Recording history & testimony of Tzu Chi stories by Lin, Yu Ru

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Sharer: Lin, Yu Ru (林俞如) 2022.05.11. Kaohsiung Online Study Group

Series: Daily Journal of Dharma Master Cheng Yen (衲履足跡), 

Summer Volume, July 1st—July 8th, 2021

Translator: Celia Hung (台中/洪芯宜), Taichung 

Editor:Chung Lung Chu (台中/朱從龍), Taichung 

Topic: Recording history & testimony of Tzu Chi stories
(為文史做紀錄 為故事做見證)

Dear Ven. Master, masters of Abode, brothers and sisters of the global online study group, I am Lin, Yu Ru from Tainan, I am going to share the Daily Journal of Dharma Master Cheng Yen dated from July 1st to July 8th, 2021 and my topic is “Recording history & testimony of Tzu Chi stories.”

 

July 7th 2021, Documenting volunteers team reported to Ven. Master about their progress on publishing Tzu Chi literature and history and manual of using the documenting system.  The Ven. Master is very grateful for everyone's attention to Tzu Chi literature and history.  Tzu Chi has been established for over half a century, and is officially celebrating its 56th anniversary this year.  The Ven. Master said that it is exploring, telling and passing on what Tzu Chi has contributed to this world, and how Tzu Chi accomplished human achievements, and what results have been restored. In fact, Ven. Master is the first Tzu Chi documenting volunteer who started to record the literature and history as early as the foundation's inception period. 

 

In the video of Tracing the origin of Tzu Chi Dharma dated 09.21.2020 https://youtu.be/jq7moktyAu0 (6:40-8:20), volunteer Jingyuan Hong, director of the Compilation Office, mentioned that ‘The story of Greengrocer Dangui Lu’s eye surgery is the first of Tzu Chi’s medical mission which is also the inception of documenting a Tzu Chi story. Where are those stories from? The stories are based on the visitations made by Ven. Master and her disciples, and written by Ven. Master herself who is the first one documenting literature and history. What does Ven. Master write them on? Ven. Master wrote the cases on the recycle daily calendar paper, and reporter Weiping Hou, and volunteer Zhenyi Chen rewrote that into press releases, then published it in Tzu Chi periodicals.  Therefore, currently, the Department of Charity Mission Development provides the cases and sends it out to the Literature and History team or editors to write the stories or the documenting volunteers would rewrite them into publishable articles which constitutes the beginning of our Literature and History.  Thus, you can see the photo on the screen showing multiple layers of Ven. Master’s handwriting in pencil, blue ballpoint pen, red ballpoint pen, and calligraphy brush pen on daily calendar paper.  They restored all visitation records, which can testify the true sufferings of the world as told by Ven. Masters. On June 30th, 1993 in Tzu Chi Yearbook, Ven. Master said ‘Today's work is tomorrow's history, time is ruthless but people are affectionate.  If we do not grasp the present, we will be lost in the future. We must know that we are writing history; conducting Tzu Chi culture tasks must testify to its history. If we come to the world, serve and contribute to the people, then we will not be living our life in vain. Starting from Tzu Chi Monthly to Bimonthly periodical, documenting has been recorded consecutively which shows that Tzu Chi is very practical and pragmatic rather than theoretical.  I hope everyone will record Tzu Chi's stories and history, so that the clear flow can lead to the righteousness of people's hearts.’

 

It is written in the Diamond Sutra,’ The Bodhisattva's practice has reached the threefold wheel of essential emptiness body, Bodhisattva's mind does not abide in forms’  It means that when giving, don’t be attached to my ability to give, the object of giving and the objects that I give.  Then why does Ven. Master still need us to keep the history of Tzu Chi? Ven. Master said, the purpose keeping history is not about appealing to society; its two purposes are "proving credibility" and "passing down the education".  " Proving credibility " is because when we raise funds or love from the society, we need true evidence to let the public know what we have been doing. "Passing down the education " is to inspire more people to join us and become human bodhisattvas through these beautiful and compassionate documentations.

 

In “Life Wisdom” on Dec. 15h, 2020 (5:21-7:53): Tzu Chi documenting volunteer Chang, Li-Yun shared in front of Ven. Master, “As Tzu Chi documenting volunteers, we must record Tzu Chi history.  I often say to myself, although we couldn’t take part in the work carried out by our senior volunteers, we shall have a sense of mission to document their work.  Although we couldn’t take part in their work, through the interviews with our senior volunteers, it is as if we were walking the path they have come along.  We’ve learned a lot from them.” Master Cheng-Yen replied: “As Tzu Chi documenting volunteers, you’ve all been working mindfully to record Tzu Chi history. Tzu Chi history is true and accurate.  It is not fictional. Nor is it chronicled after a long period of time.  Tzu Chi is only in its 55th year.  Many volunteers who joined Tzu Chi 55 years ago are still with us and can share how Tzu Chi’s work has been carried out. What they share would be very precious as part of Tzu Chi’s history. I truly hope that no matter how old you are, you can all share your experiences of serving with Tzu Chi. Some of you before me had not been born when we initiated our coin bank practice. Although you are very young and did not witness how our coin bank practice was initiated, you can still share how you began to follow it and how you save money to help the needy to bear witness to how our coin bank practice has been passed on.”

 

Indeed, I was not yet born when Tzu Chi initiated the coin bank practice.  I vowed to become a Tzu Chi volunteer in the future when I watched the real stories of real people shown on Tai Ai Drama by Ta Ai TV in my twenties.

 

At the end of last year, the Kaohsiung Online study group had an opportunity to report to Ven. Master on the progress of the Kaohsiung Online study group. Teacher Mei-Yun reported that the written records of the study group have reached nearly 620,000 words now.  Volunteer Li Hui-miao of the reading guide team also said that when she first learned that she was going to do a verbatim manuscript, she felt very troublesome. But when she saw that her manuscript was translated into Cambodian, she was moved to tears, then she realized that if Tzu Chi volunteers from overseas could through their own language to better understand Tzu Chi Dharma and Ven. Master’s teaching. It's all worth it.

 

As the teacher often says: “This is not show off, this is motivating.” The purpose of keeping history is to motivate an endless cycle of goodness.  Finally, let us read a passage from the Venerable Master: “Grasp the present and focus on the future. Time can do everything, Tzu Chi was established in 1966, from Hualien, a corner of this island; now we have volunteers in over 66 countries and areas, and we have aided in more than half of the world's countries.  Everyone should be grateful for what we had in the past, focus and grasp now, and vow to practice diligently from now to the future.”

 

Thank you for studying with us.

 

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