Date: December 20, 2010
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Giving Our Life Greater Meaning (開拓人生的深度)
I’ve been on a tour around Taiwan for 12 days.
During these 12 days, I felt a lot of conflicting emotions.
I remember the day before I left for the tour.
I held a certification ceremony for our overseas Tzu Chi volunteers from 23 countries.
There were more than 1,000 of them.
Actually, their training camp ended on Dec. 8.
But, because I had to attend a board meeting in Taipei regarding our cultural mission, the certification ceremony had to be moved up one day so that I could set out on my tour on the 8th.
As the train station, when I was leaving Hualien, Dr. Lin, the CEO of our medical mission, told me that a volunteer from Malaysia Lee Choy Lan, had suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm that morning and was rushed to our hospital for treatment.
But, there’s still a tumor in her brain.
Hearing this, I was very concerned.
During these 12 days, I have been very worried about this volunteer.
I asked my monastic disciple traveling with me to call the hospital to find out the situation.
Every day, I was very worried about this volunteer.
Before Choy Lan was certified, she had already taken on the role of an assistant team leader.
We can see how capable and dedicated she is in Tzu Chi’s work.
She’s truly a good disciple of mine.
The purpose of her coming to Taiwan was to get certified.
What is incredible about this is that the certification ceremony was held on the 7th.
So, she got certified as a Tzu chi commissioner.
It was the next morning that she suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Why did the karma work out this way?
She came to Taiwan to be certified and her wish has been fulfilled.
Yet, this tragic circumstance occurred.
I hope she can be at peace, feel fulfilled and let go of any attachments.
But if there’s any chance she can recover, we of course still hope for that.
This time when I visited our hospital in Taichung, I saw a Tzu chi volunteer whom two months ago had been in a very serious car accident.
When I stepped into the lobby of our hospital this time, she had already recovered to the point she could sit in a wheelchair and respond to me.
When I speak to her, she would nod to me.
I heard that she only became responsive a few days before my visit.
By the time I visited, she could already sit in a wheelchair to see me in the lobby.
It was very thoughtful of her.
She knew it’d be difficult for me to visit her ward, so she went to the lobby so I could see her and set my mind at ease by how much she has recovered.
Her recovery really has been remarkable.
So, all throughout the 12 days of my trip, Choy Lan has remained in my heart always.
Every time I thought of her, I sent her my deepest best wishes.
This time, before our volunteers from overseas left Taiwan for their respective countries, they first went to Guandu to say goodbye to me and to all me of their aspirations.
Besides them, I saw a little boy from Malaysia.
This little boy is very adorable.
When he came up to me, I thought he looked very familiar.
So, I said to him: “I think I’ve seen you before, right?”
He kept smiling.
His smile was very adorable.
He refreshed my memory.
You’ve lost one disciple but gained three.
When you saw on TV the story of our volunteer, Xinfen, and it came to the part where she died, you cried so hard.
My mom cried, too.
He had been watching our Da Ai Drama about the true story of our volunteer, Xinfen.
He was very sad about her death because he said.
I lost a disciple.
But, he said that now, I’ve gained three.
I asked him: “All three of you in your family have joined Tzu Chi?”
He said yes.
He and his parents are all involved in Tzu Chi now.
In the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, there’s a passage that says one seed can give rise to innumerable seeds.
In this life, how long our life is depends on the karma we created in past lives.
None of us knows how long we will live but after encountering Buddhism and Tzu Chi, we can learn to seize the present.
In life, we live not just for our own sake.
We should know our direction in life and realize that we must give of ourselves to help others.
This makes our life more meaningful.
We shouldn’t be selfish and think only of ourselves or our family.
We need to open our heart and think of the greater humanity.
I often say that everyone has a responsibility to take care our world.
Living in this world, we should dedicate ourselves to greater good.
We often say that we should give help to others.
But, we also need to help ourselves too, by taking good care of our heart and mind so that we don’t go astray.
The Buddha tells us that when we pass away, the only think we can take with us is our karma.
We come to this world empty-handed.
When a baby is born, the baby cries in suffering and distress.
Even the rich and famous experience suffering.
Life contains much suffering.
But, our heart and mind can make us feel spiritually rich.
I often tell people that there are rich people who are spiritually impoverished and this causes them great suffering.
There are wealthy people who are stingy and don’t want to donate money for charity because they always feel they don’t have enough.
Yet, there are people who are very generous and donate large sums of money.
In our Taichung Tzu Chi hospital, there are two doctors who are husband and wife.
Before they see patients, they would put money in the coin bank and pray for their patients.
Such is our medical renwen.
Our doctors all care for their patients with love.
This is truly touching.
All in all, we all come into this world empty- handed.
But how to live a meaningful life and nurture our wisdom-life is something that is very important.
(Source:Da Ai TV 人間菩提)
首頁 
