971220人間菩提英文版Grandma A-chun─the Happy Recycling Volunteer

人間菩提--圓融無礙幸福人
Grandma A-chun─the Happy Recycling Volunteer


“Grandma A-chun, where are we going?”
“We’re going to Siluo”
“to do recycling work”
“Do you all get together every day”
“and then go do recycling work?”
“Yes”
“We want to keep the earth clean”
“so we all like doing recycling”
“Money will one day be sued up, but merits will not”
“It’s better to do good deeds”
“and leave merits to our children than money”
“If they’re not frugal, they’ll spend all the money”
“It’s not good”
“I’m the happiest person”
“so I need to be grateful”
“In a tea party where people sit outside”
“in the courtyard and talk about happiness”
“I’m the happiest person”
“I would tell them that I’m he happiest person”
“I really need to be grateful.”
“My children grew up to be good people”
“I also need to be grateful to them”
“for being so filial”

Who is the happiest and most blessed?
It’s those who give of themselves.
Joy and happiness come from the mindset of giving of ourselves willingly.
Indeed, those who have love for others are the people with the greatest happiness.
In the footage, we saw a large group of elderly recycling volunteers---
“grass-root bodhisattvas”
They all live in Yunlin County and most of them are in their sixties or seventies.
They all got involved in recycling thanks to Grandma A-chun, who is herself age 75.
She’s the one who organized them.
Grandma A-chun does all kinds of volunteer work, not just recycling work.
She’s also our culinary volunteer and volunteers in Tzu Chi’s hospitals.
Wherever there’s a need, she will organize a group to help.
There are over then, twenty people in her group.
Wherever they are needed, they’ll go to help.
When she was still young and in her prime, Grandma A-chun experienced hard times.
She had to do a lot of labor.
She was the poorest in her village because she became a widow when she was close to forty and had to toil hard to support her five children.
In her younger days, my mom had to work very hard. Do you know how much she earned?
NT$20 (less than US$1) for a day’s work and she had to raise five kid on that.
She had to go out before dawn to harvest peanuts and garlic for people.
Do you know how they harvested rice back then?
(The machine they used) was the foot-operated kind.
She had to leave around 3 or 4 a.m.
She didn’t just work during the day but even in the middle of the night.
Her children saw how hard she worked and knew all the things she had to do to support them so all of them behaved and were self-disciplined.
Now, they all have their own careers.
More than twenty years ago, she learned about Tzu Chi and became a regular donor, and over a decade ago.
She went to live with her children in Taipei to give them a helping hand.
At the time, she happened to encounter a Tzu Chi volunteer and started doing recycling work.
This was over a decade ago.
She started doing recycling work and it made her very happy.
When she returned to Yunlin County, she continued to do recycling work there.
She even encouraged a group of elderly people around her age to do recycling work with her.
If not for Tzu Chi, if not for this recycling work for us to do, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.
Being old and not having a job.
I’d only be able to stay home and be bored and sleep all the time. It wouldn’t be healthy.
So, we’re very grateful to Master.
We just heard Grandma A-chun say she’s very grateful.
She has set a good example for our future generations.
The recycling work she does also conserves natural resources for our future generations by not letting our resources go to waste.
(This group of elderly bodhisattvas and)
(the efforts they’re making for the greater good)
(make them the most useful people)
(who’re making great contributions to our society)
(So, their lives have great value)
Some old people say:
I’m old. How can I possibly be of use?
We should never underestimate what we can do
We can still be of use even though we’re old.
We can still make use of our lives o do things to benefit our land.
So, (recycling gives our life greater meaning & value)
(Though doing recycling work)we can also purify our heart and mind
These elderly women are truly good models for others
Aren’t these elderly bodhisattvas adorable?
At home, their grandchildren would respect them as a living bodhisattva (for their noble work)
What a meaningful life.
They’re willing to contribute themselves to the very end of their days.
They have a very pure and simple heart.
They never think:
“Why am I doing work that no one pays me for?”
“Why work all day like this? What for?”
They never have such thoughts
(So, why do they do this?)
They do it out of gratefulness and love.
They all know to be grateful.
This Grandma A-chun has a wish.
Her wish is for me to personally certify her as a Tzu Chi commissioner.
She is seventy-five years old and is now going through training to become a Tzu Chi commissioner.
But in a video, I saw her asking me:
I would like to be a Tzu Chi commissioner but it’ll be hard because I don’t know how to read.
People said that it’ll be a problem because I would need to (record down) donations in the donation book and hand in the book.
Since I can’t read, I cannot (write down) the information in the donation book.
So, I won’t be able to do this part of the commissioner’s work.
I’d like to ask Master if I can still be a commissioner despite not knowing how to read?
If Master says yes, then I will go for it.
If not, then I won’t become a commissioner.
It’s not a problem if she can’t read.
Knowing life’s principles is what’s important.
See, isn’t Grandma A-chun a person who really understands life’s principles?
After she completes all the training courses, I will personally certify her as a commissioner.
She has been donating to Tzu Chi for more than twenty years and has been a recycling volunteer for over then years.
She’s more than qualified.
So, her not know how to read is not a problem.
(She can talk to people) and her words can teach them life’s principles.
(With her conduct) she is also a role model for younger people.
She really understands life’s principles.
Some people only know the principles, but (can’t apply them in real life)
They can talk about life’s principles, but they have trouble getting along with others.
But this grandma (is a good person who treats people right)
(and does the right things)
She’ someone who truly understands life’s principles.
So, it’s not a problem if she can’t read.
As long as one is a good person who can discern what’s right and does it---that’s being a person who knows life’s principles.
So, Grandma A-chun was already qualified to be a commissioner over ten years ago.
See how she worked so hard to raise her children.
Her virtue and character as a mother already makes her an exemplar.
She truly deserves praise
So, we should make good use of our time every day (to do good)
Her whole family is involved in Tzu Chi.
Two of her daughters are already commissioners and she herself is training to become a commissioner.
Her sons and daughters-in-law also participate in Tzu Chi’s recycling work.
She has a big family. Every month, her grandchildren, sons, daughters-in-law, daughters, and sons-in-law would come to visit her.
See, she used to be the poorest in the village.
Now, her family is a model family in their village because of their filial piety.
They are truly a model family.
Their ways are very touching to see.
If every family in society can be like this, wouldn’t our society be a most harmonious society?