A Buddhist nun has melted the hearts of millions of Chinese after it was revealed that she has adopted and raised over 30 girls abandoned at the gate of her temple over the last 37 years.
Master nun Changmiao, who joined the Buddhist Hailian Temple, in Ningdu, when she was 15 years old, adopted her first daughter in 1980, when she found her abandoned on the side of the road outside her temple. The infant had ants crawling all over her body, and while curious onlookers gathered to see her, none of them were willing to do anything to help. So Changmiao decided to take her in and raise the girl as her own. Little did she know that this was only the first of many daughters, all of them rescued.
Word must have spread about Changmiao’s original act of kindness, because over the next 37 years, people kept leaving young girls outside the gates of her temple. It’s not clear if the master nun took in every one, but she did adopt over 30 girls, making sure that they got a good education and teaching them to be independent and self-reliant.
Some of the girls left outside the Hailian Temple were sick or disabled, while others were abandoned due China’s now abolished one child policy, but Changmiao didn’t discriminate. She lived a frugal life to be able to provide her adopted daughters with everything they needed, and, when the time came, sent them to school to get an education, so they could have opportunities in life.
“When the children grow up, I always send them to school and give them opportunities to receive education like their peers,” Changmiao told reporters. Some of her daughters have gone on to attend prestigious Chinese universities, including the Peking University, while others have followed in their mother’s steps, becoming Buddhist nuns.
Today, over 20 of her daughters are adults, while the others still live with Changmiao at the temple.
In a recent interview with Chinese media, the kindhearted nun said that her greatest wish is to set up an orphanage, so that she can save even more abandoned babies. She also expressed hope that parents will stop abandoning their children, regardless of their gender or health condition.
via Shanghai Daily
