TIMA Singapore

Subject: Fellowship of Tzu Chi¡¦s Universal Love and Great Compassion in the Candle of Life and pass it on.

Author:Dr Ling Sing Yew

Now, someone once asked me: What kind of life would I like to have, now that I¡¦m afflicted with this sickness? Whatever remaining valuable time you may have, wouldn¡¦t you want to safeguard it jealously, spend and splurge on all your have one last time, give it a last fling and extracting the last best juices of life pleasures you could possibly get?
But to me, life to is more than a personal wanton of pleasure and delights, with no regards to whom you have hurt or exploit. To me, one¡¦s life is so short, so fleeting and so insignificant when compared to our universe from which God has created.
I wish to leave a small footprint to prove my existence in this world once before. Hopefully this little Christian footprint, loaded with unselfish love and compassion for all, would reflect my tiny contribution to the humanity to whom I am part of. This is the legacy I wish to leave behind. May my Holy Father by my pillars and refuge and protect me always.
The Buddha said, ¡§ One only lives as long as one breathes.¡¨ Human beings do not have the ability to control the length of their own lives, nor can they prevent their own deaths. Since this life is impermanent, we should cherish it, use it, and enrich it. Let the goodness, beauty and truth of this inconstant, precious life illuminate the true value of life.
Master Cheng Yen also said: ¡§ The length of time is measured by what one has achieved in that lifetime. Therefore, compete with time. Do not let it slip by unproductively.¡¨
And this is the kind of life I now want to have.¡@
To me as a Christian, I believe one's life should be like a candle. When your candle of life is lit, it radiates off holy light and warmth to the people around me. In the world that can be at times cold and dark, the light would shine through and provide us with directions and warmth in our lives. The warmth gives us vital spiritual life with great compassion and universal love. How unfortunate would lives be if we could not receive both its life- and soul-saving elements of the candle of life. We would be in darkness and become a flock of lost sheep, wondering aimlessly in life of evil realms full of sufferings, hatred and discontentment.
But, to achieve merits in life, one's candle must be able to light up to bless not only you, but others as well. What's the use of having a beautiful, fat and long candle when it cannot be used? Lives to such people with unlit candles would be a lost cause to humanity. I am blessed because I think my candle of life can be lit up, bringing light and warmth to the people around me. I am so contented and happy to reflect back my life, and I believe I have not wasted it all.
I have my fair share of up-and-down in my Christian faith. Luckily, my Christian fraternity has always been around to help guide and realigned my Christian path back to God. I am now very much in close fellowship with my holy God. My Tzu Chi brothers and sisters have also show me the ways of moral path, giving me ample opportunities to serve the needy and the sufferings without asking for anything inreturn. Yet, strangely, I feel a return. The return I get is the special ¡§gift of inner peace and joy.¡¨
The only problem of my candle of life is that it may be short. I do wish to have a longer candle to shine more for you and me. But my Holy God has His plan and I would trust and obey Him, and hold on to his promises. I constantly remind myself of Psalm 23 of the Holy Bible, ¡§The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need¡K. Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for He is close beside me; His rod and his staff protect and comfort me.¡¨
But for you, Tzu Chi members, your candles of lives, under the teaching of Master Cheng Yen, are long, strong, gracious and beautiful. Just make sure you light up your candles of lives with your heart and soul. Never let any ill-wind blow off this light of life and hope. Let your fire of candle bri ng forth strong light and warm to cheer and love the suffering world. Let it stay a lon ger distance and last indefinitely, by passing on these candles of light from one generation of Tzu Chi to the next.
So, let pass it on , the candle of light, from one person to another, from one nation to another and from one generation to the next. May the world be blessed, now and forever. Master Cheng Yen encourages all Tzu Chi to maintain a clear heart and work together to purify our society. We shall all use our candles of lives to purify this society of ours.
Fellowship of Tzu Chi's spirits
I returned to Japan recently to seek a consultation with my Japanese surgeon. There, I had this wonderful opportunity of meeting up with my Tzu Chi brothers and sisters of Japan branch.
We had fellowship together, sharing our many experiences of working in the Tzu Chi world. We were able to strengthen and nourish our relationship as brothers and sisters of Tzu Chi from two different countries.
By the time we ended this session of fellowship, we realized how important it was for us to maintain this invaluable communication and contact. Only when we are well nourished in body, mind and spirits through such contacts would we be able to carry out the duties of Tzu Chi efficiently. We would be able to ¡§ stride forward quickly, seizing every moment to fulfill our duties, and doing good deeds .¡¨ We supported the idea of fellowship not only for the branch of a country, but also for inter-branches between nations. Now you know the reason for me to be here. I am here to have fellowship with you. I am here to share my life experience with you and hopefully you can share yours with me. We need to nourish each other, we need to help light up each other candle of life. And when we are all strong in body, mind and spirit, we can set forth to walk a longer stretch of road to help others, bringing forth Master Cheng Yan's compassion spirit of: ¡§ If we don't save them, who will? If we can do this, even this impure world can turn into the pure land.¡¨
Tzu Chi should set forth to scale higher heights, accepting greater challenges and deliver to every soul ¡§the gift of universal love, which is the highest state of human existence.¡¨
Together, let us help seed this universal love into the heart of humanity and make our tomorrow a better world to live in.
Thank you.