On the evening of June 27, 2015, flammable starch-based powder exploded at an outdoor party held at a recreational water park in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The colored powder was being used by organizers of the large-scale party to create visual effects. About 500 young people were injured in the accident, the worst mass burn incident in recent years in Taiwan. Large numbers of police and firefighters were mobilized to assist victims; ambulances rushed in and out, carrying dozens upon dozens of the injured to local hospitals. Many of those who had been at the scene at the time of the explosion but were still able to help did what they could to help others. Many off-duty medical workers quickly returned to their posts to help save lives.
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Photo by Huang Jin-yi |
Many victims suffered burns over large areas of their bodies. Four or five nurses and doctors are needed to change the dressings for one badly burned patient; not surprisingly, the larger the burn area, the longer it takes to dress the wounds. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Some staff members who had already left the hospitals went back. Even doctors in private practice took the initiative to help.
With the lives of severely burned patients in the balance, medical workers did the best they could to care for them, guarding their lives day and night. Parents’ hearts ached and bled as their young sons and daughters endured extraordinary pain and struggled to stay alive. Doctors and nurses ached just as strongly as the parents did each time a patient howled with pain when their burns were being dressed. Though it hurt to see their patients suffer, doctors and nurses stuck by their sides tending to their needs. No one called it quits.
Even though they were left with little or no time to rest, even though they were exhausted, the medical professionals kept working, hoping to reduce patients’ pain and calm their hearts the best they could. At the same time, they needed to comfort family members who were overwhelmed with worry and anxiety. But all their hard work paid off when a patient’s condition stabilized and he or she could be transferred out of the ICU into a regular room. That was the happiest moment for the doctors and nurses.
It is never easy for medical workers to see their patients and their families suffer. They are also pained when lives are lost under their care. Medical work entails a heavy burden of responsibility. If they do not have the great compassion and commitment of a bodhisattva, it is very difficult to endure all the pain and suffering they encounter.
The tragic explosion at the water park broke people’s hearts. At the same time, it also brought out an outpouring of love from all sectors of society. “When others hurt, we feel their pain; when others suffer, we feel their sorrow.” Through their loving actions, people in Taiwan have demonstrated how rich in love and decency our society is. I hope that this Great Love will never diminish, that it will help minimize the trauma of those nearly 500 families.
Giving to the suffering
The moment Superintendent You-Chen Chao (趙有誠) of Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital learned of the accident, he ordered hospital staff to get ready to receive a large number of patients. Thirteen patients checked into the hospital soon after, and a burn treatment area was set up in the ICU to respond to the emergency. Later, doctors and nurses who were experienced in taking care of burn patients arrived one after another at the hospital from other Tzu Chi hospitals in Hualien, Taichung, and Dalin to offer whatever help they could. Superintendent Chao, concerned about the condition of each burn victim, arrived at the ICU at five each morning to check on them.
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After an explosion at a recreational water park in northern Taiwan, some patients were rushed to Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital for treatment. Photo by Wu Yu-zhi
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Patients with significant burns are prone to low body temperature due to the loss of skin, so temperatures have to be turned up in the operating rooms during their surgeries. Our surgeons, as a result, sweated profusely. Some nurses came up with the idea of tying ice bags to the doctors’ backs to keep them cool. They also wiped away the sweat for the doctors.
Burn patients are faced with many challenges, including wound-cleaning and skin-graft procedures and the long rehabilitation process. A lot of pain is involved in every step of the process. Our medical workers worked really hard to ease the patients’ suffering. They hoped that their painstaking care would help patients suffer less in the future. I was truly touched to see how doctors and nurses cared for their patients with love commensurate with that of a parent and a buddha. Their work ethic is admirable.
Doctor-patient relationships have changed markedly in today’s society. Doctors and nurses dedicate their lives to saving the lives of others. It is a difficult job well worthy of our respect. And yet, despite giving their best efforts to care for patients, medical professionals are often not accorded the trust and appreciation they deserve. Many working in this field have thus lost heart and quit. I hope our society gives them the gratitude and support they should have.
Among the nearly 500 explosion victims, about a third are still in critical condition weeks after the accident. Realizing how sad and helpless family members are feeling, Tzu Chi volunteers have visited hospitals to accompany and support the families. Volunteers have also presented family members with emergency cash, purchased needed supplies for them, and delivered meals to them.
Mr. Liu is a grape farmer from Nantou, central Taiwan. His son was one of the burn patients. Mr. Liu was so consumed with caring for his son that he had no time to harvest his grapes. If the grapes were not harvested in time, his efforts this season would come to nothing. When our volunteers learned about the situation, they mobilized to help with the harvesting. They also called on kindhearted people to buy the grapes, and had a large portion of the fruit delivered to the hospitals that had taken in the explosion victims to thank the medical professionals for their hard work.
To pray for blessings for the victims, Tzu Chi held prayer services for eight straight days starting on June 28. Volunteers all over the world joined the nuns at the Jing Si Abode via video-conferencing in chanting the Earth Treasury Sutra and the “Universal Gate” chapter from the Lotus Sutra. More gatherings were held in mid-July during which patients’ families and the general public were invited to pray together.
In Nepal, a group of Buddhist monks and local Tzu Chi volunteers also held a prayer service for the burn patients in Taiwan. Nepal suffered a devastating earthquake just a few months ago, and Tzu Chi volunteers have been providing aid in that country for over two months. Our relief efforts there have triggered a cycle of love, as testified by the prayer service and the Nepalese people who have been inspired to join Tzu Chi to help the needy.
Some time has passed since the accident, but Tzu Chi volunteers’ care and love for the patients and their families haven’t diminished one bit. They know that parents are worried about their children’s injuries and about the long, difficult rehabilitation process ahead. The physical pain will decrease with time, but the psychological trauma will take a lot longer to heal. The resulting expenses will also be a heavy financial burden on the families. Tzu Chi volunteers will continue to offer their care and help.
Four shocking accidents have happened in Taiwan in less than a year—the Penghu plane crash, the Kaohsiung gas explosions, the Keelung River plane crash, and now the water park powder explosion. Impermanence can strike at any time. For our own safety, we must live each moment with vigilance. Let us pray with the utmost sincerity and piety that the burn patients will pull through this difficult time. May our prayers reach the buddhas and bodhisattvas above. I hope that this latest disaster will help awaken people so that they learn to cherish each moment of safety and make the most of their limited life spans by contributing to society.
Our society needs every person’s kind thoughts and deeds. Only when everyone gives love to others will our world enjoy peace and stability.
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Tzu Chi held a prayer gathering in Taichung, central Taiwan, for victims of the water park disaster. Photo by Cai Wen-xiu |
Sincere repentance
On July 14, 2015, a stampede in southern India left 27 people dead and dozens injured. The tragedy occurred in the state of Andhra Pradesh as tens of thousands of people surged forward to bathe in the Godavari River on the first day of Maha Pushkaralu, a Hindu religious bathing festival. Festival participants believe that a bath in the river during the festival can purge them of their sins.
It’s truly sad to see a joyous occasion end in tragedy. At the same time, we are reminded by this incident to ponder: Can we really rid ourselves of our sins by bathing in a turbid river? Is it really that simple? Actually, what can really purify our minds are wholesome teachings; when we have done wrong, we must sincerely repent so we can be cleansed of our inner impurities. We must also pass on wholesome teachings, say kind words, and do good deeds so our world will be peaceful.
We are all born with a pure nature and can attain buddhahood. However, when our minds get caught in ignorance and afflictions, that pure innate nature is obscured by all those impurities. We must therefore constantly look into ourselves and be mindful in our dealings with people and events to make sure that we are on the right track. We must rid ourselves of ignorance and delusion and train our minds not to be swayed by external circumstances, which we can use to develop our wisdom.
As we engage in spiritual practice, we must do more than merely focus on learning proper principles and improving ourselves—we must also make great vows and go among people to give of ourselves and help deliver the needy from suffering. Full enlightenment can only be attained when we put our love into action and learn to exercise both compassion and wisdom.
For three consecutive days starting on July 3, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia put on a musical adaptation of Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance. Over 70,000 people attended the presentations. Everyone who participated in the adaptation had to maintain a vegetarian diet for 108 days as a show of sincere piety and to help them truly take in the message of the text.
Participants in the adaptation reenacted the story of Dharma Master Wu Da on stage. Master Wu Da was an accomplished monk for ten lifetimes. In his tenth lifetime, Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty established him as the national master and bestowed a chair made of precious agarwood for him to sit in when preaching the Dharma. The gift caused a sense of arrogance to rise in Master Wu Da. As he was about to sit in the chair, he bumped his knee on it, resulting in a bruise that later developed into a sore in the shape of a human face. The sore caused Master Wu Da tremendous pain and no doctor was able to cure it. Later, the master learned that the sore was actually caused by some bad karma he had created ten lifetimes before.
Master Wu Da had diligently cultivated himself and upheld the precepts lifetime after lifetime. As a result, he had been able to keep that negative karma at bay. But in his present life, his arrogance about the chair caused a brief break in his cultivation, allowing that bad karma to play out. It was like a window that had not been closed completely, thus allowing sand or dust to enter through tiny openings. This teaches us that when we carry out spiritual practice, we must be constantly vigilant in case we inadvertently commit any wrong.
When we plant negative karmic seeds, we are bound to reap ill consequences. This is an immutable law. We must therefore be alert and careful at all times so that we not only commit no bad deed but also allow no bad thoughts to occur in our minds. When we do away with our ignorance and refrain from creating bad karma, we are truly upholding the precepts.
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Participants in an adaptation of Water Repentance reenact the story of Dharma Master Wu Da on stage. The adaptation was put on by Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia in early July 2015. Photo by Li Ri-quan |
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The global population is now 7.3 billion. On average, two new lives are born every second. With so many people living in and impacting the world, every one of us should ponder if we are bringing benefit or harm to the Earth.
The Earth provides us human beings with everything we need. But instead of being grateful and cherishing what we are given, we are not satisfied. We do whatever we want in the pursuit of economic benefit and material pleasure. We destroy mountains and forests, build roads and tall buildings, and cover the Earth in cement. When there is not enough land to use, we create new land from the sea. A result of this excessive exploitation of natural resources is climate change and frequent natural disasters.
When our minds are enslaved by ignorance and other mental impurities, it becomes difficult for us to rein in our desires. Ignorance is the hardest obstacle to overcome. It not only brings us suffering, but makes it difficult for society to have harmony and peace.
Humans are really insignificant when compared to the forces of nature. However, when the bad thoughts of many individuals converge, when ignorance is given the opportunity to form turbulent rivers, the force of that collective karma is gigantic.
Time passes relentlessly, second after second. With each passing day, our life becomes shorter. But if we make good use of our time, we can do a lot—all accomplishments come from efforts accumulated through time. When we put together our love, we can bring light and hope to the world.
I hope everyone reduces their desires and works on nurturing their conscience and wisdom. May all of us make the most of our short lives by doing our best to give love and do good deeds. When we all do that, we will be able to go against the current and allow good to prevail in the world.
Let us be ever more mindful.
This article is excerpted from a series of speeches delivered by Master Cheng Yen from July 1 to 20, 2015.
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