If there are suffering people who cannot come to us for help, we should go to them. When kind-hearted people treat the less fortunate with love, they will be saved. We can surely eradicate all suffering and alleviate all difficulties by bringing out the love hidden in our hearts.

Every day, I feel the beauty of this world! How is it so beautiful? Because there is so much love! When seeing the world with love, even the sun and the moon appear more amicable and lovely. Indeed, the world is beautiful when people live with peace of mind, coexist in harmony, and give of themselves to others generously. Love is the strongest power in the world. It can bring happiness to life. Where is love? It can be found wherever Tzu Chi members gather. They give love to the needy so gently, respectfully, and warmly.

I hope all people can always speak good words, harbor good thoughts, and carry out good deeds. Let us spread a wave of love to one another, so that love will resonate and bring hope to the suffering. When we do this, we can make this world even more beautiful. Only when each of our minds and hearts is calm will there be peace.

Giving unselfishly

In March, a group of 15 Tzu Chi volunteers from Indonesia came to share with me heartwarming stories of a local Great Love Village that we built there. I remember it was over a decade ago that a few wives of Taiwanese businessmen in Indonesia began caring for underprivileged Indonesians. Their unselfish dedication attracted the attention of some local Chinese businesspeople. The love of these entrepreneurs was activated two years ago after heavy rains badly flooded the Angke River. Those entrepreneurs felt that it was time for them to do something concrete and help those who had lost everything in the disaster. They embarked on a big project of dredging the garbage and silt from the Angke River and building Great Love villages for people living along the river. None of these tasks were easy, but with determination and compassion they conquered all difficulties. Tzu Chi members provided homeless victims with well-built houses and work opportunities as well. Knowing that most residents are Muslim, our Tzu Chi volunteers, who are mostly Buddhists, built a Muslim prayer room in the community. Students who attend the community Tzu Chi elementary and middle schools are free to study the Koran. Such an act of accommodation and forbearance towards another religion is truly beautiful.

In Paraguay, local Tzu Chi volunteers drove hours on rugged mountain roads to build schools in impoverished aboriginal villages. Our volunteers did not mind such trips and tirelessly brought school supplies and materials to the villagers. To celebrate the school inauguration, volunteers made Chinese sweets for all the attendees, which made all the children and their parents smile happily.

In Malaysia, Tzu Chi volunteers not only built schools for the impoverished, they also made uniforms, shoes, and hats for all the students. Upon receiving her hat, a little girl wearing a headscarf beamed with a smile and said she no longer needed to worry about getting sunburned! How beautiful is such respect and love! Making oneself beautiful is a part of human nature. We also need to make our society beautiful as well. How can we achieve this? A beautiful society is established when all residents love, respect, and help each other without seeking anything in return.

A harmonious life is the most beautiful, and a stable society is the most blessed. In order to show respect and love to all life, Tzu Chi volunteers try their best to serve less fortunate people living in the dark alleys of society regardless of their nationalities, religions, or races. Society in Taiwan has become rather turbulent because of the presidential elections held on March 20. I have always remained neutral when it comes to politics. What I care about most is society as a whole and each individual in each family. I pray that everyone can have a peaceful mind and an unencumbered heart. Only then can society be peaceful and prosperous, families secure, and citizens happy and blessed.

Taiwan, surrounded by the sea, is not big. We are like passengers sailing on this little boat. We must treat everyone with love and respect since our lives are interdependent and intertwined. Let us show a little more care and concern to one another.

Fifth free clinic on Batam Island

The fifth large-scale Tzu Chi free clinic was held in Batam, Indonesia, from March 5 to 7. Our medical volunteers from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia traveled to the island to offer medical services to the sick. Although Batam is far away from our Indonesia branch office in Jakarta, it only takes about 40 minutes by boat to get there from Malaysia and Singapore. Over 300 volunteers from the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) participated in the free clinic and served over 2,400 patients.

A mother with a cleft lip came with her daughter, who suffered from the same problem, to seek treatment. Most women care about their appearances, but this woman, born in an impoverished family, had no chance to get medical treatment. She could only accept her misfortune. How would she know that she would give birth to a girl with a cleft lip as well? Although their poverty prevented them from seeking any medical treatments in other places, a group of loving doctors came to the island and fixed their physical defects.

I heard another touching story about a patient who was inflicted with cataracts. Atin, who was in his sixties, had cataracts and lost his vision last year. He had only one son, who worked hard to support him financially. Yet regardless of how badly the son wished to take his father to see an eye doctor, he knew it was only a dream because he earned a meager salary. One day, his boss told him that the Tzu Chi Foundation would hold a free clinic on the island. Both the father and son were excited. On the day of the free clinic, Atin put on his best clothes and went to the clinic site with his son. He regained his vision the day after his operation. He had been unable to see his son's face for a year, but now he could finally see it clearly. Looking at the view in the distance, Atin could not help but exclaim, "How beautiful!"

Arola came all the way from Jakarta to seek help after a rough relationship with her husband. During a quarrel, her angry husband had poured a pot of boiling oil onto her face, severely burning her face, chest, and hands. Luckily she had a good sister and brother-in-law. They tried hard to get her treatments. Five operations had already cost the brother-in-law about US$9,000. It was a heavy financial burden for him, since he served in the military and had a minimal income. However, the brother-in-law had once served as a volunteer in a previous Tzu Chi free clinic, and he thought Tzu Chi might be able to help. So he took Arola to Batam. Dr. Hong Bao-yu from Singapore mindfully treated Arola. He told her that it was impossible to perform a complete skin graft in one surgery, but assured her that Tzu Chi would continue providing her with free operations until she was completely healed. How wonderful!

Illness is the biggest suffering in life. It is twice the burden when one is ill and poor at the same time. It is especially unbearable for impoverished people living in remote areas. Who can they turn to for help once they fall ill? Without money or transportation, their lives are in danger. How miserable and helpless it can be! But if the blessed, such as physicians, can reach out with love to help the people on that small island, then the sick and poor can be saved. If suffering people are unable to come out and look for help, then the blessed should go to them. It is a blessing when we can offer our help to others. Our TIMA members will surely bring blessings to all places they set their feet upon. They not only cure the sick, but also give the underprivileged blessings and love. Once patients' illnesses are cured, the patients can stand on their own feet again and lead dignified lives.

A good doctor-patient relationship

TIMA has held many free clinics in Taiwan's remote regions as well. In a little village in Hualien County live an elderly couple and their three grandchildren. The grandfather had suffered a stroke, so the grandmother became the sole provider for the family. Their living environment was far from ideal: a tiny space served as their living room, storage room, and bedroom. On March 12, a group of medical personnel from Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, including a doctor, nurse, social worker, nutritionist, and volunteers, came to the house to give the grandfather a follow-up checkup. On that day, the living room became a consultation room. They brought specially made formula supplements for the grandfather, who was suffering from malnutrition. Volunteers cleaned the house, gave the grandfather a new mattress, and bathed him. Vice Superintendent Hsu Wen-lin also took off his white robe and helped wash the elderly man. After a refreshing bath, they helped the grandfather onto a comfortable new air mattress and treated him with care. What a heartwarming and beautiful doctor-patient relationship!

Hualien County has the highest pulmonary tuberculosis rate in Taiwan. In order to effectively deal with the disease, our hospital formed a TB care team. The team regularly travels long distances to deliver medicine to patients. Team members do not leave until they have seen the patients finish taking all the medicine. On February 28, the team visited a TB patient living alone in Hsiulin Township. They cleaned his house, and Superintendent Lin Shinn-zong even rolled up his sleeves and painted the walls. The team took the opportunity to inform his neighbors that TB patients could be cured if they absorbed enough nutrition and took medicine regularly, so they did not need to keep a distance from the patient. They could visit him and show him love and support instead.

In the same little town, there was another grandmother who needed to take care of her grandchild. Although she was ill, she had no one to take her to the hospital. She could do nothing but endure the pain. Fortunately, our medical volunteers regularly provide home care in this district, so the grandmother could simply sit in the shade of an arbor outside of her house and let our doctors take care of her. The Buddha is also called the Great Healer. He mindfully cures the physical and mental illnesses of all beings because he cannot bear to see people suffer. Our Tzu Chi doctors who pay visits to impoverished families to provide them with treatment have the same compassion as the Buddha. They are truly Great Healers, too.

Cozy little hospital

We celebrated the fourth anniversary of Kuanshan Tzu Chi Hospital and the fifth anniversary of Yuli Tzu Chi Hospital on March 15. Kuanshan Hospital is small but pretty because our medical staff and the townspeople have become one big family. On these special occasions, people dressed up for the activities as if they were celebrating the birthday of their own family members. How could so many local residents take the hospital to their hearts? Because the staff members and volunteers sincerely care about the well-being of the residents. They bring medical service to mountainous areas and remote villages on a regular basis. For example, Vice Superintendent Pan Yuon-chien often uses his free days to promote sanitary awareness among different communities, treat the elderly at their homes, clean up streets, and even weed others' gardens.

Yuli Hospital is the same. Medical staff members have mindfully and lovingly taken care of the health of the townspeople for many years, so when the hospital was constructing a new medical building, many local residents held fundraising bazaars. When the construction was done, some became hospital volunteers, cooking, sweeping floors, or helping patients. They care for the hospital as if they were caring for their own houses. Chen Yu-ling, director of the nursing department, made three wishes when the new building was inaugurated last year. First, she hoped that all patients would find the hospital homey and cozy. Second, she hoped that this little hospital could provide the same superb medical services as other medical centers. Finally, she hoped to bring our medical services into local communities. She has made her three wishes come true. Seeing the home-like atmosphere of the hospital really made me happy. Starting a hospital in a little region like Yuli was no easy task. But today many of our doctors are willing to be transferred to the remote region of Yuli to serve the local residents. I am full of gratitude to them.

Youngsters learning to give

Nowadays, most children receiving abundant attention from their parents lead a very comfortable and materially rich life. These children must realize how blessed they are, so that they can cherish their blessings and create more for themselves. To do so, youngsters must be brought up and educated in an environment full of love. During the past decade, Tzu Chi members in the United States have opened a dozen humanitarian schools for Chinese schoolchildren ranging from kindergarteners to college students. These Chinese descendents born in the U.S. can speak fluent English but know very little about Chinese language and culture. When they study at the humanitarian schools, their Chinese improves considerably. Furthermore, Tzu Chi members take them to nursing homes to teach English to elderly Chinese, ranging from seventy to eighty years old. The oldest student was a 92-year-old great-grandmother. Her studious attitude won the respect of others. These Chinese seniors, residing in a place where they do not speak the language, are confined to a little Chinese circle. Outside of this circle, they are functionally illiterate. The inability to communicate with mainstream society truly makes their lives inconvenient and difficult. Although some have learned a little English, they find the lessons that the American teachers teach difficult to absorb and use in daily life. So the "little teachers" from our humanitarian schools serve a great function.

There was a grandfather who refused to be taught by the young people. However, our students did not get upset at all. They tried to make the old folks happy by playing games with them. Meanwhile, they taught them simple vocabulary such as dog, cat, and duck. As the old students and young teachers got to know each other, the seniors no longer felt pressured and began learning cheerfully. The grandfather, who had been observing indifferently, found the class interesting and started playing with others. In the end, he even reminded others to include his name on the list of students.

The elderly and the young interact happily and harmoniously. How beautiful and heartwarming! We really should not take young people lightly. We should show respect to the senior citizens as well. Didn't they have big dreams and high-flying ambitions as well when they were young? I am very happy to see these young people, under the guidance of their parents and teachers, giving love and respect to their elders.

On March 3, the third Tzu Chi relief team to Iran departed; they returned in mid-March. Wherever they went, my heart followed them. I know how difficult it can be carrying out relief work in a strange land with a different culture and religion, but I kept reminding them to do it with respect and love. To my relief, they distributed relief supplies successfully, provided medical treatment to the sick, and assessed the possibility of rebuilding schools. The footprints of Great Love have been clearly imprinted in the minds of the survivors and in regions of Iran that had been severely hit by earthquakes. In a short ceremony held before the relief distribution, a little Iranian girl spoke in simple Chinese to thank Tzu Chi on behalf of the Iranian people: "Tzu Chi, thank you for your love. Let us together make the world a better place." Local officials were also thankful for the love from Taiwan.

If we can travel thousands of miles and endure all kinds of hardships to help the Iranians, why can't we take action to help the underprivileged in Taiwan? All disasters, no matter if they are natural or man-made, are deplorable and heart-wrenching. Let us treat one another with sincere love, for this kind of love is most touching! Unselfish giving is most precious. If everyone can work together with a harmonious mind and heart, then I believe all the suffering in the world will end and all difficulties will be alleviated.