Master Yan Zheng, the founder of Tzu Chi Meritorious Society, is 62 years old and has kept a low profile. Even the TV station sponsored by Tzu Chi didn't get a chance to interview her alone. Today, she made an exception for those of us who came from afar. To our embarrassment, there is no air conditioning in the exquisite house. In order to take care of the recording effect, we have to turn off the only electric fan. On that day, the temperature in Hualien was 35 degrees Celsius. She has a serious heart attack.
Yang Lan: Was it here when the Master first came out to practice?
Master Yan Zheng: Yes.
Master Yan Zheng, commonly known as Jingyun, was born in a wealthy family in Taichung. The early death of her father and the illness of her mother made her confused about life and thought of the suffering of all beings from the pain of her family. Finally, 196 1 One day in late summer and early autumn, she was cutting rice in the field with several monks. A mage asked her, "Are you leaving now?" She put down her sickle and became a monk.
Master Yan Zheng: People are often moved, and there is an impulse when they are moved. This kind of thinking means why a person suddenly thinks of his father when he is alive, and a good man suddenly has a stroke and dies suddenly. It is really impermanent. This impermanence will make me feel what value I want to live in the world. Therefore, in the field, suddenly there will be such an idea, to ask, it is better to act on your own. So I will suddenly put it down and leave.
Yang Lan: I think at the beginning, I wanted to become a monk, but I actually held an idea that I was divorced from the secular world.
Master Yan Zheng: But it's strange why I joined the world of mortals again.
Yang Lan: Yes, I was born, but how did I finally join the WTO? What do you think of this change?
Master Yan Zheng: Didn't I just say that we should live out the value of life, so I think a person at home is only for this family, and a good life is only for a family, and it's not worth it. That's why I left my family.
Yang Lan: Then why do you have to become a monk?
Master Yan Zheng: I think you are not tired of becoming a monk.
Yang Lan: You never saw your mother again?
Master Yan Zheng: Yes, now my mother is a member of my committee.
Yang Lan: Is this also related to your master's idea of "humanizing Buddhism ... turning living Buddha into bodhisattva"? I read a story that a Catholic nun visited you. At that time, she raised some objections to the Buddhist lifestyle. They will also tell you that they think Buddhists pay too much attention to their own practice and don't care too much about the suffering people in this world. How does this make you feel?
Master Yan Zheng: The purpose of religion should be love, love for God, or love for Christianity. I also admire Dharma. As long as there is love in my heart, I will admire it. The three nuns were also very caring, and saw such a yogi, alone in the hut. She seems to pity me, so she wants to persuade me to join the ranks of nuns and become a monk. But with each other, the conversation is very congenial, and they are also very congenial.
So this kind of love blends together, but the names of religions are different. Because of this exchange, Master Yan Zheng has great respect for religions other than Buddhism. Later, she also pardoned Catholic prayers in the hospital she funded, which facilitated patients of different faiths. Tzu Chi is more like a social charity than a religious group, and the charm of Master Yan Zheng is more like a social and moral force. When many temples used huge sums of money to hold large-scale meetings, Yan Zheng maintained three principles: "Don't sing scriptures for others, don't practice meetings, and don't ask for alms." Until now, her disciples still make a living by making candles and farming. She put more money into the hospital, not only because of Master's teaching of "Humanization of Buddhism", but also because of an encounter with 1966.
Disciple of Master Yan Zheng: Because I saw a woman who miscarried for eight hours and walked for eight hours, that is to say, she needed 8,000 yuan, and she needed blood transfusion for surgery quickly, so the master saw this situation, and she said that she didn't have 8,000 yuan to carry the woman away. So, when the master came back, she was very sad. She said that a woman is going to have a baby, and now she doesn't know whether to live or die because she doesn't have 8000 yuan. So in this case, she didn't consider whether our own life could be maintained. She said that she would do what she should do. This is the spirit of a master. She didn't do it for herself. She saw the difficulty, and she solved the problem first. Her principle is that we should be self-reliant. She said that we young people can create our own lives if we have the ability. She encouraged us to say, "We became monks" and we devoted ourselves to religion. To really do things for Buddhism and the public, it is necessary to temper a spirit and endurance. We can eat what others can't eat, and we can tolerate what others can't tolerate. The hardest time is to earn money by knitting with others. There are seven people in it, and they only get paid once every half month. So I often have no oil or rice, so I plant some vegetables myself and pull out some wild vegetables when I have no food. At that time, I was really poor. I am so poor that I only buy 50 cents of tofu a month. I can only cut the tofu into small pieces and marinate it with salt. I didn't eat salted tofu until it rained and there was no way to pull out wild vegetables, so I often laughed and said that salty tofu with 50 cents could be eaten for a month.
In such a poor situation, Master Yan Zheng turned down a donation of 200 million dollars. Why? Tzu Chi's initial donation came from local housewives in Hualien, and each person saved 50 cents a day. Some people say that one month 15 yuan per person is not enough. Master Yan Zhengda said, "This is very different."
Master Yan Zheng: 15 dollars a month, I can only say it's a good idea once a month. I just want to help others once a month. Love should be cultivated every day, not all the time. Before going out, you must first have a good intention and cultivate such a love concept. So I want them to pay 50 cents a day instead of $0/5 a month.
Yang Lan: I think when I first started working as a Tzu Chi hospital, it was probably based on the same idea. You refused. A Japanese wants to donate nearly $200 million to you, which is a lot of money. At that time, you needed almost 800 million Taiwan dollars, but you only raised about 30 million. It should be said that this $200 million came in time. Is it for the same reason?
Master Yan Zheng: Yes, I am very grateful. I am looking forward to it. There are so many Buddhists in Taiwan Province Province, not just Buddhists. It can be said that there are many caring people. When this hospital was built in Taiwan Province Province, everyone should gather this love bit by bit and cultivate an acre of Futian by themselves. I hope everyone will be farmers. I hope to have more intimacy with this Fukuda.
Yang Lan: Later, this charity fund grew bigger and bigger. Many members of the Tzu Chi Committee are businessmen with rich experience in managing funds. For example, someone suggests that you can develop some real estate near the hospital, and then use the money to invest in the fund to operate better. But you rejected the idea. Is it the same principle to insist that everyone should raise money?
Master Yan Zheng: Yes, this is also the love that everyone should give. We should spare no effort to achieve results as soon as possible. But also from and for society.
Yang Lan: I think the economy of Taiwan Province Province took off after 1970s. After people's material life has been improved, they suddenly find that their spiritual life is empty. They also found a lot of emotional support and spiritual support here, and they should have found the original pure feelings of helping each other. So some people say that you specialize in "nouveau riche syndrome". Of course, besides helping the poor, you also have the responsibility to teach the rich.
Master Yan Zheng: What a joke.
Yang Lan: But will there be such a situation in the middle, that is to say, we will stay in a society of material exchange for a long time, so we will also bring these wishes to Buddhist temples. For example, when people come to pray, the first thing that comes to mind is "Buddha bless me to make more money." Or ... Of course, some people pray for good health, or always want to leave a name when donating money, or get a sustenance in their hearts. What do you think of their desires?
Master Yan Zheng: Didn't you just say that? Tzu Chi has never had such a person here from the beginning. Bye-bye, begging, nothing Everyone thinks it's a spiritual sustenance, but there is. Because he felt it and did it with joy. Moreover, some Tzu Chi volunteers, all Tzu Chi volunteers, say that while they are grateful, they also have each other's sufferings, so that they can enrich themselves and know that they are more blessed than others, so they will have that kind of happiness. Give and be grateful, so they won't ask for "Buddha bless me" here. No, they all gave and were grateful at the same time.
Tzu Chi Hospital officially completed 1986. He not only has first-class medical equipment and professionals, but also strives to build a close doctor-patient relationship.
Yang Lan: There are a large number of volunteers in the hospital, that is, voluntary workers. Many of them are bosses or executives from all over Taiwan Province Province. On weekends, they flew to Hualien to take care of the patients in the hospital. During summer vacation, college students and middle school students also come here. Ms. Yan Hui Mei, who participated in Tzu Chi/KLOC for 0/8 years, is responsible for arranging their work.
Yang Lan: You have come into contact with so many children, sometimes high school students. When they come here to volunteer, do you think you need to let them know that they are generally ignored in the outside world?
Yan Hui Mei: The most neglected thing now is ethics, because young people feel arrogant. He wants to say, "What's the harm in being happy?" So he doesn't know how to tell our elders, even the elderly, that their hard work is to safeguard our family and take care of our home. He thinks there is nothing to do for you with old people. So when they came to the hospital and saw the lonely old people, they naturally shaved, washed their hair and washed their feet. So in this action, he suddenly realized, "why am I so willing to wash an old man who makes no sense to me?" Why don't my grandparents live upstairs and downstairs with me and I don't say hello? " I even thought, "I'm tired. I'm going to lie upstairs and have a rest when I get home. I'm going to tell my grandparents. " So he naturally knew that he was wrong.
Master Yan Zheng refused to play tricks. He said, "I don't have any magic." .
Women have played an important role in the development of Tzu Chi. Tzu Chi members are mainly women over 40 years old. After joining Tzu Chi, these women not only got spiritual satisfaction in the process of helping others, but also found the support of a group with strong moral strength. This improved their status in the family, and their husbands also participated in charity activities on the recommendation of their wives.
Tzu Chi Commissioner: I think the biggest change is that my husband and I have a common understanding, and then we have a common topic and a common concept, which can help all sentient beings in need. This is the biggest change. In the past, my husband might talk about his career, children or friends when he came home. Now our topic is Tzu Chi.
Yang Lan: Did you quarrel in the past?
Tzu Chi Commissioner: It's either a quarrel or a small dispute. He has many social activities and can drink. Now he drinks a lot less, because he has entertainment, but he also smokes a lot less. He likes to do such things, which can relieve a lot of his pressure, because the last person taught us to be a palm-down person, and the palm-down person will get great joy.
Yang Lan: Do you think your position in the family is more influential now?
Tzu Chi Commissioner: I think I have more wisdom to deal with many things.
Today's master Yan is the object that many people follow and worship. Some even hold their children in their arms and let her touch their heads to eliminate disasters. Yan Zheng said with a smile, "If I had such great skills, I wouldn't need to build a hospital."
Master Yan Zheng: My schedule is very simple. I get up after three o'clock, start meditation by myself, and then go out to talk. Before dawn, we will start talking and having classes in the morning. Then from the beginning to the end of the day, I don't know what I did.
Yang Lan: There are many decisions for you to make anyway. After the scale is getting bigger and bigger, we find that you have a move, that is, you hand over these hospitals and schools to professionals for management, rather than saying that you manage all the details of these management. This is a very clear concept from the beginning.
Master Yan Zheng: Because I am a layman, I don't mean that I have any ability. Next, the hospital should give it to the doctor to see the patient. I am not a doctor. As long as it is built, or if doctors can understand the purpose of Tzu Chi, it is beyond my power to let them take care of patients with this love.
Yang Lan: There are many flood fighting and disaster relief activities in various regions of East China, but do you think it will be influenced by some political forces in Taiwan Province Province? For example, they will think, "Why put this money on the mainland?"
Master Yan Zheng: This is not surprising, but I have my own clear direction. As long as I really save people, many people are very responsive.
Yang Lan: So just ignore some attacks like this.
Master Yan Zheng: If you care about it, don't do it. We must have this ... our direction is clear, and we can't bear to see or hear people who are really in pain. Besides, there are many people in Taiwan Province Province who have this love.
Yang Lan: Now you see disputes, wars and quarrels in various places at the end of the century. what do you think? Do you think the world will get better?
Master Yan Zheng: Now science is also very developed, people's ideals are very high, and their knowledge level has also improved. Very common, everything is going up and making progress. It's just a pity that the morality of human nature is deteriorating. How can we improve this human morality? It depends on all of us in every corner and different classes.
Yang Lan: Now you think you have found the answer you were looking for when you were young, don't you?
Master Yan Zheng: I should say yes. However, this road is very long and needs a mighty team to open up another road.
Yang Lan: Do you find it difficult when you feel exhausted?
Master Yan Zheng: Sometimes I feel very sad, but I will try my best and have confidence in myself. When I say "confident", I mean that I will not change this direction in my life.
Yang Lan: Thank you very much, and I wish you a better and better career.
Master Yan Zheng: Thank you.
Yang Lan: Thank you.
According to Nostradamus' prediction, the day when I interviewed Master Yan Zheng happened to be the end of the world, but this day was about to pass and nothing happened. But what will happen tomorrow? When I asked Master Yan Zheng with this question, he said, "Instead of worrying about tomorrow, it is better to do more good things today. Even if there is an end, it will only mean the beginning of a new world." I will send this sentence to you.