Her husband is tens of millions of dollars in debt and she has cancer, but she constantly encourages herself to have correct thoughts and to accept any outcome cheerfully.

The recent bad economy has forced many factories to close down in Taiwan, and some companies are trimming down their employees or cutting back wages to stay afloat. As the unemployment rate rises, many people who can't cope with the sudden changes in the economy and society suffer from depression, and even consider suicide.

Seeing this situation in Taiwan, Master Cheng Yen pointed out how weak people are nowadays. However, we find one tough name in the Master's speech: commissioner Wu Yen-hsueh.

Every second is changed to money

The sky had just turned gray and it had started to drizzle when Yen-hsueh received a call from a shop owner. She picked up her apron, hat and mask and left her house immediately, taking her son with her.

It was a chance for her to work in a shop that sold paper money, the kind that some Chinese burn for the deceased to use in the afterworld. Her wages were based on her production, and work didn't come every day. She cherished this chance, because the shop was very close to her home and she didn't need to pay for transportation. Also, the shop owner and his wife were kind enough to allow her to take her son with her.

Her son, Chia-liang, was twenty-four years old. The skinny young man helped his mother unpack large plastic bags of paper money. He placed three different kinds of money into piles so his mother could add one large sheet of red paper on the top of each pile and tie it up with a rubber band. Working together, mother and son produced 114 piles of paper money in half an hour, earning NT$60 [US$1.76].

In order to make more money, Yen-hsueh never missed an opportunity to work. She often skipped meals, sometimes just eating a bun and continuing to work. In comparison, Yen-hsueh's son just couldn't keep up.

At the age of ten, Chia-liang had suffered from meningitis and had epilepsy as a result. Although the medication that he took four times a day controlled the symptoms, he couldn't work too much or else he would have a seizure. Several times when he was packing paper money, he suddenly fell to the ground.

After Chia-liang started suffering from epilepsy, he changed completely. He played video games all the time and picked fights. He even tried to kill himself by turning on the gas stove, cutting his wrists, and jumping off a building. Fortunately, Lin Sung-tien, a Tzu Chi member, counseled him and helped him start over again. In fact, Chia-liang was still like a child mentally. He knew his mother was working against the clock to make money to pay back his father's debts, but sometimes he still refused to work and would wander back home to watch cartoons in the afternoon. However, things improved after he found out his mother had cancer, and that made Yen-hsueh happy.

Burdened with debts

After they married, Yen-hsueh and her husband sold vegetables in a market. When Chia-liang became sick, she handed the business over to her husband and stayed at home to look after their son.

She started to sense something was wrong in 1998 when she started getting calls from customers complaining that her husband had failed to deliver the vegetables. One day, Yen-hsueh ran to the market and was surprised to see that her husband wasn't at their stall.

With help from other stall owners, she found the gambling parlor where her husband had been going for some time. She found out that her husband already owed tens of millions of dollars!

Her husband had lost all his money gambling and borrowed more from their relatives and neighbors without telling her about it. Ironically, they all lent him money because of her credibility.

Since it was her husband's fault, Yen-hsueh asked the creditors for an extension. She and her husband also told them that they would not run away. Her conscience was clear--since Tzu Chi talked so much about sincerity, integrity, trust and honesty and she was a disciple of Master Cheng Yen, she would never run away, even if she was beaten up.

First they gave their stall to a creditor and returned home to ask for help from her husband’s father. He cared a great deal about his son, so he agreed to sell some of the family land inherited from his forefathers. However, the real estate market was gloomy and they couldn't find a buyer.

The couple also had to work hard. Although their stall had been given away, they still sold vegetables by rushing between three different markets every day. Before sunset, they would dash back to their fields to pick and sort vegetables. They realized how hard it was to chase after money.

Sickness couldn't knock her down

Once her husband was burdened with debts, Yen-hsueh suspended all her Tzu Chi work to help make money. Due to overwork and psychological pressure, after ten months she noticed a swelling in her abdomen. When she finally went to the hospital, the doctor said she had a tumor which had to be removed.

In January 1999, Yen-hsueh's uterus, ovaries and appendix were removed, which left her very weak. In March the same year she suddenly suffered severe internal bleeding, and this time she was found to have chorionic cancer. She cried and pleaded with the doctor to save her because she still had many things to do.

She went for chemotherapy once a week for two months and had to take handfuls of pills at every meal. Her life was very painful and full of uncertainty, so she started reading Buddhist sutras. She said that reading the sutras helped her to have the right thoughts, so her mind wouldn't go off on wild fancies.

The chemotherapy ended and she started feeling better. She found jobs wrapping paper money, packing tea leaves and other odd jobs to pay back the debts. She also carried out her duties as a Tzu Chi commissioner.

She went to the hospital as a cancer patient to cheer up other cancer patients, and she attended a hospital volunteer training program so she could volunteer at the Tzu Chi Hsintien Hospital opening the following year. She helped build houses for earthquake victims in Puli, cleaned up the campuses of the schools in Tzu Chi's Project Hope, did recycling, prayed for the dead, and did other Tzu Chi work.

Without a full-time job, Yen-hsueh had spare time to work in the Tzu Chi missions. Her part-time jobs were flexible and paid her about the same as a full-time job. She didn't rest much, but at least her mind was healthy.

People who come across a major obstacle like hers may become depressed or even kill themselves if they have no contact with the Buddha's teachings. But Yen-hsueh never thought about suicide, because she knew suicide was wrong and would violate filial piety.

She would watch Tzu Chi TV whenever she had time, especially Master Cheng Yen's speeches. The Master once talked about a woman called Chien Chun-mei, who was disfigured when someone threw sulfuric acid on her. Yen-hsueh saw that Chien was doing her spiritual cultivation through her suffering, as was she.

Someone told her to divorce her husband to free herself from the debts. However, being a Buddhist, she understood her fate was intertwined with that of her husband. She was thus willing to face any adversity along with him.

She remembered the story of a Zen monk who once went to borrow some salt from a neighbor. The neighbor was not home, but the monk took some salt anyway. However, he forgot to pay him back. One day while the monk was in meditation, a large white mountain of salt suddenly appeared before him. The monk then recalled that he had not yet returned the salt. This story reminded Yen-hsueh that a little debt could become a huge amount if it was not paid back.

It was thus apparent that the debt of millions of dollars was still heavy in her heart. Thinking about it upset her, so she always paid attention to the present moment. If she couldn't sleep at night, she would get up and chant the Buddha's name.

Going together rain or shine

In the past, Yen-hsueh's husband would drive her to collect donations or attend Tzu Chi activities. When she started receiving chemotherapy and working part-time, her husband also went to work as a caretaker in a hospital and was not home most of the time. Yen-hsueh didn't know how to ride a bicycle, so she couldn't get around as easily as she used to.

Master Cheng Yen once mentioned Yen-hsueh in one of her speeches. She said that a Tzu Chi member could take her on her motorcycle to her part-time jobs. The Master continued, "It is so heartwarming that in this Tzu Chi family, even though we can't lend her money to pay back the debts, we are still close to each other and accompany her every day like a family."

Hsiu-ying and Yen-hsueh were commissioners from the same district and had known each other for nine years, ever since they had worked together as environmental protection volunteers. It was Hsiu-ying who often took Yen-hsueh on her motorcycle to her part-time jobs.

One day when the Master was about to arrive at the Taipei branch office, Hsiu-ying and Yen-hsueh packaged tea leaves, cleaned up, and went to the office to help prepare meals. Afterwards, they went to work as janitors at another place in the evening and didn’t arrive home till late.

Yen-hsueh was very frugal. One pot of noodles would last her two days. Whenever she got her pay, she would try to pay off the debts.

Understanding her difficulties, Hsiu-ying talked the owner of a tea shop into hiring Yen-hsueh to clean his office. She also told him how badly Yen-hsueh needed the money, so the owner gave her NT$4,000 [US$117.65] in advance. Yen-hsueh was moved to tears.

Hsiu-ying originally wanted Yen-hsueh to take a little more of the money they earned together, but Yen-hsueh always insisted they divide it equally. Hsiu-ying said that their Tzu Chi missions led them to help other people, so she should also lend a helping hand to Yen-hsueh. However, Yen-hsueh didn't want to receive any help from other people. One day Hsiu-ying noticed that Yen-hsueh just wanted to work and didn't want to eat, so she suggested they have some noodles together. Hsiu-ying said she wanted to have some side dishes because she wanted her friend to eat more. But when they came, Yen-hsueh insisted on sharing the bill.

Yen-hsueh once wanted to go to the Abode of Still Thoughts, so she asked Hsiu-ying for NT$1,000 [US$29.41] of the cleaning wages in advance so she could buy a train ticket. She would never have asked someone else for money if it hadn't been for her devotion and zeal for Tzu Chi.

Lai Hsiu-yen also greatly helped Yen-hsueh. She often gave her breakfast from the leftovers in her restaurant. She sometimes left a bowl of noodles for her to eat whenever she was concentrating on her work.

Yen-hsueh's eyes filled with tears when she recalled how other people showed their love for her. Hsiu-yen went to the bank to pay off Yen-hsueh's mortgage because she was concerned that her home would be auctioned off by the court to pay off the debts. Another Tzu Chi member offered her gold, and a Sister Lin bought her organic food and constantly cared for her.

Hsiu-yen said other people like her admired Yen-hsueh's spirit and zeal, because she had to work at so many places every day without a fixed schedule and still spent time doing volunteer work for Tzu Chi. No one was sure when she could pay back all the debts, but she just kept making money. Hsiu-yen pointed out that everything they did was insignificant; what was important was that Yen-hsueh received so much help because she had been so good to other people.

Yen-hsueh said, "I always run into good people no matter where I go." She is also grateful to the creditors.

The suffering of cause and effect

Since her childhood, Yen-hsueh had always shouldered heavy responsibilities for her family. When she was thirteen years old, she looked after her sister's two children. When she was fifteen, she went to work in Taichung and Taipei. She was married when she was twenty-four.

After she was married her son and husband wore her out, and her body started complaining when she reached middle age. However, while anyone else would ask "Why me?" when they were angry with the difficulties in life, Yen-hsueh simply observed the whole matter with the Buddhist concept of "cause and effect"--the adversities that one endures are the result of things one did consciously or unconsciously in the past.

Yen-hsueh said she would make money to pay back the debts as long as she was alive. She hopes their farmland will be sold as soon as possible. She also hopes to unload her burdens as quickly as possible. If she can still find some time after that, she will use all her might to work for the Tzu Chi missions.