Tzu Chi USA names the over 14-acre property in Washougal, Washington, that it received as a donation in December 2023, the Great Love Campus. Photo/Tzu Chi USA Portland Service Center
Written by Chen Chen, Chenglin Li, Yanjuan Li, Jixin Lin, and Xiaoke Song
Based on interviews by Ting Fan and Jixin Lin
Translated by H.B. Qin
Edited by Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #75 | Winter 2024 Issue
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“I saw seeds and scattered them from my hands, forming prosperity for everyone under the same blue sky.” This quote aptly depicts Tzu Chi’s latest developments in the United States, where Tzu Chi USA’s volunteers have continually sown countless seeds of goodwill that have taken root, blossomed, and borne fruit across the nation, bringing infinite vitality to this fertile land and its people.
From 1989, the year it was established, to 2024, which marks its 35th anniversary, Tzu Chi USA has always been on the move, extending the reach of its care and services across the vast United States. This milestone year brought new developments and activities, including outreach expansion through the Great Love Campus in Washington State, the Long Island Education Center in New York, the Cambridge Outreach Center in Massachusetts, and the Chicago Outreach Center in Illinois, and the hosting of the first “tea party” introducing Master Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi in Denver, Colorado.
The Great Love Campus in Washington State
In 2023, due to declining health, Master Zhen Rong, a Buddhist nun, decided to retire and was determined to donate to Tzu Chi, a property that had served as a site for spiritual practice in Washougal, Washington. “There is a fate between Tzu Chi and Master Zhen Rong,” Stephen Huang, Executive Director of Tzu Chi Global Volunteers, said as he shared the deliberation process in deciding whether or not to accept the gift. “Firstly, whether Master Cheng Yen would accept it depended on whether or not everyone was willing to take it on, and secondly, whether it was useful or not. It’s not that we accept it and leave it there if it’s not conveniently located and it’s a long drive; it’s not practical. In Portland, Michelle Liang and the local Tzu Chi volunteers were willing to support the idea and operate the campus.”
I’m willing to donate to Tzu Chi because Tzu Chi does charity work, and I’ve been doing charity work all my life. There is truly good karma between us. Many people want to buy this property, but I said no. I want this piece of land to be given to Tzu Chi to carry forward so that it could save and benefit all beings.
Born in 1960 in Yilan County, Taiwan, Master Zhen Rong converted to Buddhism at age 23 and became a nun at 34. Having spent her early years visiting underprivileged families with Tzu Chi’s founder, Master Cheng Yen, Zhen Rong developed a love for charity endeavours. In 1998, she founded a preschool in Yilan County’s Wujie Township, serving orphans and disadvantaged children. She used her savings and loans to purchase the site, explaining how things unfolded: “I paid off my loans by making preserved vegetables, and the money I earned from recycling resources helped to raise these children. I didn’t accept any outside donations for four years.”
In 2008, fate arranged for Master Zhen Rong to go to Vancouver, Washington, where she purchased a property near a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) facility. She then began organizing Buddhist practice gatherings for TSMC employees and their families, gradually attracting more and more attendees. In 2014, she purchased a large property in Washougal, Washington, with a spectacular view at sunset, as if the light of Buddha’s wisdom was shining upon the land.
Fast forward to December 7, 2023, when Master Zhen Rong signed a letter of intent to donate the property in Washougal to Tzu Chi USA, which it named the Great Love Campus.
Stephen Huang believes the new Great Love Campus has excellent potential for future development: “This site is a relay venue in Washington State and can serve as a hub for Tzu Chi’s development between Northern California and Portland.” He also mentioned that the Campus could provide a place for nearby TSMC employees and their families to spread the Dharma in the future, further expanding Tzu Chi’s charitable and Buddhist endeavors.
On August 3, 2024, during an auspicious period in the Chinese lunar calendar, Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region’s Portland Service Center hosted a special gathering at the Great Love Campus, where Tzu Chi volunteers engaged in Buddhist practice together. The gorgeous evening sun dyed the sky with color while its glow illuminated the distant mountains. Nature’s majestic display and the sun’s brilliant light supported everyone’s contemplation and cultivation of wisdom, compassion, and great, unconditional love, which are the heart of Buddhist practice.
The Long Island Education Center in New York
When getting off the Long Island Rail Road at the station in Syosset, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York, one can see from afar a modern, crisp white building with many windows reflecting the sky. This sleek structure is the Tzu Chi Long Island Education Center, future home to the fifth Tzu Chi Great Love Preschool in the United States and a multi-purpose community cultural center. The intention is to use the Great Love Preschool as a bridge to bring high-quality bilingual early education and Tzu Chi’s distinctive humanistic teaching concepts to Long Island, while the community center provides Chinese language classes and promotes Chinese culture, such as vegetarianism and the tea ceremony.
The project, which began with a heartfelt vow in 2017 and purchase of a building, and culminated in the completion of renovations in 2023, faced some obstacles along the way, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring construction material prices. But even before that, there were other issues to address. Niki Wu, a volunteer who took on the project when serving as Director of the Long Island Branch Office, said at the time, “Now, because the front door of our building is in Nassau County, while the back door is in the Town of Oyster Bay, we need to prepare two copies of each application. The town has already approved the application, and we’re waiting for the county to approve it.”
Stephen Huang, Executive Director of Tzu Chi Global Volunteers, told her to maintain a spirit of “closing the umbrella.” His comment referred to the fact that while the center had not opened yet, it was gathering support and visitors. “Every week, we have a group of people slowly coming in and starting to make preparations,” Wu shared. “The middle area on the second floor is what we used to call the Buddha Hall, but I didn’t want it to be just a place for Buddhist practice. When I talked to Master De Yue (a Buddhist nun from the Jing Si Abode in Taiwan) about this idea, she gave me a wise suggestion, saying that it could be a hall for humanities lectures because our education center will be a place that takes on the responsibility of spreading the beauty and goodness of Tzu Chi.”
“We hope that the Education Center can be accessible to a diverse community and can attract people from different cultural backgrounds to come to us so that the Center can become a place to receive all people of goodwill,” Wu said, sharing her hopes for its future.
The year 2024 marks the final phase of this project. Through the efforts of Tzu Chi Long Island volunteers working hand in hand, step by step, the Long Island Education Center has emerged from a blueprint into a tangible reality.
The Cambridge Outreach Center in Massachusetts
“More than 20 years ago, Stephen Haung and Tzu Chi volunteers from Long Island, New York, traveled to Boston, looking for a place to set up a bookstore near Harvard University. However, all the bookstores on the street in front of Harvard had closed at that time, so the situation wasn’t good, and the timing wasn’t good enough; we couldn’t find a suitable location,” Vickie Chang, Director of Tzu Chi USA’s Boston Service Center, recalls when recounting Huang’s arrival in Boston at the time.
More than twenty years ago, I told Master Cheng Yen that there should be a Tzu Chi stronghold at Harvard.
When Huang returned to the U.S. East Coast in April 2024, he remembered his long-cherished wish and impulsively decided to go to Boston, telling Chang and the other volunteers in the city, “Maybe I’ll help you guys look for a location this time. But it doesn’t have to be a bookstore, and it doesn’t have to be purchased; it can be rented.”
Hearing of Huang’s plans, Tzu Chi USA Northeast Region Executive Director Freeman Su, who would accompany Huang on his visit to Boston on April 22, called Chang and said, “Go and find some places for us to look at, 1,000-square-foot offices.”
Usually, getting in touch with commercial real estate leasing agents can be challenging. “But on that day, the call went through, and we were able to find a couple of places to look at very quickly, and when Stephen Huang saw this one, he said, ‘This is the one!’ The location was excellent, at the Central Square Station, the subway station between Harvard and MIT,” Chang recalls, the outcome indicating that destiny was on their side. “The Cambridge Outreach Center was born in one day; the karma is incredible.”
Huang had not forgotten the idea of promoting Tzu Chi in the Boston area, a place of higher education and academia, and now has great expectations for Tzu Chi volunteers here: “I later learned about Yung Chi Sung’s background, that he is an associate professor in the online educational psychology program at the University of Maryland. His home is an eight-minute walk away, he’s not married, he’s 50 years old, and his mom and dad are both teachers, making him a descendant of scholars. I asked him if he wanted to help run the Cambridge stronghold, and he said, ‘Yes,’ and other volunteers in Boston were also interested, so I leased it.”
“The lease term is three years,” Huang continued. “Although it is only a little over 1,000 square feet, I took a fancy to it; it’s between Harvard and MIT, and across the street is an H Mart store, where Asian students go to shop for groceries. It’s a great location and will definitely attract many students.”
On April 22, 2024, Huang finally fulfilled his 20-year-long cherished dream of creating a Tzu Chi foothold in the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area. With his full support, the Cambridge Outreach Center came into being. Cambridge is directly across the Charles River from Boston, and the two cities share a vibrant student population. Because of the Center’s prime location, “We can serve many students. We’ve already had a few events before we even opened,” said Vickie Chang.
Stephen Huang has a forward-looking vision for Tzu Chi USA’s development in the Boston area: “There are so many schools and students in Boston, and I was very concerned about it back then. Now that Tzu Chi already has an office in Chinatown and a home in Newton, we can use the Cambridge Outreach Center to attract international visitors and university students and then go to Newton to organize activities. I have great expectations for Boston, and I hope we can establish another office in the future.”
The Chicago Outreach Center in Illinois
The Tzu Chi USA Midwest Region started participating in Chicago’s Chinatown Summer Fair as early as 1996. Tzu Chi volunteers set up booths for charity sales at the event and advocated bone marrow donation. After Amy Hsieh took charge as the Midwest Region’s former Executive Director, the team organized Chinese New Year Blessings, free clinics and physical checkups, casework care, and the promotion of Master Cheng Yen’s Jing Si Aphorisms.
The Midwest Region set up a temporary office in a leased space in Chinatown in 2011, calling it the Chicago Chinatown Office. In 2018, the Region purchased its own office space. The premises are in the third building past Chicago’s landmark Chinatown Gate that bears the inscription “The world belongs to the people.” Chong Hsieh, the Midwest Region’s current Executive Director, is confident that the new office will become an important hub for Tzu Chi’s expansion.
“The location is ideal,” Hsieh says. “It’s only a five minute walk from the subway station, has convenient transportation, and has bus stops all over the neighborhood, making it very convenient, especially for our older volunteers.”
If you come to Chicago, Chinatown is a must-visit place. So strategically, Tzu Chi now has a very important stronghold, and we can spread the Dharma from here.
Renovations are underway at the new location, and after their completion, the premises will be a place for the Tzu Chi family in Chicago to offer its care and shine, supporting the Midwest Region as it sets sail towards new horizons, and leads Tzu Chi volunteers toward new opportunities for spreading their love and care.
“The section adjacent to the street on the first floor will be a beautiful, modern Jing Si Bookstore; the kitchen will be further inside,” Amy Hsieh says, describing what’s to come. “The second floor is entirely for education, with a conference room and four multi-purpose classrooms. The third floor will have a space for Buddhist practice, with the front section as an office. And on the fourth floor, there’s space for a medical clinic and two more rooms. The total building area is more than 9,300 square feet. There is an elevator inside. It will be a grand Tzu Chi location when completed.”
Given these changes, in 2024, the Midwest Region renamed the Chicago Chinatown Office as the Chicago Outreach Center, removing “Chinatown” from the name, since its scope of service aims to extend far beyond. “In the future, we will not only focus on Chinatown. The Tzu Chi Chicago Outreach Center’s goal is to align with the mainstream,” Chong Hsieh says as he looks forward to expanding the Region’s reach of care.
Introducing Tzu Chi in Denver, Colorado
As the speed of the airplane accelerated, the runway quickly shortened under his feet, the nose of the plane slightly raised. When Haoming Xu pulled the stick, the plane instantly left the ground, the blue sky unfolded in front of his eyes, and the clouds were like a white velvet carpet. Soaring in the sky is one of Xu’s cherished memories from when he was an Air Force pilot.
Xu, from Penghu, Taiwan, comes from an underprivileged family. More than ten years ago, after his father suffered a paralyzing stroke, Xu enrolled in a tuition-free military preparatory school in order to alleviate his family’s financial burdens. With his excellent grades, he was granted a government-funded study-abroad fellowship by the U.S. Air Force Academy, which only selects three people in Taiwan every four years to study in the United States.
As an Air Force overseas student, Xu spent four intense and fulfilling years at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. When he was about to graduate in 2024, his mother and grandmother, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, came to the U.S. to participate in his graduation ceremony, as they all looked forward to the bright future he would have when he returned to Taiwan.
However, a car accident on May 25 brought everything to an abrupt halt. Xu’s mother and grandmother suffered serious injuries, and his grandmother even stopped breathing at one point. After emergency surgery, both were paralyzed from the neck down, unable to eat, and had to rely on intubation to maintain their life.
“On June 9, I was notified by Tzu Chi USA National Headquarters that there was a car accident in Denver, and we needed to go there to care for the survivors,” Tsuilin Valenzuela, Tzu Chi USA Las Vegas Service Center Director, remembers. When hearing the news, Valenzuela and Sam Yang, Tzu Chi USA National Headquarters Charity Development Department Director, immediately bought plane tickets and rushed to Denver, Colorado, from their respective cities.
After Valenzuela arrived at the hospital, the scene in front of her was heartbreaking: “His mother had already woken up, but she couldn’t speak because of the devices. She opened her eyes and was very anxious about what was going on. ‘Why can’t I move my arms and legs?’ He explained to his mother, ‘We’ve been in a car accident, we’re in the hospital…’ He always encouraged her with a smile on his face, ‘Mom, you must be brave. You’re doing great, you’re making progress.’ But then, when he turned around and faced the window, he started to cry, and the tears just kept falling.”
At that time, Chinese people from all over the world were offering to help, and there were many individuals and organizations who generously offered donations. “But because he was the one who drove the car, he felt guilty; all this pain was weighing on a child in his early twenties,” Valenzuela said. With 17 years of clinical experience in children’s intensive care units, she understands the despair and helplessness of a person who has gone through a significant life change and the deep sense of self-blame and guilt that can completely crush them in the aftermath in some cases.
However, Valenzuela had even more experience and skills to offer in the midst of this tragic situation: “I’m a nurse in an intensive care unit. I’m very familiar with all the hospital equipment and the doctors’ discussions. This gave Xu a great deal of stability, and I was by his side, giving him the strength to stabilize.”
Valenzuela volunteered to fly to reach Xu and accompany him at this distressing time. The trip would have taken two hours by plane, but by car, it would take more than 11 hours to travel from Las Vegas to Denver. She also wondered if there were any Tzu Chi volunteers in the Denver area, as they could respond more directly and quickly to help this family in need. Alas, Tzu Chi has not been present in Denver yet.
I felt that I have a great responsibility, and I would be very honored if this would lead to a contact point in Denver.
Little did she know that her heartfelt wish would coincide with karma simultaneously and in another corner.
That June in 2024, Yanwen Guo, who had been living in Denver for many years, returned to Taipei to visit her family with her young son. Guo’s sister is a Tzu Chi volunteer in Taiwan. Accompanied by her family, Guo participated in a Tzu Chi activity in Taiwan, where she met Debra Bourdeaux, the CEO of Tzu Chi USA, and learned that there are about 60 to 70 Tzu Chi members in Denver. However, Tzu Chi still had no solid point of contact there. “The CEO hoped that there would be a chance to gather the old generation of Tzu Chi members in Denver and organize a tea party. I said, ‘If you want to have a tea party, my home is fine.’”
Once Guo returned to the United States, she prepared earnestly for that tea party in Denver discussed in Taiwan. However, one person’s strength is too small. Volunteers from Las Vegas gave their full support. Valenzuela said, “Tzu Chi Las Vegas has been planting seeds, taking root, and walking through the past 22 years in the company of our fellow volunteers in other regions. I feel that it’s time for us to give something back and take care of another seedling, so shouldn’t we step forward?”
The entire process of organizing the tea party was led by Las Vegas volunteer Darong Yang. “We had a couple of Zoom meetings, and we wrote down the process of the tea party and put it in a chat group for everyone to discuss. It was decided that Yihua Guo, a skilled cook, would be in charge of the vegetarian cuisine on the day of the tea party,” Yang recounts. “Guo and her husband traveled to Denver a few days in advance, and they worked out the menu and went shopping. The day before the tea party, the others went to set up the venue. Tzu Chi USA’s Culture and Communications Department designed a poster in English and Chinese. There was also a friend who promoted the Jing Si Tea Ceremony.”
A few days later, Yanwen Guo was very excited when she got the poster for the upcoming tea party in her home. She hoped that this good karma could reach more people: “I sent it to a few Chinese people I know who have a calling in the area and asked them to help send it out. Then I printed it out and put it up in Asian supermarkets as well.”
On September 22, Tzu Chi USA held its first tea party in Denver, introducing Master Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi. In the early morning on this autumn rainy day, with the backdrop of Rocky Mountains bathed in brilliant color due to the cover of trees whose leaves had already changed from emerald green to brilliant golden shades of red and orange, the doorbell of Yanwen Guo’s house kept ringing, as people arrived one after another despite the weather.
By the time the gathering officially began, guests filled the living room, where the aroma of tea was in the air, and various exquisite vegetarian dishes, such as steamed spring rolls, braised eggplant, and stir-fried mushrooms, were ready to be enjoyed in the kitchen after the Jing Si Tea Ceremony. The volunteers introduced Tzu Chi’s four core missions individually, each segment concise and touching. The sound of rain outside was still there, yet it didn’t dampen the mood inside the house, which was bright. Everyone enjoyed the tea ceremony that was part of the gathering as they listened to stories that revealed the warmth and power of love and compassion at the core of Tzu Chi’s philosophy and its impact.
“I wish there was a Tzu Chi chapter in Denver!” Trendy Wang, who brought her two daughters to the tea party, exclaimed. Wang had been a Tzu Chi youth volunteer in Southern California and traveled to the Jing Si Abode in Hualian, Tzu Chi’s global headquarters, for camps. “If there were a Tzu Chi in Denver, my two daughters could participate in Tzu Chi’s Youth Group program. I used to be a Tzu Collegiate Association member, and I had a lot of rewarding experiences. I hope that my two daughters will also have the opportunity to be baptized by Tzu Chi.”
My husband, a non-Asian American, knew absolutely nothing about Tzu Chi. Through the brief introduction at the tea party that day, he admired Tzu Chi and Tzu Chi USA CEO Debra Boudreaux. In the future, we may organize a tea party once every two or three months so that we can listen to the stories of volunteers and see if there is a chance to unite the strength of Tzu Chi in Denver.
Yanwen Guo is looking forward to the future and, through recurring tea parties, Tzu Chi’s evolving presence in Denver. Tsui Lin Valenzuela also has a plan for the future of Tzu Chi here: “On the one hand, Denver is a beautiful city with a lot of affluent people, so we’re going to promote vegetarianism; on the other hand, in recent years, there has been an influx of Venezuelan migrants in Denver so Tzu Chi can help them.”
In Colorado, snow typically covers the peaks of distant mountains. The majestic beauty of snow-covered mountains lies in their lofty, pristine grandeur, calling to mind integrity and tranquility, the purity of such places ripe with infinite possibility and vitality. By reaching out to the community in Denver, Tzu Chi volunteers aspire to sow potent seeds of unconditional love and care here. By the time spring comes next year, the perfect and beautiful snow lotus they are cultivating may have bloomed quietly, humble yet magnificent in the blessings it will convey to those in need.
Spanning the United States from the West Coast to the East, Tzu Chi USA’s latest expansion developments in Washington State, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts have a heartfelt purpose, which is to deliver assistance and uplift hope while inviting others to engage in good deeds and practice putting compassion into action, for the benefit of all, equally. More developments over the decades to come will surely manifest, as well.
