While Master Hsin Tao was attending the 4th Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Barcelona in July of 2004, he met Sobhita Thera, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament. Based on their common religious ideals, the two hit it off and agreed to meet again in November of the same year in Taibei at the Goldin Institute Partner Cities international conference. The theme of the conference was “Spirituality and Ecological Sustainability: Water—Our Common Source,” an idea which seemed to foreshadow the coming of the tsunami.
On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean, generating a tsunami which devastated coastal areas in South and Southeast Asia. On January 1, 2005, Sobhita Thera arrived in Taiwan to request disaster assistance. On the same day, Master Hsin Tao organized the Taiwan Alliance of Religions for South Asian Disaster Relief, composed of Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Daoists, Bahais, Buddhists, and followers of Yiguandao and Tiandijiao. The Alliance quickly set to work providing disaster relief and building new homes for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
During the first three months of 2005 the Alliance received NT$29 million in donations (afterwards, LJM collected an additional NT$6 million), and the funds were used to build 496 new homes in Sri Lanka.
The tsunami was the occasion for compassion in action. The religious community of Taiwan rose to the occasion by rapidly coming together to raise funds on an unprecedented level and sending assistance to the disaster zones without making distinctions based on religion or ethnic community.
Related link: South and Southeast Asian tsunami
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