| Dharma
Master Cheng Yen "Respect and Value Life; Leave Behind
Love for Humanity" |
 |
Translated by Mike Lee, Northern California
A seminar on promoting organ donation presented
by the Life Sharing Foundation took place on April 4 at the Birds
of Heaven Conference Center in San Diego. Over two hundred people
attended, including doctors, nurses and administrators from all
the major hospitals in southern California. At the invitation
of the organizing agency, the Tzu Chi Foundation Southern California
branch office participated and shared Dharma Master Cheng Yen's
benevolent principle: "Respect and Value Life; Leave Behind
Love for Humanity."
The representatives of the medical profession
who partook in this seminar are usually responsible for tasks
related to organ donation in their hospitals. Their general reaction
was that Asian Buddhists are not very enthusiastic about donating
organs to save lives. Furthermore, the Chinese in particular traditionally
believe that a person must pass away with a complete body. Such
gaps in cultural background, religion, and communication techniques
also gave these medical professionals a feeling of helplessness.
The audience was completely silent when members
of the Tzu Chi Southern California office played English videotapes
containing a brief introduction to the four great missions of
the Tzu Chi Foundation and its efforts in body and organ donation
and bone marrow transplants. The harmony of Tzu Chi music accompanied
the lucid English narrative. After intently absorbing the information
presented, the medical specialists commented that Dharma Master
Cheng Yen's benevolent principle of "Respect and Value Life;
Leave Behind Love for Humanity," which is carried out through
education in the foundation's medical schools, was truly too "powerful."
At the same time they praised the respect given to the "silent
teachers" (bodies donated for medical training and research),
as well as the counseling in proper faith and thought provided
to relatives.
Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, Mormon
elders, and Hispanic urban representatives who were in attendance
during the discussion all shared a fundamental insight: the greatest
force hindering organ donation to save lives does not originate
from the various religious faiths. Rather, it is created by blind
spots in communication between cultural backgrounds and awareness
in life education.
Having had the opportunity to learn about Dharma
Master Cheng Yen's promotion of "Respect and Value Life;
Leave Behind Love for Humanity," based on the Buddhist viewpoint,
these two hundred or so health care professionals felt especially
rewarded. During the question and answer session, they frequently
talked about the beauty of "leaving behind love for humanity"
that bloomed from the Buddhists' efforts in saving lives.
A young man named Chris, who had undergone
a challenging heart transplant procedure, was also present to
share his joy of "rebirth." Mrs. Shirbellie, a recipient
of a liver transplant, shared her experience in receiving new
life as a gift from a total stranger and described her realization
of the preciousness of life through this destiny of rebirth. Both
organ recipients vowed to devote their remaining days to promoting
the cause of "leaving behind love for humanity."
This was the first seminar in which the organizing
agency invited a Buddhist organization to join in and share its
experiences. At the same time, it was the first formal occasion
in southern California at which Master Cheng Yen's benevolent
principle of "Respect and Value Life; Leave Behind Love for
Humanity" was shared with more than two hundred medical professionals.
A grass-roots seed of love was thus sown at the Birds of Heaven
Conference Center. The seminar participants hoped that Tzu Chi
could participate in more of these seminars, so that Master Cheng
Yen's proper knowledge, proper faith, and proper thought that
"We only have the right to use our lives, not the right to
own them" would be distributed to urban America.
