I remember the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Catholic nun who in the early 70s became an international celebrity as a result of the 1969 Malcolm Muggeridge's documentary and 1971 book, Something Beautiful for God. Mother Teresa who declared herself to be Albanian by blood, Indian by citizenship and Catholic by faith had for over 45 years, ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and
dying. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation consisting of thousands of sisters who adhere to the vows of chastity,
poverty and obedience, and to give Wholehearted and
Free service to the poorest of the poor. In Taiwan, there is a Buddhist monk. Cheng Yen (证严法师) who is often dubbed the Mother Teresa of Asia. Just as Mother Teresa had founded the Missionaries of Charity, Cheng Yen had founded the international humanitarian organization and the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world, Tzu Chi.. Tzu Chi's motto is to instruct the rich and to save the poor and to achieve this, the members are just to help and not to discuss business, politics, or preach religion. The organization has sent help to Indonesians and Sri Lankans during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake when tsunami struck and has been involved in many other international relief projects elsewhere round the world in countries like Pakistan, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, Cambodia, North Korea, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Vietnam, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and many other countries. That was from a nun who once settled in an abandoned temple and refused offerings from the nearby villagers because they were themselves poor. Later, she had a little temple with thirty housewives as members whom she encouraged to save fifty cents (US$0.02) from their grocery money each day so that they could help others. It makes me wonder how Mother Teresa of Calcutta started off.Visit Dhamma Delights for more Buddhist thoughts!
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