During the winter season in Tainan, daybreak comes at around five or six o'clock in the morning. Like the sun radiating its heat and light upon the earth, more than l,000 environmental protection volunteers, young and old, spread out to over l00 recycling points. To them, recycling serves as physical exercise, education and a golden opportunity for strengthening parent-child relationships.

Every third Sunday of the month is resource recycling day in the Tainan area. Under the direction of members of the Tzu Cheng Faith Corps, recyclable resources collected from over l00 points are transported to the plaza in front of the Tainan City Health Bureau at around seven or eight o'clock in the morning. Some 40 volunteers then classify the resources into several categories. In addition, the Tzu Cheng Faith Corps assigns two other brothers to direct traffic in the plaza, easing the growing traffic congestion in the city. The more volunteers there are, the more garbage there is as loads of garbage are sent from various collecting points.

To obtain higher prices for the collected resources, especially paper, volunteers neatly bundle them. A forklift sent by the recycling station sets aside the garbage collected from various points and then puts the bags of recycled resources processed by volunteers on trucks designated for specific resources. The volunteers turn garbage into treasure. Every can, plastic bag, or piece of paper is carefully saved and classified. Hardly anyone talks and all hands are busy.

Parent-Child and Teacher-Student Teams

Big and small bodhisattvas sweat under the sun. Pei-wen Tsai, a little girl studying at the Yunghua Elementary School in Tainan City, came with her father and younger brother to do recycling early this morning at the Health Bureau Plaza. "My father is a Tzu Chi brother," she said. All the family members of Cho-yun Yu, Pei-wen's schoolmate, also carry out recycling work.

Numberless Tzu Chi families have joined the environmental protection ranks. For example, Brother Jen-hsin Mu and his wife, Sister Chia-rung Chou, bring along their two kindergarten-age children as they sort out the garbage. To them, doing recycling on weekends is physical exercise, education and a golden opportunity for strengthening their parent-child relationships.

Aside from parent-child teams, there is also a teacher-student team. Su-chun Chen, a teacher at the Yungkang Junior High School, and Kung-ying Tsai, now a vocational school student, began a karmic relationship with each other while doing recycling in 1992. At that time, Kung-ying was a student at Yungkang Junior High, and Ms. Chen urged her students to do recycling. With a sense of nostalgia, Kung-ying recalled: "Doing recycling was the most unforgettable time of my junior high school days." "She was the best can flattener in her class," added Ms. Chen. Although Kung-ying has already graduated, both she and her teacher still come every month to carry on their work at the Health Bureau plaza.

Love All Things and Count Your Blessings

Truckload after truckload of paper is transported to the paper recycling stations. Twenty or thirty volunteers, wearing bandannas and bamboo hats, squat on the ground near a paper factory, picking up pieces of waste paper for recycling and "counting their blessings" bit by bit. When the last bag of aluminum cans is put on the recycling truck, the day's recycling work comes to a close. It is almost one o'clock in the afternoon. The recyclable garbage totals l7 tons. Brothers and sisters of the liaison office send over boxes of noodles for lunch. The volunteers eat on the steps and exchange tales of interesting things that happened to them taht day.

The resources recycled in the Tainan area in l995 totaled 3,795 tons. This included 3,005 tons of paper, 706 tons of steel cans, 42 tons of aluminum cans, and 42 tons of plastic bags, as well as 57,233 plastic bottles. The revenues from the recycled resources totaled NT$11.9 million (US$440,000). All the proceeds were contributed to the Tzu Chi volunteer charities.

Although the resource recycling date is set for the third Sunday of each month, volunteers in various localities actually carry on their work every day. They have instilled the concept of "love all things and count your blessings" into their daily lives. After you have done environmental protection work yourself, you will better realize that the good earth is the source of everything and that nature is the most precious treasure. "The earth is our home, and it is natural to sweep our home clean," said one volunteer. More than 10,000 environmental protection volunteers, spending their days surrounded by garbage, show the true Buddhist spirit. Their efforts are not for fame for for money, but come from their hearts of love.

We Like to Do Good

By Shen-yen Chang
Translated by Ping Chen

In His Prime-80

"It's good to do environmental protection work, but you have to take good care of yourselves," said the Faith Corps brother to the old couple with great concern. The 80-year-old Wen-ping Cheng and 76-year-old Hsiu-jung Lin are a happy couple of bodhisattvas. They are lucky to have four generations living under the same roof, including l4 grandchildren. They have been doing recycling for three or four years.

Many volunteers tear heavy cardboard boxes apart and then refold them neatly. "If everything is nice and neat, you can get a higher price," Grandma said. She added, "Amitabha, we give the waste paper to Master Cheng Yen and turn it into bricks to build a hospital."

Almost every day, Grandpa shuttles through streets and alleys and calls at various factories. He puts cardboard boxes and other recyclable resources on his push cart and brings the cart slowly but steadily to the yard in front of his home. The old bodhisattva can be considered a "full-time" environmental protection volunteer. Even when he visits friends, if he sees a piece of paper or a tin can along the way, he picks it up and brings it home.

"Don't forget that you're invited to come to the Tzu Chi liaison office tonight! We have gifts for you both." The brother heartily urged the old bodhisattva couple to join the year-end Appreciation Party for Environmental Protection Volunteers scheduled for that evening.

"No need," Grandpa said. "Doing good deeds is my pleasure. The money should be taken to Hualien, not used to buy gifts for me."

"The money for the gifts was cheerfully donated by the brothers and sisters," answered the brother. "We want to reward over l,000 environmental protection volunteers."

Grandma talked about when she first joined the environmental protection ranks. She heard somebody mutter: "Tzu Chi is already so rich now, yet it even wants the garbage." Grandpa not only understands, but also tries to make others understand. "I let people know that the masters in Hualien are doing good deeds, the money they obtain is to help people, and that's why we are all volunteers. Some people understand this immediately, so they clean up all the recyclable resources in the neighborhood and bring them here.

Thanks to so many people like Grandpa and Grandma, there has been a trend toward more recycling in the Tainan area. The number of volunteers has increased from a few score in l990 to l,300 at present. Tzu Chi people respect these old folks like their own parents. Due to their understanding guidance, the revenues from recycling this year surpassed NT$ll million in the Tainan area.

"Grandpa, Grandma, I'll pick you up this afternoon. Please talk to the younger people about your recycling experiences," the brother urged. "Just do it! I don't know how to talk about it," said Grandma modestly. Just do it!

Growing Up With Little Bodhisattvas

Tsungte Elementary School, with 119 classes and 5,400 students, is the largest elementary school in Tainan City. Sister Pi-chen Hsu has been teaching there for 27 years. She joined the Tzu Chi Teachers Association in July l992, and she began to do recycling in April of the next year. In cooperation with the head of the Health Office of the school, she promoted the school's environmental protection program and started the resource recycling work there. After the second period on Saturdays, it is time for the whole school to do recycling. On weekdays, all the classes sort recyclable resources such as paper and aluminum cans. On Saturdays, these resources are collected at a recycling station near a side gate of the school. On the third Sunday of each month, the Tzu Chi environmental protection team takes the resources away.

Sister Hsu divides her students into two teams. Taking advantage of the 20-minute recess each morning, one team takes care of paper boxes in the school cooperative store and kitchen; the other is responsible for policing the entire campus and picking up all sorts of garbage. In this way, they fulfill the real purpose of education. When the children bring home the concept of recycling, their parents are delighted to see the change in their children's behavior.