Respectable Guests, Colleagues:

Hospitality makes friends in every place under heaven, a sincere heart builds up ties across the world. The host extends a warm hand, friends respond with a sense of honor. First of all, on behalf of the Buddhist Association of Shaanxi Province and Buddhists of our province, let me extend our congratulations to the opening of the 27th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists and express our greetings to all the distinguished guests and friends who have come to join in this grand event. 

As we all know, Buddhism has a long history in Shaanxi and the different schools and traditions of Buddhism are well represented. Xian City, now the provincial capital, was called Chang-an in history and served as the center of translation and propagation of the northern branch of Buddhism as well as the center of Buddhist cultural exchange between China and other countries. It was also the place where Buddhism completed the process of Sinicization after being introduced from its origin in India. The world-revered remains of the finger bones of Sakyamuni Buddha is enshrined in Famen Monastery of Baoji, Shaanxi Province. Of the eight great schools of Chinese Buddhism six originated or were founded in Xian and many of the original monasteries of these schools have survived to this day, including Cao Tang Monastery (Three-Treatise School), Da-Ci-En Monastery and Xing Jiao Monastery (Dharma-character School), Jing Ye Monastery (Vinaya School), Xiang Ji Monastery (Pure Land School), Zhi Xiang Monastery and Huayan Monastery (Huayan School), Da Xing Shan Monastery and Qing Long Monastery (Esoteric Buddhism). In the outskirts of Xian are Dun Huang Monastery, the first monastery to translate Buddhist scriptures on a large scale, and Yu Hua Monastery in which Master Xuan Zang translated the largest Buddhist Sutra Mahaprajna-paramita Sutra and spent his final day. The four greatest centers for the translation of Buddhist sutras, namely, Cao Tang Monastery, Da Xing Shan Monastery, Da-Ci-En Monastery, and Jian Fu Monastery are all located in Xian. Of the five greatest translators of Buddhist sutras, four, including Kumarajiva, Xuan Zang, Yi Jing, and Amoghavajra, lived and translated sutras in Xian for long periods of time. Great monks from countries to the west such as Dharmaraksa, Kumarajiva, the Three Giants of the Kaiyuan Era, and Prajnatripilta, and scholarly and advisee monks sent to Tang by Japan, including Kukai, Engyou, and Ennin, all came to Xian to study Chinese culture and Buddhist scriptures. Monks Wonchuk and Uisang came to ancient Chang-an from Silla seeking the Buddha’s teaching. So Xian holds a special appeal among numerous Buddhists.

According to the Buddhist idea of dependent arising, the world is an organically connected web of living beings. The more than two thousand years of Buddhist history is a history of showing great love and great compassion for sentient beings and joyfully and generously helping them. Thus a master once said: “Don’t do any evil, offer up all good conduct, purify the mind, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.” From this view, public charity is the most basic of the Buddha’s teachings. 

Helping the world with love and compassion, relieving all beings of suffering and giving them happiness is the duty of all of the Buddha’s disciples. Giving help with love and compassion and practicing charity on a constant basis is an important way of realizing the concept of humanistic Buddhism. A faith with full love and compassion necessarily comes from a religion of peace and tolerance; a religion advocating the spirit of love and compassion for the world necessarily takes an active part in the life of the country and society. When serious disasters occur in the nation or in the world, the Buddhist tradition of love and compassion is seen in the determination and unified efforts of Buddhists who show up in the critical moment and whose busy figures are seen on the scene of disaster.

In the history of Buddhism, eminent monks and great masters were engaged in such public service activities as building bridges, repairing roads, constructing irrigation projects, practicing and offering medicine, administering relief to victims of natural disasters and aiding those in financial difficulties, promoting education and offering financial assistance to students, and healing the wounded and rescuing the dying; they did so generation after generation. Over the years, Buddhist organizations of Shaanxi Province continued this tradition and carried out a wide range of public service and charitable activities including disaster relief, aid to the poor, promotion of medicine, and financial assistance to students to express their love and care. According to statistics, Buddhist groups of Shaanxi Province contributed over ￥20,000,000 in money and goods to public charity, showed the Bodhisattva spirit of unconditional love and universal compassion and gained a good reputation for Buddhism.

This year’s conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists has chosen Buddhism and Public Charity as its theme. It well embodies the doctrines of Buddhism and the aim of WFB and has drawn wide attention from Buddhists in different nations and from all sectors of society. It has also won the praise of Buddhist groups in Shaanxi Province. Because of this, let me adopt the concept of humanistic Buddhism and share with you our understanding of the relationship between Buddhism and public charity. 

Master Tai Xu pointed out that the Buddha practiced in the human world, attained enlightenment in the human world, taught and crossed over sentient beings in the human world, therefore he emphasized the human aspect of Buddhism and its role in people’s lives. Lay Buddhist and late President of the Buddhist Association of China Zhao Puchu made great efforts in propagating the idea of humanistic Buddhism; it gained wide influence because the idea corresponded with the spirit of the times and of the people. He said: “I believe that out of the doctrines of our faith, we should advocate the idea of Buddhism for the human world……Ekottaragama-sutra says that ‘All Buddhas and world-honored ones come from the human world’. This shows that in His fundamental spirit the Buddha stresses the human world. Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch says:

‘The Kingdom of Buddha is in this world, 

Within which enlightenment is to be sought. 

To seek enlightenment by separating from this world, 

Is as absurd as to search for a rabbit's horn.’

The Buddha was born in the human world, spoke the Dharma and crossed over people in the human world. Buddha’s teaching originated in the human world and benefitted the human world. If we want to advocate the idea of Buddhism for this world……and benefit people, we should consciously take it as our duty to realize pure land in the human world and to contribute our own light and heat to the great cause of decorating the land and benefitting all beings.” 

Here, the concept of humanistic Buddhism advocated by Zhao Puchu takes as its goal the building of pure land in the human world. Moreover, he points out that the practice of humanistic Buddhism comes down to public service and charitable activities, i.e. decorating the land and benefitting people. Decorating the land means making it part of our practice to reduce pollution and destruction of the environment and improve and beautify it through our own efforts. We should create a world of green hills and clear waters, lush forests and green grass, fertile soil and harmony between humans and nature. This is practicing for the circumstantial reward of pure land in the human world. Benefitting people means we should motivate ourselves with the spirit of love and compassion, do the best we can to turn this world into the kind of ideal society Confucius and Mencius once aspired: “Make the old feel secure, trust our friends, protect the young; respect the old as if they were our own old, love the young as if they were our own young; when neighbors meet outside, they should greet each other as friends, help each other and look after each other at times of illness.” This is practicing for direct reward in the pure land of the human world.

One. Words in Support of Public Charity in Buddhist Scriptures

1.The concept of love and compassion as the motivating force behind public charity

Sutra of the Meditation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life says: “The mind of the Buddhas is the mind of Great Compassion”. What is love and compassion? Bodhisattva Nagarjuna explains it this way in Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom: “Love means caring for sentient beings; one should benefit them with peace and happiness. Compassion means thinking of all the bodily and mental anguish sentient beings suffer in the five evil destinies”, “Great love means offering happiness to all beings, great compassion means delivering all beings from suffering. Great Love offers causes and conditions of joy to sentient beings, great compassion offers causes and conditions of deliverance from suffering to sentient beings.” From these scriptural passages we can see that Buddhism is a religion of charity and compassion. The practice of Buddhists should begin with love and compassion.

In The Great Parinirvana Sutra, Buddha speaks even more highly of the importance of love and compassion: “Great love and great compassion is Buddha nature. Why? Great love and great compassion to bodhisattvas is like shadow to shape. All sentient beings will for certain attain great love and great compassion, so I say that all sentient beings possess Buddha nature.” This sutra which is especially devoted to the exposition of Buddha nature raises the role of compassion in Buddhism from a way of practice to the end of practice. 

Practice and Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadta says: “Because the Great Compassionate Heart is the essence of Buddhahood. For the sake of all beings, the Bodhisattva develops great compassion, and from the great compassion springs the Bodhi-heart, from the Bodhi-heart comes the enlightenment.” There are many examples of the practice of love and compassion in the sutras, the most well-known include that of the Buddha bravely giving up his body to save a tiger and that of the Buddha cutting off his own flesh to feed an eagle without hesitation. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vows not to attain Buddhahood until all the hells are emptied. The Medicine Buddha vows to relieve all beings of illnesses and disasters. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva immediately responds to the prayers of all beings and helps the suffering obtain relief. The list goes on and on. All these examples reveal the truth that all Buddhist practices should begin with love and compassion and the fruit of Buddhahood can only be obtained through practicing love and compassion.

How is love and compassion shown in action? As Practice and Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadta says: “I would be a good physician to the sick, a guide to those who have wandered from the path, setting their feet in the right way. I would be a light to those who wander in the darkness. I would enable the people in poverty to discover the vaults of treasure.” Ratnakuta Sutra says: “Give money to the poor, medicine to the sick, protection to the weak, home to the homeless, and support to those with no one to depend on.” These are all examples of public charity and show the essence of Buddhism.

2.Repaying kindness as the ethical foundation of public charity

Many people think that Buddhism is cold-hearted and indifferent, and shows no concern for the human world. This is not true. Buddhism is a religion of true feelings. Right from the beginning it holds that Buddhist believers should have the desire to repay others’ kindness. Buddhism believes that our existence and growth depend on the help of four things. First, parents gave us life and brought us up. Second, teachers give us knowledge and increase our wisdom. Third, the earth supports us and makes us grow. Fourth, other beings provide us with resources and enable us to exist. Therefore the Buddha asks his disciples to develop the spirit of gratitude and do the best they can to repay the kindness of the natural environment, parents, and other beings.

3.Concepts of cause and effect and field of merit and virtue as the theoretical foundation of public charity

The concept of field of merit and virtue comes naturally from concepts of cause and effect and karma. Field of merit and virtue simply means practicing good; virtuous deeds and their accumulation will enable people to obtain good results. Buddhism divides the field of merit into the field of respect and the field of compassion. Making offerings to the field of respect means protecting and maintaining Buddhism, respecting our teachers and elders, and making offerings to and sustaining the three jewels, our parents, masters and so on. Giving charity to the field of compassion means caring for and giving to the sick, the poor, the old and the lonely, and even to animals; it also includes charity aimed at benefiting others. Of the two fields, Buddhism lays more stress on that of compassion. In Sutra of Resolving Doubts During the Age of the Semblance Dharma the Buddha says thus: “I speak of charity repeatedly in the sutra to make ordained and lay practitioners cultivate the spirit of love and compassion and make offerings to the poor, the lonely, the old, even hungry dogs. Many of my disciples do not understand my meaning, they make offerings to the field of respect but not to the field of compassion. The field of respect includes the jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and the field of compassion includes the poor, the lonely, the old, even mosquitoes. Of the two fields, that of compassion is supreme.” The field of compassion undoubtedly is the main practical platform for carrying out Buddhist public charity.

4.Giving as the purest form of public charity

According to Fa Yuan Zhu Lin, “The act of giving is the beginning of all acts”, giving is the most important method of practice, it can help people escape from the afflictions of stinginess and greed. What is giving (bu shi) then? Master Hui Yuan explains it in Essay on the Meaning of Mahayana, “bu means distributing one’s own money and goods to others; shi means benefiting others at one’s own expense”. Giving is divided into that of material help, of dharma teaching, and of protection from fear. Giving material help means offer your own wealth to others, giving dharma teaching means offer wisdom and ideas to people, giving protection from fear means give others hope, confidence, and strength. Collection of the Six Perfections Sutra says: “Give charity to all beings, give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, give warm clothes in cold weather and coolness in hot weather, give medicine to the sick, and give carriages, horses and boats, treasures, wife and kingdom as soon as they are sought for”, “When he sees people in danger, fear, and threat, he should give them protection to the best of his ability……he only thinks of benefitting self and others and dedicates everything to the attainment of enlightenment.” True giving is based on the need of the recipient to the best of one’s ability and is selfless. 

According to the Treatise on True Manhood (Maha-purusa-sastra) by Ti-po-luo, the practice of giving must consider love and compassion as its source: “Charity out of the spirit of compassion can bring sentient beings many joys”, “Compassion is the cause of all three types of giving. Giving without compassion is not pure”, “Even if the giving is great, it cannot be called giving if it is done without compassion”. It also asks us to feel gratitude to the recipients of our generosity: “A bodhisattva feels great joy when he sees someone who begs him for money, even more so than when ordinary people see their kin”, “The bodhisattva will hold the beggar’s hand and speaks loving words to him as if he were his relative or friend”. Because the recipients of generosity provide the bodhisattva the field of merit and enable him to sever his attachment to self and his stinginess and greed, he should, as Sutra of the Six Perfections says, “hold up the alms with his hand, kneel on his right knee, and offer it with great joy” and practice giving in this way.

Two. Practical Suggestions for Buddhist Public Charity

Historically, Buddhist public charitable activities were carried out according to social circumstances. In times of social unrest, priority went to providing material goods so that peace and order could be restored. In peaceful times, more emphasis was placed on cultural and educational investment or cultural charity. 

Based on history and our own experience, we propose the following suggestions for carrying out Buddhist public charity.

1.Forcefully develop and expand the Buddhist concept of love and compassion, this is the foundation for carrying out Buddhist charitable activities. 

Only by planting the concept of love and compassion widely and deeply in people’s hearts can we attract more people, generate more enthusiasm and manpower, and collect more material resources for public charity. We should go to society, advocate the spirit of altruism and mutual interest, create an atmosphere of good deeds and generosity and spread the culture of caring and mutual help.

2. Peace and development are the greatest charity

In today’s world, all is not peaceful and prosperous. Flames of war still rage in many countries, many places are ravaged by disasters and epidemic diseases and people live in extreme misery; even necessities of life are not guaranteed, let alone other rights and dignity. In such places, peace and development are the greatest charity. Let us offer to such regions the sweet dew of Buddhism and put out the war flames of hatred; or protect people from fear and eradicate suffering from disasters and diseases. This should be our goal. In the past, Sakyamuni Buddha stopped King Liuli’s war to exterminate the nation of Sakyas. The Catholic nun Teresa made two nations temporarily withhold war. We hope that in the not too distant future, a leader of Buddhism will also demonstrate his spiritual power, teach the gentle Buddhist ideas of love and compassion to the world, resolve differences, balance interests, and contribute to world peace.

3. Make full use of the advantages of organizations, locations, and individuals

In carrying public charitable activities we should pay attention to reality, use methods suitable to local conditions, adopt flexible measures and make full use of the advantages of organizations, locations and individuals. We can use monasteries and dharma assemblies to promote charity; we can hold charitable cultural activities, form special charitable groups, and organize charitable activities for serious natural disasters, toward special groups or around specific local social issues. We can carry out a wide range of charitable activities flexibly by making up deficiencies and plugging loopholes in such areas as disaster relief, aid to the poor, promotion of education and financial aid to students, medical service, care for the old, upbringing of orphans, aid to the handicapped, protection of animals and the environment, and protection of the spiritual environment.

4. Make best of the advantage of psychological help

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva immediately responds to the prayers of all beings, helps the suffering obtain relief，and gives protection from fear to all beings. Here charity takes the forms of facial expression, language and action. To those who have met disasters or misfortune, to the weak and helpless, the gift of words of reason can fill their hearts with hope and confidence. The willingness to make this kind of charity is especially important. When people are most in need, it is the best time to practice the Bodhisattva spirit of love, compassion, and sacrifice.

Today, the world is full of conflict and people’s minds are restless and eager for quick success and instant profit. People seek fame and gain by unscrupulous means and commit non-virtuous deeds such as greed and hatred. Since their minds are out of control, they cause many kinds of social problems. When the gap between rich and poor are so wide and the disadvantaged find it more and more difficult to survive, Buddhist charity can play a positive role by reconciling human relations, alleviating conflicts between groups and pacifying social unrest and crisis.

Buddhism is the religion of wisdom, it is also the religion of the spirit because it reaches deeply into the human mind. To eradicate the evil and promote the good, a pure mind is the key. “When the mind is pure, the land will be pure,” this means that people should consciously overcome the immoral factors in their minds and realize fundamental harmony within each individual self. The spiritual harmony of the individual will necessarily help elevate the morality of the whole society and promote the healthy and harmonious development of society. Let the sunlight of charity shine over the whole world. Let the lotus flower of happiness blossom in the heart of every being. Let every person smile the most beautiful smile. 

Practitioners of love and compassion can also overcome fear for old age, sickness and death through giving the dharma teaching and protection from fear. By placing themselves among objects of suffering, they can awake to life’s impermanence, suffering, and emptiness, can further see through all the illusions and attachments of human life, put aside the many attachments of this life, renew life’s vigor and vitality, and experience life’s enormous inner power.

Distinguished guests, colleagues, the scriptures say that “All activities sustaining life are the Buddha’s path… …all deeds that sustain life are in accordance with the supreme teaching.” Public charity on the basis of the Buddhist concept of love and compassion are according to words in Buddhist scriptures and supported by Buddhist doctrines, it has a great history and can creatively answer the call of the times. In this new age, with the experience of the past helping us, let us energetically and bravely open up a new prospect of Buddhist public charity and make positive contribution to the happiness of humanity and the development of society.