Learning from People of Tzu Chi and Taiwan

“Always give your best to people you encounter, because the time you can spend with people you encounter is a matter of few minute, whether you wish so or not”

This is a word an old man I met at Tzu Chi Temple shared with me.

Here in Taiwan, I have been amazed with people’s generosity and willingness to help others. I have encountered many warm hearts of local people. I think the above quote shares my experience of meeting people here. Some people say “in Taiwan, other people’s business is your business.” Despite of the language barriers, everyone tries to help me wherever I go.

In Taiwan, people celebrate Lunar New Year rather than calendar New Year. This year, Lunar New Year took place from January 27 to February 2.

For the first two days of the holiday, I volunteered at 静思精舍(Jing Si Abode), Tzu Chi Buddhist temple. Jing Si Abode, is a place where master Cheng Yen and her followers live. Master Cheng Yen’s morning talk to her followers starts as early as three in the morning. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make myself wake up that early and join the morning lesson….Thousands of volunteers work at Jing Si to run the center. They grow their own vegetables and cook meals for anyone in need. What I have been very inspired by the work of Tzu Chi and everyone in Taiwan I have met is their willingness to help others and work for others. A friend I met at Tzu Chi said “you never know when you will die. You never know whether you will have chance to meet people you encounter again. So I want to do what I can for people I meet.” I often find myself thinking “I probably won’t meet this person again so what I do does not necessarily matter…” I feel like I learned a very important lesson about how to value my time with people through meeting people at Tzu Chi.

During the New Year, I helped getting the stage ready for evening events and talked about the importance of eating vegetarian. At Tzu Chi University, food that they serve at cafeteria is all vegetarian. We are not allowed to bring any meat into campus. We also try not to kill life, including that of mosquitoes. At the beginning of Chinese class, I found a mosquito in our classroom. I tried to kill it but my classmate said “we are in a Buddhist school! You can’t kill it!” At 静思精舍(Jing Si Abode) there were thousands of bugs. Maybe because no one tries to kill them…..I got bug bites all over my hands….

In Taiwan, I have been learning about the experiences during the Japanese occupation here before World War Two. After spending almost five years in Western countries, I felt at home when I arrived to Taiwan. The culture of Taiwan was close enough to Japan for me to feel at home. My skin color did not stand out, I felt as if I understood the language of the culture, the personal space, humility, and the landscape — the mountains and rice fields were similar to our landscapes in Japan

I wonder, to what extent the familiarity came from the influence of the Japanese occupation in Taiwan. Many elders still speak Japanese. When I get a cup of tea at a food stand or when I am waiting for a train or a bus, many elders come to talk to me in Japanese.

I had a chance to interview two old ladies, ninety three and eighty six years-old. One of the ladies said “your generation is living in a very peaceful world.” After hearing the sufferings they experienced, it’s hard to imagine where their energy and smiles are coming from. Through talking to people who experienced the Japanese occupation in Taiwan and Korean friends whose country was also under Japanese occupation, I became aware of how one-sided our history textbooks were. I think I need to meet more people and hear about their understanding of history from their country’s perspective in order to understand what my country has done in the past to other countries.

My time in Taiwan has been a journey of exploring the past of my home country, or heritage, and a journey of understanding the value of spending time with people and giving back what I can to others.