Report from Formosa

Providing a Vehicle to Bathe in
Master’s Ocean of Love

By the Taipei News Group (Originally in Chinese)

On September 2, 2005, initiates from the Taipei Center held an activity entitled "Divine Love Shines on Our Homeless Friends," during which they visited The House of Concern and Care for the Homeless in Taipei County and learned that the facility desperately needed a new bathing vehicle. The House had an old, unusable vehicle that had formerly shuttled between townships in the county, parking at various locales, such as parks and temples where the homeless often gathered, to provide them with bathing facilities. But due to a shortage of funds, Director Huang Mei-ying of the Taipei County Volunteer Service Association was unable to buy a new truck, became highly concerned about the matter and prayed that God would help her solve the problem as winter was fast approaching.

After perceiving the facility’s needs, our merciful Master blessed the shelter with nectar from Heaven in the form of a timely contribution for a new truck. Then following a discussion with Volunteer Service Association staff members, the initiates ordered a bathing vehicle designed to meet the specific needs of the homeless, hoping to bring them warmth and love along with practical material aid. The vehicle was named "Love Ocean," which carried a two-fold meaning. First, it represented the love and best wishes of many individuals, and second it was hoped that our homeless friends who made use of the truck would feel as though they were bathing in the ocean of love so as to cleanse them of their past karma and lead them on to a new life. In addition to providing the bathing vehicle, the sisters and brothers also prepared new clothing and shoes for the homeless.

Then on November 24, representatives of the Taipei County Social Affairs Bureau, the Taipei County Volunteer Service Association and The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association held a simple but solemn inauguration ceremony at the County Hall in Banciao. During the ceremony, Director Yang Su-duan of the Social Affairs Bureau said, “The last bathing truck served the homeless people for six years. Superficially, it’s a vehicle that provides bathing facilities, but in reality it’s a bridge through which social and volunteer workers interact with and extend concern to the underprivileged, letting our homeless friends feel that society loves and cares about them.” Thus, with its steaming hot water, the Love Ocean vehicle began its mission to extend humanitarian care and concern to Taipei County’s less fortunate residents, making manifest the love of Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her disciples. Director Huang of the Volunteer Association happily expressed her wholehearted gratitude to the Supreme Master for Her loving contribution, which allows the area’s underprivileged to bathe in the warmth of a loving ocean in the cold of winter. "Today, our homeless friends feel especially happy in body and mind after having a haircut and bath, and putting on new clothes and shoes. Your loving understanding and concern have given them a bright and hopeful future," she added.

Bureau Director Yang then presented a “Plaque of Gratitude” to The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association and boarded the Love Ocean vehicle with an initiate to turn on the hot water as part of the formal inauguration, after which many people lined up to enjoy the service. Among them was a middle-aged woman who took a hot bath and said “thank you” repeatedly with tears in her eyes. Also, after receiving a haircut, a bath and new clothes, a middle-aged man happily declared, “I feel very comfortable and relaxed now,” and everyone present was touched by their happiness.

The fellow practitioners who participated in the Love Ocean vehicle inaugural ceremony could feel the infinite love and blessing that Master transmitted to Taipei County’s less fortunate citizens, kindling in them hope for a brighter future, cleansing them of their past karma and giving them new lives in the sea of love! Thus, despite being busy with the great matters of the universe, Master continues to attend to the needs of individual sentient beings everywhere, and all Her disciples are deeply touched by Her selfless compassion and immense love. ♥