Tzu Chi

This book captures well the history and spirit of Tzu Chi and its volunteers. It explains the passion and devotion that have made it the largest non-governmental organization in the Chinese-speaking world. Stan Shih Group Chairman Soft Capital Mark O'Neill's dispatches from Greater China over the span of many years have earned him a distinguished reputation as a gifted, insightful writer, versatile on a wide range of topics. A fluent Chinese speaker, he possesses that rare combination for a writer—of a keen nose for news as well as a heart for social responsibility. In Tzu Chi, he has chronicled the extraordinary story of a Chinese Buddhist nun whose selfless vision has built a global organization committed to doing good. O'Neill's book is the definitive story of her life and—more importantly—the organization she has built from humble roots in Taiwan. Thomas D. Gorman Chairman and Editor-in-Chief FORTUNE China Tzu Chi is a brilliant introduction to one of the most important—but to Westerners probably least-known—international charities and religious movements in the world. Tzu Chi is part of a renaissance of belief in the Chinese world and Mark O'Neill has captured it beautifully. Ian Johnson Pulitzer Prize-winner Author of Wild Grass and A Mosque in Munich Tzu Chi has inspired the generosity of millions of Asians and mobilized them for service to the poor and sick. But its good deeds are not sufficiently known in the West. Mark O'Neill's book will change that. He has written a comprehensive, sympathetic, and eminently readable chronicle of this inspiring movement. Richard Madsen Distinguished Profess or of Sociology University of California, San Diego Mark O'Neill has produced a most impressive and timely book to enlighten the many people who are not yet familiar with Tzu Chi, a remarkable organization of universal compassion. While many Buddhist societies focus on meditation and personal enlightenment, Tzu Chi concentrates on community services and global outreach with the scale, vision and management skills of a large business corporation. In a world full of injustice, poverty and disasters, Tzu Chi has been a guiding light toward peace, harmony and happiness. O'Neill's book eloquently describes the story of the many individuals behind this remarkable movement. Professor Dominic Man-Kit Lam Chairman Word Eye Organization This story of the largest worldwide organization you've never heard of will knock your socks off. First with aid to Katrina victims, first outside organization to aid the tsunami-devastated people of Indonesia, first NGO with aid after the Sichuan earthquakes in China, it's called Tzu Chi. This organization was founded by a penniless nun in an obscure town in Taiwan. Mark O'Neill has given us a page-turner in his account of how she transformed pennies in a bamboo tube into three hospitals, an international bone marrow bank, and a quick-response global rescue organization that moves faster than you can imagine. If you are overdosing on bad news, this book is a must-read. Don Gibbs Founding Chair University of California–Davis, Department of Asian Languages

The threat from global warming is growing and human activity is a major contributor to the problem. It is clear that we must change our wasteful behavior before it is too late. The Tzu Chi Foundation believes it can make a difference in addressing this critically important challenge. Over the last three decades it has embraced the cause of recycling and conserving resources to ensure a cleaner environment for future generations. Tzu Chi has mobilized tens of thousands of people in this campaign, expanding from Taiwan to 19 countries and territories around the world. Co-Existing with the Earth, Tzu Chi's Three Decades of Recycling tells the story of this uniquely effective grassroots effort and examines the reasons for its success. It also relates the stories of individual recycling volunteers and explains why they chose to join this international movement.

With her concept of “Even fifty cents can save a life,” Dharma Master Cheng Yen began to challenge people’s conceptions of the impossible. A group of ordinary housewives were the first to believe in and follow her. The major organization that Tzu Chi is today began with this group of housewives. While lodging at Puming Temple, despite having nothing to her name, she was driven by one simple but resolute belief: “If I eat until I am eighty percent full, I can save the remaining twenty percent to help those in need.” With this hardworking and frugal mindset, Master Cheng Yen and her disciples overcame countless hardships to expand their charity work. She explained, “I have faith in my own selflessness and faith in the love of others. I established the Tzu Chi Merit Association not for my own sake, but ‘for Buddha’s teachings and for sentient beings.’ I believe that everyone has an abundance of love in their hearts. As long as there is someone to guide them, they can exercise their power of kindness.” Volume 2 (1966-1977): The beginnings of Tzu Chi’s charity mission.

一九六六年，證嚴法師布衣芒鞋，帶著幾位家庭主婦，以「人間菩薩」自勵，深入偏鄉的暗角膚慰苦難。 這救度的小筏，在臺灣花蓮一隅萌芽；從二十世紀到二十一世紀，已擴展成航向天涯海角的大法船，在全球近百個地域，開出慈濟的法華世界。 千里之路的起步，是出於怎樣的因緣與信念？ 是何等的願力與堅持，造就綿延超過半世紀、始終如一的行動？ 又經歷哪些難關，練就守之不動，勇往直前的心志？ 一部「一生無量」的慈濟史，是佛法「信、願、行」的寶貴見證。 第壹冊「靜思」：一九三七年到一九六五年，是證嚴法師成長、出家到創辦慈濟歷程。

Action Dharma charts the emergence of a new chapter in an ancient faith - the rise of social service and political activism in Buddhist Asia and the West. Fourteen new essays treat the historical origins, global range, teachings and practices, and leaders and organizations that make up the latest turning of the Dharma. Environmentalism and peace walks through the minefields of Southeast Asia, the future of the 'untouchables' of Japan, and outreach to minorities and inmates of the criminal justice system in the West are some of the challenging topics considered.

This book is the first comprehensive sociological account and in-depth analysis of a new Chinese Buddhist movement, known as Tzu Chi (otherwise, the Buddhist Compassion Merit Society). Based in Taiwan, it was founded in 1966 and still led by a female Buddhist master – Master Cheng Yen. Its members are laity, and women play a major role. The main focus of the movement is medical charity – to ease and if possible prevent suffering and to teach ethics to the wealthy; at the same time, it also offers members a religion and a way of life. Recruitment typically attracts people from the urban middle class. With some 3.5 million members and a very low drop-out rate, Tzu Chi is extraordinarily successful, and has spread to other parts of the world, not least mainland China where it is attracting the attention of the general public and the media. The book stands in the Anglo-American tradition of the sociology of religion; it also draws on the author’s knowledge of Buddhist history. The data come from participant observation and many long interviews. It will be of particular interest to students of new religious movements, religious studies in contemporary China, and studies in ethics and social change in East Asia.

The Venerable Cheng-yen is an unassuming Taiwanese Buddhist nun who leads a worldwide social welfare movement with five million devotees in over thirty countries—with its largest branch in the United States. Tzu-Chi (Compassion Relief) began as a tiny, grassroots women's charitable group; today in Taiwan it runs three state-of-the-art hospitals, a television channel, and a university. Cheng-yen, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is a leader in Buddhist peace activism and has garnered recognition by Business Week as an entrepreneurial star. Based on extensive fieldwork in Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States, this book explores the transformation of Tzu-Chi. C. Julia Huang offers a vivid ethnography that examines the movement’s organization, its relationship with NGOs and humanitarian organizations, and the nature of its Buddhist transnationalism, which is global in scope and local in practice. Tzu-Chi's identity is intimately tied to its leader, and Huang illuminates Cheng-yen's successful blending of charisma and compassion and the personal relationship between leader and devotee that defines the movement. This important book sheds new light on religion and cultural identity and contributes to our understanding of the nature of charisma and the role of faith-based organizations.

Wang Chin-yun, a Buddhist nun born in Taiwan in 1937 and now known as the Venerable Master Cheng Yen, is one of the world's most inspiring yet largely unrecognized women. At the age of 29, she established the Tzu Chi Foundation, an organization committed to compassion and relief that today numbers 5 million volunteer members in more than 45 countries worldwide, including the United States. In the United States, Tzu Chi members provided assistance during many catastrophic events including the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 9/11 attacks in New York, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Challenges details Master Yen's extraordinary vision, her tenacity in the face of numerous hurdles, and the lessons she and her followers have learned over the years.