One of the Buddhist teaching is to be「merciful」. 《Da Zhi Du
Lun》Chapter 27 explained :「Great mercy gives everybody happiness,
whereas the great sympathy aims to take away their pain.」This
compassionate and sympathetic behavior should be offered to everybody in
need, irrespective of whether you know him or not. Everybody is treated
equally, their pain looked upon as if your own with no discrimination.
Eventually it is extended to all creatures with feeling, so that you
always treat them with pity and love. I would like to take this
opportunity to discuss with you my title「Buddhist Charity and Community
Work」.
1. Compassionate Buddhism and community charity
To be merciful is a very basic Buddhist concept. It means doing
something good for others and can simply be regarded as community
charity work. In this sense, our Buddha sets the best example. He was
the most benevolent person in the universe. We can read from various
Buddhist Sutras how our Master, using his tender compassion, to protect
lives and save people in distress. Once our Master abandoned his life to
feed a hungry tiger and in another instance, cut his muscles to feed a
hawk. In order to completely relieve all living beings from the misery
of birth, getting old, sickness and death, he left the palace to become a
monk and attained enlightenment by personal experience. He proclaimed
widely the Buddhist truth in the ten directions of space. All the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas did the same: Amitabha and his forty-eight vows
is to bring all living beings to his Paradise; The Buddha of Medicine
vows to treat all diseases and in return give them perfect health of the
body and mind; Avalokitesvara, also known as Kuan-yin, the Goddess of
Mercy, is the protector of all in distress; Ksitigarbha, Bodhisattva
Ti-tsang, rescues suffering beings from hell. The compassionate vows of
all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas deeply influenced the Buddhist charity
and community work.
In the recent thousand and hundreds of years, most of the Chinese
Buddhist organizations, temples, monks, nuns and the laity, follow
strictly the teaching of our Master, to save people from bitterness and
hardship so that they can be dragged out from their sufferings. They
dedicated a lot of their time to the community; made enormous
contribution in the field of Buddhist charity work which was received
with great appraisal. Over the years, eminent monks had contributed a
lot towards community charity work, too many for me to quote. Starting
from the Bei-Wei Dynasty, all these community work had become more
systematic. The Tang Dynasty established the Wu-Jin-Jang System. Relief
facilities were extended to the lay public so that the sick had places
to stay. Inside the temples there were sick-bays for those who could not
afford to pay.
In the Song Dynasty, Buddhist organizations were very enthusiastic in
community charity work, may it be the repair of bridges and roads,
waterworks, offerings to the poor, the starved and the upbringing of
infants and children without parents. For the poor, they built schools,
orphanages, old people homes, hospitals and public cemeteries. The monks
in the temple were not afraid of hardship, took up as leaders to guide
devotees to donate money and offer body strength. Some temples set up
pharmacies; those monks who had medical knowledge took up work as
doctors. They looked after people with contagious diseases, such as
leprosy, people with infections as well as those with carbuncles issuing
pussy discharge and producing obnoxious smells. Most people would run
away with their noses covered, but the monks not only looked after them,
removed the pus and cleaned up the wounds. They did not mind the dirty
work. This sympathetic feeling for the sick won unsurpassed praise.
Influenced by them, one can find hospital-like places in various
provinces where monks took up duties as doctors. For the deceased, they
recited sutras to release souls from purgatory, did burial ceremonies
and cremations, a sort of coordinated service. After the Song Dynasty,
all the monks and devotees in big temples as well as Buddhist
organizations were very energetic in motivating all sorts of community
charity work.
At the present moment, whether based in China or overseas, there are a
lot of Buddhist organizations, besides proclaiming the Buddhist Dharma;
they are doing as much as they can afford, charity work for the sake of
others. The Hong Kong Buddhist Association, established more than 60
years ago, now under the leadership of The Venerable Kok Kwong, in
addition to the proclaimation of Buddhism, also established various
community charity works. They include the setting up of primary and
secondary schools, kindergartens, school for the mentally retarded and
centers for youngsters. For the sick and the old-aged, Buddhist
hospitals and convalescent homes were set up, and finally a Buddhist
cemetery as well. For the dissemination of Buddhist culture he also
founded a college for monks as well as starting magazine publication.
All these virtuous deeds are for the benefit of people at large, so that
the young have a chance to receive education, the old-aged are being
looked after, the sick can recover from their illnesses and the deceased
lie in peace.
In Taiwan, Master Cheng Yen founded the Tzu Chi Foundation. Going
through over 30 years of strenuous efforts, it is now well known as a
worldwide charity organization and becomes the role model of Buddhist
charity work. Tzu Chi volunteers dedicate their work to the whole world
with a grateful heart. Working with compassionate vitality they pay
visits regularly to homes for the old age, the blind, and the mentally
retarded. They organize activities and express sympathetic solicitude to
all those in distress.
In mainland China Buddhist charity work started towards the end of
the nineties. With the economic uprising, in the provinces of Fu Jian,
Hu Nan, and He Bei, they founded Buddhist charitable foundations one
after the other. Other temples also followed their footsteps. A lot of
oversea Buddhist organizations, under the leadership of their teachers,
are gathering manpower, working in this direction with notable results.
Unfortunately there is not enough time for me to present to you at this
moment.
2. Buddhist Doctrine and community charity
Buddhism in
mainland China advocates the School of Mahayana, based on the practice
of 「The Six Paramitas」. Their goal aims at helping every one to reach
nirvana before they pursue their own end. The six Paramitas include the
following items: charity, discipline, forbearance, zeal, meditation and
wisdom. We can see the first thing on the list is charity, telling
followers of the Buddha to put theories into practice. In order to move
from ignorance to the holy position, this is the right approach for
those who want to go beyond the sea of mortality and reach nirvana.
Charity has three tiers of significance: the first is preaching of the
Dharma; the second is almsgiving of money and goods to the poor in need,
i.e. charity work; the third is the giving of fearlessness, so that
people can regain courage and consolation. To those that are practicing
charity work, whichever kind it may be, one must be strict with oneself,
carrying them out with the concept of 「San Lun Ti Kong」 which means
without the vanity of the giver, the gift or the recipient. One should
not expect meritorious virtue or returns. Charity should be looked upon
as part of our life style, thus we laid down solid foundation to achieve
enlightenment or Buddhahood。
There is another principle in the Dharma, the concept of 「The Field
of Blessedness」which is used for the cultivation of meritorious deeds.
It is broadly divided into two forms viz.: the Field of Respect and the
Field of Sympathy. The Field of Respect means to protect and maintain
Buddhism, respect human relations and your teachers as well as to give
offerings to Ratnatraya, ( the Three Precious Ones), to parents and
teachers. In the Field of Sympathy, attention is paid to the sick, the
poor, the lonely old-aged and the handicapped. This can be extended to
the love for animals by giving them a home. All these can be included in
the benevolent act of community charity work.
Besides, the Dharma has another view on this topic and this is the
Gratitude Feeling. It means to be alive, I owned everything to all
living beings around me, whether endowed with consciousness or not. In a
nutshell, there are 4 types of Gratitude: the gratitude to
Ratnatraya(which includes the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha), to our
parents, to our country and to all sentient beings. They are gratitude
closely related to the religion, the family, the environment and the
community as a whole.
3. Give with wisdom will benefit the rich and the poor
The last item in the six Paramitas is wisdom, which means the power
to discern reality or truth. When you carry out any one of the first
five Paramitas, wisdom cannot be dismissed. Why? For example, if one
does charity work without wisdom, one’s empathy may have the opposite
effect. Besides, in today’s society, it is difficult to know exactly the
real purpose of people’s action. Strictly speaking, to understand
wisdom, you have to know the theory of「Yuan Qi Xing Kong」 meaning for
things arising from conditions, its nature is void. To make it simple,
we have to understand that every cause has its effect as every effect
arises from a cause. This is why we have to use wisdom smartly when we
practice charity work.
In this huge universe housing an enormous population, we find the
development very uneven in a lot of places. There is a big gap between
the rich and the poor. Using China as an example, it has a population of
1.3 billion. From statistics, the poor people in the villages and
cities each amounts to 30 million; for those disabled about 50 million.
Every year, there are natural calamities and man-made misfortunes, which
increase the number of people that needs assistance. Assurance coming
from the government can hardly keep pace so that it frequently requires
the assistance from private charitable organizations. The Buddhist
charity community work not only offers help to the weak and vulnerable
group in society, render available material needs as well as uplifting
their spirit, using the Buddha’s teaching to purify their mind.
Take the example of poverty, it can be divided into two categories:
the first is poverty in materialistic things and the second is mental
poverty. For those that are deficient in material, we can offer them
money or materials in need to lessen their sufferings. Regarding mental
poverty, money and material needs cannot solve their problem. When we
donate with wisdom, we have to make sure that the gifts are really
distributed to those in needs. For those who need money, at the time
when we donate, we have to see that they are benefited mentally as well.
We can stimulate them to start from self-improvement, to stand upright
and work hard. Let them understand「Yin Guo」, the cause and effect of
one’s deed and to develop a feeling of gratitude so that eventually they
can walk out of poverty. For those that are mentally poor, we have to
give them spiritual support, show them how to find the real meaning of
life and how to maintain a healthy mind and body. Happiness does not
come from what you possess; true happiness is attained when you have
your mind purified, living with compassionate pity and joyful giving. To
deal with the above two types of poverty, whatever and whenever we
offer them help, we must have a sense of wisdom. In this way, following
the rules of 「Yin Guo」, we can make the rich and the poor in the
community to come closer together.
There are two examples to show you why almsgiving needs to go hand in
hand with wisdom: The first one is that some parents who were out of
job found people to support their children to go to school. Their
children managed to pass the examination, but on home visit, they found
the parents had no initiation to go to work. What they did every day was
to read the newspaper while drinking tea and to play Mahjong. This was
so upsetting when you come to know about it. The second example is in
Mainland China, they have schools, but the students are few in number.
They found two reasons: the first one is a lot of big bosses, when they
become rich, vowed to donate one school to their home village every
year. Secondly in some far-away villages, the teaching standard is
rather low. Those that can do better do not want to go back, take up a
simple life just for the sake of educating the younger generation. If
the standard of the teachers are low, their students cannot be any
better. Children are the masters of society in the future. Besides
learning from books, we have to teach them the principle of peaceful
coexistence, to be humble and to respect each other. Eventually when
they grow up they can live as a human being with culture and dignity. So
if the big bosses want to donate schools, it would seem more
appropriate for them to train dedicating good teachers first.
Let us look back from the beginning of 2008 and see what nature had
done to us. There were the ice disaster, the hurricane disaster and the
thunderstorm disaster. Surging price of oil has increased inflation so
that what one earns cannot keep up with the rising standard of living.
As a last straw on the twelve of May, without warning, Wen Chuan in Si
Chuan experienced a level eight earthquake, giving our fellow countryman
an enormous traumatic experience and suffering. The people there not
only had serious economic loss, they also had to bear the bitterness of
losing their loved ones and their home. They all need help and support
from the society. It will take years for the earthquake stricken area to
rebuild and their aches to be soothed. Mental support for them is very
important too. In order to give those children a heart-warming Children
Day on the first of June, a number of organizations donated a lot to the
schools in Si Chuan. Apart from material needs, proper guidance in
their character development is required too. What one possesses in
relation to the four basic needs in life namely clothing, food, housing
and traveling should be treasured and always be grateful. In the future,
let them remember to repay what society has done for them. In this way,
at the time when money is distributed together with the Buddhist
Dharma, receivers can obtain benefit both bodily and mentally.
4. Buddhist charity, vision for the future
In Mainland China, after the implementation of the policy on
religion, Buddhism flourished accordingly. With this marvelous cause at
hand, besides the preaching of Buddhist doctrine, it is also a suitable
time to develop and expand Buddhist charity work and I have listed
several points for further thoughts and discussion:
(1)In Buddhist community charity work, we need well-trained people to
supervise, administer and publicize. This is why the fostering of
teachers to train qualified personnel is a pressing matter at the
moment.
(2)The update of Buddhist knowledge to the laity so that they know
what Buddhism is and how to become a proper follower of the Buddha. For
example, devotees going to temples to burn incense and candles are
uncivilized acts. Besides contaminating the environment, it is also a
waste of money. At present, they are burning more and more incense, also
the candles are getting bigger and bigger in size. If we can gather all
the money used for buying incense and candles, and use it for charity
work, it would be a considerable contribution.
(3)Almsgiving is not restricted to the rich, and you don’t have to
wait until you become prosperous to do it. A small offering can produce
enormous merits and virtues. There was a good example of a poor girl who
could only afford to offer a small lamp to the Buddha. The subsequent
blessing was uncountable because she did it with great respect. There is
a saying in Chinese:「if you do not channel all the streams together, it
can never become a big river; whereas if you do not count all the small
steps, it can never amount to a thousand mile.」So long as you are
motivated and use wisdom intelligently, irrespective of being poor or
rich, everybody can become a successful giver.
(4)The Buddhist teaching of「do no evil, do only the good deeds」should
be implemented. Let us drill this concept of「happiness coming from
helping others」 deeply into our mind and at the same time let the
community be aware of this as well. In our daily life, we can always
practice almsgiving. For example, when we see water leaking from taps,
lights turned on but not required, we can turn it off. If you see banana
skin in the street, pick it up so that people won’t slip if they step
on it. Look upon all sentient beings equally and by using a sympathetic
facial expression, language and eyes we can cheer people up. This is
giving and this is charity work.
At the present moment, we can find temples everywhere in China with a
large group of followers. So long as we can gather all manpower, so
that those with money, with strength, special skill and knowledge can
make full use of their potentials. In this way, Buddhist community
charity work in China can expand and grow rapidly. Let us start off from
ourselves, with small acts of charity work from our deed, word and
thought, using real action to promote the Dharma such that everybody
receives benefit. Let a sympathetic heart goes hand in hand with wisdom
of the mind, putting into practice the fundamental principle of Chinese
Buddhism viz.: 「ornate one’s country; give joy to all beings」. At the
moment when all conditions merge right, a harmonious society would
appear in front of us all. This is the way all Buddhist followers should
dedicate themselves!