Skip to content To Save the World, We Must First Heal Our Minds
When we cultivate a healthy mind and spirit, our lives will be filled with contentment and the capacity to respect and live in harmony with Mother Earth. In order to pursue its mission of Environmental Protection, Tzu Chi focuses on the following three directions:
Starting from grassroots movements, Tzu Chi now engages people, enterprises, and decision makers to create an environmental impact at the local, regional, national, and international levels in support of the Paris Agreement.
The following diagram provides an overview of the various dimensions of Tzu Chi’s environmental protection mission:
Please use the hands that you applaud me with to pick up litter, sweep the streets, and do recycling, so that we can turn our land into a Pure Land. By turning trash into gold, we can turn gold into loving hearts.”
In recent years, there have been many weather related disasters. Scientists have proven that the primary cause of these cataclysmic climate changes can be traced back to the pollution of our natural environment. How can we minimize the occurrence of natural disasters? What can we do for our future generations?
In 1990, when Master Cheng Yen was delivering a speech in Taichung, central Taiwan, she encouraged the audience to “use their applauding hands to protect the environment” and advocated the sorting of trash for recycling. One young woman, Shun Ling Yang, immediately responded to her call. She began leading recycling efforts in her neighbourhood, and even donated the funds earned from recycling to charity.
This charitable act of “turning litter into gold (i.e. cash), and gold into loving hearts” has since spread throughout Taiwan and overseas locales driven by the concerted efforts of Tzu Chi volunteers. Today, there are over 10,000 Tzu Chi recycling stations across the world, with close to 100,000 regular volunteers actively involved in recycling.
Tzu Chi’s ongoing environmental efforts have been recognized by the United Nations. In 2005, during World Environment Day, Tzu Chi was invited to share its experiences in environmental protection with delegates from around the world.
Like The Butterfly Effect small actions by individuals can significantly impact the world. Master Cheng Yen said, “To save the world, we must first save the hearts and minds of people.”
Everyone hopes for good health and a world free of disasters. To achieve that, we must start by cultivating the right mindset and then translate it into prompt actions that conserve the environment. By doing this, we are helping to make the planet a safer, better place to live.
Remember: we coexist with Mother Earth.
Everyone knows the root of the problem — man’s relentless pursuit of profit and self-centred pursuit of earthly pleasures have continually raised the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, leading to extreme weather conditions. However, it is very hard for businesses to sacrifice profitability to reduce carbon emissions. The imbalance in the Four Elements of land, water, fire and wind arises from the imbalance in people’s minds. With their deluded thinking and shortsighted seeking of instant gratification, it is as though people’s minds are shrouded in a thick fog, lacking the vision to see far. By focusing only on short-term gains, we endanger the long-term survival of our human species. If mankind does not awaken to these hidden dangers, it will really be ‘too late’ to save our Earth!”
In 2014, Master Cheng Yen travelled around Taiwan and visited various recycling stations, where she saw a lot of litter that could not be recycled. This inspired her to call for a strengthening in environmental education, with the hope of instilling in the community that recycling needs to start from home. By cleaning and sorting items before sending them out for recycling, residents can improve the quality and speed of Tzu Chi’s recycling efforts.
The Master also stresses that it is even more important to return to a simpler way of life and cultivate a harmonious state of mind. Tzu Chi volunteers not only bring their own reusable eating utensils wherever they go, they practice mindfulness in daily living that helps to reduce carbon emissions, and they adopt a vegetarian diet to protect animal life and the planet. From doing “physical recycling”, they progress to the deeper practice of “spiritual recycling” (i.e. purification of the mind).
In Canada, Tzu Chi volunteers have been actively promoting environmental vegetarianism to the public by holding talks and setting up information booths in schools, shopping centres and at major activities.
