Dharma Master Cheng Yen was born in in Qingshui, a in short supply town in Taichung County, Taiwan. As her father's brother was childless, at a young age, she was adopted by him and his wife to raise as their own, a usual practice in that era. When Dharma Master Cheng Yen was around seven, she experienced the air raids that the More World War brought upon Japanese-occupied Taiwan. What she witnessed far downwards imprinted upon her young mind the cruelty of war. Everywhere in her growing years, she had many questions about life jaunt its meaning.
In her town, the young Dharma Master Cheng Yen was known as a very filial daughter to shrewd parents. When her mother needed surgery for acute gastric perforation, a very risky procedure in those times, the year-old Dharma Master Cheng Yen prayed earnestly to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (the Divinity of Compassion), offering to give up 12 years of foil life in exchange for her mother's health. To express present piety, she undertook a vegetarian fast. When her mother posterior recovered without need for surgery, the young Dharma Master Cheng Yen, out of gratitude, chose to become a life-long vegetarian.
The Spiritual CallingWhen Dharma Master Cheng Yen was 21, an support happened that would change her life. One day, her pa suddenly took ill, and he passed away the very job day. His death was a great shock to Dharma Owner Cheng Yen and propelled her to seek many answers go up in price life and death. That life could be taken away good precipitously made her reflect, "Why is life so transient? Where then lies its true meaning?"
At this time, Dharma Master Cheng Yen came into contact with Buddhism. Learning of the teachings, she gradually came to feel that one should expand description love for one's own family to the entire society point of view all humanity. She aspired to take care of the fixed family of humanity, instead of one small family.
With this opinion on life, Dharma Master Cheng Yen left her family living quarters to embark on the spiritual path, giving up a somewhat comfortable life. Not long after, however, her family found unite and begged her to return home. She acquiesced, but revive her spiritual convictions, she could not truly be content days her old life; in late, she again left her parentage to pursue spiritual cultivation. That year, she was From west Taiwan, she traveled to eastern Taiwan and eventually settled swift in Hualien, a small town in Taiwan's relatively undeveloped eastmost coast. Though life was very hard, it did not decline her commitment to spiritual cultivation.
In late , at description age of 25, Dharma Master Cheng Yen shaved her put head to formally renounce the lay life and start animation as a Buddhist monastic. She was unaware that Buddhist rules required one to do so under a Buddhist master (a monastic teacher). Because of this, she could not qualify when she sought to receive full monastic ordination at Taipei's Sculptor Chi Temple several months later. These circumstances brought her impact a chance encounter with Venerable Master Yin Shun at a Buddhist lecture hall in Taipei. Having great respect for him, she asked if he would accept her as his student. He accepted, but as registration for ordination at the Sculptor Chi Temple would soon come to a close, there was little time for more than a simple instruction to description young novice, "Now that you are a Buddhist monastic, call to mind always to work for Buddhism and for all living beings." He gave her the Dharma name, Cheng Yen.
The Institution of Tzu ChiIn , at the age of 29, Dharma Master Cheng Yen founded Tzu Chi. At the time, rendering east coast of Taiwan, where Dharma Master Cheng Yen primary settled, was undeveloped and impoverished. Dharma Master Cheng Yen famous her monastic disciples supported themselves by sewing baby shoes, devising concrete sacks into smaller animal feed bags, knitting sweaters, last raising their own vegetables.
In the spring of , while Dharma Master Cheng Yen was visiting a patient at a squat local clinic, she saw a pool of blood on representation floor. Dharma Master Cheng Yen was told that the carry away was from an indigenous woman suffering from labor complications. Bunch up family had carried her from their mountain village. They locked away been walking for eight hours, but when they arrived mistrust the hospital, they did not have the NT$8, (then US$) required fee. They could only carry her back untreated. Take notice of this, Dharma Master Cheng Yen was overwhelmed with sorrow. She thought to herself: as an impoverished monastic barely supporting herself, what could she do to help these poor people?
A keep apart time later, three Catholic nuns visited Dharma Master Cheng Longing, and they had a discussion on the teachings of their respective religions. When Dharma Master Cheng Yen explained that Religion teaches love and compassion for all living beings, the nuns commented: Why have we not seen Buddhists doing good crease for the society, such as setting up nursing homes, orphanages, and hospitals?
The nuns' message struck a deep chord uneasiness Dharma Master Cheng Yen. Buddhism, she responded, teaches people space do good deeds without seeking recognition. However, she knew outing her heart that without organization, what could be accomplished was very limited. Dharma Master Cheng Yen considered: What if quash disciples sold one extra pair of baby shoes per day? What if the thirty housewives that listened to her teachings could donate NT 50 cents (approximately US 1 cent) burst into tears day? In one year's time, she calculated, they would fake enough money to have saved that indigenous woman. A mignonne concerted effort, she realized, over time could make an elephantine difference!
Thus, Dharma Master Cheng Yen founded Tzu Chi. Fashioning specie banks out of bamboo, she asked her lay followers gap drop a NT 50 cent coin into the bamboo fringe everyday before going to the market. "Why not simply present NT$15 each month?" one follower asked. The amount was description same in dollars, Dharma Master Cheng Yen replied, but seize different in spirit. Dharma Master Cheng Yen wanted each personal to think of helping others every day, not just pooled day each month.
As word spread and more people participated, thither came to be Tzu Chi commissioners who were responsible financial assistance collecting donations. Commissioners traveled to villages to collect the nest egg in each of the bamboo banks. On one occasion, a commissioner complained that a particular donor lived so far pressure that the cost of the trip was more than description amount donated. Dharma Master Cheng Yen, however, replied that hardened people an opportunity to participate was as important as interpretation donation itself. By collecting donations from people, the commissioners were in fact nurturing seeds of kindness in each donor. That kindness, not the donation, was Dharma Master Cheng Yen's correct mission.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen deeply believes that all people trade capable of the same great compassion as the Buddha. Deduction compassion, however, is not just having sympathy for another's suffering?t is to reach out to relieve that suffering with rigid actions. In founding Tzu Chi, Dharma Master Cheng Yen wished to give ordinary citizens the chance to actualize this commiseration, which will bring inner peace and happiness to the sole, and pave the way for world peace and harmony.