Praying for Blessings for Taiwan - My Homeland
Natural and man-made disasters—the impermanence of life is like the maze painting featuring the human body by Surrealist artist A. Masson—where does life go? 1938, 120x61 cm, collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.
Praying for Blessings for Taiwan - My Homeland: Endure adversity to gain new strength and wisdom:
Text and images by Chen Chi-Hsiang. All events in life, no matter how painful or tragic they seem at the time, have only one purpose: to grant you wisdom, strength, and awakening. It is not easy to view adversity as a gift from heaven. Initially, you cannot accept what happens to you; you are filled with doubt, feeling trapped in a miserable world. This is a perfectly natural reaction. However, when you change your perspective and say, "Alright, I accept this arrangement. I believe heaven has its own benevolent will; this experience is for learning, and it will surely be useful in the future." Once you endure the adversity, new strength and wisdom await you on the other side.
On life's journey, we always face hardships, pain, illness, and difficulties, seemingly testing our resilience. This reminds us of a meditation master's words: "The strong wind blows on tender branches, not to harm the new seedlings, but to teach them to root firmly in the soil." Remove the first letter "D" from Disappointment and replace it with "H," turning disappointment into His appointment. Once we view every event in life as a "gift from heaven" and treat suffering as a "valuable experience," we attain the Zen insight of "seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water," freeing ourselves from internal obstacles and truly beginning to enjoy everything life offers. To conclude, let us borrow a phrase from Master Hsing Yun: "Face it, accept it, deal with it, let it go."
Postscript: This inspirational essay did not come from me. Over the weekend, I rarely gathered with friends. We discussed sadly the homeland's encounter with the worst flood in 50 years—when Taiwan's mountains and rivers were crying (Typhoon Morakot severely hit southern Taiwan), sharing the grief for our homeland and the disaster. A friend shared his recent reflections on natural disasters, man-made calamities, and the impermanence of life, passing this sentiment among friends. Everyone was deeply moved. I suggested posting this inspirational essay on the blog to share these feelings with many online friends, standing firm together with our homeland and silently praying for blessings for our homeland. (Thanks to this anonymous friend for providing it; honored to share it with everyone.)