文／澳洲寶林禪寺禪修班學員　Alsa Wu（吳玥）

　　I always used to think that charity was something materialistic – the donation of money and objects.

　　In reality, charity is much more than that. It is something that anyone could do, at any time, anywhere. There are so many varieties of charity, just to list a few:

● Lending someone a hand
● Helping someone to solve their problem
● Making someone smile
● Being kind and caring to someone
●Giving someone a compliment/encouragement
●Bringing happiness/optimism/hope to someone’s life
● Inspiring someone
● Protecting someone
● Loving someone

　　Surely, there are so many more things that could be done, and certainly, we all could do countless things everyday. It’s not a matter of how big or significant the ‘charity’ is, but how often you do them. As a human being, I think that is the least of what we could do, to be grateful for the lives that we all live.

　　Realising this has changed me completely. For everything I do, I would consider if it is the ‘kind’ thing to do, something that I wouldn’t be ashamed of afterwards. In the past, I had done so many things that I regret; mainly because I didn’t think about it carefully, in this way at that time. Now that I have changed, I feel like a different person.

　　Thank you for teaching me, not only this but so many other things. I remember not so long ago, believing that Buddhism would never become a part of my life. It hasn’t been that long, but I have already gained so many benefits from it. I am ever so grateful of the people around me, especially my mum, for opening up this whole new perspective of life. I know I still have a very long way to go, but I am determined to let Buddhism become a part of my life. Around the start of last year, I was going through a very rough time, because of many things that were happening in my life. The worst thing was that it almost felt like there was nothing more to look forward to in life. When things got out of hand, I would panic and believe that it was the end of the world. Now that I have Buddhism as something that I could believe in, no matter what I’m going through, I know for a fact that everything is going to be okay, because I am trying my best. In the past, I thought I had faith, but it was very easily lost. Buddhism has brought me a new kind of faith. I have faith in myself, the people around me, and the things that I do.

　　You have no idea how grateful I am for being introduced to Buddhism, for the people and things around me that I love, and for the beautiful life that I live. Thank you; this is from the deep bottom of my heart.

　　（以前，我總認為布施是物質方面的，不是捐錢就是捐贈物品。

　　實際上，布施不僅是如此。布施是任何人在任何時間、任何地方都可做的。布施的方式有很多，例如：協助他人，幫助別人解決困難，帶給別人歡笑，善待他人、關心他人，讚賞、鼓勵他人，帶給他人快樂、樂觀和希望，正向地激勵他人，保護他人，關愛他人……。

　　當然，還有其他許多事可以做；事實上，我們每天能做的數也數不盡。「布施」不在於它有多重大，而在於你是否經常做善事。身而為人，我想，至少我們所能做的，就是在我們的生活之中心存感恩。

　　覺察到這一點，讓我徹底地改變了自己。我對於所做的每一件事，都會思惟這是否是一件「善事」？我做了之後是否會感到羞恥？過去，我做了許多讓自己遺憾的事，最主要的原因在於當時沒有仔細地考量自己所做的事。現在，我改變了，覺得自己就像變了一個人似的。

　　謝謝你們不僅教導我「布施」這一件事，還有許多其他的事情。不久前，我還認為佛教絕不會變成我生命中的一部份。但是，沒過多久，我已經從中獲益良多。我感恩身邊所有的人，特別是我的母親，她為我開啟了生命的新契機。我知道，我還有很長的路要走，但是我下定決心，要讓佛法成為我生命中的一部份。大約是在去年初，在我身上發生了許多事，讓我處於一個非常艱難的時期。最糟的是，我甚至感到人生沒有前景。當事情超出我所能掌控的範圍時，我便慌亂了，而且認為那就是世界末日。現在，我相信佛法的道理，因此無論經歷什麼事情，我知道一切都會沒事，因為我盡了最大的努力。過去，我以為我有信仰，但那些信仰很容易消逝。佛教帶給我另一種新的信仰：我相信自己、身邊的人，以及我所做的事。

　　你們絕對無法想像，我有多麼感恩能夠接觸到佛法，我也感恩周遭的人事物，以及美好的人生。我打從心底謝謝你們。）