Tzu Chi
The Buddhist 'Tzu Chi Charity Foundation' is a Taiwanese international humanitarian and nongovernmental organization. Its work includes medical aid, disaster relief, and environmental work.
The foundation was founded on 14 April 1966 by Cheng Yen, a Taiwanese Buddhist nun, as a Buddhist humanitarian organization, initially funded by housewives. Tzu Chi expanded its services over time, opening a free medical clinic in 1972 and building its first hospital in 1986. The organization underwent rapid expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, coinciding with a surge of popularity in Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan. In the 1990s, the organization started major international disaster relief efforts, including the construction of new homes, schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
Today, Tzu Chi has a policy of being secular in its humanitarian work, with Buddhist teachings being integrated into its practices for volunteers. Cheng Yen is also considered to be one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Taiwanese Buddhism, with Tzu Chi itself being considered to be one of the "Four Great Mountains", of Taiwanese Buddhist organizations, along with Fo Guang Shan, Dharma Drum Mountain, and Chung Tai Shan. It has a special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is also a co-chair of the UN Inter-agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development Multi-Faith Advisory Council for 2022-2023.
History
The Tzu Chi Foundation was founded as a charity organization with Buddhist origins by the Buddhist nun Cheng Yen in 1966 in Hualien, Taiwan after Cheng Yen saw the humanitarian work of Christian missionaries in Taiwan in the post World War II period. She was inspired by her master and mentor, the late Yin Shun, a proponent of Humanistic Buddhism, who exhorted her to work "for Buddhism and for all sentient beings". The organization began with a motto of "instructing the rich and saving the poor" as a group of thirty housewives who saved 50 NT cents every day and stored them in bamboo coin banks to donate to needy families.Tzu Chi experienced modest growth in the first two decades of its establishment, it grew to 293 members in 1968 and by 1986 had just 8,000 members. The foundation gradually expanded its services since starting as a group of thirty housewives, raising money for disaster relief after a small fire in 1970 that destroyed 43 buildings and opening its first free medical clinic in 1972. In 1986 the foundation established its first hospital in Hualien City.
With the surge in popularity of Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan in the late 1980s and 1990s, and the publicity from fundraising to build its first hospital, Tzu Chi enjoyed a rapid expansion in membership alongside several other major Taiwanese Buddhist organizations during this time. From 1987 to 1991, Tzu Chi membership doubled in size each year, by 1994, it boasted a membership of 4 million members. Tzu Chi's expanded its aid work to the People's Republic of China in 1991 during the eastern China floods. In 1993, the foundation created a bone marrow registry, an effort that eventually caused Taiwan to alter its bone marrow laws, and organized a nationwide volunteer program for Taiwan in 1996. In the early 2000s, it expanded its services into recycling and environmental issues.
The foundation achieved much media attention in Taiwan in 2015 with a plan to develop a plot of land in Neihu District into a disaster relief center and cultural park which led to the destruction of parts of the Neihu conservation zone. The incident led to widespread critical coverage of Tzu Chi by the Taiwanese media, and scrutiny into its finances. During this time several unsubstantiated reports circulated in Taiwan about the foundation, including unfounded claims that the foundation invested in tobacco and weapons companies. Despite authorities not finding any illicit activity with its finances, calls for greater transparency were made.
Tzu Chi has grown to become a significant actor in civil society, Tzu Chi is not only the largest Buddhist organization in Taiwan, but also Taiwan's largest owner of private land. As of May 2024, the organization was estimated to have approximately 10 million members worldwide, and chapters in 68 countries.
Organization
The Four Major Missions of Tzu Chi are Charity, Medicine, Education, and Humanistic Culture, as highlighted by the official motto, or concept of "Four Missions, Eight Footprints". The Eight Footprints are an extension of the Four Missions with the addition of International Relief, Bone Marrow Donation, Environmental Protection and Community Volunteerism.The official website for the organization states that the organization started with Charity, and then extended its aims to include Medicine, Education and Culture. Its stated goal is to promote "sincerity, integrity, trust, and honesty".
Tzu Chi is notably distinct from the other Four Great Mountains in respect to three main unique characteristics. First of all, the founder of the organization is a female. Secondly, the founder is not a Buddhist scholar who promotes a specific interpretation of Buddhism nor started any kind of religious movement. And finally, the organization is officially a charitable organization and Tzu Chi itself focuses primarily on humanitarianism and community service rather than Buddhist spiritual development.
As a Buddhist nun, Master Cheng Yen ordains only nuns, who live at Tzu Chi's headquarters. Tzu Chi nuns follow the monastic rules for Buddhist nuns but are not ordained in the traditional communal ritual typically done at Buddhist monasteries. Many Buddhist groups consider the lack of a traditional ordination as disqualifying Tzu Chi nuns as official Buddhist nuns, although scholars have noted that Tzu Chi members themselves largely don't care about this. Tzu Chi also has a special status between layperson and monastic known as qin xiou shi or 'pure practitioners'. This status is available to both men and women and consists of laypeople who take most of the monastic vows but do not shave their heads like monastics do and take on leadership roles within Tzu Chi.
Logo
Consisting of a ship that also simultaneously bears the lotus fruit and flower, the Tzu Chi logo symbolizes that the world can be made a better place by planting good karmic seeds. Followers believe that these "seeds" are required for flowers to bloom and bear fruit, or in other words, that a better society can be created with good actions and pure thoughts. The ship represents Tzu Chi steering a ship of compassion, representing their goal in saving all beings that suffer, while the Eight Petals represent the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism, which Tzu Chi uses as their guide.Tzu Chi's Ten Precepts
Tzu Chi also has its own customized version of the Buddhist Precepts as formulated by Cheng Yen. The Ten Precepts of Tzu Chi are:- No killing
- No stealing
- No fornication
- No lying
- No drinking
- No smoking or use of narcotics or betel nuts
- No gambling
- Practice filial piety and develop pleasant manners and speech
- Abide by traffic laws
- No participation in political activities or demonstrations
Medical mission
One of the first major initiatives Tzu Chi took part in was the "Tzu Chi Medical Mission". This effort was inspired in 1970 after Cheng Yen noticed a link between poverty and illness after spending six years among the poor of eastern Taiwan.Tzu Chi's first medical outreach occurred in 1972 when a free clinic was opened in Hualien.
Tzu Chi Hospital
The Foundation established its first Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien in 1986. A 600-bed general hospital had been planned in 1979 to service the impoverished eastern coast of Taiwan. A primary concern for Cheng Yen was that the area was isolated and the people in the area were cut off from aid during disasters. Despite 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 Lee Teng-Hui. However, two weeks after ground was broken, Cheng Yen received a notice from the military telling her that the property was needed by the military and that construction would have to stop.A new site was obtained for the hospital with help from Minister of the Interior Lin Yang-kang. A second groundbreaking occurred on 2 April 1984 at the new site. The publicity of the project to build the hospital led to a significant increase in the number of Tzu Chi volunteers, with Tzu Chi membership increasing six-fold by the time of the second groundbreaking since the announcement of the project in 1979. Construction was completed and the hospital opened on 17 August 1986.
Tzu Chi has since built hospitals in Yuli, Hualien County; Dalin, Chiayi County; Guanshan, Taitung County; Tanzi District, Taichung City; and Xindian, New Taipei City. It has also a hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In addition to building hospitals the Tzu Chi College of Nursing was founded on 17 September 1989 in Hualien in order to address the shortage of nurses on Taiwan's east coast, with a focus on serving the poor. 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.