Date: April 18, 2008 (Friday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
We see that the performance of the Musical Theater Adaptation of the Sutra of innumerable Meanings were given in different countries, nourishing and cleansing people’s minds like a stream of purity. People of different religions, races, and nationalities joined together to perform onstage. No matter where this stream of purity originates, when these streams of purity converge together, they become one--- It doesn’t matter that they are in South Africa, or in the Philippines, or here in Taiwan. The nature of this stream of purity, which is the pure, true nature in each and every one of us, is the same. That is why the Buddha says that the essence of the Buddha, the mind, and living beings are one and the same. From the footage of their performance, we can see that pure, clean, true nature in everyone. Indeed, it is truly very touching to see.
We see how our volunteers in South Africa made do with what they had and were still able to give the performance beautifully. See how endearing they are. Our Zulu bodhisattvas are more stout in stature, but see how they performed the part about the ship captain carrying living beings across to the shore of Nirvana. Though they’ve adapted a simplified version from the original performance, no matter how simplified their version is, it still displays such truth, goodness, and beauty. Every time I see them, I see that every action they take and every word they say is about spreading the Great Love of Tzu Chi so it may circulate throughout the world. See, they can even perform the adaptation of the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. Though they had to borrow a primary school hall for the venue and did not have any special backdrop or lighting, it still exuded truth, goodness, and beauty--- an indigenous kind of beauty. Seeing what they have done brings me much joy.
We also see the three performances given by our volunteers in the Philippines which were held at the Jing Si Hall in the Philippines. We see that the Jing Si Hall they have built there is also very beautiful. The land that the Jing Si Hall now occupies was donated by our volunteer, Mr. Walter Huang, around seven or eight years ago. At the time, he was doing business there and he felt he must give back to the local community. Seeing how the volunteers of the Tzu Chi medical assn. there and local Tzu Chi volunteers gave of themselves with selfless Great Love, he remembered what I had said to him: “As there are more Tzu Chi volunteers carrying out more work in the Philippines, it’s time to find a piece of land and build a home for Tzu Chi volunteers. To build a home, you must first have land. So, when he came across this piece of land where our Jing Si Hall is today, he decided to buy it and then he told me, “Master, I have already bought a piece of land under Tzu Chi’s name. Please use this land to build a home for Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines. So, construction to build a Jing Si Hall on this piece of land began in 2002. see what a dignified hall it is. On March 29, 2008, when the performance for the musical adaptation of the Sutra was given, it was also the grand opening for the Jing Si Hall.
See how many local doctors and nurses of our medical association took part in performing the musical adaptation of the Sutra. In preparing for the performance, they were truly very mindful. After the performance was given in Taiwan, they’d brought back the tape of the performance to watch and memorize the lyrics. In fact, among the 30 or so doctors performing onstage, one-third of them couldn’t read, speak or understand Mandarin at all. But they were truly very mindful and used romanization to spell out every single word as they all had to learn to sing the lyrics because only by singing the lyrics out loud would everyone’s movements be in unison. They also wrote notes in English to help themselves understand the meaning of the lyrics. That’s how hard they worked until our volunteer from Taiwan, Ci Yue, arrived in the Philippines to help them rehearse three days before the performance. The day before yesterday, when the head of the Tzu Chi chapter in the Philippines, Mr. Li came back to Hualien, he said to me: “I must commend Sister Ci Yue. Her training was like being at boot camp. Then, when Mr. Chua came back yesterday, I said, “You’re a corporate leader but I heard that Ci Yue was very strict on all of you.” He said, “Not at all. I’m very grateful to her. If it weren’t for her strict discipline, we wouldn’t have achieved what we had.” So, he accepted her guidance willingly. He said if she hadn’t been so strict on them, the performance wouldn’t have been possible. All in all, they practiced very diligently.
Furthermore, what moved me very much was that right before the performance, the father of one of the doctors in the play had passed away. But he still persisted (in going to rehearsals).
He shared: “I guess if I do it, I’m going to (do it) for my father. I know I was grieving inside, but something nice really happened. What I meant was the level of commitment, it was beyond fantastic.”
There was also another Tzu Chi volunteer. Just as the performance was approaching, her father passed away on March 27. She didn’t want to alarm the other Tzu Chi volunteers, so she attended rehearsals as usual, and no one knew of the grief she was feeling. It wasn’t until the performance was over that she told other Tzu Chi volunteers: “My father has just passed away. Would it be possible for you to come chant at his funeral?” See how mindful and considerate she was, and how willing she was to give of herself. And, on the stage, there were people of five different religions. (We also saw) a Buddhist dharma master, a Muslim imam, a Catholic nun and priest all sharing the stage together. So, different religions came together as one.
The Muslim imam (Hafid) also shared: “I was able to sleep at the time, but I woke up at 3 a.m., and then I the last song of this performance, the final song for Master Master Zheng-Yan. Even I do not know the exact meaning in Taiwanese language, but I felt that’s really similar with our religious music.”
The Catholic Priest also said: “it’s made me pleasant and enjoy. When I sleep, the song is always in my ear.”
We also heard our Buddhist dharma master say: “If there is no one promoting the sutra, it will be a sutra kept on the shelf, not a sutra that is practiced.”
All in all, people of all religions, ethnicities, and culture came together as one. They all had the same ideal which was to spread the pure, selfless Great Love through their performance of the Sutra. Seeing everyone perform onstage, one could truly feel a pure stream of the Dharma circling around the Earth. It was truly very moving.
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
We see that the performance of the Musical Theater Adaptation of the Sutra of innumerable Meanings were given in different countries, nourishing and cleansing people’s minds like a stream of purity. People of different religions, races, and nationalities joined together to perform onstage. No matter where this stream of purity originates, when these streams of purity converge together, they become one--- It doesn’t matter that they are in South Africa, or in the Philippines, or here in Taiwan. The nature of this stream of purity, which is the pure, true nature in each and every one of us, is the same. That is why the Buddha says that the essence of the Buddha, the mind, and living beings are one and the same. From the footage of their performance, we can see that pure, clean, true nature in everyone. Indeed, it is truly very touching to see.
We see how our volunteers in South Africa made do with what they had and were still able to give the performance beautifully. See how endearing they are. Our Zulu bodhisattvas are more stout in stature, but see how they performed the part about the ship captain carrying living beings across to the shore of Nirvana. Though they’ve adapted a simplified version from the original performance, no matter how simplified their version is, it still displays such truth, goodness, and beauty. Every time I see them, I see that every action they take and every word they say is about spreading the Great Love of Tzu Chi so it may circulate throughout the world. See, they can even perform the adaptation of the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. Though they had to borrow a primary school hall for the venue and did not have any special backdrop or lighting, it still exuded truth, goodness, and beauty--- an indigenous kind of beauty. Seeing what they have done brings me much joy.
We also see the three performances given by our volunteers in the Philippines which were held at the Jing Si Hall in the Philippines. We see that the Jing Si Hall they have built there is also very beautiful. The land that the Jing Si Hall now occupies was donated by our volunteer, Mr. Walter Huang, around seven or eight years ago. At the time, he was doing business there and he felt he must give back to the local community. Seeing how the volunteers of the Tzu Chi medical assn. there and local Tzu Chi volunteers gave of themselves with selfless Great Love, he remembered what I had said to him: “As there are more Tzu Chi volunteers carrying out more work in the Philippines, it’s time to find a piece of land and build a home for Tzu Chi volunteers. To build a home, you must first have land. So, when he came across this piece of land where our Jing Si Hall is today, he decided to buy it and then he told me, “Master, I have already bought a piece of land under Tzu Chi’s name. Please use this land to build a home for Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines. So, construction to build a Jing Si Hall on this piece of land began in 2002. see what a dignified hall it is. On March 29, 2008, when the performance for the musical adaptation of the Sutra was given, it was also the grand opening for the Jing Si Hall.
See how many local doctors and nurses of our medical association took part in performing the musical adaptation of the Sutra. In preparing for the performance, they were truly very mindful. After the performance was given in Taiwan, they’d brought back the tape of the performance to watch and memorize the lyrics. In fact, among the 30 or so doctors performing onstage, one-third of them couldn’t read, speak or understand Mandarin at all. But they were truly very mindful and used romanization to spell out every single word as they all had to learn to sing the lyrics because only by singing the lyrics out loud would everyone’s movements be in unison. They also wrote notes in English to help themselves understand the meaning of the lyrics. That’s how hard they worked until our volunteer from Taiwan, Ci Yue, arrived in the Philippines to help them rehearse three days before the performance. The day before yesterday, when the head of the Tzu Chi chapter in the Philippines, Mr. Li came back to Hualien, he said to me: “I must commend Sister Ci Yue. Her training was like being at boot camp. Then, when Mr. Chua came back yesterday, I said, “You’re a corporate leader but I heard that Ci Yue was very strict on all of you.” He said, “Not at all. I’m very grateful to her. If it weren’t for her strict discipline, we wouldn’t have achieved what we had.” So, he accepted her guidance willingly. He said if she hadn’t been so strict on them, the performance wouldn’t have been possible. All in all, they practiced very diligently.
Furthermore, what moved me very much was that right before the performance, the father of one of the doctors in the play had passed away. But he still persisted (in going to rehearsals).
He shared: “I guess if I do it, I’m going to (do it) for my father. I know I was grieving inside, but something nice really happened. What I meant was the level of commitment, it was beyond fantastic.”
There was also another Tzu Chi volunteer. Just as the performance was approaching, her father passed away on March 27. She didn’t want to alarm the other Tzu Chi volunteers, so she attended rehearsals as usual, and no one knew of the grief she was feeling. It wasn’t until the performance was over that she told other Tzu Chi volunteers: “My father has just passed away. Would it be possible for you to come chant at his funeral?” See how mindful and considerate she was, and how willing she was to give of herself. And, on the stage, there were people of five different religions. (We also saw) a Buddhist dharma master, a Muslim imam, a Catholic nun and priest all sharing the stage together. So, different religions came together as one.
The Muslim imam (Hafid) also shared: “I was able to sleep at the time, but I woke up at 3 a.m., and then I the last song of this performance, the final song for Master Master Zheng-Yan. Even I do not know the exact meaning in Taiwanese language, but I felt that’s really similar with our religious music.”
The Catholic Priest also said: “it’s made me pleasant and enjoy. When I sleep, the song is always in my ear.”
We also heard our Buddhist dharma master say: “If there is no one promoting the sutra, it will be a sutra kept on the shelf, not a sutra that is practiced.”
All in all, people of all religions, ethnicities, and culture came together as one. They all had the same ideal which was to spread the pure, selfless Great Love through their performance of the Sutra. Seeing everyone perform onstage, one could truly feel a pure stream of the Dharma circling around the Earth. It was truly very moving.
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