Biography

 Master Cheng Yen

Master Cheng Yen is a respected nun and founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation.

She was born in  Qingshui Town, Taichung County, Taiwan in 1937.

Cheng Yen was a very dedicated and motivated individual. At the age of 15, she prayed and promised to become a vegetarian if her mother, who got an acute gastric perforation, was to be helped. Miraculously, her mother recovered without even needing surgery. Cheng Yen then became a vegetarian (Tzu Chi).
 

Puming Temple of Sioulin Township in Hualien is where Cheng Yen studied Buddhism because of her aspiration to be a nun. In 1962, she shaved her head and started life as a nun.

Cheng Yen was given her Buddhist name by Venerable Master Yin Shun (pictured above). She had taken refuge under him at the Light of Wisdom Dharma Hall in 1963 (Tzu Chi).

Cheng Yen, after a ceremony of Refuge Vows, went off to Lin Chi Temple in Taipei, where the dharma’s ordain to initiate into Buddhism was being held. There, she received a formal ordain to become a Buddhist.

She then returned to Puming Temple, but endured hard times because she did not accept offerings. She upheld Zen Master Pai Ching’s concept of “no work, no meal.” (Ho 11)

In late 1963, she moved to Tzu Shan Temple and her teachings became very popular there. She later moved, once again, back to Puming temple to lead disciplines to practice monastic rules and self-reliance. Although there was pressure for her to move from the temple, she decided to stay and organize a charity to help those in need.

On May 14, 1966, the Tzu Chi Foundation was born. (The Foundation logo is pictured above)

The foundation started with only 6 disciples: Four nuns and two lay followers. Each of them made one pair of baby shoes per day while Cheng Yen made 30 bamboo “piggy banks”. The baby shoes would together earn an extra sixty cents a day (Ho 15). The bamboo "piggy banks" were then given out to 30 followers and were told to keep 50 cents a day to put in them. The followers spread the word of saving 50 cents and just two months after the creation of the foundation, they were able to provide an elderly woman with house cleaning and meals every day until she passed away (Tzu Chi).

Abode of Still Thoughts became the new home when the Puming Temple became too small and became the symbol of the Foundation as we know it today. (Tzu Chi) Today, the nun’s of the headquarters still uphold the “no work, no meal” ethic. (Ho 13).

Since birth, Cheng Yen has wanted to make a difference in other's lives. Her work is not for personal gain but from the pure compassion that arises out of her heart. Every day, Cheng Yen prays that, "May human minds be purified, may people live in peace, and may there be no disasters in the world" (Chappell 48). She is certainly a person to be greatly admired and respected.

Master Cheng Yen visiting a new Presbyterian church the Tzu Chi Foundation built as part of a new village, the Great Love Village, for the survivors of Typhoon Morakot

Sources:

Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation. Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, 2010. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.

Chappell, David. Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace. Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications, 1999. Google Books. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.

Ho, Gary. Challenges: The Life and Teachings of Venerable Master Cheng Yen. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2009. Google Books. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.