In the morning, she gets up, does yoga, and takes a walk. If it is raining, she simply carries an umbrella. She drinks a glass of milk for breakfast and her only meal is lunch. A vegetarian since childhood, her body itches and swells when she eats fish or meat. She eats raw food without oil or salt and sometimes only has an apple or raw vegetables for lunch after having washed and cut them. For supper, she has a cup of buttermilk. When she arrived here tonight, we gave her some water but she didn’t drink any.

Every day she helps others and thinks about how she can do more for them. People give her money because they see her doing good deeds and they too want to help. She never buys clothes but finds and washes discarded ones, then wears those that fit and alters those that do not. She says that with so many poor and hungry people around, buying clothes is a waste of money.

Can we practice like her? She is still helping people. Presently, she is reading the Chinese version of Master Chin Kung’s book Buddhism: The Awakening of Compassion and Wisdom. When she was fifty, she learnt nursing and began to manage retirement centers. Now, everyday she helps others, constantly asking what else she can do. We hear of some people who work here, who always think of themselves, and complain of being tired. She does not feel tired, so she is still young and busy.

Zhe Xu: Brothers and sisters, I’m very happy to be here tonight. Thank you! I will speak Mandarin, although I speak it poorly. Thank you for inviting me. Brother Lee asked me to talk about my daily life. First, I am 101 years young, not old; we do not want to be old. We are old if we think we are old and young if we think we are young. We can still do many things even if we are over one hundred years old. If you do not think you are old, you will not be.

Currently, I’m taking care of over twenty poor and elderly people. They came to Singapore as young adults, did housework, earned only two dollars a month, and had one day a year off. They mailed their two dollars to China for their nieces and nephews who were even poorer than they were. Now, I feel I need to take care of them. Every month, I give them rice, oil, sugar, coffee if they like coffee, or Milo if they do not. I also give canned foods so that they can stay home to cook their meals if they are not well enough to go out to buy food. All I do is provide a little convenience.

Zhe Xu: At least three days. Anger wastes time and brainpower.

Mr. Lee: Why don’t you get angry? What harm does it do?

Zhe-Xu: We hurt others and ourselves. If you tell one person that another is easily angered, you have affected the one you told. This is bad. Anger hurts others and us, and is a needless waste of time and energy.

Mr. Lee: So, those who are easily lose their temper need to think and remain calm because anger accomplishes nothing and can affect others who witness it. Since it can take three days to recover, she doesn’t lose her temper. She helped to organize and served as a volunteer at two retirement centers in Singapore: the Great Compassion Retirement Center and the Welfare Association Retirement Center. Fifty years ago, she helped the sick. At that time, they made a hole in the bed and placed a washbasin there for feces. The washbasin was cleaned once a day. One man had no one to wash the basin for him, so she helped. When he wanted to pay her, she refused saying, "I don’t take patients’ money, or I’ll get into trouble." She is like that; money is unimportant. She does charity work. Why do people give you money? What do you do with it?

Zhe Xu: People give me money because they know that I don’t keep it but immediately give it to those in need. I don’t need it.

Mr. Lee: She doesn’t carry money with her. She told me in the car earlier that recently she visited two very poor families. She doesn’t give away money until she investigates first. The family had one/three sons?, the daughter who takes drugs is in jail, and the son-in-law was a drug-trafficker who had been sentenced to death. The grandson attends elementary school. I asked her, "When you looked into the situation did you have any money?" She said, "I don’t know where the money will come from. When I need it to help others, I receive it." That night, someone had donated three hundred dollars. Right?

Zhe Xu: Yes. A newspaper person had just given me three hundred dollars and right after that, I heard of a fifty-six year-old man whose three sons were in prison for taking drugs. His twenty-eight year-old daughter, whose husband had been hung for drug trafficking, had an eight year-old daughter and six year-old twins. Two of the children weren’t in school because she couldn’t pay the three-month fee. So, I gave them the money.

Mr. Lee: When she does things, she doesn’t think about having money. As she said, when we do things for Buddhism, Bodhisattvas will help. As long as we do it, the money will come. She has no worries. We should be ashamed for she is a genuine Buddhist who does what Master tells us to do. When she asked him if she was eligible to be the Buddha’s student, we were very touched. Upon hearing his "Yes" she said she wanted to become his student and this made Master very happy. She sat next to Master and had a picture taken with him. Today, he is going to present the Certificate for The Three Refuges to her. Come! She said she wanted to kneel but Master said she did not need to.

Master Chin Kung: She believes in love and in loving all people forever. I’m giving her this calligraphy of the Four Kindnesses - have a kind heart, speak kind words, do kind deeds, and be a kind person; she has achieved all four. If we graded her, she would receive 100%. We are also giving her some Buddhist books because she enjoys reading.

Mr. Lee: Thank you.

Zhe Xu: Thank you all.

Mr.Lee: She got these books at the distribution section outside the lecture hall.

Master Chin Kung: They are Master Sheng-I’s commentary on the Diamond Sutra and Master Guang-Qing’s life story.

Mr. Lee: Is there anything you want to say?

Zhe-Xu: No. Thank you all.