The Gyalwang Drukpa

Someone asked me what had inspired me to promote "Live to Love". Without hesitation I said, "Tzu Chi". I have met Master Cheng Yan once, very long time ago in Taiwan. Physically, she is very small, but spiritually she is very strong. I could not believe myself, when I met her that she alone was able to gather so many people to help so many other people, so many other beings.

I am praying all the time for Master Cheng Yan to live very very long, more than 100 years, like Yeshe Tsogyal. We really need many great teachers like Master Cheng Yan. We all should be helping Bodhisattvas like her to fulfill our duties as spiritual teachers and masters to help countless beings who are connected with us, by doing this, her spirits are being reincarnated and emanated countless ways through helping countless beings. One thing about Master Cheng Yan that I want to tell you is that throughout her life, she has never travelled out of  Taiwan, and yet due to her teachings and her inspirational motivation, her activities are spread in every parts of the world, where people need any kind of help. I was told that during Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia and during the floods and earthquakes in America and other parts of the world, Tzu Chi volunteers were the first to arrive with food, doctors, money, supplies, etc, they are even much earlier than other NGOs. On top of that, they have the second largest bone marrow bank in the world. Can you imagine? I really feel very moved, whenever I think about this and I rejoice in Master Cheng Yan's activities. Most of us, the so-called masters, live our entire lives, if not misleading beings, then we are praying in beautiful environment, meditating in beautiful temples and enjoying our status and the respect given by others. Some of us even go to the extent of working so hard to make ourselves so famous, so powerful and so rich, at the expense of other masters, other lineages and other spiritual beliefs. But look at Master Cheng Yan, who started with only a few nuns and without going out of the country and sometimes not even going out of her own humble residence, she is doing so much through her teachings and her honest way to promote loving kindness and compassion. This is the Buddha's way of living!

I think we are all copy cats. But we should be good copy cats, loving copy cats that are abiding by the 5 precepts and actively promoting Live to Love. Don't be copy cats of bad things and non-virtuous deeds. I have asked some of my friends and students to go to the website of Tzu Chi to have a look. Of course it would be a dream come true if we are able to help that many people and that many beings, but I don't think we can, even though we talk about it. I want to request all of you, my friends and students, to pray for Master Cheng Yan's good health and longevity. It was too bad that I have no time to talk about Mother Theresa, as I don't want to miss my flight. Her image just popped up in my mind.

I am proud to say that even my father had enjoyed a great and wonderful medical treatment at her Tzu Chi hospital, just a couple of years back. My father said that the hospital was really a great help for so many people and he agreed that Master Cheng Yan is truly a living Bodhisattva. I am really hoping that this time when I go to Taiwan, someone will help me to arrange a meeting with her. Not only meeting, I want to have a dialogue with her and her people, so that we can learn from them and so that Live to Lov activities will also be helping more people and more beings.

We all have different connections with different beings due to our past karma and aspirations, therefore if all of us are able to help those connected with us actively, I think we really can make our little worlds better with more peace and love. These little worlds will join together to become a bigger space, which can hold more people and more beings.

I am encouraging my friends and students, monks and nuns to also promote Live to Love activities in their own communities. Let's see what will happen in the future.

Well, I will leave you all here for the time being. If you want to receive more of my useless gossips, I think you should be praying hard that I will have broadband internet access in Darjeeling.

LIVE TO LOVE!