Niwano Peace Prize

Niwano Peace Prize

Creating a Pure Land on Earth

by Cheng Yen

The Niwano Peace Foundation presented the 24th Niwano Peace Prize to the Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen, founder of the Taiwan Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation. On behalf of Dharma Master Cheng Yen, who was not able to travel to Japan because of health reasons, three representatives of the Tzu Chi Foundation attended the award ceremony that took place on May 10. Following is the acceptance address of Dharma Master Cheng Yen, which was delivered by Mr. Rei-Sheng Her, spokesman for Dharma Master Cheng Yen and the Tzu Chi Foundation.

Rev. Niwano, president of the Niwano Peace Foundation; Most Reverend Bishop Stalsett, chairman of the Niwano Peace Prize Committee; members of the Niwano Peace Prize Committee; and distinguished guests:

Please allow me to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to the Niwano Peace Foundation for this great honor, which you have bestowed not on myself alone, but on all the members of the Tzu Chi Foundation. Indeed, what Tzu Chi has been able to accomplish has not been done by myself alone, but by all its devoted members.

The Niwano Peace Prize has made a great contribution to peace in the world and I would like to convey my great esteem and admiration for your efforts and devotion in creating a better world.

Especially, the late Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, provided a visionary perspective on world peace. His legacy has been proven to be the kind of essential wisdom needed to resolve the chaos of the modern world.

The purification of the human spirit and harmony in the world are also the important legacies of the Buddha and have become the mission of all his disciples. This is particularly true during a time of man-made chaos, which makes his disciples even more determined to create a pure land here on earth.

From the beginning of human history, we have lived through the rise and fall of innumerable civilizations and countless cruel and unnecessary wars. Out of greed, we humans have over the millennia destroyed many creatures and ecosystems. All this destruction is accelerating the era of decay. This causes me to worry that it may already be too late to save our planet.

After he attained liberation from existence, the Buddha said that Buddhism would undergo three stages--progress, symbolism, and finally decay. The Buddha indicated that, up to the era of decay, the secular world would be full of catastrophes, with savage wars, immense fires, and terrible flooding. The Buddha's ingenious wisdom passed through time and foresaw the vicissitudes of mortal afflictions and indicated the way out of these disasters and how we shall reach the state of enlightenment.

If we look at the world today, with its constant wars, ruin of the land, and the countless numbers of human beings who become victims of violence and natural disasters, this decay really worries me.

I have always encouraged Tzu Chi members not to search for enlightenment solely for ourselves, but to apply great love and wisdom in the secular world and to strive to enlighten every mortal human being until they realize the eternal wisdom.

In the world in which we live now, both human and natural disasters are the result of our own greed. How can we maintain a simple and broad-minded heart, bear no hatred against one another, and stop destroying nature and eventually live in harmony with our basic nature?

Together with all the Tzu Chi volunteers, I aim to put into practice the teaching of the Buddha. We deeply believe that it is the predicament of mankind that has given us the opportunity to be bodhisattvas, and that it is the era of chaos that has given us the chance to establish a pure land on this earth.

To transform society, we must first purify ourselves and then cleanse the impurities of the earth. We do not need to wait until we pass away to reach a Buddhist heaven in a future life. That heaven is right here, in the present moment, in our awakening spirit and in our loving mind.

From 1966, when I established the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, up to the present, Tzu Chi volunteers have been going to every corner of the world where catastrophes occur, to help soothe the afflictions of the victims and give them happiness without asking for anything in return. This is the fulfillment of the Buddha's teachings. By embracing those afflicted people, we can realize the reality of suffering. And that leads us to the point where we are able to cherish our own happiness. By treating the suffering, we will be able to understand that the cause is derived from ignorance.

We all know that we have to learn from the Buddha and then enlighten all life. But I expect Tzu Chi volunteers not to be people who always ask the Buddha for support, but to be people who can always selflessly support others. Tzu Chi volunteers should not only practice selfless giving but should also express gratitude when giving. This is the fulfillment of emptiness and the practice of spiritual freedom. People normally think of themselves exclusively, and, as long as we do this, we are no longer experiencing joyful giving.

If we realize the essential emptiness of life and learn that there is no distinction among all beings, then we can give without worry and grief. But how can we understand the rule of emptiness? The best way is to start from gratitude, and especially to express gratitude through giving. By doing this, we will be able to practice nondiscriminatory love, reach spiritual freedom, and acquire ultimate bliss.

The utmost form of devotion by Tzu Chi volunteers is carried out by those who not only devote their wisdom and energy during their life, but also, even after death, donate their bodies for medical research and experiments to teach both students and doctors. As a silent mentor had said to a medical student shortly before his death: "Someday you are going to practice performing surgery on my body. Remember, you may make a mistake or a hundred or a thousand mistakes on my body. But do not make even one mistake on your patients." The statement shows the Tzu Chi volunteers' ultimate awareness of emptiness. This selfless giving shows their divine personality and leaves a remarkable legacy for future followers.

The giving of these silent mentors presents a perfect finale to their lives. When I think of these Tzu Chi disciples, who devote their lives to suffering people during their lifetime and after death donate their bodies to teach medical students, I always feel touched and full of gratitude. They give all their mortal belongings to others and in return accomplish eternal enlightenment.

Selfless giving is the pivotal path that leads to the transformation of the modern world. When I observe the world chaos, I deeply believe that today's catastrophes all stem from human greed and illusionary obsessions. I often believe that natural disasters are a result of human misconduct. As an example, the greenhouse effect is indeed the result of spiritual causes.

The scale of recent hurricanes and earthquakes has been much more severe than ever before and the result has been the sacrifice of millions of people. No matter whether it is the Sumatran tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in the United States, or the wars in the Middle East, all are derived from the expansion of human desire, from the endless destruction of nature, and from a never-satisfied selfish egoism.

Facing these terrible disasters, we have to examine ourselves more seriously. The obsessive behavior caused by greed, anger, and obstinacy are the root of ignorance and the cause of turmoil in the world.

To lead this distorted world out of chaos, we first have to awaken people's minds. So I advocate the principles of great love and selfless giving. If everyone were selfless, then conflict would be diminished. If we love all, then all creatures would prosper.

All earthly beings are different, but I believe that each tiny creature and drop of water contains a spirit. If we compare all earthly beings to water, an ocean is different from a lake and a dewdrop is different from a river, but they are all the same--they are all water.

I am always afraid of harming the land when I walk. Buddhists must use equal love to embrace all mortal beings and these should include every sentient and nonsentient being.

In Tzu Chi there are more than 200,000 environmental volunteers who devote themselves to recycling, to preserving the earth, to cherishing material beings and realizing the endless value of life. They expand their love to cover all people and every earthly creature and, by doing so, raise the value of their own lives.

I believe that the nondiscriminatory principles that the Buddha taught us will in due course enlighten all sentient beings. If we expect to do this, we have to employ infinite ways to educate them, for sentient beings are very divergent. The Tzu Chi Foundation applies the Four Divine Spirits--love, compassion, sympathy, and giving--to establish our four missions: charity, medicine, education, and culture. These missions have eight major tasks, which are all opportunities to practice Buddha-like wisdom and paths toward awakening.

The realization of the pure land is here in this earthly world. People may say that the Tzu Chi Foundation is a reformation of Buddhism, but I believe that we are dedicated to reinstating traditional Buddhism. Tzu Chi volunteers follow the teaching of Mahayana Buddhism, fulfill the divine scriptures, and are dedicated to enlightening the mortal world.

You can see Tzu Chi volunteers in every community in Taiwan. Their blue and white uniforms are found in the poorest villages in rural China. Thousands of Zulu Tzu Chi volunteers in South Africa devote their love to tribal people. Some volunteers in South America have even entered into the Indian tribes in Paraguay to build schools for aboriginal children.

The doctors of the Tzu Chi Medical Association hold free clinics in the vast and empty Australian continent. Indonesian volunteers joined together to clean the garbage out of the Angke River in Jakarta. Turkish Muslim Tzu Chi volunteers showed their love during disasters.

All these volunteers follow the principle of non-discrimination in loving people of every race, with disregard for their nationality, religion, or social status. We also believe that everyone is entitled to love. We not only aim to inspire the rich to support the poor, but also hope that those who are helped by us will be able in due time to support others. That means that there is no difference between poor and rich in the giving of love.

After developing charitable activities, I began to become aware that there is no pain that can compare to the affliction of disease. But if we perceive disease as a reflection of life and understand that life and death are inevitable, then we will turn a hospital into an important place to contemplate the cycle of life and death.

The Tzu Chi medical mission perceives a hospital as a practicing temple. Treating all patients as their own teachers and learning from their pains, I expect all Tzu Chi doctors to become great medical masters. The doctors will not only cure the patients' diseases, but also comfort their spiritual afflictions. Thousand of Tzu Chi medical volunteers accompany doctors and nurses to take good care of patients. They aim to turn the hell-like hospital into a heaven. I often think that the smiles of the patients are the most beautiful faces in the world.

Modern society is full of greed and temptation, which results in inequality of wealth. However, poverty does not only apply in the material sense--poverty of knowledge is even more serious in our world.

Tzu Chi's educational missions are dedicated to supporting children and building schools in the relatively poor areas of several countries, including Thailand, Mexico, Iran, South Africa, Indonesia, and some portions of China. We hope that, through education, we will be able to eliminate inadequate knowledge and diminish the gap of intelligence between rich and poor. We also teach children to embrace the principle of altruism, so that they come to understand that supporting others will improve their own worth.

A believer in humanity and practitioner of the bodhisattva-way must follow the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, which says [in chapter 1, "Virtues"]: "They become great good leaders or great leaders for living beings everywhere. They serve as eyes for blind beings, and as ears, nose, or tongue for those who are deaf, who have no nose, or who are dumb; make deficient organs complete; turn the deranged to the great right thought."

I expect the Da Ai TV Station and other Tzu Chi media to become a source of pure water that will clean up our chaos-ridden society, formulate a new civilization for the earthly world, and bring people into a state of spiritual freedom.

And this enlightenment stems from an individual's awakening. One awakened seed can generate infinite goodness and enlighten many other seeds.

As the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings preaches [in chapter 3, "Ten Merits"]: "From one seed, a hundred thousand myriad seeds grow, from each of a hundred thousand myriad seeds, another hundred thousand myriad seeds grow, and in such a process seeds increase to an unlimited extent." There is no difference between mortal beings, the Buddha, and the ultimate enlightened mind. As Buddhists, we have to practice by ourselves and become an awakening seed that will enlighten all mortal beings.

We all live in this world, which abounds with many conflicts and much hatred, and in which people fall victim to temptation. Therefore, as human beings, we must be courageous and perpetually enter the afflicted world, both physical and spiritual, to comfort mortal beings and awaken them from their ignorance.

We must strive to ensure that all beings are enlightened by the Buddha's wisdom, that all achieve calmness and ultimate awakening. If we persevere in this thought and work persistently, we will eventually establish a pure land right here in the midst of the secular world.

This article was originally published in the July-September 2007 issue of Dharma World.


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