Tzu Chi Foundation Stanford Chapter

"Tzu Chi" are Chinese characters which mean "compassionate relief." Following the Buddha's teachings, this organization aspires and works toward relieving all of those in need and in doing so, developing our own wisdom and enriching our appreciation for the meaning of life.

THE ORIGIN

In 1966, when Master Cheng Yen went to see an ailing follower at a hospital in Hualien, she saw a pool of blood on the floor. She was told that an aboriginal woman had suffered from miscarriage, and had been turned away due to her inability to pay the security deposit. Upon hearing this, the Master felt tremendous sadness and disbelief, and thus resolved to help the poor and educate the rich.

The Master began her work by asking each of her followers, most of whom were housewives, to save fifty cents NT ($0.02 US) from their daily groceries, and by having her disciples and herself earn additional income sewing baby shoes from flour bags. A few months later, the Master, along with five disciples and thirty lay followers, established the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation in Hualien, located in Eastern Taiwan. There are now over four million volunteers worldwide who are committed to carrying out the eight missions.

WHAT IS TZU CHING (TC)?

TC means "youths with compassion and joyous giving", who abide by the Tzu Chi spirit and principles to extend and carry out Tzu Chi missions on campus. In order to create cohesive support for their development, the "Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association" was established. The members of this Group are called the "compassionate youth", or in Chinese, Tzu Ching (TC).

TZU CHI COLLEGIATE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

In 1991, more than 20 college students in Taiwan started doing volunteer work at the Tzu Chi hospital and accompanied Master Cheng Yen in visiting the poor. They bathed/chatted with the elderly, and cleaned/repaired the homes of the needy. Therefore, they could be referred to as the Forerunners of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association. Finally, on May 31, 1992, the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association was officially established in Taiwan. Today, after 6 years, TC Groups are established by college students on campus all over the world, including Canada, USA, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc.

THE SPIRIT OF STANFORD TZU CHING (TC)

The ideals of loving all people, regardless of race, religion, and background and gratitude for all that you have are timeless principles that can be found in many different cultures and religions. In aspiring to these ideals, we participate in community service and learn valuable life lessons from all that we experience and observe through service. Through this interaction with the community, we are not only giving, but also learning from the people we help and putting into practice our values such as the Golden Rule and respecting life. We are truly grateful to the people we help because we have found that we receive so much more than we give. We also hope to affirm humanity by inspiring the brighter side of human nature and working to fulfill the potential of our lives.

Since we are a spiritually oriented community service group, we believe that both our personal learning and the actual service are equally important. A person who wants to learn to swim must both learn the techniques from an instructor or a book while also trying these techniques out in the water. In the same way, we explore our ideals through reading words of wisdom and learning from others' experiences through sharing, while putting our ideals into action through doing service.

Although this organization was founded by a Buddhist nun, the organization and its missions are not exclusive to Buddhism. The three vows of the Master, to purify people's hearts, to harmonize society and to pray for a world without disasters, are ideals that are not limited to any religion. As a truly courageous and saintly person, the Master, often called the Chinese Mother Teresa, can serve as an inspiration to people from different backgrounds. As students, we hope to learn from her example and her wisdom, and have no intention of "converting" any person to any particular religion.

Though we are students, there are still many things we can do to have a positive influence on our world. What we are doing may not be grand, but our little efforts can go a long way. Each life that we touch in turn touches other lives, and through this gradual linking of hands, we can truly make a difference.

WHAT WE DO

As individuals we participate in separate service projects, such as the ones sponsored by the Haas Center or Urban Ministries, and then meet together every other week to share our experiences and learn from each other.
We also perform service activities as a group, such as fundraising for the earthquake victims in Taiwan and Turkey, cleaning the streets of Chinatown, etc. This may be once a month, depending on the nature of the activity.
Each week, we take a Still Thoughts saying and try to apply it to our lives. When we meet each we week, we explore ways to put the saying into practice and share our experiences on our successes and other insights from our efforts in the past week.
We get together with other TC groups in the Bay Area (Berkeley and San Jose) and organize a service activity together and/or share our experiences. This may be once or twice a quarter…more details to be determined.

GLOBAL TC COLLEGIATE NETWORK

TC are everywhere! There are TC groups all over the world, in Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and of course U.S. Within the global network, there is a North America Network which includes the groups in Boston (MIT and Boston University), D.C. (University of Maryland), Pittsburgh, Chicago, Arlington, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Jose, UC Berkeley, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto.

Knowing that there are also other groups in the world committed to the same purpose is a great source of motivation, but practically, it also allows us to gather our resources to do bigger projects. This past June, the officers of the North America Network participated in a 2-day international relief mission in Mexico serving over 1,000 families, distributing supplies such as water and rice and holding a free clinic. In March, the groups on the east coast and the west coast both separately held a 2-3 day weekend retreat to give people a chance to learn from each other and to learn more about the spirit of the organization. In late December each year, the TC from the different countries go back to Taiwan to experience the spirit of the organization at its Headquarters in Hualien.

For the past month, groups from different countries have contributed to the fundraising effort for Kosovo, Turkey, and Taiwan in their own unique way, some by holding charity car washes and others by selling donated goods.

For pictures, personal stories, and other interesting stuff about the global and North America Network, please visit our website at: http://www.ustzuching.org