Three seasoned Tzu Chi volunteers from Taipei, (from left) Wei Liang Xu, Wei Xing Juan, and Gao Xiu Zhen, sharing their personal life journeys at the Jing Si Hall. Photo by Lai Tong Heng
“Mama, you must come back! Please come back! Don’t go…”
Gao Xiu Zhen’s oldest son pleaded desperately while tugging at a corner of her blouse.
This was a scene from a short video about the life of Taiwanese Tzu Chi volunteer Gao Xiu Zhen and her children. Looking back on those dark days when she had less than NT$10,000 (about S$450) in her bank account, Gao spoke of how she couldn’t afford to fight for custody after a painful divorce and made a hard decision to leave her children.
Gao was the first of the three seasoned Tzu Chi volunteers from Taiwan who shared their real life stories at the Jing Si Hall on the night of 19th July 2017. Close to 100 people temporarily put aside the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives, to attend the inspiring talk session. Everyone in the audience was glued to their seats as they listened intently to Gao’s moving real life story.
There were no empty seats in the hall. The attendees had temporarily set aside their busy daily lives to listen to the real-life stories of the volunteers from Taiwan. Photo by Alice Toh
No parents on earth would ever want to abandon their own children. Gao was often worried that no one would look after her children, and made frequent calls to them. But the calls often ended with the mother crying sadly together with her children. Her youngest son would say that the fridge was always full of food, to assuage his mother’s maternal worries, but the fact was quite the opposite.
On one occasion when Gao sneaked home to look for her children, she was shocked to witness them shivering during the cold winter wearing their thin summer clothes, because there wasn’t anyone at home to do the laundry. Gao really missed her children, and the fact that she didn’t fight for their custody caused a perpetual turmoil within her anguished heart.
As she was really diligent at work, Gao’s life circumstances gradually improved over time. It was during an opportune moment that she met Dharma Master Cheng Yen. While waiting for the Master, she overheard what she said to a volunteer: “I will not blame my disciples, because each of you is caught up in the web of conflicting love and hate emotions, yet my concerns are for the suffering people around the world.”
At that time, the Master was watching news on the television about a flood disaster in the US. Immediately, Gao was deeply moved and understood the meaning of Master’s words: “Many people around the world are experiencing much greater suffering than what we are experiencing; our own suffering pales in comparison.”
She felt that it was a blessing for her to encounter Tzu Chi, and thus made a decision to serve in Tzu Chi wholeheartedly and dedicate the merits attained to her children.
Calling her Children Back with Love
Two years later, the children finally returned to Gao Xiu Zhen’s side, but this only marked the beginning of her trials……
“Mama! Both you and papa are idiots! Because you are both idiots, I have to live like this!”
Her oldest son’s heart was filled with animosity and often scolded his mother.
As the children had stopped school for two years, they were not accustomed to school-life, and didn’t want to continue with their studies. They consistently had bad scores for their tests, and eventually dropped out from school completely. Her youngest child didn’t want to return home and would loiter outside till late; he even got into frequent fights with outsiders.
In her attempts to draw her children closer, Gao learned to correct her own temperament, and spoke in a soft, gentle tone with her children. Even when her children thought that she was only pretending to be pleasant, she resolved in her own heart to never give up, and continued to bless and encourage them.
Gao Xiu Zhen trained herself to speak gently with her own children, and attempted to let the audience experience first-hand, different tones of voices and attitudes. Photo by Lee Foo Mun
“Don’t give the money meant for me away to charity!”
The oldest son was often filled with anger after witnessing his mother donating money to charity in the past.
Over time, Gao Xiu Zhen patiently instilled moral values in all her children, and modelled appropriate behaviour by example. Much later, the children also learned to eat vegetarian and donate to charity, with the hope of following their mother’s pathway. Gao hoped that by sharing her own life story, people who were suffering emotionally could transform their conditional, limited love into a greater love for humanity.
“Each of you is caught up in the web of conflicting love and hate emotions, yet my concerns are for the suffering people around the world.”
One word of wisdom can dispel delusions accumulated over numerous lifetimes; many in the audience were deeply touched when they heard the familiar words of Master Cheng Yen uttered through the lips of Gao. Audience member Chen Xiao Li shared that she had been entangled in the web of conflicting human relations and emotions, and hoped that she would be able to overcome her own difficulties and to transform her limited love into a greater love so that she could do more to help those in need.
Practising Charity and Filial Piety as Bodhisattvas
The Da Ai TV drama serial, “芳草碧连天” (“Fragrant, Green Grass Joins the Sky”), is a reality television drama that spans three generations. The drama has been very well-received since its debut in 2009, and was telecasted on mainstream television stations, such as China’s CCTV and Taiwan’s TTV Main Channel in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The two protagonists whose life stories were featured in the drama, Wei Xing Juan and Wei Liang Xu, were the other two speakers who made the rare appearance in Tzu Chi Singapore.
“It’s better to serve as a bodhisattva than to merely pray to the Bodhisattvas for help,” said Wei Xing Juan.
She shared her own journey into Tzu Chi in her talk. In the past, when she faced troubles or encountered obstacles, she often recited Guan Yin Bodhisattva’s name. Then she heard from a Tzu Chi volunteer that she could actually serve as a bodhisattva to others in need by extending a helping hand to them, such as providing warm meals or donating warm clothes.
“In actual fact, each of us can be a Guan Yin Bodhisattva; of course I am very happy and willing to serve as a bodhisattva among people,” she said.
When Wei Xing Juan first came out to work, her starting salary was only NT$1,500. NT$500 was given to her mother, while NT$500 was donated regularly to an orphanage. Even after getting married, with the added burdens of raising a family, she never stopped giving to help others in need. Even when she had no money for her own baby girl’s milk powder, she didn’t stop making donations to the poor. This habit actually stemmed from a deeply rooted life value inculcated by her grandmother since young, that “it is a blessing for one to give”.
After she attained some measure of success at work, Wei Xing Juan wanted to take her mother on a tour around the world as a show of filial piety. But unfortunately, her mother started suffering from dementia at that time.
During her first meeting with Master Cheng Yen, the Master told her that charity and filial piety cannot be delayed. After hearing those words, she cried non-stop, and thought that Heaven was playing a cruel joke in her life, because just as she was about to repay her mother for raising her, she had fallen ill. Then the Master added these wise words: “When we make good use of our physical body bestowed by our parents and go amongst people to help those in suffering, we are practising great filial piety”.
It was a moment of epiphany for Wei Xing Juan, who finally realised that performing acts of charity is akin to performing acts of great filial piety.
“The Bodhisattva is not just an image for people to pay homage to. What is more important is to serve as bodhisattvas among people,” said another audience member Su Jun Hong, who was moved to share this Dharma realization.
It was Su’s third experience of hearing Wei Xing Juan’s testimony. The first time was during the 2015 Global Entrepreneurs’ Camp held by Tzu Chi Taiwan. He was so inspired by Wei’s talk that he turned vegetarian to help protect the earth, and he has been eating vegetarian since then. He expressed that listening to Wei’s sharing at different stages of his life evoked different sets of emotions.
Su Jun Hong, who has recently become a father for the first time, cannot agree more with the saying that filial piety cannot be delayed, and is learning to bless his child at the same time. Photo by Alice Toh
A Prodigal Son Turns Back
Last speaker Wei Liang Xu shared his personal Tzu Chi journey in a light-hearted way. As the wealthy owner of an electromechanical company, Wei Liang Xu used to entertain clients till the wee hours past midnight, and led a decadent lifestyle of wining and dining.
In his early encounters with Tzu Chi, he thought that it was enough to only donate money. The volunteers persevered in contacting him, and once, they even texted a reminder to him every three hours or so to return home early, from afternoon till after midnight the following day. But he persisted in entertainment until the dawn of the following day before dragging his tired feet home.
“Entertainment through wining and dining only brought short-lived happiness of a few hours, but my first care visit to a Tzu Chi beneficiary who has mental health issues brought an unprecedented joy that lasted a very long time,” he shared.
Wei Liang Xu turned down the volunteers’ persistent invitations numerous times, before finally agreeing to become a volunteer himself, and it opened up a whole new vista in his life. He said, “I wish to live each day as if it is my last day on Earth, because I truly never know if tomorrow will ever arrive.”
Wei felt really happy and blessed to have made a critical decision to turn his life around at that time. He experienced retinal detachment at the age of 46, and has not regained complete vision in the right eye even after two surgeries. After deeply experiencing the meaning of a transient life, he made the life-changing decision to drop his business and pursue his calling to be a whole-hearted volunteer at the age of 53.
Towards the end of the talk, Wei Xing Juan shared about a friend who wore a limited edition dress priced at NT$400,000, carried a limited edition handbag priced at NT$5million, and adorned herself with expensive jewellery, before attending a banquet dinner.
But less than ten minutes after she arrived, the friend went to her and exclaimed, “I’ve got to go! I’m SO angry!” before storming off in a huff. What happened was that another guest at the same table had turned up in exactly the same dress as her. Watching her friend’s angry departing silhouette, Wei Xing Juan sighed to herself and thought, “Why do people place so much value on material goods?”
After sharing the anecdote, Wei encouraged her audience to don the “same” Tzu Chi uniform and work for the common good of humanity.
Share 
