Extending Love to America: Tzu Chi USA Marks 35 Years of Service
Written by Hsienjui Ho and Ida Eva Zielinska
Based on interviews by Ting Fan
Chinese translation by H.B. Qin
Published #75 | Winter 2024 Issue
The first overseas Jing Si Hall in the United States officially opens at 1000 Garfield Avenue in Alhambra, California, on December 9, 1989. Master Yin Hai of the B.O.C.A Dharma Seal Temple (back row middle) is invited to open the hall. Beside him are Master Chao Chu of the Mystic Dharma Temple (fourth left) and Master Chao Ting of the Guan Yin Zen Monastery (fourth right). Also in the back row are Shumei Kao Lin (left), Lichin Li (second left), Ihsiang Huang (third left), Stephen Huang (third right), and Chingchun Li (second right). In the front row are Weifeng Chang (left), Hsiuyun Yang (second left), Yuyeh Wan (third right), Hsiuyun Tsai (second right), and Chunchang Chen (right). Photo/Tzu Chi USA National Headquarters
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In December 2019, when Tzu Chi USA was celebrating 30 years of service, Master Cheng Yen addressed everyone at a gathering in Taiwan, including senior Tzu Chi USA volunteers who had come there for the occasion. Looking across the stage, she acknowledged how each had contributed to establishing Tzu Chi in the United States.
How did Tzu Chi rise in the beginning? Look at the senior Bodhisattvas standing on the stage! Although it’s in the past, it is still fresh in my mind.
The first one is that couple, Ching Nien and Ssu Yuan, who brought out our Silicon Valley Grandma. So from there, they spread love from Northern to Southern California, just like that.
Then, there was Tzu Hsi, who had to accompany her child to the U.S. to study. The child was still young, and I was at Jilin Road [Taipei Chapter], and she came to tell me that she was going to accompany her child to the United States when the child was still so young.
She made a vow to me that she would not only accompany her child to the U.S. to study, but she would also bring the seeds of the Tzu Chi spirit to the United States. Sure enough, when she arrived, she put a plaque in her house, in her living room, the ‘Si Yan’ Abode. That means ‘longing for Master Cheng Yen’…
Then Ssu Hsien met with Tzu Hsi after a long time. From there, something was built from nothing. Brought out in a few, what is always needed is a single thought: That one thought is a seed …
The year 2024 marks Tzu Chi USA’s 35th anniversary of service. With three and a half decades behind them, Tzu Chi volunteers in the United States can definitively say that time flies, yet love will abide through all the ups and downs if deeply rooted. When they think of love, it’s unconditional great love towards all equally: It’s the remarkable example set by Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen, Tzu Chi’s founder, that they have in their hearts and minds.
Master Cheng Yen established the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (initially called the Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Association, with the mission of charity) in 1966 in Hualien, Taiwan. Yet, in her understanding of Buddhist wisdom, we are all responsible for the world’s well-being. Therefore, we should each cultivate compassion and strive to help others selflessly. This message of love and care for all is central to her teachings.
Another principle Master Cheng Yen values is self-sufficiency. Therefore, she and her monastic disciples follow a “No Work, No Meal” rule and support themselves through various activities rather than relying on alms as Buddhist monks typically do. Tzu Chi’s method of funding charity is also unique, as it inspires those who receive help to help others, initiating a cycle of love. Master Cheng Yen encourages everyone to continually awaken their heart by making the act of giving, no matter the amount, a daily practice.
From supporting individual charity cases in the first two years, Tzu Chi launched winter aid distributions in 1969, established a free clinic in 1972, and began disaster relief efforts the following year. Moreover, Master Cheng Yen was never limited in her vision of what was possible. In 1979, she formally announced a fundraising campaign to build a 600-bed hospital: seemingly an impossible dream. With support coming from near and far, a Tzu Chi Hospital started operations in Hualien in 1986, marking the official start of Tzu Chi’s medical mission.
Master Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi’s evolving humanitarian aid efforts attracted attention in Taiwan and beyond. Among those whose interest was piqued was Lichin Li (Dharma name: Ching Nien), who lived in Sacramento, California, and would bring the first Tzu Chi seed to the United States.
Seeking the Root and Planting the First Seeds
In 1979, Lichin Li learned from a report in the Tzu Chi World Journal that there was a Buddhist master in Hualien who was self-reliant. Curious and full of admiration, she took the opportunity of her return to Taiwan and asked a friend to help her arrange a trip to Hualien to meet with Master Cheng Yen.
As fate would have it, Li officially became Master Cheng Yen’s disciple. As she took refuge, a Buddhist ceremony marking one’s commitment to follow the Buddhist path, during which one receives a Dharma name, Li noticed two portraits in Master Cheng Yen’s study, one of Master Yin Shun and the other of Master Ching Nien. When Master Cheng Yen gave her the Dharma name “Ching Nien,” she looked up and saw the word “Nien” in the name of Master Ching Nien and felt a sense of mission in her heart.
In 1983, Li returned to Hualien with her husband, Ihsiang Huang (Dharma name: Ssu Yuan), and daughter, Shihhan Huang (Dharma name: Yang I), to participate in the 17th Anniversary of the Lotus Seven-Day Amitabha Retreat. After participating in seven days of Buddhist practice, Huang also took refuge with Master Cheng Yen and expressed his wish to promote Tzu Chi’s work in the U.S. and contribute to the fundraising campaign to build the first Tzu Chi hospital in Taiwan.
After returning home, the couple began to plan the establishment of a Tzu Chi chapter in the United States. The coffee shop Li owned was on the first floor of an office building, where there was a law firm on the second floor, and IBM used the floors above. One day, when Li was talking in her coffee shop about Tzu Chi’s application for the incorporation of a non-profit organization, a paralegal overheard and told a lawyer from the firm above about it.
Thanks to the paralegal’s kind intervention, Kenneth Mennemeier offered to help Li and Huang by handling all the formalities on their behalf. To complete the application for incorporation, Feng Feng, a Taiwanese writer who was residing in Canada, helped to translate The Tzu Chi World of Master Cheng Yen, a book written by Huichien Chen, into English. After all the documents were assembled and completed, the application was submitted to the State of California in 1983.
That same year, Hsiuyun Tsai (Dharma name: Tzu Hsi) went to Taiwan from Los Angeles to hear Master Cheng Yen speak about the Sutra of the Vows of the Medicine Buddha at the Jilin Road Taipei Chapter. “Master Cheng Yen reminded us that someone was also doing Tzu Chi work in the U.S.,” Tsai recounts. Consequently, when she returned there, she contacted Lichin Li.
On November 20, 1984, the California State Government approved the incorporation application Li and Huang had submitted. A few weeks later, on January 21, 1985, the Buddhist Tzu-Chi Association of America was officially established with Huang as its president and the nonprofit corporation’s base in the couple’s home in Citrus Heights, Sacramento, in Northern California.
A few years later, in 1988, Hsiuyun Tsai established the Tzu Chi Temple City Service Center in her home in Temple City, in Los Angeles County, and named it Si Yan Abode. Through this initiative, Tsai planted another significant Tzu Chi seed in the United States: this time, in Southern California.
In 1989, Lichin Li and Ihsiang Huang moved their family to Southern California for work. Their home in Sacramento, where the Buddhist Tzu-Chi Association of America was registered, had become overwhelmed by the growing number of meetings and Tzu Chi members by then. They hoped the move might bring new expansion opportunities.
Indeed, the change of environment would, as someone new was about to join the team effort to firmly plant Tzu Chi in the United States: Stephen Huang (Dharma Name: Ssu Hsien). And it would be Hsiuyun Tsai who first introduced Tzu Chi to this wealthy Taiwanese-born businessman.
A Yellow Booklet
“Hsiuyun Tsai kindly sent me a yellow booklet titled The Tzu Chi World of Master Cheng Yen, written by Huichien Chen. He included in that booklet the reasons for Master’s becoming a Buddhist monastic, the various aspects of Tzu Chi, the little bits and pieces, as well as the process of building the hospital,” Stephen Huang remembers. “This was my first contact with Tzu Chi. At that time, I had immigrated to the United States more than 20 years ago, and I had never heard of this Master, nor had I heard of this organization, so I was quite curious.”
Upon reading the booklet, I discovered that this Dharma Master was very different from the ones that I had known previously. First, she supports herself with her own labor. Secondly, she has built a hospital. That really impressed me.
Huang also learned that Master Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi would be building a nursing school next. He realized that through her many and continuing good deeds, Master Cheng Yen “had a special karma for being a Buddhist.” Reflecting back, Huang says, “I was also very impressed by some of the things she said, such as: ‘In this world, there is no one I don’t love, there is no one I don’t trust, there is no one I don’t forgive. I don’t fight, I don’t ask for anything…’ This is not an ordinary person at all, and that’s why I was particularly curious about her.”
An early Tzu Chi USA member, Meihua Sun (Dharma name: Tzu I), who is currently Tzu Chi USA National Headquarters Treasurer, recalls an interesting incident before Huang met Master Cheng Yen: “One time, Stephen Huang said that he would like to go back to Taiwan to meet Master sometime. Stephen said he would take two checks with him, one for one million and the other for 100,000. If Master was good, he would donate the one million check; if he thought Master was mediocre, he would donate the 100,000 check. He didn’t expect to donate both checks after meeting Master!”
Apart from interest in Tzu Chi and Buddhism, Huang also yearned to meet Master Cheng Yen for personal reasons, as he explains: “My older brother was seriously ill, and my sister-in-law and I were looking for doctors for him, looking for answers from various religions. At that time, I was quite superstitious, and I had a lot of questions, difficulties, and even troubles in my mind when faced with life. The main reason was that I saw that there was no hope for my brother, so I wanted to find the answer to this important question of life and death.”
Reflecting on the causes that led to his involvement in Tzu Chi, which would change his life, Haung says, “I believe that subjectively, it was my older brother’s destiny, and objectively, it was Hsiuyun Tsai introducing me to Master and Tzu Chi; at the very beginning, these internal and external causes made it possible.”
Soon after, Huang returned to Taiwan to attend his brother’s funeral and, through Tsai’s kind arrangement, met Master Cheng Yen for the first time in April 1989. The encounter marked an irreversible turning point for him. Face-to-face with a gentle Buddhist nun who had created a powerful organization yet maintained a humble and selfless lifestyle, Huang was so filled with awe and admiration that he became a disciple a few days later and vowed to go back to the United States to find an office for the Tzu Chi chapter there.
Setting this grand goal, Huang expected to receive some monetary or human resource support. However, he was mistaken, as Master Cheng Yen gave him unexpected instructions in a few succinct words, as he now fondly and gratefully recalls…
“Be Self-Sufficient and Utilize Local Resources Wisely”
In the same way as Master Cheng Yen and her monastic disciples are self-reliant, she advises those aiming to establish new Tzu Chi chapters to follow the same principle, and this is the guidance she gave to Stephen Huang, in eight words: “Be self-sufficient and utilize local resources wisely.”
Somewhat taken aback but not undaunted, he returned to the U.S. and followed Master’s advice. The first order of business was to purchase a building to serve as an office and gathering place for volunteers.
On December 9, 1989, Stephen Huang purchased a property at 1000 South Garfield Avenue in Alhambra, California, and donated it to the Tzu Chi chapter in the United States. The team transferred the original registered address from the former residence of Ihsiang Huang and Lichin Li in Sacramento to the Alhambra location, which Master Cheng Yen declared as the first Jing Si Hall in the United States, and the Tzu Chi U.S. chapter had its first public office, from which its services could expand.
Next came the effort of introducing Tzu Chi to those who didn’t know about Master Cheng Yen and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation to garner more volunteers and financial supporters of the missions. One tactic was hosting “tea parties” where Tzu Chi volunteers could share their thoughts, experiences, and joy of volunteering with each other and newcomers who had heard about the organization and came to learn more. The events drew supporters and quickly inspired the creation of additional chapters.
On December 5, 1992, Tehsuan Li and Juichu Chien host a tea party at their home, with more than 200 people attending. Photo/Courtesy of Juichu Chien
Before the advent of email, the volunteers made numerous phone calls and sent faxes from where they set up a base, all aiming to invite more people to gatherings where they could introduce Master Cheng Yen, Tzu Chi, and its missions.
If we couldn't reach people by phone, we would use a fax machine. So we needed a fax machine, a tape recorder, and a projector in every office.
Teams also flew across the United States to attend events, crisscrossing the nation to spread the word about Tzu Chi. “We would leave home early and return late; We would go wherever we were needed,” Stephen Huang and the Tzu Chi volunteers who were the pioneers in planting Tzu Chi’s spirit remember. During the visits to various locations, they showed movies and distributed audiotape cassettes.
Audiotape was very important, especially when there were stories that could touch people. We would record everything ourselves and then make copies afterward. Each time, we would make about 40 copies and mail them to all the Tzu Chi USA chapters.
Huang further supported the effort by paying for newspaper articles and radio and TV ads. Gradually, those combined efforts paid off. Beginning in 1991, Tzu Chi USA founded and delineated nine service regions with several offices and service centers, and in 2001, it officially established its national headquarters in San Dimas, California. The campus in San Dimas is considered a spiritual home for all Tzu Chi USA volunteers, who gather there for special occasions as they arise.
Independent Yet Intertwined
While the reach of Tzu Chi USA’s aid nationwide has broadened over 35 years, as we now have 63 service centers or offices in the United States, each adding a new arm to the care offered, the scope of activities and capacity to deliver them are growing alongside. Therefore, Tzu Chi USA’s charity aid is ever-expanding.
The schools and educational programs Tzu Chi USA established in the United States are thriving. From one community clinic, Tzu Chi USA now operates three Health Centers accredited as Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alikes. The medical mission also operates a Tzu Chi Mobile Clinics fleet offering vision, dental, Western Medicine, and cancer-screening services.
On the disaster relief front, while it was an unknown organization as it provided aid via checks to those affected by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, today, Tzu Chi USA offers immediately beneficial cash cards and works within mainstream relief circles. Tzu Chi is a recognized and award-winning National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) member, collaborating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross, and other partners.
At the same time, the United Nations System and other global and national spaces where INGOs and NGOs collaborate to share resources, experiences, and expertise now recognize the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation and Tzu Chi USA. The Foundation’s representatives engage in international dialogue, introduce its organizational and programmatic capacity and message of universal compassion, and showcase Tzu Chi volunteers’ spirit, innovation, and know-how.
On this 35th anniversary, all Tzu Chi USA volunteers look back at their accomplishments with gratitude. Tzu Chi USA will continue to grow over the following decades, expanding its capacity to serve those in need with love and care. Read about some of Tzu Chi USA’s Latest Expansion Developments and how they came about in our feature story.
