Initially, I thought I was here to give a sharing. Instead, I learned more than what I expected.

Speaker: Zheng Yi Zhe, （鄭宜哲）

Director of Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM ) Diagnostics & Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM ) Family Medicine, Taichung Hospital 

Translator: Chew Lee Lee (MY) 周俐俐 

Reviewer: Hoo Joo Lim (MY) 何裕霖

Proof Read: Ong Mooi Lin (MY) 王美齡

I am grateful for the recommendation by Superintendent Dr Chien Sou Hsin about ten months ago, only then I had the opportunity to meet such a great group of brothers and sisters.

Originally not really acquainted with Kaohsiung Online Book Study. After I agreed to share for a session, I started to pay attention every Wednesday morning, listening to  Online session while driving to do home visits and treatments, taking it as a time of diligence for me.

The Host, Sister Mei Yun have excellent skills in live broadcast, with good time management, able to capture key points for each sharing, able to give it a lively atmosphere with sincere interaction and instant feedback, which enriches the useful points in the content of the talk. Furthermore, there is singing during intermission period, keeping the session exciting and warmth. It certainly better than most popular podcasts of the past few years. If possible, we recommend that Tzu Chi long-term care cases able to make good use of this resource.

Receiving my promotional poster for the sharing session, containing not only a handsome photograph of myself but also foreword and background introduction of the presenter, for the first time I'm grateful for bestowed upon such a special honour.  The preparation is actually quite stressful, though the contents is not difficult, for the Power point ( PPT ) file must be submitted three weeks earlier (normally this is a requirement for large-scale presentation)  and the voice over translators must prepare in advance the text in words for ease of translation. There would be 113 translators doing in 8 languages and they take turns to translate weekly.

Finally, the much-anticipated 12th of December, from the coldness of early morning, I make my journey into the warm and passionate Kaohsiung. The keenness and enthusism of the people on site is much more than expected.
The time allocated to each speaker was rather short, which enable each speaker to share the essential points and avoiding prolonged sharing lest the listeners getting distracted during the session.

In today's online session, there is sharing from Tzu Chi female volunteer from United Kingdom, even facing difficulties during the pandemic situation, the volunteers there still courageously promote vegetarianism while doing their daily works. A  well-known vegetarian restaurant in Taipei owned by a husband and wife pair, shared about the challenges of converting from non-vegetarian 11 years ago to vegetarian restaurant.  The decision was made, with the thought of creating blessings for their mother who suffered from illness and to create more vegetarian Bodhisattvas, they decided to persevere and mindful in their decision despite some complaints from their regular customers.

From Daqing city, Heilongjiang Province of Mainland China,, a Tzu Chi Sister came to share about how they have accompanied a care recipient to stand up on his feet again. Now he has passed the TCM exam and he has taken this opportunity to help others.  This is a cycle of transmission of love. Next, there is a group of entrepreneurs from Kaohsiung, who rolled up their sleeves and picked up their hoes and devoted their efforts in producing Chinese Herbal medicines.  This is really an excellent effort.

Do not forget that yesteryear of 311 disaster in Japan. Initially Tzu Chi presence in disaster relief distribution was met with the so called “Stiff upper lip” of the stoic Japanese. The Tzu Chi brothers and sisters were very caring and continuing their effort. The sisters took the neck scarves and draped it on the neck of the elderly persons.  This warmth and caring gesture broke the ice in the heart of these elder bringing tears to their eyes and expressing gratefulness to Tzu Chi volunteers. Indeed, a heart-warming moment for all.

I recalled visiting an elderly fruit farmer on 22nd December 2012, who is staying alone in Lishan area. While I was attending to his aching knees, Sister Yan Yan spontaneously removed her own scarf from her neck and wrapped around the elderly man back to keep him warm.
This gesture was indeed heart moving and taught me an unforgettable lesson too.
As a doctor, we not only needs to attend to the medical nillness to cure the disease but also be near to patient’s heart and care for their other needs.  

Speaking about mindfulness, it is worth learning from the organizer's caring gestures.
Underneath each of the speaker’s seat were placed with exclusive shoe bag, embroidered with their owner's name.  And there is also a gift of handy handphone holder, so that one could next time conveniently watch and listen from handphone.
There were dedicated persons handling the recording of the sharing session. And there are brothers and sisters from Malaysia who uses their talents to quickly draw elegant caricature from various sessions. The feedback from numerous listeners is astounding and seeing those messages that the host is reading out, encouraging us after the sharing.

It’s unbelievable that the weekly Kaohsiung Online Book Study, using such method of presentations, week after week, transmitting numerous good thoughts since the last 8 years.  

Doing the right thing is just the beginning, Doing the right thing correct right is a real challenge.

The Kaohsiung Online Book Study, their team of more than 350 people across the world, is indeed the model of unity in action.