The world of Tzu Chi February 2020 (Vol.119)

TZU CHI 119 49 REMINDERS UNDER THE SALA TREES Heart lotuses bloom at sanatorium For example, the Losheng Sanatorium in Taipei is a leprosy hospital. Ever since the Japanese occupation era, its patients had been isolated from the outside world. No one dared to go close to that place out of fear of contracting the disease. However, during the 1970s, seeing the poor conditions at the sanatorium, I asked people to help improve the environment there. In this way, we formed a good connection with the people there. Therefore, when we were fundraising to build Tzu Chi Hospital, the patients at the sanatorium helped us raise funds, even though they depended on government assistance for their living expenses. Each person only received NT$600 monthly, but when they received the money each month, the first thing they did was to donate a portion of it to Tzu Chi, and then used the remaining portion for their living expenses. The patients even started calling on people to buy a “Heart Lotus”. At that time, one Heart Lotus corresponded to donating NT$10,000 to our hospital construction. Some people would donate in instalments in order to complete the donation of a $10,000 Heart Lotus. Altogether, the patients at the sanatorium donated between 100 and 200 Heart Lotuses. Each of their hearts is truly like a blossoming lotus flower, growing out of mud but remaining pure and undefiled. An elderly resident at the sanatorium was named Song Jinyuan. Though she was physically blind, her face was disfigured by the leprosy bacteria, and her limbs were numb, she possessed clear wisdom; while we read sutras printed on paper, she had the sutras imprinted in her memory. Most people are able to memorize the Amitabha Sutra , the “Chapter on the Universal Doors” from the Lotus Sutra , or the Diamond Sutra . However, she had not only memorized those sutras, she could even chant the entire Earth Treasury Sutra . Since she was blind, she relied on other people to recite and teach her. She would listen intently to the sutras and memorize them, sentence by sentence, so that she could recite the entire sutra. She even memorized my explanations of the sutra text. These patients’ minds were purified by the Buddhadharma; they did not have any afflictions from interpersonal conflicts. In their minds, they focused only on chanting the Buddha’s name, and in their actions, they concentrated solely on walking the Bodhisattva Path. When Ms Song’s older brother passed away, she inherited a portion of his property. Her older sister had already passed away, and her three children therefore had no part in the inheritance. Ms Song felt sorry for them, so she distributed NT$1,200,000 to each of them. Originally, her sister’s children thought they would not receive anything, but she divided the inheritance among them equally. Many people tend to fight each other trying to get a bigger part of an inheritance. This elderly lady however had no such thoughts, and instead, willingly shared her inheritance with others. When Ms Song’s brother was still alive, he had hoped that there could be a Buddhist university. Thus, when she heard that besides providing relief and medical services, Tzu Chi also planned to build a university, she donated her remaining inheritance of NT$2,300,000 to the Tzu Chi university construction fund. When I heard this news, I was truly touched. The merits of her sincerity and reverence truly extend throughout the universe.