Tzu Chi Q&A

Tzu Chi Foundation is a Buddhist non-profit organization based in Taiwan and also an NGO under the UN umbrella.

"Tzu" means "compassion" and "Chi" means "relief" in Chinese. Together, "Tzu Chi" means "relieving suffering with compassion."

Tzu Chi was founded in 1966 by Dharma Master Cheng Yen in Hualien, eastern Taiwan.

One day in 1966 when the Master was visiting a patient at a clinic, she saw a pool of blood on the floor. She was told that the blood was from an indigenous woman who suffered from labor complications but was carried away because she couldn't pay a required fee in advance. Feeling deeply for the woman, the Master asked herself what she could do to help the poor.

Not long after that, three Catholic nuns visited the Master. During their conversation, the nuns mentioned the work Catholics had done for society and asked the Master what Buddhists had done. The nuns' words struck a chord with her. In May 1966, the Master founded Tzu Chi and started guiding her followers to do charitable work.

Coming from a well-to-do family, at the age of 25, Dharma Master Cheng Yen renounced the lay life in pursuit of life's meaning and purpose after her father's sudden death. In 1963, she took refuge in Ven. Yin Shun, a prominent monk and scholar in contemporary Chinese Buddhism. Throughout her monastic life, Master Cheng Yen has been living out her master's words, "Work for Buddhism and for all living beings," by spreading the Buddha's teachings and carrying out Tzu Chi's missions to benefit humanity and the world.

Tzu Chi has Four Missions: charity, medicine, education, and culture, which have later extended to include international relief, bone marrow donation, community volunteerism, and environmental protection. These eight endeavors are the major areas of work of Tzu Chi Foundation.

Tzu Chi is mostly funded by small donations from its donating members, who can decide for themselves which of Tzu Chi's missions they are going to support.

As of 2019, the number of Tzu Chi's donating members had accumulated to over 10 million across the world.

The Tzu Chi logo is a lotus flower in full bloom with a ship at the heart of the flower. The flower represents enlightenment, and the ship signifies ferrying living beings across the sea of suffering to the shore of peace and safety.

When Tzu Chi was first founded and had scarce resources, Master Cheng Yen asked the 30 housewives who followed her to each save 50 NT cents (approximately 1 US cent) from their grocery money in a bamboo coin bank every day, and then they pooled their savings together to help those in need.

As the word spread, more and more people were inspired to take up the practice of saving 50 NT cents a day, and Tzu Chi was able to help more people in need.

Up to this date, saving a little every day in a coin bank is still being practiced by Tzu Chi members and many people around the world.

As Master Cheng Yen often says, everyone, rich or poor, can give what they can to help others. It's not the amount of donation that counts, but the heart to give. By donating a little every day, people will give rise to a thought of goodness and do a good deed every day. With more people harboring kind thoughts and doing good, the world will eventually become a better place.