Life Wisdom: Protecting the World with Our Kindness
“If you don’t work, you’ll go hungry,” said Tasiati, a citizen.
“Recipients are patients in quarantine, and venders and drivers affected by the pandemic,” said Irwan Triyono, Danramil 03 Grogol Palmerah.
“I hope the rice will help them; especially under the regulations, activities in community are prohibited, and they can't go out to earn a living; they have to stay at home. They urgently needed relief; when they called, they were already short on supplies,” said Tjiu Bun Fu, a volunteer in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Almost every one of these families was about to go without food, so as soon as we received the approval, we sprang into action,” said Wang Xiu Xian, a volunteer in Melaka, Malaysia.
“I work as a building contractor. After the pandemic broke out, my family’s earnings were greatly reduced. This pandemic undoubtedly affected our lives. I'm very grateful to Tzu Chi for helping us. Due to the pandemic,” said Ismail, a beneficiary.
“I’ve been out of work for two months, plus, an old illness of my knee returned and it's been going on for three years. I’m grateful to Tzu Chi for their help,” said Basuki, a beneficiary.
We see that, right now, there are many places that need our help. Tzu Chi volunteers can exert their remarkable abilities, their spirit makes them remarkable, and as they have determination, there is no obstacle and they can exert their abilities. Everyone is determined, so they exert their remarkable abilities; such an expansion of love can protect the world. Wherever there is a need, many volunteers will emerge; always, there are living bodhisattvas coming out to serve.
The Lotus Sutra talks about bodhisattvas coming from all directions, such as from the sky or underground, and coming from all directions. Anywhere that calls for people to help, living bodhisattvas go to serve right away. Isn’t this a true depiction of what the Lotus Sutra talks about? Isn’t it happening right now? Isn’t it happening in this era?
Everyone emulates the heart of the Buddha, which protects all living beings in the world. Everyone can be a great living bodhisattva with mighty powers; bodhisattvas can look after the world no matter they are rich or poor. We see volunteers in Mozambique, they live in a harsh reality, and they live in poverty, but they can transcend it and enter the state of bodhisattva right away.
The Buddha said that, in a very short time, bodhisattvas can emerge from the ground. Look at their field, we see vegetables grow from the soil. Each individual vegetable is grown very well. Look at those seeds, as long as we want to grow them, given the right conditions, when the mustard green seeds are planted in the soil, with rain, soil, and someone to take care of them, they can grow to be very big, and each one becomes a very big mustard green.
Looking at the vast vegetable field, we see rows and rows of green patches. One mustard green plant can produce a lot of seeds. When we sow those seeds in soil, they’ll grow into a vast patch of mustard greens. Speaking of this, in this world, there are many inconceivable things. People’s affinities have brought the land and seeds together. Truly, what we see can only be described as “inconceivable.”
In this world, we truly need to take good care of our heart and mind. Don’t underestimate the thoughts in our mind. As long as we give rise to an aspiration (to do good), we can create boundless merits. Our thoughts are invisible and intangible, but as long as we aspire to serve and to give of ourselves, we can truly benefit a lot of living beings in the world.
Volunteers, as long as everyone takes in Tzu Chi’s spirit and values, we will definitely accomplish what we say, as long as we have the determination. As long as we are determined, we can definitely walk the talk. So, when we interact with people, we inspire them to join Tzu Chi and turn our world around, by turning bad into good and by turning disasters into blessings.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disaster. We have to learn our grand lessons; every one of us should become awakened. Everyone has taken the teachings to heart. All we have to do is take action. I always believe that everybody can talk to people about this.
Thanks to the advanced technology today, people only have to pick up their stylus or use their fingers to write down their thoughts or transform their thoughts of kindness into texts, and then press send; this is purifying people’s hearts and works as a protective layer for us. In all, how do we spread our thoughts of kindness throughout the land, so people could open their hearts and show their protective layers of kindness; everyone is capable of doing this.
Volunteers, recently, I have been thinking about life. Several decades of years have gone by, like many volunteers and me, we are in our 80s or 90s. When people are over 80 or 90, how long can they live? It’s hard to say. So, we have to seize every moment of our time well and always harbor a correct thought. This correct thought can benefit many people and create a lot of blessings in the world.
We have to truly seize our time. To spend one more second or minute on saying good words is a good deed. As inspired living bodhisattvas, we do not complain about hardship. For us, it is truly blessed to be able to create blessings for the world. Rather than just fighting the pandemic, we should turn this into something that benefits the world, which can protect people’s safety and health.
In a word, we should transform this pandemic into something that benefits people. All this requires us to continuously give and spread our power of love and kindness. Doing this creates boundless merits and virtue.
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