A Master of Creating a "Charity Kingdom" —— A Record of Master Yan Zheng, the founder of Taiwan Province Tzu Chi Meritorious Society.
Near the exit of the steep Taroko scenic spot in Taiwan Province Province, at the top of the vertical valley plain in Taitung, there are green fields everywhere. You can see a row of houses with white walls and gray tiles, which are quiet and elegant. It is the famous Buddhist Dojo: the "home of silence" of Tzu Chi Meritorious Society. In Taiwan Province Province, whenever it is mentioned, people will take a tone of reverence and pride. Behind the scenes, Master Yan Zheng initiated and presided over the Tzu Chi Meritorious Meeting, which can be called the conscience of Taiwan Province Province and the compassion of Taiwan Province Province.
First, the largest private charity in Taiwan Province Province.
Tzu Chi Meritorious Society is the largest non-governmental charity in Taiwan Province Province and even in Asia. It has branches and liaison offices on five continents. By the end of February 2003, Tzu Chi had more than 65,438+06,000 members, more than 6,000 Tzu Chi members and 800,000 full members. It helped 27,073 families in need. Whenever there are accidents such as water, fire, wind, earthquake, air crash and car accident, Tzu Chi volunteers can always mobilize urgently and invest a lot of manpower and material resources to go to the disaster area to help, until the victims settle down and rebuild their homes.
Over the past 30 years, Tzu Chi volunteers have left deep footprints not only in Taiwan Province Province and Chinese mainland, but also all over the world, including South Africa, Mongolia, Afghanistan, North Korea, Chechnya, Kosovo, Turkey, C? te d 'Ivoire, Southeast Asia and Central and South America. Relief projects include exhibits, clothing, housing construction, free clinics, and assistance to nursing homes, children's welfare homes and primary and secondary schools. The funds paid are more than NT$ 2 billion (the same below). 1989 alone spent 240 million yuan on disaster relief, and the total amount of disaster relief funds spent in Taipei in that year was more than 30 million yuan.
In addition to charity, Tzu Chi has made contributions to medical care, education and cultural undertakings. In terms of medical care, modern Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital and Xindian Tzu Chi Hospital have been established, as well as a children's development and rehabilitation center, a bone marrow transplant ward and a bone marrow donor center. A Tzu Chi medical network has been established, and medical teams are often organized to conduct free clinics around the world. In education, Tzu Chi Technical College and Tzu Chi University (including medical college, humanities and social college, nursing college and affiliated kindergartens, primary and secondary schools) have been established. In addition, Tzu Chi Junior College Youth Association and Tzu Chi Teachers Association have been established. Through these organizations and various camps, students are influenced by love and improved in practice. In terms of cultural undertakings, Tzu Chi Tao Law (semi-monthly), Tzu Chi Monthly (with a circulation of over100000) and Classic were founded, and they were distributed overseas in English and Japanese. At the same time, Tzu Chi Culture Publishing House, Jingsi Culture Company, Tzu Chi World Radio Program and Tzu Chi Love TV Station were established ... Such a complicated and effective operation, such a huge and extraordinary contribution, and such a long-term and accurate planning are all attributed to Tzu Chi "masters". "Master" is the master Yan Zheng we will talk about next.
Second, the epiphany of human suffering.
Master Yan Zheng, commonly known as Jinyun, was born in the middle of Taiwan Province in the year of Lugouqiao Incident, a small town called Qingshui not far from the sea. He was adopted by his uncle in his childhood and moved to Fengyuan, Taichung with his adoptive father. As long as she can remember, she often carried her sister-in-law to the bomb shelter to avoid plane bombing. She often ran among the dead and wounded, witnessed the burning of houses, and experienced the sufferings of the world. At the age of eight, she and her mother ran into different bomb shelters. When they met after the bombing, she hugged her mother and cried and said, "Mom, I thought I would never see you again in my life. 」
When Jin Yun was fifteen, her mother had an operation for gastric perforation. In the fifties and sixties, it was very dangerous to have surgery. So, she prayed to heaven and made a vow of "I would like to shorten my life 12 years to pray for my mother's longevity", perhaps because she felt filial and miraculously recovered from her mother's illness without surgery.
There is a temple next to Jinyun's house. The grand scene of pious prayer in her youth left a deep impression on her. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, her father died of a stroke, and the impermanence of life made her more devoted to Buddhism.
Awakened, Jinyun was determined to become a monk, and was soon accepted as a disciple by Master Yin Shun, whose dharma name was "Yan Zheng". Since then, she has not only studied Buddhist scriptures hard, but also lectured for believers in temples and recruited apprentices.
Thirdly, a case became Tzu Chi.
1966, Master Yan Zheng and his disciples went to the hospital to visit a believer who was hospitalized with stomach trouble. Master came out of the hospital and saw a pool of blood on the ground, but he didn't see the patient. Master Yan Zheng asked, "Why is there so much blood on the ground?" Someone told the mage: "It is difficult for an indigenous woman to produce. They heard that she had to pay a deposit of 8000 yuan and medical expenses when she was hospitalized for surgery, so they took her back because she couldn't afford it. The mage is very distressed by this sentence, and at that time there is no way to further understand-is that woman dead or alive? The mage thought: If we can find it in time, we need money to save people in time, so the Buddhist Tzu Chi Meritorious Society, the embryonic form of a charity group, was organized with the wishes of four disciples and 30 believers.
At first, four apprentices and two old people each made a pair of 4 yuan's baby shoes every day, one day with 24 yuan, and an average of one month with 720 yuan. And these 30 believers, without affecting their lives, save 50 cents a day as an emergency fund.
At first, the mage sawed out 30 money-saving tubes from the bamboo in the back of the house and gave them to each believer, and insisted that they deposit 50 cents a day. Believers feel strange, why not just pay 15 yuan every month? The mage said: "Not surprisingly, I want you to have a heart to save people before going out every day. Saving fifty cents is to cultivate a thrifty heart and a lover's heart to save people. Two hearts in a tube, very impressive. 」
So these 30 people go to the vegetable market with their baskets every day, and everyone happily declares, "We have to save 50 cents every day! We are going to have a disaster relief meeting, and we want to save people! " "Fifty cents can also save lives? ! The news spread like wildfire, and more and more people participated. In this way, under the guidance of a 28-year-old unknown monk and nun, a group of small-town housewives with food baskets wrote the first page of the most brilliant Buddhist charity in China.
Fourth, the extremely rich "ascetic monk".
Later, Master Yan Zheng initiated the establishment of Tzu Chi Meritorious Society. She said that "goodness" means giving happiness to all beings and making society peaceful; "Economy" is to make up for people's defects, get rid of embarrassment and experience material and spiritual prosperity.
She carries forward the traditional spirit of penance and advocates doing nothing and not eating for a day.
During her early penance, her body was always ill, and sometimes she almost fainted because of angina pectoris. But she always works hard and only sleeps four or five hours a day. Every year, she travels all over Taiwan Province Province to visit victims, patients, Tzu Chi cadres and members. Every year, it receives nearly 100 groups of people from all walks of life, writers and journalists from all over the world to visit Jingsi Jingshe. At the same time, we will also plan Tzu Chi's four ambitions, make detailed plans with foresight and even travel around the world. For example, to build a Tzu Chi hospital, we should not only choose a site to buy land, but also raise funds. More importantly, Master Yan Zheng decided that it was necessary for Tzu Chi Hospital to employ world-class medical cadres, and made great efforts to select Du Shimian, former president of National Taiwan University Hospital, the most famous hospital in Taiwan Province Province, as the president of Tzu Chi Hospital. To this end, the master personally came to the door three times to convince Dean Du. Finally, he was moved and agreed to come to Tzu Chi Hospital.
Tzu Chi is now "as rich as an enemy", but it still adheres to the principle of good faith, and the funds raised are always used for disaster relief, while the permanent life is maintained by the income in its own hands. They cut their own clothes, grow their own vegetables, make candles and sell bean flour and popcorn. They are still diligent and thrifty, and Master Yan Zheng himself is a model. She uses each piece of paper four times, once with a pencil, once with a blue pen, once with a red pen, and finally with a brush. One day you don't work, one day you don't eat, which is the unchanging code of conduct of Tzu Chi volunteers. From the very beginning, making baby shoes and knitting sweaters, to the later site selection and land leveling for Tzu Chi Hospital, and today's volunteers go to the disaster area to distribute relief items at their own expense, Tzu Chi volunteers have persisted for decades.
Five, the accumulation of soil and sand will eventually become a great cause
The actions of Master Yan Zheng and Tzu Chi monks and nuns also extend to Tzu Chi volunteers. When people visit the Jing Si Jing She, they will see many volunteers from all walks of life, including the rich, politicians, professors, doctors, white-collar workers and the poor. Everyone is enthusiastic about their work. Sometimes, under the guidance of the mage, they will classify and package the donated items and put labels on each package. Sometimes they take care of patients; Sometimes they will go to disaster areas around the world to distribute goods at their own expense ... When Tzu Chi Hospital was established, the estimated construction cost was NT$ 800 million, but only NT$ 30 million was raised three years later. At this time, a Japanese offered to donate $200 million to build a hospital. What a huge sum of money! Only one-tenth can be used to build this modern hospital, and the rest will be deposited in the bank, with interest enough for annual expenses. But Master Yan Zheng didn't accept the donation. She doesn't want the hospital to be controlled by foreign organizations. She hopes that everyone in Taiwan Province Province will have the opportunity to contribute to the construction of a better world, and accumulate soil into a Buddhist temple and sand into a stupa. On her thin shoulders, she has extraordinary verve and rough character.
Tzu Chi began to hold fund-raising bazaars in Taipei and other places, and Tzu Chi volunteers from all over Taiwan Province Province rushed to donate money. Many people in society donate things, even family heirlooms and jewels. Women use their spare time as cleaners and dishwashers and donate all their wages. They say that every time they wave a broom, it's like adding an extra tile to the hospital. Every bowl you wash is like earning a brick for the hospital.
You can be as old as you want. By the end of this year, Tzu Chi will raise NT$ 700 million for the hospital.
Although the temple is a small charity, it is a big charity.
Tzu Chi's cause has aroused great repercussions, not only among the people, but also at the top of society. 1980, Jiang Jingguo visited Master Yan Zheng in Jingsi Jingshe. When he learned about Tzu Chi's career and history, he praised you again and again, saying, "You are amazing, you have done so much for the society." I have traveled all over the country. I have never seen such a small temple, but I have done so much charity. 」
With the rapid exchange of international information, international emergency information enters the field of vision through the screen. As a member of the "global village", Tzu Chi volunteers are duty-bound to have an unbearable sense of hardship for the world. Since 199 1 year, Tzu Chi has actively participated in international emergency relief, giving the victims of various countries the most appropriate help and care, lighting their torch of hope, inspiring their fearless confidence and courage, and praying for them to get out of their misery and face the future.
Based on the concept of "respecting life", the mage can't bear to wait for the pain and loss of patients with hematological tumors and their families. 1993, under the ardent expectation of the Department of Health and major medical centers, the bone marrow bank was established. Today, Tzu Chi's bone marrow database has accumulated data on more than 234,700 donors (as of the end of July 2002). It is the largest bone marrow database in Asia and the third largest in the world. It is also the bone marrow database with the highest proportion of voluntary bone marrow donation and the lowest rejection rate. Up to July, 2002, 429 cases have been successfully transplanted, including Taiwan Province 149 cases, overseas 280 cases and Chinese mainland 156 cases, with remarkable achievements.
On April 30th, 2002, Tzu Chi Bone Marrow Bank was transformed into Tzu Chi Bone Marrow Stem Cell Center. In addition to continuously strengthening the function of bone marrow bank, it will also develop stem cell research and gene therapy and organize cord blood bank. Ten thousand umbilical cord blood samples are scheduled to be collected in three years as the second line of defense for bone marrow matching. In case the bone marrow does not match, umbilical cord blood stem cells can also match.
Now her charitable works are almost all over the world, and nearly 654.38+0 million volunteers serve the global public every day.
Life is short, but time and space are eternal; People have changed frequently for thousands of years, but the demand of the world has never stopped. Tzu Chi's ambition is for the suffering of all beings. Master Yan Zheng once thought of compassion, and used compassion and happiness to directly save all beings and teach the rich to help the poor. Her birth exceeded that of ordinary people.
Tzu Chi volunteers are always impressive not only in Taiwan Province province, but also in the mainland and even in the world. Master Yan Zheng has won many honors, including the Honorary Doctor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Social Service Award, the Magsaysay Social Leader Award, the International Peace Prize and the Medical Contribution Award. Master Yan Zheng's words and deeds have far-reaching influence. She has written more than 20 kinds of Buddhist works and lectures, among which "Pure in Sri Lanka" has a circulation of more than 600,000 copies since the first edition 1989, as well as simplified Chinese, Japanese and English versions and cartoon versions carefully drawn by the famous cartoonist Cai Zhizhong.
Quiet and quiet, after decades of wind and rain, still as simple and vigorous as the earth; Master Yan Zheng is still a thin woman, but just like the exquisite house she lives in, there are countless internal forces involved. A woman, in the hustle and bustle of the world of mortals, gathered believers, achieved the cause of Bodhisattva with the flesh and blood of ordinary people, and built a grand project to help the world by means of jingwei reclamation. How unusual this is.
1995, Master Yan Zheng won the "Asia's Most Outstanding Woman Award". She set an example for women in Taiwan Province with her mother's brilliance.