out of heartache for the survivors’ plight, we dedicated ourselves to building a new home in a safe area.
But this undertaking has brought us a lot of outside pressure which has not lessened even to this day.
Various parties in society look at the situation from their own angel and raise opposition.
Because we want to help the survivors, we could not let people’s comments stop us from helping. We had to be forbearing.
We practiced the six paramitas: giving --- we gave of ourselves willingly.
Moral discipline --- we upheld precepts and were morally upright, always keeping a selfless and pure heart.
Forbearance --- we had to be forbearing.
Why did people give us such a hard time?
If we didn’t keep a broad heart of simple goodness, we wouldn’t have been able to continue.
So, we chose to be a patient and forbearing.
The paramita of diligence was also vital.
If we were to stop what we were doing, it’s the disaster survivors who suffer.
So, no matter what, we had to keep going.
This requires Samadhi imperturbability of mind.
In this world, people say a lot of thing, some of which are unfounded and untrue.
We have to rise above it all and just focus on helping the survivors and truly give them homes and a future.
That is what must be done and what we should focus on.
So, we must stay grounded and not let our minds be influenced.
This capacity to not be perturbed our swayed is Samadhi.
So, as we carry out our work, it trains us to practice the six paramitas.
All of us must be very clear on the facts and be able to discern the truth.
I often say that it fills me with great sorrow when people are blind and don’t think about issues clearly and instead mix up what’s right and wrong.
We should learn to see things clearly and not be led astray by other’s wrong views and learn to develop great compassion for people in suffering.
Only with such clarity and compassion can we continue our work steadily.
(Source: Da Ai TV 人間菩提)
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