Learning from an old friend, the story of Samaritan:

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' (from Luke 10:25-37 at biblegateway)

In ancient Jewish tradition (correct me if I am wrong), they don't touch injured/bloody person. It takes a great deal to clean oneself afterwards. This Samaritan suffered some inconvienience to save the injured man, without abandoning his own itinerary. How kind and wise was he!

Thank you friend, for the story.

Have you wonder how Mother Teresa did it, to help so many? She was not very healthy. She didn't have a medical degree. She didn't have lots of money. She did not possess great power. I had a little experience that might explain it. Of course I am in no position to compare with Mother Teresa. Please excuse me for using my humble experience.

There was this friend of Dad's I visited. He was a talkative person, however talking about things that I couldn't comprehend. Not only did he talk about things from the old times repeatly, but he spoke in Taiwanese (I can only comprehend less than half if one speaks "pure" Taiwanese with many special terms). And he went on and on and on, taking me as Dad. He treated Dad with great respect and very open to Dad. You know how long I sat there, listening, smiling and nodding? Mind you, I am not the most patient person in the world.

Where did my patience come from? as if it is unlimited? Did I all in a sudden become so full of love to people? The aswer is simple: what would Buddha do if He were in my position? Did my patience grow? Yes and No. Yes because I indeed sat there long with smile and understanding. No because it's not me who became more patient. It's Buddha sitting there helping that friend. Me being irritated easily wouldn't be able to do so.

So unlimited capacity of love is there, granted by Buddha/God. The love is not from me, it's from Buddha. All the grace goes to Him.

Related concept:
If a Bodhisattva announces: I will liberate all living creatures, he is not rightly called a Bodhisattva. Wherefore? Because, Subhuti, there is really no such condition as that called Bodhisattvaship, because Buddha teaches that all things are devoid of selfhood, devoid of separate individuality. Subhuti, if a Bodhisattva announces: I will set forth majestic Buddha-lands, one does not call him a Bodhisattva, because the Tathagata has declared that the setting forth of majestic Buddha-lands is not really such: "a majestic setting forth" is just the name given to it. (from Diamond Sutra)

"Don't spend time on volunteering, work harder. The society is composed of individuals and families. If we spend time to feed our family and make them flourish, the world will be well-off naturally". Yes, it sounds reasonable... until you watch this cute documentary and think from a different perspective.

(Please do not read if you plan to watch the documentary "March of the Penguins" without any spoiler)
March of the Penguins is a cute cute cute documentary. It talks about march of the Emperor Penguins (haha I am just repeating the title of the documentary). You will be so touched by the love of the penguin moms and dads. You may reflect on if us humans can do nearly the same. If you will, look a bit closer, to see what adult penguins do when the predator is attacking other penguins' babies; to see if any female penguin spares her food to babies that belong to other families while their own moms have died (of hunger, of attacks, of colds).

Make no mistake:
- Life IS hard. I am neither rich nor have tons of free time at hand.
- I adore the loving penguin moms and dads, for they guard their new borns with their own lives.

Life will only be harder if we are just penguins.

Movie note: March of the Penguins http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428803