Cheng Yen
Encyclopedia
Cheng Yen is a Taiwan
ese Buddhist
nun
(bhikkhuni
), teacher, and philanthropist
. She is often called the "Mother Teresa of Asia." In 1966, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as Tzu Chi
; its motto is "instructing the rich and saving the poor". Later, Cheng Yen's Charity, Medicine, Education, and Culture Missions developed, and to the present the Tzu Chi Foundation has become involved in international disaster relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection, and community volunteering.
(now part of Taichung City), Taiwan
. Her uncle was childless, so she was given to be raised by her aunt and uncle. She had first hand experience of suffering because she was raised in Japan-controlled Taiwan
during World War II
. She witnessed the devastating effects of war and even experienced bombings in Taiwan. These experiences taught Cheng Yen the truth behind the concept of impermanence. As early as 1945, she had to experience people’s pain and helplessness at the age of eight when she had to look after her sick brother in a hospital for eight months. At the age of 23, her father died suddenly from brain hemorrhaging caused by a stroke. It was in searching for a burial place for him that Cheng Yen first came into contact with the Buddhist Dharma
. After her father's death, Cheng Yen took over managing her father's theaters and became financially responsible for her family.
Upon deciding to become a nun, Cheng Yen had to run away to a temple because she feared that her mother would not allow her to go. After her first attempt of running away, her mother found her three days later and brought her back home. The second time she ran away from home was in 1961. She left to travel through eastern Taiwan with a friendly nun by the name of Master Xiūdào (修道). Cheng Yen followed a nontraditional route to becoming a nun, traveling for two years with Master Xiūdào. Cheng Yen even shaved her own head before she had been officially ordained a nun. After traveling for two years, Cheng Yen decided that she needed to become an ordained nun in order to continue with her lifestyle. She went to the Lin Chi Temple to register for ordination. They turned her down because she did not have a master. Typically, to become a nun, one must be the disciple of a master for two years before ordination. Fortunately, Cheng Yen encountered Venerable Master Yin-shun, whom she asked to be her master. He accepted her request, an hour before the registration closed. In February 1963, she became the disciple of her mentor, the Venerable Master Yin Shun
, who gave her the dharma name
of Cheng Yen and the courtesy name of Huìzhāng (慧璋). Yin Shun also gave her the great expectation of "doing all for the Buddhist religion and for all beings", which is written with six characters in Chinese. From then on, these six characters became the highest ideals for Cheng Yen in belief, teaching, and practice.
In May 1963, shortly after receiving her initiation as a nun, she went to Pu Ming Temple in Hualien County
to continue her spiritual formation. As a part of that formation, she recited the Lotus Sutra
, which she revered, every day and copied it every month. It was during her six months there that she vowed to commit herself to the Lotus Sutra and the “Path of the Bodhisattvas.”
, eastern Taiwan. While in Taitung, she accidentally found a Japanese version of the Sutra of Lotus, and was pleased with what the book said. Later, she had a friend bring back a Japanese Sutra of Lotus (Myoho Renge Kyo) from Japan, and was immensely enlightened by the Mu Ryo Gi Kyo, (Sutra of U Liang Yi, or Sutra of Immeasurable Righteousness.) The serenity and clarity of heart derived from the book gave the Master tremendous Buddhist happiness (Fa Shi). According to the Master, the Sutra of Lotus is the culmination of the Buddha's teachings, while the Sutra of Immeasurable Righteousness (U Liang Yi) is the precursor to The Sutra of Lotus. The Sutra of Immesurable Righteousness deals with human problems, whether behavioral, psychiatric, psychological or spiritual.
It is said that there are two watershed events that inspired Cheng Yen to take the power of Buddhism
and use it to help people in the material world. The first is when she had a now-famous discussion with three Roman Catholic nuns at Pu Ming temple in 1966. While the nuns admitted the profundity of Buddhist teachings, they noted that the Catholic Church had helped people around the world by building schools and hospitals. “But what has Buddhism
done for society?” Those words made Master Cheng Yen realize that Buddhism
had to do more than just simply cultivate the soul.
The other watershed event occurred in the same year while on a visit to a hospital in Fenglin. After seeing blood on the hospital floor, she learned that a Taiwanese aborigine woman had a miscarriage
. They were forced to carry the pregnant woman back up the mountain after they could not afford the 8000 New Taiwan dollar
deposit.
These events led Master Cheng Yen to establish the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi
Foundation, which is now known as the Tzu Chi Foundation, in 1966 and the first Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien in 1986.
Association on 14 April 1966. Cheng Yan encouraged her thirty followers to save fifty cent
s (US$0.02) from their grocery money every day. They would put this money into little savings banks made from bamboo. When posed with the question, “Why can't we give once a week?” Master Cheng Yen replied, “Because giving is a practice and we need to give every day. If we have a yearning or a positive desire in us, we must nourish it and bring it to fulfillment. Just as Buddha was guided by a noble desire to help others, we too can listen to those who are sad or help those who are in pain.” Tzu Chi’s beginnings were humble. In the first year, fifteen families were helped by thirty followers.
Unlike most Buddhist orders, Tzu Chi nuns (bhikkhuni
s) do not take donations for themselves. Rather, in the early days, they worked for their food by farming, weaving gloves, making diapers and electrical circuit breakers, among other products.
Tzu Chi’s first medical outreach occurred in 1972 when a free clinic was opened in Hualien. In the fifteen years of this outreach, more than 140,000 consultations occurred.
. However, two weeks after ground was broken, Cheng Yen received a letter from the military telling her that the property was needed by the military and that construction would have to stop.
Minister of the Interior Lin Yang-kang helped to obtain a new site. A second groundbreaking occurred on 2 April 1984 at the new site. Construction was completed and the hospital opened on 17 August 1986.
Tzu Chi has since built hospitals in Yuli
, Hualien County; Dalin
, Jiayi County; Guanshan
, Taidong County; and Xindian
, New Taipei City. A sixth hospital is nearly complete in Tanzi District, Taichung City.
registry. Her deep feeling for those patients with blood related diseases moved her in this direction in 1992. She referred to the concept of “saving a life without bringing harm to self.” This effort to register bone marrow donors won the endorsement of Taiwan’s government in 1993, when it revamped organ donation laws paving the way for bone marrow donation in the country. This registry became a division of the new Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center, which was founded to improve research and treatment capabilities. By August 2005, Tzu Chi had registered more than 274,000 marrow donors and had matched close to one thousand recipients with compatible donors around the world.
Concurrently, she also appealed to Taiwanese people to donate their bodies for medical training, attempting to dispel traditional taboos in the process. As a result of this appeal, public support for body donation
s surged nationwide. Consequently, at the Tzu Chi College of Medicine, there is one body for every four students to study as opposed to one body for every two hundred students at one school. Tzu Chi’s College of Medicine ratio is the lowest in the country.
In 1995, the Athletic Drug Testing Center was established at the request of the Ministry of Education and went into operation in 1996 during a national sporting event when gold medal winners were tested for banned drugs.
as “Building a Bridge of Love.” Tzu Chi’s China relief program began in 1991 when devastating floods hit central and eastern China. Despite the cross-Strait political situation
, Cheng Yen was able to open up avenues to assist Chinese people who were in desperate need.
Master Cheng Yen referred to the initial obstacles that came from both sides of the strait as the “two problems and four difficulties.” In Taiwan, it was difficult to convince Taiwanese
to help the Chinese
, and in China, it was difficult to convince government officials normally wary of religious organizations from accepting Tzu Chi.
The four difficulties were:
Despite these obstacles, Cheng Yen has seen the dream of building bridges across the Taiwan Strait
through humanitarian assistance realized. This being the first major effort at international relief aid, it also allowed Tzu Chi to develop its principles of delivering aid. Tzu Chi volunteers are not to discuss business, politics, or preach religion while giving aid.
Cheng Yen’s philosophy includes the notion that not only are those receiving assistance benefiting materially by receiving the aid, but those delivering the aid are also spiritually rewarded when they see the gratitude in the eyes and smiles of the recipients.
and Sri Lanka
in the wake of the devastating tsunami
resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
as well as to Pakistan
after the 2005 earthquake
in their northern mountains. The later was done despite poor relations between the governments of the two countries.
Other relief projects have taken place in Mongolia
, Ethiopia
, Nepal
, Thailand
, Rwanda
, Cambodia
, North Korea
, Azerbaijan
, Turkey
, Vietnam
, the United States
, Brazil
, Argentina
, and numerous other countries.
in 1996. This storm caused the worst flooding in Taiwan in thirty years. Cheng Yen called on thousands of volunteers to provide aid to those affected by the floods. This effort gave impetus to creating a nation-wide volunteer program where volunteers are registered according to where they live with the goal of “neighbors helping neighbors.”
Central Taiwan was devastated by the powerful Jiji earthquake on 21 September 1999. Cheng Yen called on Tzu Chi volunteers to do everything they could for the victims. This time, assistance went beyond immediate relief assistance. Believing that education is vital for children and must not be interrupted, ten billion New Taiwan Dollars were raised to rebuild fifty schools in the affected areas within three years. In the interim, Tzu Chi provided temporary classrooms so children could continue their education while their schools were being repaired and rebuilt.
In recent years, Tzu Chi has mobilized within hours to help people affected by typhoons and other natural disasters in Taiwan by delivering prepared meals, drinking water, and providing financial assistance to help victims replace what has been lost.
Da Ai continues to operate today. Commercial-free, it operates twenty-four hours a day and is partially funded by a nationwide recycling effort. Individuals and corporations also provide donations to allow the channel to maintain its commercial-free status.
Da Ai features non-political news generally free of negativity and violence, teaching lectures from Cheng Yen and serial programs designed to extol the virtues of living a good life, often profiling people who made major changes in their life for the better.
Note: This book is bilingual (Chinese/English)
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
(bhikkhuni
Bhikkhuni
A bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...
), teacher, and philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
. She is often called the "Mother Teresa of Asia." In 1966, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as Tzu Chi
Tzu Chi
The Tzu Chi Foundation, whose name means "compassionate relief," is an international humanitarian organization and the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world....
; its motto is "instructing the rich and saving the poor". Later, Cheng Yen's Charity, Medicine, Education, and Culture Missions developed, and to the present the Tzu Chi Foundation has become involved in international disaster relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection, and community volunteering.
Early life
Cheng Yen was born Wáng Jǐnyún (王錦雲) in 1937 in Qingshui in Taichung CountyTaichung County
Taichung County was a county in central Taiwan, the Republic of China, that surrounded but did not include Taichung City. The name Taichung means "central Taiwan"...
(now part of Taichung City), Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Her uncle was childless, so she was given to be raised by her aunt and uncle. She had first hand experience of suffering because she was raised in Japan-controlled Taiwan
Taiwan under Japanese rule
Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She witnessed the devastating effects of war and even experienced bombings in Taiwan. These experiences taught Cheng Yen the truth behind the concept of impermanence. As early as 1945, she had to experience people’s pain and helplessness at the age of eight when she had to look after her sick brother in a hospital for eight months. At the age of 23, her father died suddenly from brain hemorrhaging caused by a stroke. It was in searching for a burial place for him that Cheng Yen first came into contact with the Buddhist Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
. After her father's death, Cheng Yen took over managing her father's theaters and became financially responsible for her family.
Upon deciding to become a nun, Cheng Yen had to run away to a temple because she feared that her mother would not allow her to go. After her first attempt of running away, her mother found her three days later and brought her back home. The second time she ran away from home was in 1961. She left to travel through eastern Taiwan with a friendly nun by the name of Master Xiūdào (修道). Cheng Yen followed a nontraditional route to becoming a nun, traveling for two years with Master Xiūdào. Cheng Yen even shaved her own head before she had been officially ordained a nun. After traveling for two years, Cheng Yen decided that she needed to become an ordained nun in order to continue with her lifestyle. She went to the Lin Chi Temple to register for ordination. They turned her down because she did not have a master. Typically, to become a nun, one must be the disciple of a master for two years before ordination. Fortunately, Cheng Yen encountered Venerable Master Yin-shun, whom she asked to be her master. He accepted her request, an hour before the registration closed. In February 1963, she became the disciple of her mentor, the Venerable Master Yin Shun
Yin Shun
Yin Shun was a well-known Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, particularly the Three Treatise school. Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of Humanistic Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners...
, who gave her the dharma name
Dharma name
A Dharma name is a new name acquired during a Buddhist initiation ritual in Mahayana Buddhism and monk ordination in Theravada Buddhism. The name is traditionally given by a Buddhist monastic, but is also given to newly ordained monks, nuns and laity....
of Cheng Yen and the courtesy name of Huìzhāng (慧璋). Yin Shun also gave her the great expectation of "doing all for the Buddhist religion and for all beings", which is written with six characters in Chinese. From then on, these six characters became the highest ideals for Cheng Yen in belief, teaching, and practice.
In May 1963, shortly after receiving her initiation as a nun, she went to Pu Ming Temple in Hualien County
Hualien County
Hualien County is the largest county in Taiwan and is located on the mountainous eastern coast of Taiwan. It contains the island's largest port. It is the starting point of the Hualien-Taitung Line and the terminal point of North-Link Line of TRA...
to continue her spiritual formation. As a part of that formation, she recited the Lotus Sutra
Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-Title:...
, which she revered, every day and copied it every month. It was during her six months there that she vowed to commit herself to the Lotus Sutra and the “Path of the Bodhisattvas.”
Inspiration
During the time of the earthly stay of the Buddha, there was no written language yet. The Buddha's teachings were verbal. Later, disciples, kings, and scholars compiled his teachings. The Fourth Compilation happened approximately 700 years after the earthly stay of the Buddha ended. The foundation of Master Cheng Yen's version of Buddhism, the Sutra of Lotus, was compiled during this Compilation. Master Cheng Yen's initial exposure to the Sutra of Lotus happened when she abandoned her earthly (and reasonably wealthy) family in Fengyuan, and stayed away from the world by lodging in a small hut in Taitung countyTaitung County
Taitung County is a county in eastern Taiwan. The name means "Eastern Taiwan". Taitung County is also known as 後山 by many of the locals, meaning behind the mountains or the back mountains. Taitung is officially administered as a county of Taiwan, Republic of China.Taitung runs along the south east...
, eastern Taiwan. While in Taitung, she accidentally found a Japanese version of the Sutra of Lotus, and was pleased with what the book said. Later, she had a friend bring back a Japanese Sutra of Lotus (Myoho Renge Kyo) from Japan, and was immensely enlightened by the Mu Ryo Gi Kyo, (Sutra of U Liang Yi, or Sutra of Immeasurable Righteousness.) The serenity and clarity of heart derived from the book gave the Master tremendous Buddhist happiness (Fa Shi). According to the Master, the Sutra of Lotus is the culmination of the Buddha's teachings, while the Sutra of Immeasurable Righteousness (U Liang Yi) is the precursor to The Sutra of Lotus. The Sutra of Immesurable Righteousness deals with human problems, whether behavioral, psychiatric, psychological or spiritual.
It is said that there are two watershed events that inspired Cheng Yen to take the power of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and use it to help people in the material world. The first is when she had a now-famous discussion with three Roman Catholic nuns at Pu Ming temple in 1966. While the nuns admitted the profundity of Buddhist teachings, they noted that the Catholic Church had helped people around the world by building schools and hospitals. “But what has Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
done for society?” Those words made Master Cheng Yen realize that Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
had to do more than just simply cultivate the soul.
The other watershed event occurred in the same year while on a visit to a hospital in Fenglin. After seeing blood on the hospital floor, she learned that a Taiwanese aborigine woman had a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
. They were forced to carry the pregnant woman back up the mountain after they could not afford the 8000 New Taiwan dollar
New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar , or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar...
deposit.
These events led Master Cheng Yen to establish the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi
Tzu Chi
The Tzu Chi Foundation, whose name means "compassionate relief," is an international humanitarian organization and the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world....
Foundation, which is now known as the Tzu Chi Foundation, in 1966 and the first Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien in 1986.
Founding of Tzu Chi
To meet the needs of the poor in eastern Taiwan, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu ChiTzu Chi
The Tzu Chi Foundation, whose name means "compassionate relief," is an international humanitarian organization and the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world....
Association on 14 April 1966. Cheng Yan encouraged her thirty followers to save fifty cent
New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar , or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar...
s (US$0.02) from their grocery money every day. They would put this money into little savings banks made from bamboo. When posed with the question, “Why can't we give once a week?” Master Cheng Yen replied, “Because giving is a practice and we need to give every day. If we have a yearning or a positive desire in us, we must nourish it and bring it to fulfillment. Just as Buddha was guided by a noble desire to help others, we too can listen to those who are sad or help those who are in pain.” Tzu Chi’s beginnings were humble. In the first year, fifteen families were helped by thirty followers.
Unlike most Buddhist orders, Tzu Chi nuns (bhikkhuni
Bhikkhuni
A bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...
s) do not take donations for themselves. Rather, in the early days, they worked for their food by farming, weaving gloves, making diapers and electrical circuit breakers, among other products.
Development of a medical mission
By 1970, Cheng Yen came to the realization of the link between poverty and illness after spending six years among the poor of eastern Taiwan. Seeing this, she resolved to tackle the problem and begin Tzu Chi’s medical mission.Tzu Chi’s first medical outreach occurred in 1972 when a free clinic was opened in Hualien. In the fifteen years of this outreach, more than 140,000 consultations occurred.
Tzu Chi Hospital
Plans to build a 600-bed general hospital were developed in 1979 to provide service to the underserved eastern coast of Taiwan. Despite initial setbacks both in funding for the hospital and finding an acceptable site. Ground was broken on the site eventually chosen on 5 February 1983 at a ceremony officiated by then Provincial Governor (later President) Lee Teng-HuiLee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui is a politician of the Republic of China . He was the 7th, 8th, and 9th-term President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He presided over major advancements in democratic reforms including his own re-election which marked the first direct...
. However, two weeks after ground was broken, Cheng Yen received a letter from the military telling her that the property was needed by the military and that construction would have to stop.
Minister of the Interior Lin Yang-kang helped to obtain a new site. A second groundbreaking occurred on 2 April 1984 at the new site. Construction was completed and the hospital opened on 17 August 1986.
Tzu Chi has since built hospitals in Yuli
Yuli, Hualien
Yu Li, Hualien , is a township located in central Huatung Valley, and also the southern administrative center of Hualien, Taiwan. It has a population of 27,500 inhabitants and 15 villages.- Transportation :...
, Hualien County; Dalin
Dalin, Chiayi
Dalin is a township in Chiayi County, Taiwan. It has a population of 34,435 in 10,850 households. To the east is Meishan, to the south Minsyong, and to the north Yunlin County...
, Jiayi County; Guanshan
Guanshan, Taitung
Guanshan is an urban township in northern Taitung County, Taiwan. It is located in the Huatung Valley South segment. Beinan River flows through. In the east it is bordered by the Haian Range and in the west by the Central Mountain Range. Guanshan has a Tropical Monsoon Climate...
, Taidong County; and Xindian
Xindian
Xindian District is a district in the southern part of New Taipei City in northern Republic of China .- History :Xindian's name originated during the Qing Dynasty close to 300 years ago. According to legend, a person named Lin and others came from Quanzhou, Fujian Province...
, New Taipei City. A sixth hospital is nearly complete in Tanzi District, Taichung City.
Nursing college
In order to address the shortage of nurses on Taiwan's east coast, and expand the ongoing medical mission, Cheng Yen resolved to build the Tzu Chi College of Nursing. With the assistance of many people, it was founded on 17 September 1989 in Hualien. It was the first private nursing college in Taiwan to waive tuition for selected courses, in addition to providing full scholarships for qualified Taiwan aborigine students. Students not only learn the technical skills of nursing, they are also imbued with the spirit of compassion and given a humanitarian education. Despite the Buddhist nature of Tzu Chi, aboriginal Christian pastors have been hired to minister to the large proportion of aborigine students, many of whom are Christian, who study at the college. They are also present to preserve native culture and languages.Bone marrow program
Cheng Yen’s commitment to improving access to medical care was continued by the beginning of a bone marrowBone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
registry. Her deep feeling for those patients with blood related diseases moved her in this direction in 1992. She referred to the concept of “saving a life without bringing harm to self.” This effort to register bone marrow donors won the endorsement of Taiwan’s government in 1993, when it revamped organ donation laws paving the way for bone marrow donation in the country. This registry became a division of the new Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center, which was founded to improve research and treatment capabilities. By August 2005, Tzu Chi had registered more than 274,000 marrow donors and had matched close to one thousand recipients with compatible donors around the world.
College of Medicine
Continuing the Mission of Medicine that Cheng Yen has been so dedicated to, she established the Tzu Chi College of Medicine in 1994. This college grew into Tzu Chi University in 2000.Concurrently, she also appealed to Taiwanese people to donate their bodies for medical training, attempting to dispel traditional taboos in the process. As a result of this appeal, public support for body donation
Body donation
Body donation is the donation of the whole body after death for medical research and education. For years, only medical schools accepted whole bodies for donation, but now private programs also accept donors....
s surged nationwide. Consequently, at the Tzu Chi College of Medicine, there is one body for every four students to study as opposed to one body for every two hundred students at one school. Tzu Chi’s College of Medicine ratio is the lowest in the country.
In 1995, the Athletic Drug Testing Center was established at the request of the Ministry of Education and went into operation in 1996 during a national sporting event when gold medal winners were tested for banned drugs.
China
Cheng Yen has referred to relief work in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
as “Building a Bridge of Love.” Tzu Chi’s China relief program began in 1991 when devastating floods hit central and eastern China. Despite the cross-Strait political situation
Cross-Strait relations
Cross-Strait relations refers to the relations between People's Republic of China and the Republic of China , which lie to the west and east, repectively, of the Taiwan Strait in the west Pacific Ocean....
, Cheng Yen was able to open up avenues to assist Chinese people who were in desperate need.
Master Cheng Yen referred to the initial obstacles that came from both sides of the strait as the “two problems and four difficulties.” In Taiwan, it was difficult to convince Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
to help the Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
, and in China, it was difficult to convince government officials normally wary of religious organizations from accepting Tzu Chi.
The four difficulties were:
- difficulty in travel to China (due to the lack of direct links)
- psychological pressure
- work was physically taxing
- difficult to communicate with Chinese officials
Despite these obstacles, Cheng Yen has seen the dream of building bridges across the Taiwan Strait
Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait, formerly known as the Black Ditch, is a 180-km-wide strait separating Mainland China and Taiwan. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to East China Sea to the northeast...
through humanitarian assistance realized. This being the first major effort at international relief aid, it also allowed Tzu Chi to develop its principles of delivering aid. Tzu Chi volunteers are not to discuss business, politics, or preach religion while giving aid.
Cheng Yen’s philosophy includes the notion that not only are those receiving assistance benefiting materially by receiving the aid, but those delivering the aid are also spiritually rewarded when they see the gratitude in the eyes and smiles of the recipients.
Other relief projects
Master Cheng Yen has directed Tzu Chi to participate in numerous other relief projects around the world, including sending teams to IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in the wake of the devastating tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
as well as to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
after the 2005 earthquake
2005 Kashmir earthquake
The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005...
in their northern mountains. The later was done despite poor relations between the governments of the two countries.
Other relief projects have taken place in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and numerous other countries.
Aid in Taiwan
Parts of Taiwan were devastated by Typhoon HerbTyphoon Herb
Super Typhoon Herb was the strongest and the largest storm of 1996. Herb struck the Ryūkyū Islands, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, causing major damage. The name Herb was used in the Western Pacific name list for the first time after the list had been revised earlier in 1996...
in 1996. This storm caused the worst flooding in Taiwan in thirty years. Cheng Yen called on thousands of volunteers to provide aid to those affected by the floods. This effort gave impetus to creating a nation-wide volunteer program where volunteers are registered according to where they live with the goal of “neighbors helping neighbors.”
Central Taiwan was devastated by the powerful Jiji earthquake on 21 September 1999. Cheng Yen called on Tzu Chi volunteers to do everything they could for the victims. This time, assistance went beyond immediate relief assistance. Believing that education is vital for children and must not be interrupted, ten billion New Taiwan Dollars were raised to rebuild fifty schools in the affected areas within three years. In the interim, Tzu Chi provided temporary classrooms so children could continue their education while their schools were being repaired and rebuilt.
In recent years, Tzu Chi has mobilized within hours to help people affected by typhoons and other natural disasters in Taiwan by delivering prepared meals, drinking water, and providing financial assistance to help victims replace what has been lost.
Da Ai television
Cheng Yen launched the Da Ai (大愛; Dà Ài, lit., "great love") television station in 1998. The goal behind this effort was to provide television that was free from violence, war, exploitation, and other negative things that pollute the human spirit.Da Ai continues to operate today. Commercial-free, it operates twenty-four hours a day and is partially funded by a nationwide recycling effort. Individuals and corporations also provide donations to allow the channel to maintain its commercial-free status.
Da Ai features non-political news generally free of negativity and violence, teaching lectures from Cheng Yen and serial programs designed to extol the virtues of living a good life, often profiling people who made major changes in their life for the better.
Today
Although Cheng Yen is over the age of seventy, she cannot be accused of slowing down her active work pace. She broadcasts every week-day morning the programme “Morning at Dawn”, a 25-minute address that is both teaching and inspirational. Every evening, she gives another twelve-minute address. She rises early in the morning and often receives visitors, and actively oversees the many projects that Tzu Chi operated throughout Taiwan. To accomplish this, she makes monthly trips around the country to see what volunteers are doing to better the lives of those they assist.Awards and recognition
- 1986: Receives the “Huashia Medal of the First Order”in Taiwan.
- 1991: Receives the Ramon Magsaysay AwardRamon Magsaysay AwardThe Ramon Magsaysay Award is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The Ramon Magsaysay Award is often considered Asia's Nobel...
for Community Leadership in The Philippines.
- 1993: Conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Chinese University of Hong KongChinese University of Hong KongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...
.
- 1994: Receives Eisenhower Medallion by the People to People InternationalPeople to People InternationalPeople to People International was established on September 11, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as part of the U.S. Information Agency...
.(PTPI Founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower)
- 1995: Receives the “Executive Yuan (Cabinet) Cultural Award, Taiwan.
- 1996: Receives the “Interior Ministry’s First Class Honorary Award”in Taiwan.
- 1996: Receives the “Foreign Affairs Medal of the First Order”in Taiwan.
- 1996: Receives the “Huaguang Award of the First Order”in Taiwan.
- 1998: Receives the International Human Rights Award by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation .(UNPO)
- 2000: Honored with the Noel Foundation Life Award.
- 2001: Received the first“Presidential Culture Award”in Taiwan.
- 2001: Selected as one of 26 “Heroes from Around the World” and featured on the “Wall of Honor” in Philadelphia’s National Liberty Museum.
- 2001: Receives“National Medal of the Second Order” from the President of El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
.
- 2001: Conferred Honorary Doctorate in Social Science by Hong Kong University.
- 2002: Receives the“Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award” by World Buddhist University in ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
- 2002: Conferred “Honorary Doctorate Degree in Socio-Cultural Studies” by National Chiao Tung UniversityNational Chiao Tung UniversityNational Chiao Tung University is a public university located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious and selective universities in Taiwan and is renowned for its research and teaching excellence in electrical engineering, computer science, engineering, management, and...
in TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
- 2003: Receives the Presidential Second Order of the Brilliant Star Award, TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
- 2004: Receives the 2004 Asian American Heritage Award for Humanitarian Service by the Asian American Federation of California .(AAFC)
- 2007: Receives the 24th Niwano Peace PrizeNiwano Peace PrizeNiwano Peace Prize is given to honor and encourage those who are devoting themselves to interreligious cooperation in the cause of peace,and to make their achievements known...
for Humanitarian Service by The Niwano Peace Foundation in Japan.Introduction Page
- 2008: The WFB Merit Medal from World Fellowship of Buddhists
- 2011: Conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities by the University of the EastUniversity of the EastThe University of the East is a private nonsectarian university located in University Belt Area, district of Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines. The university was founded in 1946 as a coeducational institution...
, ManilaManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
Further reading
Note: This book is bilingual (Chinese/English)Note: This book is bilingual (Chinese/English)