Dharma Master Cheng Yen founded
Tzu Chi Foundation in 1966, with the philosophy of “helping others,
helping yourself”, and emphasizing altruism. The four missions that
carried by Tzu Chi members for more than four decades include charity,
medicine, education and humanity. All these four missions aim to
provide “selfless giving”, in the other word, to be altruism. Being
altruistic enlivens the Buddhist concept of “Emptiness of the three
entities – donors, recipients and alms”, modernizes Buddhism, and makes
the concept understandable and executable.
The growth of Tzu Chi is due to
the distinct history of Taiwan. Dharma Master Cheng
Yen was born in this small island in East Asia.
Western countries and Japan colonized it for more
than 200 years. As a result, it was familiar with and did not reject
western capitalism and science. The Chinese Confucian tradition existed
in Taiwan
but did not play a dominant cultural role. Chinese Buddhism developed
for some two thousand years and had a great influence on the way of
thinking and life in Taiwan.
After these three civilizations converged on Taiwan,
they mixed and proceeded generation by generation: they are the seedbeds
in which Tzu Chi grew. Dharma Master Cheng Yen combined these cultures
with her remarkable wisdom and personality to create a new religious
movement.
Her model is pertinent for many
other Chinese who have lived in countries away from their own and in
societies dominated by capitalism: they have been unable to find their
own identities and cultural position in their new societies. The Tzu
Chi movement has been broadly accepted by ethnic Chinese around the
world, as well as non-Chinese, whose traditional cultural and moral
values could not resist the compelling forces of westernisation. In
countries like Indonesia,
South Africa, Sri Lanka and El Salvador,
an increasing number of people have joined Tzu Chi as volunteers. This
spread of Tzu Chi is due to the reformation of Buddhism that believes in
engagement in the secular world and practices altruism: through
altruistic devotions, people can transform their own spirituality.
As NRMs scholars, Peter B.
Clarke states that churches were traditionally separated from the
secular world and non-church spirituality has become a common phenomenon
among all new religion movements. This vision has been highly
emphasized by Dharma Master Cheng Yen.
She considers every place a
temple and every moment an opportunity for awakening, when we maintain a
pure and a devoted mind. For Tzu Chi, a hospital is a perfect place to
practice Buddhism, when patients can be well cared for both physically
and psychologically and physicians and volunteers can learn from
suffering patients of the constant state of change in which we live: old
age, sickness and death are the inevitable human cycle. Therefore, we
have to comprehend that life itself will vanish and realize that nothing
is eternal. Only by pursuing the wisdom of enlightenment can people
reach the ultimate truth of their lives, and this means supporting
others. As Dharma Master Cheng Yen has said: “we have to transform the
hell-like hospital into a state of heaven. All volunteers and medical
personnel are like Buddhtisava who vow to enter hell to eliminate all
the afflictions of people.”
Venerable Cheng Yen also
considers the sites of disasters as ‘temples’ where we learn from the
suffering of victims and provide compassion and relief. Recycling sites
can be a temple too, where more than 200,000 Tzu Chi volunteers use
bare hands to protect the earth, clean their communities and learn to
cherish our natural resources. By doing this mission of recycling, the
volunteers also transform their spirits and realize that a simple life
is the most fortunate. A Buddhist should aim not to reach the Pure Land
but believe that the Pure
Land is right here
with us on earth. This is also the ideal of engaged Buddhism and the
ultimate goal for individuals, to believe that through altruistic
actions they may undergo spiritual transcendence.
As peter B. Clarke states “the
New Religion Movement and a new kind of holistic, inner-directed
spirituality have introduced a new cognitive religious style, which
appears in the growing number of non-church people. This is a style
that places the emphasis on experience not on faith. One can, thus, be
spiritual or religious without faith.”
In recent years, many
Christians and Muslims have joined Tzu Chi as volunteers without
changing their beliefs. This is mainly due to the common spirit of
altruism that emphasized by every religion.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen brings
Tzu Chi members into the secular world, which differs significantly from
the traditional Buddhist emphasis of self-reflection and
self-purification leading to the Pure Land.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen believes that the Pure Land
is here with us on earth presently, as long as we have the right
thought. This ideal has been similar to the Confucian concept of which
aims to encourage intellectuals to improve the secular world.
The Chinese Confucian concept
of family also significantly impact the practice of Tzu Chi. Dharma
master Cheng yen does not only want Tzu Chi members to walk into the
secular multitudes, but also wants the volunteers to take care of their
families before doing Tzu Chi – which is noticeably different from the
traditional Buddhist concept of leaving the family behind. Under the
influence of Confucianism, Dharma master Cheng Yen emphasizes Family as
the core value of the society. Early in the master’s life, she read the
“Four Books of Chinese Classics” in addition to the Buddhist readings
“The Lotus Sutra” and “The Immeasurable Sutra”, which had a considerable
influence on her thoughts.
Even though Tzu Chi values
Family tremendously, and that the master always wants the volunteer to
take care of their families before volunteering, there is also
considerable difference from the Confucianism concept of family. In
traditional Chinese society, once a person gains wealth and power, the
whole family leeches off it. In Tzu Chi’s world, once a person is
enlightened, he/she spreads the knowledge and love.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen teaches
her disciples to love everyone in the world as their family. This
enlarges the family love, and rectifies the selfishness of the Confucian
concept of family. In the Tzu Chi world, we are all family. This
family is not a selfish one, but one that loves everyone, and one that
is altruistic.
Through the unselfish love, the
person who accepted Tzu-Chi's help before, now start to help others,
this is a love circle in equal position, this spirit has been implement
in both Christian and Muslim worlds.
Buddhism Tzu Chi
Volunteerism In Christians World
In South Africa,
Tzu Chi has reached out beyond the Chinese ethnic who introduced its
philosophy to thousands of local people and inspired them to go out into
their communities to help the poor, the sick and victims of AIDS and to
educate thousands of poor children. The Tzu Chi mission is now also
inspiring people who are neither Chinese nor Buddhist, showing that its
message has a universal meaning. Most of the volunteers today are
devout Christians who see its message as being in harmony with their own
faith.
God’s Messenger is a
Buddhist
The first black commissioner is
Gladys Ngema, a 55-year-old Zulu woman in Durban, who received her badge from
Cheng Yen in November 2006. A recipient of Tzu Chi’s aid during the
winter of 1994, she was moved to come forward and help others. Since
early 1995, she has worked full-time as a volunteer and now leads a team
of 2,100 volunteers, in poor townships in the city suburbs. “When I was
at the bottom, it was Tzu Chi who saved me,” she said. “Cheng Yen has
sent us these messengers. We are doing God’s work.”
The Archetype of
Cycle of Love
Pan, who has been volunteer
with the Tzu Chi Foundation for ten years, initiated the collaboration
between Christian and Buddhists. The Christian Zulu members were used
to be recipients of Tzu Chi. By practicing the philosophy of Dharma
Cheng Yen, she teaches her disciples “to educate rich to support the
poor, and then support poor and educate them to have rich mind.” By
practicing the principles of giving with gratitude and always delivering
respect and love to recipients in spite of providing materials, many
recipients eventually join the volunteers to devote their love and
efforts to other suffered people. This archetype of the “cycle of love”
continues to be fulfilled in the many areas that Tzu Chi volunteers
have worked, including South Africa.
Pan visited villages and found
those, which were eligible, to which the volunteers delivered the aids
in person. He picked several families at random to examine their living
conditions. “The shacks of the very poor did not have proper floors,
only soil, and the roofs were built of scrap metal. Through the holes in
the metal, they could see the sun during the day and the stars at
night.” Often he could not deal directly with the poor but had to
negotiate through the village chief, whose approval was a requirement.
“We had to use our money with extreme care,” Pan said. “We had to
present the goods to the recipients directly and extend our gratitude to
them.”
After years of experience, Pan
began to realize that the village were not involved in industry or
agriculture. He became convinced that job training would be more useful
than donations: “instead of giving them fish to eat, we should give
them fishing rods and teach them how to fish.” He observed that some aid
recipients knew how to sew and, after consulting other members, decided
that a sewing class would be the most useful.
Support Poor and
Educate Them to Have Rich Mind
He started in May 1995 with
three sewing classes in Umbumbulu, a one-hour drive from Durban, using
second-hand sewing machines donated by Tzu Chi, and scrap cloth given by
garment factories. The classes took off. Those who had been taught
decided to become teachers themselves and impart their skill to others.
Pan decided to expand the lessons to carpentry, farming and production
of handicraft and admit men as well as women. Durban now has 53 such vocational
training centres, which have educated more than 20,000 people.
It was an enormous challenge to
launch the classes. First, Zulu communities are scattered far apart,
involving Pan in hours of travelling in his four-wheel-drive,
nine-passenger van over poor roads through wide prairies and rocky
plains. Second, there was a high security risk. Most people advised Pan
not to enter the black areas at all. Not only was there a high incidence
of crime, by the poor and unemployed who steal and kill to make a
living, but also political violence between the ANC and the Inkatha
Freedom Party, under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a major Zulu leader. A total
of 15,000 people died in fighting between rival Zulu groups in KwaZulu-Natal in
the decade from the mid-1980s.
Changes Them Both
Financially and Spiritually
One Taiwanese volunteer who was
visiting a black village had his van stolen by armed bandits, who fired
a bullet that grazed his cheek and then drove the vehicle away. South Africa
has nearly four million licensed firearms, with a further 500,000-one
million unlicensed. Because Pan was brave enough to enter black
villages, which most local white people did not dare to do, Zulus gave
him the nickname of ‘warrior’. To distribute aid and run classes, Pan
had to negotiate with village and area chiefs and deal with local
political factions suspicious of any challenge to their authority. He
told his volunteers to stick to the Tzu Chi principle of not being
involved in politics.
The growing number of classes
and attendees had an unexpected result – it changed the lives of the
students both financially and spiritually. It gave them a means to earn
money and improve the life of their families and also inspired them to
help others as they had been helped.
It is these students that
account for most of the 2,100 volunteers in Durban. They visit orphans, elderly
people and AIDS victims. The focus of their work is the devastating
effect of the AIDS pandemic, which has swept South Africa
like the Black Plague
A Christian Deliver
the Spirit of Buddhism Tzu Chi
Like Gladys, Dlamini was a
former recipient of aid from Tzu Chi. In the winter of 1995, he received
food and, in 2005, joined the foundation as a member. “I want to teach
others about Tzu Chi and teach the young about HIV, not to use drugs and
to love one another. Before, nobody helped. I lived on the streets
begging and surviving somehow. I did not know what a normal life was.”
Gladys and Dlamini are examples
of the virtuous circle in the Tzu Chi philosophy -- a person in need
receives help, a process that awakens his sense of giving and inspires
him also to help others in need. The volunteers are devout Christians
(Protestants) and their faith has been not an obstacle but an incentive
to them to take part in Tzu Chi. Its work has empowered hundreds of poor
women, trapped in poverty and despair at home, to find a new purpose in
life by working together with others for the common good.
Jesus and Buddha
are the Same
“We are doing God’s work,”
said Ngema, a fervent Protestant. “Master Cheng Yen has great love.
Jesus and Buddha are the same. Tzu Chi people are like angels. In the
hour of our greatest need, they brought clothes to us. From them, I have
learnt the way of love. Now I hope I do the same thing and love my own
people.
The Tzu Chi
Volunteerism In the Muslim World
Tzu Chi has also crossed the
religious divide in working with the Nurul Iman boarding school at
Parung Bogor, a 90-minute drive from Jakarta. It was founded by a local
Moslem teacher, Habib el Saggaf who wanted to provide a religious
education that promoted tolerance for all. He accepted abandoned and
homeless students, many of them orphans, and used money from donations
to pay for their education. Practical courses in agriculture and
economics account for the half of the curriculum, with the other half
Islamic laws, doctrines and teachings.
In 2003, Tzu Chi volunteers
visited the school and found that it lacked proper food and medical
services. In October of that year, they agreed to provide 50 tons of
rice every month and hold a free clinic every six months. In the summer
of 2005, the school completed construction of a two-storey building,
with 24 classrooms and 40 bathrooms, paid for by Tzu Chi.
At the very beginning, when
Habib el Saggaf started to receive the support from Tzu Chi, other
Muslim priests cursed him for daring to receive a pagan’s donation and
support. However, Habib el Saggaf continues to accept the rice, and the
number of his students increased from 3000 to 12,000 in the months
afterwards. This is one aspect of Tzu Chi’s charitable projects in Indonesia.
In the last five years, Tzu Chi has delivered fifty thousands tons of
rice to over six millions households, and built more than six thousand
houses for the people of Indonesia, including the victims of Tsunami,
the villagers lived by a garbage reviver in Jakarta, and five Muslim
Mosques in both Ache and Java.
Tzu Chi’s
Charitable Model in Indonesia
In 1998, following the riot in
Jakarta, Dharma Master Cheng Yen asked Tzu Chi volunteers not to leave;
on the contrary, she urged them to stay and to use love to combat
hatred. In that year, Tzu Chi volunteers and joined with local Chinese
people to deliver aid to more than 130 thousands recipients. In 2002,
during the Jakarta floods, Master Cheng
yen inspired Chinese tycoons in Indonesia
to clean the garbage out of the Anke River.
Chinese entrepreneurs invited local Chinese to use their own hands to
clean up 10 kilometres of garbage, along with military soldiers and
hundreds of volunteers from overseas branches of Tzu Chi. The Indonesian
volunteers conducted free health clinics afterwards and treated more
than sixty thousand patients in half of a year. Eventually Tzu Chi
built more than 1600 new houses for the villagers in a year and a half.
Also, in the great Love village, Indonesia Chinese Volunteers
constructed two schools for the children and established a free clinic
centre. Now more a hundred villagers and thousands of the Chinese
volunteers’ Indonesian employees have joined Tzu Chi as volunteers.
The Spirit of
Direct Giving
The charitable project inspired
by Cheng Yen was a completely new kind of project than has been seen in
China
before. Indonesian Chinese used to donate money to Indonesia, but Anthony Lin, the
wealthiest person in Indonesia
said ”we used to donate more money to Indonesia, but they
perceived us as declaration of guilt”. But now the Venerable Cheng Yen
expects them perform “direct giving”, so that rich Chinese businessmen
will be able to have direct contact the Indonesia recipients. And
this created enormously compassion within the ethnics and also changed
the impression of the Chinese who used to be perceived as selfish,
arrogant and ignorance by the Indonesians. The success of the Angke River
projects signified the altruistic support from the rich Chinese to the
poor Indonesia people
and that as the governor of Jakarta
said, the project significantly reconciled the historical conflict
within rich and poor, as well as contributed to the harmony of the two
ethnic groups.
Cheng Yen Becomes
the Spiritual Model in Muslim
School
After visiting the Great Love
villages in Jakarta,
Habib el Saggaf asked Tzu Chi to support his school. At the opening
ceremony for the new building, Habib El Saggaf announced that the
Jingsiyu, the book “Still Thought”, the sayings of Venerable Cheng Yen,
would be included in the curriculum. He said that the ethics and morals
advocated by the sayings were shared by Buddhism and Islam alike. He
also announced that a photograph of Cheng Yen would hang in each
classroom, a rare presence of a Buddhist master in a Moslem religious
institution. It has over 12,000 students, from the elementary to
university level. Habib expected every student to learn Dharma Master
Chen Yen’s love to all the human beings.
Muslim Students
Join Tzu Chi as Volunteers
In 2007, during the flooding in
Jakarta,
Habib also asked two thousand students to join Tzu Chi as volunteers to
help to distribute food to victims and clean up the damage-stricken
streets.
Adopt the Jin Shi
Abode’s Self-Support System
Dharma Master Chen Yen also
asked Tzu Chi volunteers to suggest Habib to adopt the self-sufficient
system for his school. Dharma Master Chen Yen and her disciples have
been lived in a self-sufficient manner for more than 42 years. The
Master and all her disciples work for their living needs. All donations
that the Foundation receives go to the Foundation’s charitable works.
They follow the rule of “No work, no meal.” All the Dharma masters in
Abode not only work for their own living, they are also volunteers and
have continuously donated to and devoted in the Foundation for over 42
years.
Inspired by Dharma Master Chen
Yen, Habib started to ask his students to carry out the self-sufficient
life style. Students initiated several efforts including farming works,
baking breads, produce organic fertilizers, and selling water. Tzu Chi
volunteers in Indonesia
provide them the seeds of rice and students started to learn the
agricultural techniques.
I visited Habib in June of
2007, and he told me “ everyone in the world has to learn from Master
Chen Yen. She is like a sunshine that enlightens every suffered soul.”
In respect to Master Cheng-Yen’s as well as Tzu
Chi’s contribution without asking for returning. In April 2007 Elders
Habit asked for a Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s photo and hanged it on the
institute’s main office together with Koran. In additional in August
2007 Habit hanged Mater Cheng-Yen’s photo in every classroom. At the
beginning of each class the students will bow to Master Cheng-Yen as an
appreciation of Master Cheng-Yen’s teaching. At this event the love
held both Buddhists and Muslims together tightly.
This is the realization of the theory announced by
a well-known author Karen Armstrong about “Religious Studies”. The
world needs a new religion, which can accommodate the different,
believes. Moreover, one religion can accept and tolerate the other
religion’s belief. That is ideal of Dharma Master Cheng Yen who
believes that people will join together through the selfless love and
giving, and this is the ideal of altruism. Tzu Chi volunteers bring
Buddha’s equality and love to every place in the world across the
boundary of the different religions. It is ascertained that the spirit
of altruism will eventually bring people’s belief and actions together
and therefore, a pure land and great society can be reached.