Senior Volunteers Feel the Deep Dharma Ties that Bind Them to Tzu Chi as They Recall the Past
During the 30th Anniversary event of Tzu Chi Singapore, senior volunteers seized the opportunity to get close to visiting Dharma Masters from Jing Si Abode in Taiwan. They had a good chat about the past as if it were yesterday; such Dharma kinship will not be erased by time. Dharma Masters from Jing Si Abode also showed their care for volunteers who were physically ill and gave them their blessings.
At the 30th Anniversary event of Tzu Chi Singapore, senior volunteers seized the opportunity to recall the past with Dharma Masters from Jing Si Abode.
Tzu Chi volunteer: We started from scratch. We counted the receipts by hand, one by one.
Tzu Chi volunteer: We are old women. We did not know anything, we just went ahead and did it.
Tzu Chi volunteer, Goh Goon Qwee: It was very sweet, especially when I heard the determination of several volunteers. Most important is the heart to carry out the vow. Tzu Chi is the charity organisation that I will be in in every lifetime.
Tzu Chi volunteer: We will always be there, not just in this lifetime, right? Have you vowed? (Yes)
One second, one lifetime. Despite her hair has turned grey, Lin Shu Ting's 31-year path of Tzu Chi is firm and steady.
Tzu Chi volunteer Lin Shu Ting: I am a person who loves to do things and I am not afraid of tasks. Even if there are younger replacements for me now, I can still clean and wash the toilets, I can do it all. If I am in my eighties and I still have the strength to do it, I still want to do it. I volunteer with Tzu Chi for myself. I worry that I can’t find Tzu Chi in my next life, so I have to be more mindful in listening to Dharma and bowing to Buddha.
Tzu Chi volunteer: Aged a lot (Me?) I am referring to me. I have also aged a lot. Because you still look the same in my eyes as when we were in Chinatown (It has been over twenty years).
Volunteers with physical ailments were not forgotten even though they had not been able to volunteer for a long time. In the midst of a tight schedule, the Dharma Masters still found time to meet and care for them.
Tzu Chi volunteer, Chan Chiew Hwa: The year 2015 was the last time I met the Dharma Masters at Jing Si Abode. In 2016, I had my leg amputated. As long as I am given a chance to see Master, even if it was just for ten minutes, I am happy.
Foundation Board of Directors, Dharma Master De Rang: Coming to Singapore is like coming home. You all are really like my family, my relatives, everyone is very close to each other.
Sincere blessing for such profound Dharma kinship.
