On the Significance of Buddhism's "Dual Practice of Compassion and Wisdom" in Charity Work

Last night, on the Moments of my work WeChat, I launched a donation drive for an uncle whose whole family of three had cancer. Everyone responded enthusiastically; as of now, more than 20,000 yuan in charitable donations has been raised.

Additionally, some friends hope to participate and help the patient's family raise funds on crowdfunding platforms such as Shuidichou. I am also currently connecting the patient's family with warm-hearted volunteers, hoping to help them more effectively.

I have had several experiences raising funds for patients, and there are some lessons among them. To prevent a good deed from ending up as something that causes everyone pain, I am writing this article today to share some of my views on charity.

1. Recipients are dignified people, our equals in personality

About fifteen years ago, I personally experienced, for the first time, an online fundraising campaign that ended in cyberbullying. Back then, a girl posted an eye-catching thread in the Tianya Zatan section of Tianya Community titled "Selling myself to save my mother."

The girl's mother had developed a disease requiring a liver transplant; she had no money and sought help on Tianya Zatan.

At that time, Tianya Community was an influential online public community among Chinese-speaking people, and I was a well-known netizen on Tianya Zatan; I took part in this relief effort.

But later, some netizens began to question the girl's sexual orientation (people suspected she was a lesbian, and at that time homosexuality was still widely rejected), and then began to question her for wearing Nike shoes (in those days, counterfeit Nike and adidas were everywhere).

A freelance planner, very good at self-promotion, raised the banner of the questioning army and indignantly launched an investigation into the mother and daughter, attracting many followers.

In the end, the girl's mother, despite unclear surgical indications, went onto the operating table and died there. The girl nearly committed suicide over the affair.

Later, CCTV's Tell It Like It Is organized a live debate program over this sensational online incident. As one of the influential authors on Tianya Zatan at the time, I was invited to the studio and engaged in a fierce debate with that freelance planner; a full-scale brawl nearly broke out on the spot.

I recall that one donor, a Chinese person who had returned all the way from Australia specifically to support the mother and daughter, also came to the program. We were deeply pained by this backward state of humanitarian spirit in China.

Another girl at the time, who had also raised funds online for a congenital heart defect, came to the studio as well. After the program ended, she almost threw herself on me, weeping bitterly. She too had suffered cyberbullying for the same reasons, and she urgently hoped I could protect her.

It is not impossible that some people of comfortable means in this society consume everyone's sympathy; last year's Luo Yixiao incident had more than a little of that element. But the majority of people truly need social assistance.

How do we prevent our recipients from ending up as victims of cyberbullying? We must treat them as people who are our equals in personality and who have dignity.

No one is perfect, yet providing social assistance is deeply meaningful.

2. Butterflies cannot fly across the sea

About six or seven years ago, a cervical cancer patient with massive bleeding sought my help online. I prescribed an emergency hemostatic formula for her.

On the third day, I asked her whether the bleeding had stopped. The patient told me she was waiting for a friend to repay her a debt so she could buy the medicine.

Without a second thought, I directly wired her 500 yuan and told her to go buy the medicine immediately to stop the bleeding. As an experienced medical person, I judged her condition to be real and urgent.

The patient burst into tears. She asked me: wasn't I afraid she would cheat me out of my money?

I told her: 500 yuan is something I can afford; losing it is no great matter. But for her, this was money to save a life.

If she cheated me, I would lose at most 500 yuan. But if I saw someone dying and refused to save her, she would die, and then I could never be at peace for the rest of my life.

The patient bought the medicine according to my formula, and the bleeding stopped. Later I learned she did not even have money for food, so I launched a fundraising drive for her.

At the time, a close friend of mine who studied Western medicine warned me that this patient might be a sex worker. He asked me whether it was really necessary to raise funds for such a person.

I replied: in a doctor's eyes there are no sinners; judging a person is the business of a judge. We cannot refuse to save a patient just because of a moral flaw.

My friend accepted my view and even helped me raise funds for the patient. Together we helped her through this crisis.

This patient later told me that, for the rest of her life, her life belonged to me. Even if I ordered her to kill my enemy, she would not hesitate for an instant.

I told her that I had no enemies in this world, no one I hated enough to want dead; I hoped she would live well.

This July, when I was visiting family at Wuhan Zhongnan Hospital, I also met a patient urgently in need of assistance, and I helped him at the time.

The patient's son said the same thing: that in future he could die for me, could do anything for me, including killing someone. I too told him that I had no enemies and had no need for him to die for me; I hoped he would live well.

On the travel section of Tianya Community there was a netizen called "Xintian Jinyou," who had carried out student-aid work for many years.

He once raised funds to build Hope Primary Schools for villagers in poor areas, only to be obstructed—even beaten—by local villagers who hoped to profit from the construction projects.

This did not in the least change his enthusiasm for building schools for them. He once said something I have always remembered: "A butterfly cannot fly across the sea."

Those we wish to help may not look very admirable, but that is precisely why we must help them. They are like butterflies, with no strength to fly across the sea.

We must recognize this fact: do not demand perfection, and do not set overly high requirements for recipients. If recipients were doing perfectly well, they would not need our help.

We must look tolerantly at others' shortcomings, accept their shortcomings, and help them without stinting.

3. Some hardships the recipient must bear themselves

I once raised funds for another cervical cancer patient in Sichuan. I raised money for her medical bills, her rent, and her caregiver fees. In the end I found that she had become somewhat dependent on me, and even hoped I would raise money for her funeral expenses.

In that moment I fell silent and did not agree. Because the people donating to her were also people in great hardship, and I believed her own relatives had the obligation to see to her funeral.

She also stopped there and never raised such a request again. After she fell ill, her relatives and friends all shunned her. Her biological father left her 10,000 yuan and then disappeared without a trace, even changing his phone number. In the end, they dumped her on me.

Since then, I have never dared to help anyone in a high-profile way. Because this kind of bottomless aid would only drag me into an abyss with no bottom.

Over the years, many people have hoped I would forward their fundraising appeals, and I have been very cautious about it.

Because more than 95% of my WeChat friends are people in distress—either cancer patients or the families of cancer patients. And I, as the doctor of many of them, am in an extremely sensitive position.

Forwarding appeals sometimes places great pressure on these poor-and-sick people, amounting almost to compelled donation. So I have always only done what I can to reduce or waive medical fees for impoverished patients, but I readily refuse to raise funds for anyone—after all, everyone is struggling.

Unless, like the object of this fundraising, the entire family has collapsed and already lost its social support system.

The Buddhist sutras say that giving to the poor is difficult; raising funds for one patient among a group of patients is truly hard on many people. So I can often only bear to watch everyone resolve their own difficulties.

4. Be compassionate, but also be wise

In Buddhism there is a concept called the dual practice of compassion and wisdom—compassion and wisdom must both function together. How to do charity is a hard problem. Many people can run a business, but not necessarily run a charity.

When I was in university, my family was poor, and I myself happened to have many psychological problems, so my class raised funds for me. The moment I received the donation, I felt boundless shame.

At that time I only wanted to leave school, and my mental illness grew worse and worse. It was not until I dropped out, read many books, and experienced many things that I worked my way out.

This firsthand experience tells me that recipients are sensitive. A donor with only compassionate intentions may not actually help the recipient; sometimes he may even harm them.

I do not possess very high wisdom either. I tell the above stories only to remind everyone that, when taking part in a relief effort, we should think more and act less rashly, so as to do charity better.

Written in haste; please forgive any lack of thoroughness.

Wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

WeChat Official Account: zhouzhiyuan360 (or search for "周志远")

Author's website: www.zhouzhiyuan.com

Author's WeChat: zhouzhiyuan1979 (or: 36641)