Mrs. Li-zhao Huang

Nian Ting

Report Date: Feb. 14, 2009. 
Interviewee: Mrs. Li-zhao Huang
Interviewer: Ting-yu Lan, Jun-huai Zhang, Nian-ting Liao, Heng-yao Zhang, Ying-xuan Chen,  Ying-xuan’s father, Ying-xuan’s mother, Ying-xuan’s younger sister, Mr. Yao-zhang

It was such an honor for us being able to invite Sister Li-zhao who is also a very senior Tzu-chi member to answer all our questions about Jing Si Hall. Sister Li-zhao would be glad to explain the details ..
We often heard Tzu-Chi Brothers and Sisters talk about the picture “Buddha preaching” and we also tried to check about the picture of “Buddha Purifying the World”, but we just couldn’t find the two pictures. So we inquired Sister Li-zhao the whereabouts of these 2 picture . Sister Li-zhao replied smilingly and said “Of course, you wouldn’t be able to find them. It’s because the angle of the light. The picture of “Buddha Purifying the World” is on top of the picture of the picture “Buddha giving teachings”. Only when the angle of light is correct so that the light shines on the pictures, at the moment you can find the two pictures. I suppose you might always come to Jing Si Hall in the afternoon and so were not able to find them. I see there is still some light at this moment. Lets check them out now? “Therefore, we followed Sister Li-zhao to Jing Si Hall and could catch only the pictures vaguely, not in a very clear way. However, we will come earlier next time.
While being able to see the picture “Buddha Purifying the World” , Jun-huai curiously asked Sister “The paint is so magnificent and huge, is it an oil paint?” Sisiter Li-zhao tapped on Jun-huai and said “Hey, kid! It’s certainly not oil painted. Let me show you the picture in a closer way. But keep in mind that it’s usually not allowed to go up there”. We followed Sister up the platform and gaze at the picture “Buddha Purifying the World” in a very short distance. We also found such a magnificent picture is actually made in mosaic It’s a mosaic picture which was inlaid by many small pieces of colored material.  Yan-ru surprisingly asked “So how many small pieces of colored material were used to make this magnificent mosaic picture? And what’s the size of each small piece of colored material? “Sister Li-zhao replied “It’s a good question, smart boy. Each small piece of colored material is 1cm x 1cm little square material. And total 3.4 million pieces of colored materials were used. “ Ying-xuan exclaimed “Wow! That’s unbelievable. Who did this? I guess I won’t have so much patience to do it.” Sister Li-zhao said “You are absolutely right. It would take extra-ordinary patience to finish this. It’s not something which can be accomplished by ordinary people.” While touching the mosaic gently, Sister once again said “ Please take a closes look. The prototype paintings of this mosaic were first done by Mr. Hui Tang. And the magnificent mosaic were then inlaid together by various blue colored small pieces of material. Each small piece is just 1cm x 1cm little square.  When you look carefully, you will see lots of animals, like deer, dolphin, horse and etc. …”.  When I checked “Buddha Purifying the World”, I saw several different Buddha pictures up there and each one was perfectly lined up together. I curiously inquired Sister Li-zhao. But it seemed to be an easy question. Sister replied quickly “this picture “Buddha Purifying the World” symbolized Master Cheng Yen’s anxiety toward people’s careless trampling on Mother earth, also it symbolized Master’s concern about human destroying all nature environment. As you can see on each Buddha’s picture, their right hands were caressing the earth and left hands were carrying a bowl which carried Dharma Water inside.” This is also the very first time I gaze at the picture “Buddha Purifying the World” so closely that I was so deeply impressed when I touched those 1mm x 1mm square tiles and found those unnoticed animals. It makes me feel deeply the hardship it takes to accomplish this magnificent piece of art work.
We walk down from the stages and took seats on Lotus chairs. Sister Li-zhao asked “Can any one of you share the functionality of the Lotus chair with us? “ Because the answer has been in my mind, so I responded instantly “Yes, we can be use as a seat, knew down for prayer and the seats can be open for us to put our personal belonging. . “Next, Sister posed second questions as “ And do you know the person who came up with this great idea ? “ I shook my head and looked around. It seemed no one knew the answer. Sister then joyfully replied “This is Master Cheng Yen’s idea.” Everyone responded in doubt loudly “Really”? Sister Li-zhao nodded her head to show confirmation. Initially, it’s really difficult for me to believe that this multi-purpose lotus chair which has stood silently in so many important Tzu-chi occasions was actually designed by Master.  I have always thought it was a work of some great artist.. 
我After taking some thoughts and failing to count the chair clearly, I asked “So how many Lotus chairs here are in total?” With no hesitation at all, Sister told us “The total is 1064.” 
Seeing four tall and white pillars on the platform, Nian-ting ran up the platform, touched them and asked “What are they?” Sister Li-zhao replied “they are the four big pillars standing at the two sides of “Buddha Purifying the World” picture. And they were carved completely by the jade stone of white color which was from the Han Dynasty. These four pillars were also added into the middle of the structure when the Hall was built up. So erecting these four pillars was an immense engineering feat.” So via the installation of these four big pillars, it looks like building Jing-Si Hall requires lots of enormous engineering ingenuity.
Jun-huai looked into the middle of platform near the side of the wall and found a familiar construction which is Jing Si Abode of small scale. He then shouted “Oh! I finally knew the construction is indeed the Jing Si Abode.” Sister replied “Yes, it is. It’s a construction that is one-fifth scale replica of Jing Si Abode.” I’m really looking forward to learning more unexpected surprise about Jing Si Hall.
While walking out the Lecturing Hall, Sister took a look at doors of Innumerable Meanings. Sister added “each door of Innumerable Meanings was mobile. When someone with the wheel chair to come in, the doors can be opened up completely.” How thoughtful it is, such a minor detail was also taken care.  (P.S On the roof top of Jing Si Hall, total of 36000 pieces of tile were placed and they were bronze. The reason for using bronze tile is because they won’t break easily.)
Later, we all walked to the Bamboo veranda. Sister asked us “Do you know that this Bamboo veranda was build without using a single nail.l?” Ying-xuan excitedly replied “Yes, I know. The veranda was constructed using bamboo peg.” Going into Bamboo veranda and seeing Xiang Si Bell Tower, Yan-ru asked “I have checked about Xiang Si Bell Tower, it would drop one Xiang Si Bean each second passed. But it was not rolling at all. Is there any reason?” Sister smilingly replied “Because it’s just a model replica.” Then, everyone said the same time “A model replica?” And I also inquired “How about the real Xiang Si Bell Tower and where is it ?” Sister told us “The real Xiang Si Bell Tower isn’t built yet.” After pausing seconds later for some thoughts, Sister said “The actual Xiang Si would be standing on a circle which has 25 meters in diameter and the area of 491 square meters. Building the real Xiang Si Bell Tower will require a lot of space, the perfectly matched spot is still not located yet. It will be designed to drop one Xiang Si Bean (a red bean) for each second. Total 36,400 beans will be placed on the bell tower for each day has 24 hours which means 36,400 seconds. Other than that, 12 pipes along the tower will be designed to have water flowing in them. Those 12 pipes stand for 12 different destinies.” Hearing this makes exclaim in surprise. Every entity of Jing Si Hall is so delicate, full of meditative connotations and makes me feel deeply impressed. I can’t help but to wonder what I could have done if I can be so considerate.
After hearing these explanations, I felt the impulse to ask some more questions and again inquired “Sister, I usually saw many Sisters and Brothers offer guided tour here in Jing Si Hall. Are they doing that for any reward?” Sister replied smilingly “Of course not. They are Tzu Chi’s volunteer workers. They came here voluntarily, offered any help without any reward and helped every one here to understand more about Tzu Chi.” Then I asked again “So every one is eligible to be the volunteer worker here offering any help?” Sister replied seriously “This would not be true. It’s certain that we wish people can come here and offer any help. But they have to meet certain criteria. The first criteria would be that you have to be a Tzu Chi member and have to be trained before. This is quite important. Because when the information was not conveyed correctly, incorrect information would be relayed from one person to more persons. It could be pretty worse when this situation happens.” Silently thinking in my mind, I realized things weren’t easy as they appeared and I surely would have so much to learn in the future.
There was indeed so much for me to learn this time during this trip. Not only we can see each aspect of Jing Si Hall, know more about the Lecturing Hall and also unravel the mystery and our curiousity towards Xiang Si Bell Tower. I have done all I can to convey what I felt via this article, although you might still not be able to understand. I hope you would feel what I felt, be deeply moved by what I have been touched. After you finish reading my article, please take a trip to Hua-lien Jing Si Hall, feel the beauty of it and experience what I have been touched with.