For the past thirty-five years, Tzu Chi people have walked a rugged road, bringing love to suffering souls. The road ahead is still long, so let's stride forward steadfastly and bravely.

My heart is always full of gratitude, and especially so at this moment, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Tzu Chi Foundation. I am grateful to my parents, to the Three Treasures [the Buddha, his teachings, and the assembly of monks and nuns], to all living beings in the world, and to Tzu Chi people around the globe.

I am thankful for my parents. I am thankful for the good karma that brought my parents and me together, and thankful for being born in modern-day Taiwan so that I can meet with so many kindhearted people in the island. Every second of my life, I have been trying to repay my parents for what they have done for me. The best way to repay our parents is to take good care of ourselves, cherish ourselves and devote ourselves to society, the world and all living beings.

Secondly, I am thankful for the Three Treasures. I thank the Buddha for coming to this world 2,500 years ago. He repeatedly transmigrates to the world in order to lead people away from delusion and help them attain enlightenment. His teachings have inspired me with wisdom.

Thirdly, I am thankful for all living beings in the world. Tzu Chi people have been given the opportunity to visit different parts of the world and to witness suffering in all its manifestations. Our extraordinary experiences prove how true the Buddha's teachings are. When we look at ourselves after seeing so much misfortune in the world, we can see through our delusion. This leads us to walk on the Path of the Bodhisattvas to relieve suffering and bring joy to people in this world. Therefore, we should be thankful for all the living beings in the world.

I also want to thank all the Tzu Chi volunteers around the globe, since each drop of their boundless love has converged into a river of love, which can then be given to everyone in the world without end. Thirty-five years ago, Tzu Chi came into existence in Hualien. Now there are Tzu Chi people all over the world, spreading seeds of goodness wherever they go.

"Many grains of rice make a bushel; many drops of water make a river." That's why I often say, "We cannot do without even one drop of water." None of our members is dispensable.

Receiving disciples

I remember once, thirty-five years ago, I chanted the Medicine Buddha Sutra in Pu Ming Temple behind the Abode of Still Thoughts for some Tzu Chi members. This actually made me a little uneasy in my heart at that moment since it went against my resolution not to chant sutras or hold Buddhist ceremonies for my followers. When I shaved my head and became a nun, I made three vows: not to perform Buddhist ceremonies for others, not to accept offerings from followers and not to take in disciples. These three things were common ways for monks and nuns to earn their living at that time. I resolved not to get involved in worldly affairs but to quietly carry out my spiritual cultivation in a little wooden hut. Yet those vows were later at odds with my commitment to relieving people from their suffering. In order to attract kindhearted people to join me to establish the Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Association, which was the predecessor of our current foundation, it was necessary to accept disciples and enter into society with an otherworldly spirit.

At that time my members strongly expected me to bring them inner peace by holding a Buddhist ceremony and chanting a sutra for them every month. Although I vowed not to perform Buddhist ceremonies, I consented to their request in an aim to bring people together to help the needy. Ever since the twenty-fourth day of the third month of the lunar calendar thirty-five years ago, I have held the Medicine Buddha Ceremony to cultivate blessings for all living beings in the world on the same day of each month.

Accepting disciples began with my first lay disciple, Ching Hung. At that time an old lady invited me to her home to lecture on the Pu-men Chapter of the Wonderful Lotus Sutra for a group of housewives, and Ching Hung was one of them. One day she came with two friends and asked me to accept them as my disciples. I was very poor at that time and had nothing to wear except a white Buddhist surplice. Upon seeing me, Ching Hung piously knelt down. "Master, I wholeheartedly believe in the Buddha, but I am very cautious in selecting my spiritual master, so I have not yet taken refuge in any monk or nun. I had a dream the other day: a nun dressed in a white surplice waved at me and said, 'Come and be my disciple.' And that nun was you."

I had vowed not to take in disciples, but I did need people to carry out charity work. So I told them that I would only do so under the following three conditions: they must take the Buddha's compassion as their own and vow to help the poor and needy; they must take my commitment to relieving people from their suffering as their own; and they must become members of the association by making donations themselves and soliciting funds for me.

The three of them agreed happily. I then took them in as my first three lay disciples.

Perseverance

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, thirty-five years have passed and many senior commissioners have aged. All the senior commissioners are truly the treasures of Tzu Chi. I am happy to know that these commissioners, many in their seventies and eighties, are still diligently carrying out the missions of Tzu Chi.

Take Ching Huan as an example. She is in her nineties, yet she still travels around Taipei by bus to collect donations from over one hundred households day after day. She says that since the Master never stops helping the needy, she and other commissioners can't sit back and rest on their laurels yet. Her perseverance in making the most of life truly makes her a living bodhisattva. The stories about resolute Ching Yu and her husband are also touching. They have been unceasingly collecting funds for the foundation for the last thirty years. In the early days, the names of all donors and the amount of money they donated were listed in the Tzu Chi Monthly magazine. Out of a sense of responsibility towards their donors, Ching Yu and her husband have carefully kept every issue of the Tzu Chi Monthly, altogether over four hundred issues. The hair of another disciple of mine, Ching Wen, has turned gray, but her cheerful personality remains unchanged. She said happily, "We've followed the Master for the past thirty years, and our wisdom has grown along with our friendship. We old commissioners are closer to each other than sisters. When we go out, we always hold hands."

Thirty-five years have gone by so quickly. Finding commissioners with membership ID numbers under one hundred is no longer easy. The journey of life will eventually come to an end, so will it be possible for us to reunite after another thirty-five years? I'm sure that will be impossible. Therefore as I reminisce about the good old days that I spent with those senior commissioners, my heart is filled with both joy and sadness.

All for the hospital

Many touching stories that have happened in the Tzu Chi world are worth remembering. For that purpose, the Still Thoughts Hall in Hualien is currently holding the Thirty-fifth Anniversary Four Missions Exposition. Every picture displayed in the Commissioners' Hall took me back to the past and filled my heart with immense gratitude. In the early days of Tzu Chi, it was very difficult for our commissioners to solicit donations since we had neither prestige nor fame. Oftentimes we were lucky enough to raise the necessary funds for that month's charity work, but we had no idea if we could raise enough money to do the work for the next month. All the commissioners simply tried everything they could to help me.

Ching Hsing, who is in her eighties now, has been in Tzu Chi for over three decades. Twenty years ago, when Tzu Chi started building its first general hospital in Hualien, the funds we raised were far from enough. In order to help realize my aspiration to build a hospital, Ching Hsing tried to solicit donations at a beauty parlor. The owner of the parlor said she would pay her NT$5,000 [then US$125] for her hair. Ching Hsing hesitated, since she cherished her tresses very much. But when she thought about how badly I needed money to build the hospital, she went back to the hairdresser twice to bargain for a better price. She told the owner that her heart ached when she thought of parting with her long hair, but she wanted to sell it for the sake of constructing a hospital for her dharma master. "I hope you can pay a little more and I will ask for a little less... How about NT$15,000?" Her devoted, selfless spirit touched not only the owner, but also the other hairdressers in the parlor. In the end, they all donated money to Tzu Chi. At that time, it was customary for local women to wear their hair wound up in a bun. However for the sake of building the hospital, Ching Hsing willingly put this consideration aside and wore her hair short. Her selfless giving greatly moved me.

Ching Wen, a commissioner in Taipei, wanted to donate a hospital ward, which at that time cost NT$300,000 [US$7,500]. She thought of working as a maid at a gynecology clinic for three years. However, she asked the clinic owner to pay her three years of her salary in advance. The owner was puzzled at this unprecedented, if not weird, request. Ching Wen explained to him that she wanted to earn the money as soon as possible so that she could build a ward in the Tzu Chi Hospital. "I swear that I will do my work if you can pay me in advance." Her sincerity touched the boss, who was also aware of the need for a hospital in Hualien. He consented and paid her about NT$288,000. Ching Wen added her original savings of NT$12,000 and donated all the money to Tzu Chi.

Help the suffering

Like bodhisattvas reaching out to help wherever there is suffering, Tzu Chi people have selflessly loved all suffering beings. For thirty-five years, there has not been a single day when they stopped doing so.

As the Sutra of Infinite Meaning points out, "Infinity starts from one and one initiates infinity." When the seed of a fruit tree is planted and given abundant sunshine and water, it will eventually yield ample fruit year after year. Each one of us is a seed that can grow into a tree which will bear fruit in the future. This morning someone asked me how many members we had when we first started thirty-five years ago. I answered that we had only thirty members at that time. But if you ask me how many members we have today, I'm afraid I can't give you an accurate number. Tzu Chi members can be found in every corner of the world. Our membership has become infinite. That's why I often say, "Infinity starts from one and one initiates infinity." Over the past thirty-five years, our members have been giving love ceaselessly. Their concerted efforts have made Tzu Chi what it is today.

The footsteps of Tzu Chi volunteers have covered the whole earth. Many poor and suffering people receive help from us. We deliver rice, warm comforters and thick coats to shivering people in frozen lands covered with snow. Although what we give might be limited, it is timely help to the impoverished and it brings long lost smiles back to their faces.

To carry out relief work, Tzu Chi people often travel great distances to faraway lands, sometimes to dangerous places, and they always pay the expenses from their own pockets. Disaster relief work involves a lot of toil, yet no one ever complains because through giving they receive immeasurable spiritual growth. When piled together all the tangible relief supplies seem like a lot, but Tzu Chi people receive even more intangible things from the recipients. Everyone who has participated in disaster relief work has said, "I'm so grateful. I'm indebted to our aid recipients for showing me what suffering means. Because of them, I've come to realize how blessed I am."

Tzu Chi people, let's never pass a moment without feeling grateful--grateful to our parents, to all living beings, and to all Tzu Chi people around the world. Only if we all work together with one heart and one mind can the Tzu Chi missions continue on and on. Thirty-five years is merely an instant in the eternal time frame of the universe. The path we should embark on is right before us. The road ahead is still long, so let us be ever more diligent and walk steadfastly on the Path of the Bodhisattvas. Bearing the grand vow of helping the needy in mind, we should march bravely to wherever there is suffering.