Sister Sai Zhen shows the graph she created to tabulate the total number of vegetarian meals taken by each of those she had managed to persuade. The friendly competition injected an element of fun and helped motivate the “contestants.” (Photo by Ng Shey Ying)
Sister Sai Zhen works in the logistics industry and communicates with her clients via a voice chat platform on a daily basis. While the wonders of technology has allowed interpersonal communications to transcend geographical borders, it has also unexpectedly opened up a new avenue for her to persuade others to take up a vegetarian diet.
The Card With More Than One Function
In the beginning of year 2012, in order that they could perform the stage adaptation of the“Water Repentance Sutra” with cleansed hearts and minds during Tzu Chi Singapore’s year-end blessing ceremony, volunteers committed themselves to 108 vegetarian meals. The community group leaders vigorously promoted vegetarianism and widely distributed the “vegetarian meal count” cards, encouraging as many people as possible to be vegetarian. Tzu Chi Singapore further plans to increase the target in the second half of 2013 with “A Million Vegetarian Meals”campaign.
“I am already vegetarian, what shall I do with the card?”Addressing the question that some of the volunteers had, the Dharma teachings team explained that the vegetarian meal count cards could be used by either the volunteers themselves, or if they are already vegetarian, the card could be passed on to others to encourage them to take up the practice.
As Sister Sai Zhen worked in a small firm, she did not have many colleagues to speak of; in addition, her immediate family is already vegetarian. She then started to ponder over how she could put the card to good use.
Since the beginning of 2013, Sister Chen Sai Zhen has been helping to conduct the“Dharma as Water” group study sessions. During the process of preparing the materials for the sessions, she had the opportunity to reflect on herself and make changes to her mentality. (Photo by Lim Chee Wah)
As Sister Sai Zhen often communicates with work clients from different countries via a voice chat platform, she took the initiative to share with them the concept of going vegetarian to save the earth and persuading them to adopt vegetarianism. (Photo provided by Chen Sai Zhen)
Harnessing Technology to Promote Vegetarianism Across Countries
Over the years, while utilizing voice chat platforms to make the logistical arrangements for her international clients, Sister Sai Zhen had built up good relations with them. Her clients had become her friends and there was mutual trust between them, hence the idea of sharing the concept of vegetarianism suddenly occurred to her.
As her clients all come from different religious and cultural backgrounds, discussing the upholding of vegetarian precepts and protecting lives could be a problem if broached within a short span of time. Hence she decided on sharing the philosophy of going vegetarian to save the earth. The relationship between man and earth is a closely knitted one; everyone can be a vegetarian, and it is the most direct and effective way to alleviate the global warming crisis.
“We can reduce our carbon footprint by 780g if we go meatless for one meal.”Livestock farming accounts for half the amount of greenhouse gases emitted globally, and exceeds that of vegetable farming by more than ten times. Sister Sai Zhen not only persuaded her clients to go vegetarian, she also shared information on vegetarianism and green living. To her surprise, all her clients accepted her sharing positively, and even agreed to show their support for the campaign.
Sister Sai Zhen acted swiftly, sending out the vegetarian meal count cards to her clients who were based in Hong Kong, China and South Korea. Upon hearing their feedback that vegetarian food was not as easily available in the areas where they were located, she sent over packets of Tzu Chi’s instant noodles at her own expense, thus lending her support in a tangible manner.
The ten cards that she mailed out were just like ten cross-border agreements scattered over the different countries. Sister Sai Zhen taught her clients how to fill in the cards, and seized the opportunity to talk about Tzu Chi and its various activities whenever it was appropriate to do so. As time passed, a few of her clients have even joined Tzu Chi as members. Though they were separated by geography, distance is no barrier for kindred hearts.
Sister Sai Zhen and her husband are adherents of the belief that children who follow a vegetarian diet will develop a strong immune system. Starting from the fetal developmental stage, their five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter have been raised on a vegetarian diet. (Photo provided by Chen Sai Zhen)
In 2012, both Sister Sai Zhen and her mother (third from left) upheld vegetarian vows in order to participate in the stage adaptation of the “Water Repentance Sutra,” fulfilling her wish that the whole family become vegetarians. (Photo provided by Chen Sai Zhen)
Kicking Off A Vegetarian Competition
Making up one’s mind to do something is not difficult, but as our environment at large is full of distractions, we may give up halfway if we are not determined enough. Sister Sai Zhen thought deeply about the issue, and came up with the idea of motivating her clients in a fun and friendly manner. She created a form to record down how many vegetarian meals each of her clients had accumulated and tracked their progress daily. At regular intervals, she would email everyone a graphical ranking of the number of vegetarian meals each had chalked up, creating a spirit of friendly competition among them.
“I had vegetarian porridge this morning!”"The two meals I took today were vegetarian!”Sister Sai Zhen’s clients would take the initiative to report back on their progress daily. For those who were lagging behind, she would often offer words of encouragement and urge them to keep up with the rest. Seeing how all of them were so cooperative, she was touched and promised that the first person to achieve a hundred vegetarian meals would receive a mystery gift.
Soon, the completed vegetarian meal count cards were mailed back to Sister Sai Zhen one by one, and her clients also shared with her their thoughts: “In fact, going meatless wasn’t as difficult as I had thought!” “After this competition, now I take lighter meals, and consume less meat.”
Siti, the family maid, now chooses to consume vegetarian foods on her own initiative after being influenced by the family, and has even become a Tzu Chi member so that she can donate to worthy causes. (Photo provided by Chen Sai Zhen)
Going Vegetarian and Saving Lives is a Form of Filial Piety
Sister Sai Zhen and her husband, Brother Jian Zhi Xing have read up numerous books on childcare and firmly believe that if children aged from one to four years old consume a vegetarian diet, they will develop healthy immune systems. Their own five-year old son and three-year-old daughter have been on a vegetarian diet since birth. Being the only child with a vegetarian diet, the principal of the kindergarten which their son attends takes care to ensure that he is served specially prepared vegetarian lunches.
Though he has noticed that the food served in his bowl differs from that of his other kindergarten mates, their son has only remarked with childlike innocence, “The baby fishes will not be able to find their mothers if I eat fish.”
Sister Sai Zhen and her husband joined the Tzu Chi family in 2006. Brother Zhi Xing feels that the Tzu Chi way of putting into action what one preaches is the most suitable method of spiritual cultivation for him.
The family’s positive influence has rubbed off on their maid, Siti. After experiencing a particularly bad bout of stomachache resulting from consumption of a non-vegetarian meal outside, she now chooses vegetarian meals of her own accord. Siti has also become a Tzu Chi member, hoping that the small contribution she makes every month can help those in need.
Brother Zhi Xing’s own journey towards vegetarianism has not been as easy. Worried that he would not be getting enough nutrients, his parents voiced strong objection when he decided to cut out meat from his diet. Every time he visited his hometown in Malaysia, conflicts would arise over his decision to follow a vegetarian diet. After thinking about the matter, he decided to persuade his parents using a softer approach.
“I wrote a letter to my parents, explaining the concept behind going vegetarian to save lives and conserve the earth, and how I wished to dedicate the merits of doing so to them.”His sincerity finally touched their hearts, and they no longer opposed his decision.
Since the beginning of this year, Sister Sai Zhen has taken on the responsibility of conducting the “Dharma as Water”group study sessions. This was not too difficult for her as she had been active in Buddhist groups since her university days. In the course of preparing the class materials, she had the opportunity to reflect on herself and make changes to her own mindset. The Jing Si Aphorism “When our minds go astray, we suffer because we have no control over the circumstances of our life”served to remind her to be vigilant and not to lose sight of her own direction in life.
A few months ago, Sister Sai Zhen moved on to a new job, but her efforts to persuade others to adopt vegetarianism has never wavered and she has already started looking for people whom she can convince. With the attitude of never expecting anything in return for her efforts, her soft and persuasive approach will surely be able to influence many others around her.
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