2015 TCCA Leadership Conference in Houston Reflection - Kuanhung

Returning Home

Left to right: Frank Xu, Kuanhung Lin, Michael Lee

A young and impressionable Kuanhung (that's me!) was first introduced to Tzu Chi back in grade school. Like many others, the reason I attended Tzu Chi classes was simple; my mom told me to. And, like many others, I pushed back against the desires of my parents. Through my adolescent years, I stopped attending classes and meetings, only attending a few volunteer activities. The spiritual and religious roots from which Tzu Chi comes from pushed me away, as I was defiantly unreligious. That was my association with Tzu Chi until the last half year. An opportunity arose to perform in the new year's blessing, something I had turned down all past years. I decided (for a reason I can't quite recall) to participate. Visiting the service center every weekend and spending time with the people there reminded me of the sense of family, the love, and the hard work and compassion that the members of Tzu Chi all had within them. Following that, I decided to become more active, attending the adult training, and earning my Tzu Ching uniform. Throughout the rest of the summer, I found my free time filled with Tzu Chi activities, each of them fun and fulfilling. The TCCA camp this year was my first TCCA camp, and a great finale to a great TC summer.

As an OSU Tzu Ching, I was enlisted to help with a workshop that would be held at the camp. At the time, I was unaware of the large commitment of time, energy, and effort that it would take to make this one workshop work out. Nor was I quite ready for the large quantity of information that we were expected to know for this workshop to work out. Luckily, I had some great mentors, who guided the discussion and decisions. Knowing what little I did about the material, I contributed as much as I could to the final product. For me, this workshop was much less an opportunity to share my knowledge as it was to learn about the principles behind Tzu Chi. It was also resulted in great friendship, I'd like to think, between myself and the other OSU Tzu Chings. I've known most of them in some fashion or another for many years at that point, but never really spent enough time with them to call them close friends. Now, I hope we will continue our friendship for the rest of our lives.

Group 12!

Then it was time for camp. I fully expected the first few hours, perhaps days, to be awkward and embarrassing. Making friends is not exactly my forte. Making friends with people who speak in a language I can just barely converse in? Terrifying. However, on arrival at the service center, I felt for some reason, at ease with the idea of meeting new people. The attendees invited me into conversation, and the many icebreakers helped me learn names, chapters, and ages of the many new friends I made that first day. The friendly, familial atmosphere that was ever present at my local chapter seemed to exist also in the new, warm (hot) environment. Soon, I made good friends, and met more every day. We spent time together, learned about each other, and learned and grew together.

Learning was truly an integral part of the experience. My religious background is close to non-existent. As was mentioned before, it was the spiritual or religious aspect of Tzu Chi that really pushed me away from Tzu Chi. However, I was truly exposed to the dharma during the preparation for our own workshop. We read a book titled Three Ways to the Pure Land, which really was my first experience of dharma, in relation to Tzu Chi. The workshops at Houston were more vivid and engaging than the book, and provided an easy way to understand the teachings. However, not all workshops were about dharma. We talked with the head of TIMA, with volunteers in Nepal, and with Xiao Niu. We learned
about Tzu Chi work around the world, along with Tzu Chi work done in local chapters all around the US. And finally, we connected online with Master Cheng Yen, an experience that was as surreal as it was amazing.

My first TCCA camp blew away all expectations. With my return to Tzu Chi, I feel motivated, ready for the school year and all the curveballs life may throw at me. I know I've got real friends to fall back on, and a GPS to guide me through the rough seas in life. I have no doubt that next year, camp at San Jose will be just as invigorating.