On
April 28, 2004, Bangkok’s worst fire in many years occurred in
the Suan Plu Pattana Community, which lies only 10km away from the Bangkok
Center. The fire destroyed about 700 homes with at least 3,000 occupants,
mostly workers from northeastern Thailand. Luckily, no deaths occurred
as a result of the disaster.
After receiving news about the fire and assessing the
situation, Bangkok initiates immediately organized a kitchen team
to prepare vegetarian food for the fire victims, and arranged for
a relief team to distribute the food. Also, another team was created
to provide helpful information to other aid workers via a radio broadcast.
Once the relief team reached the temporary shelter at Bangkok’s
Rajamangala Institute of Technology, the members quickly offered fresh
vegetarian cuisine to a large number of victims, who felt very satisfied
upon consuming the food, including those of Muslim background who
are normally strict about their food choices. Through the sincere
efforts of the fellow practitioners, everyone was impressed and felt
comforted by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s care. And as Master’s
blessings poured into them, their exhaustion soon abated. 
One woman who was a local relief worker had listened to the initiates’
radio broadcast with much interest and thus volunteered to help on
the relief team. Besides, while distributing the blessed food, the
practitioners played Master’s Buddha’s chanting tape in
the background, attracting a man who was also providing food to the
victims nearby. Upon approaching the initiates, the man said, “I’ve
never heard a voice so powerful; it pulled me to come here.”
So a brother-initiate gave him a cassette tape.
Thank You, Master, for giving Thai initiates an opportunity for spiritual
improvement through the Suan Plu Pattana relief activity. The sisters
and brothers learned invaluable lessons by working together and sharing
Master’s love with many of the fire victims.
Thailand
