I have just read an incredible book of love written by Yu-Ing Ching about the “Master of Love and Mercy: Cheng Yen”. Master Cheng Yen is an incredible woman that starting just with love in her heart to share and help people all over the world. Here are a summary of her thoughts that I have borrowed from Yu-In Ching’s book that I hope touches your heart and helps you so that you do the same for everyone you meet.

On Love and Mercy

• “Love and Mercy transcends races, nationalities and geographic distances”
• “Legend goes that the Goddess of Mercy has a thousand eyes watching over those in need of help and a thousand hands reaching out with love and mercy. We will become her watchful eyes and useful hands, and the world can never call us Buddhist a passive group again!”

On Schools and Education

• “Buddha is a person who is awake and Buddhism is the philosophy of awakening. The Buddhists are not god-worshipers, but people determined to enlighten themselves and become wide awake”
• “A Good school should place equal emphasis on skills and moral values”
• “While cultivating Buddhism, a person must be patient like a camel and brave like a lion”
• “A person’s power is as strong as his wish. Therefore a man should be self-reliant instead of depending on anyone…not even Buddha”
• “We are all human beings, the best of us a saint, but never a god. We can follow a saint’s conduct and imitate his behavior, but it is unnecessary to worship him”

On Hospitals

• “A Buddhist hospital is a hospitable of love, like a temple, curing not only the sick bodies but also the wounded hearts”
• “Patients should never be treated as numbers, but always as noble human beings”
• “Illness is one of the many unavoidable sufferings between birth and death, and we should do all we can to help the sick fell less miserable”

On Life

• “We are all human beings, the best of us a saint, but never a god. We can follow a saint’s conduct and imitate his behavior, but it is unnecessary to worship him”
• “Life is a journey; we board an express train at birth and head for the unavoidable destination of death. The scenery drifts by, and the only meaningful thing we can do is to be good and kind to our fellow passengers”
• “All lives deserve to be respected and all beings need to be loved. It ought to be easy for us to feel the pain experienced by the bodies other than our own and grant happiness to those who are but strangers”
• “A happy person creates a happy home, and from that is able to his country and finally the world” – Master Chen Yen and Confucius
• “A person’s power is as strong as his wish. Therefore a man should be self-reliant instead of depending on anyone…not even Buddha”
• “Most of the disasters and calamities in this world are created by people who have complete body and limbs but incomplete mind and spirit”
• “All lives are equal, and therefore deserve to be loved and respected equally. And Buddha exists in all the living beings, whether the being takes the physical form of a person, a fish, a cat or a dog. And the spirit of a dog can be just as noble as the spirit of a human or even more admirable!”

On Work

• “It is necessary that I and my ordained and novice nuns earn our daily morsel with a full day’s work”
• “There is a great difference between what we need and what we want. There are the needs that are essential and fundamental; they can and should be obtained with hard work. Desires beyond what we need are our wants; they are endless, ought to be modified and lessened”

May we all have Love and Mercy in our Spirit/Soul.

Your Friend,

Arlan

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