人間菩提--吃苦了苦•回甘人生
Some people say that they want an easy job with a high salary which is close to home.
This is the ideal job that many today seek.
Nowadays, most people have the attitude:
" I'm getting old. I've worked enough"
"I'm eligible for retirement, so I'll retire"
People nowadays are always seeking an easy and comfortable life.
Look at this old woman in
She's eighty years old and is still working.
She has to support her family.
She used to have seven children, but five of her children have passed away
Her other two children are mentally impaired, so they cannot take care of themselves.
She has to do everything for them.
What about her husband?
A few years ago, her husband developed cataracts.
He did not want to see a doctor or get surgery for it.
So, now he is blind and cannot see.
But besides being blind, he also leads an abnormal lifestyle.
He s
Sometimes, he would spill boiling water or hot soup.(and injure himself)
So this old woman also has to take care of her husband at night.
There are four people in her family.
How do they make ends meet?
This old woman works as a cleaning lady to support the family.
She works hard and does a very good job.
She does the job willingly and earns 800 ringgits per month, which is about NT$7,300(US$232)
That's how she makes her living. She also receives government assistance of 260 ringgits per month.
With a total of only 1,060 ringgits, which is less than NT$10,000(US$308),
she has to feed people.
How can she afford to not work?
She needs to work.
You see, she works diligently because she's afraid of losing this job.
If she loses this job, how is she going to support her family?
(So, she still continues to work)
(There's something that makes her) even more admirable.
She learned about Tzu Chi's recycling work.
She learned that the proceeds from selling recyclables go to support the our dialysis center
which provides free treatment to the poor.
The patients, after getting treatments at our dialysis center were inspired to contribute as well by joining our recycling work.
This old woman saw that doing recycling work can help people by supporting the dialysis center.
So, she started collecting recyclables, such as newspapers, bottles, etc.
For the past seven or eight years, she has been doing recycling work to help support our dialysis center.
Not only that, when she comes back from grocery shopping, she would put her spare change in a coin bank and donate that money.
Someone ask her:
"Don't you have a tough life yourself?"
She'd reply, "No, it's just my lot"
I've come to accept my life and my children.
I won't abandon them.
If I do, (it'd be hard on them)
and that'd pain me, too.
This is my fate, I can't do anything to change it.
Master told us that our current is the result of the karma we've created in the past.
We ourselves created our own life.
I recite the sutra everyday and pray for all the world's people.
I don't pray for myself.
(See, as long as we understand the law of karma and have a broad heart)
We'll be able to go on with our life and accept all that has happened to us.
As long as she's optimistic and accepts her life, she won't have any complaints.
However, starting last year, she started feeling exhausted because she has to take care of her husband at night.
(in addition to her day work)
It was starting to take a toll on her.
So, she thought about moving into a nursing home.
Some nursing homes accept people with disabilities.
She can then take care of her husband, her two children and also help other people in the nursing home.
The nursing home, however, would not accept all four of them though her neighbor tried to help.
Her neighbor then asked Tzu Chi for help.
After Tzu Chi volunteers learned of her situation, they helped her to have her husband stay at a nursing home.
The nursing home cost 400 ringgits per month.
Tzu Chi and her neighbors helped her to cover this cost.
As for her two children, Tzu Chi volunteers visit them frequently and give them care.
This old woman now feels quite relieved because when she passes away, she need not worry about her children because Tzu Chi volunteers will make arrangements so that they are cared for.
Her life is truly a hard one full of suffering.
However, as long as she accepts it, her suffering will eventually come to an end.
(This is her life, so she'll have to live it out)
Let us now look at
We still have a group of construction volunteers staying there.
More of the local temples have asked Tzu Chi to help them build temporary housing.
So, they helped build temporary housing for the Wu Yin Monastery.
The Buddhist monastics and the lay practitioners were very happy.
Even though it's only temporary housing, they were very thoughtful in building it.
Look, the people at our monastery told us.
It looks like a palace, I told our lay practitioners:
"Let us clean and mop the floor"
"Bodhisattvas are coming back"
"This is where they're going o live"
We're currently in the midst of building temporary housing for Yun Wu Monastery
and our volunteers are undertaking the project.
The construction is about to be completed.
We've helped around nine local monasteries.
So, I'm very grateful to our Tzu Chi volunteers.
For the sake of the quake survivors, they've continued to stay there to help them.
We also see the devastation in
The people were already poor to begin with.
Now with one hurricane after another hitting them, it has really created disaster and much suffering are still affected by flooding.
Seeing them like that, but unable to help them makes us feel quite helpless.
There is so much suffering in this world.
The fact that we can live in peace and freedom in a place that is safe and well---
Shouldn't we be grateful?
What is there to fuss about?
All in all, being able to serve and help others is to be blessed.
Being able to live in peace and safety is the most blessed life.
So, we need to be pious at every moment and live our life with care and prudence.
We should be grateful and content always and interact with others with tolerance
and understanding so that we don't create problems and troubles and create negative karma.
Collective negative karma will cause disorder in this world.
(This all has to do our environment and climate)
So, we need to pay close attention to our mind.
What's happening in this world is created by our mind.
Only when we take care of our heart and mind can the world become better as the pollution of our Earth is closely linked to the impurity in our mind.
年高阿嬤勤植福
吃苦了苦甘願做
逆來拂境歡喜受
心靈環保盡離垢
馬來西亞有位80歲的邱亞來婆婆，年紀這麼大卻還必須到工廠當清潔工，因為要照顧弱智的子女和失明的丈夫。但樂天知命的婆婆，現在是慈濟的環保志工。生活過的辛苦，卻也省下買菜錢來助人。邱婆婆知足感恩，證嚴上人說，人人都要懂得知福造福。人與人之間，要彼此善解包容，珍惜平安的日子。
雖然是下雨天，八十歲的邱亞來阿嬤依舊騎著機車上班。她就靠著這份一個月不到一萬元台幣收入的清潔工作扛起家計。阿嬤原來有七個孩子，只是五個接連往生，目前僅剩兩個弱智的兒女及失明的丈夫和她相依為命。即使生活過的清苦，但阿嬤認命且樂觀看待一切，不僅當起環保志工，也不忘存錢助人。
日子過得辛苦，不過從阿嬤的笑容裡，似乎感受到她的堅強與甘願無悔的付出。在慈濟世界裡，有著許多和邱亞來阿嬤一樣的生命勇士。苦難偏多的人生，更需要人人啟發好的心念，讓善的力量匯聚，時時戒慎虔誠、無欲無求，樸實付出的過好每一天。
知足最大富、感恩最有福，但願人人都要懂得知福造福，珍惜平安的日子，別輕言破壞眼前的安定與幸福。
Regards, Jenny
Today's Jing Si Aphorisms: Repentace purifies the mind, a pure mind can readily sweep away affliction.
今日靜思語: 懺悔則清淨，清淨則能去除煩惱．
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