The lecture given by the Supreme Master Ching Hai at the Harbor Pavilion in the World Trade Center attracted an audience of more than thirty thousand.

[News from Taipei] To bring a Merry Christmas to the old folks in the homes for the elderly, volunteers from the Taipei Meditation Center of the Supreme Master Ching Hai Meditation Association in China visited the fifty-six grandpas and grandmas in the Heng An Nursing Home For The Elderly on Sui Yuan Road, on the morning of the 24th. The old folks were touched to tears by the sincere concern of the volunteers. Some of them kept grabbing the hands of the volunteers and would not let go. The atmosphere was most touching and full of overwhelming warmth.

The reason for this visit to the elderly on Christmas eve was the fact that many lonely persons were lacking love and concern in this joyful Christmas season. The meaning of Christmas is not just fun and joy. It is also a time for spreading love, and learning the undiscriminating love of Jesus Christ. Therefore, volunteers from the Association's Taipei Branch Center, together with four Santa Clauses came to distribute to the old folks specially prepared box meals, gifts, and the Supreme Master Ching Hai News magazines and sample booklets.

During the visit, the volunteers carefully helped the disabled elderly to take their meals, chatted with them, and together watched the video tapes showing the activities of the Supreme Master Ching Hai and the Meditation Association. They also helped each of the old folks put on a brooch bearing a photo of the "Supreme Master Ching Hai", which conveyed the love and concern of the Supreme Master Ching Hai for them. Although Master is busy giving lectures abroad and could not personally come to visit the lonely elderly, She cares about them very much. Therefore, She has instructed Her disciples to make frequent visits to the old folks, bring them God's and Buddha's love, filling the emptiness in their hearts. The scene of the elderly folks all smiling, happily accepting the brooches with Master's photos on them and reading the magazines and sample booklets attentively, showed that the love of God and Buddha had reached deep into their hearts.

Seeing the Santa Clauses appear, some of the old folks cried, some laughed, and some clapped and sang together. It seemed as if childhood had once again returned to them.

An old lady who cries every day, show scarcely found smile on her face that day. She even went back to her room to change her clothes, wanting to play outside. Another old lady caressed the face of a volunteer in the way that a mother treats her own son and daughter. She considered the volunteers as her own children.

Many of the elderly folks could not express their feelings with normal speech, but the true communication of feelings among human beings is conveyed with invisible love. Without many words, the loving expression in their eyes and their gestures were sufficient to connect the volunteers and the old folks, heart to heart. Many elderly were with tears in their eyes, they just held the hands of the volunteers and would not let go. That moment clearly depicted both their happiness and their loneliness.

The administrator of the Heng An Nursing Home For The Elderly, Mr. Hu Xi Xian, appealed to all sons and daughters, never to forget to visit their aging parents during the festivals, which are the times they need the most loving care. Do not let them wait in vain.

At intervals, the "Supreme Master Ching Hai Meditation Association in China" conduct an activity series called "There Is Love Among Humans And Care On Earth". The purpose is to care for the weak and helpless people in society. They have also conducted such activities as the "Care For The Homeless Garden Party", visited the centers for the homeless and the inmates in the prisons, and conducted an environmental protection activity called "Clean The Mountains And Waters".