Planting Seeds of Transformation: Tzu Chi’s Presence in India
Where Master Cheng Yen’s Heart Leads, Action Follows
Written by Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #77 | Summer 2025 Issue
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On January 26, 2001, a devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Gujarat, with the Kutch District bearing the brunt of the disaster. The earthquake resulted in approximately 20,000 fatalities and left around 600,000 people homeless. In response, Tzu Chi, in partnership with CARE France, constructed 227 permanent Great Love Houses for families who had lost their homes in Kotda, a village in Kutch District, marking Tzu Chi’s first humanitarian project in India.
The next mission was assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020. As India’s health system became overwhelmed, heartbreaking scenes from across the country, captured in news footage, drew global attention to the scale of the unfolding catastrophe. A 2022 study published in The Lancet identified India as the hardest-hit country in the world in absolute numbers of COVID-19-related deaths.
“Look at India! I don’t know how to describe the crisis people are going through, a situation filled with so much misery, sorrow, and suffering. We must quickly offer our assistance without being asked,” Master Cheng Yen urged Tzu Chi volunteers in her daily Life Wisdom address on May 3, 2021.
By then, Tzu Chi had already been providing pandemic relief in India for over a year. Although the Foundation did not have a branch office there at the time, and volunteers did not travel in person, it collaborated remotely with over 300 organizations across the country to donate personal protective supplies, medical equipment, and food packages to those in need. With the help of these partners, Tzu Chi’s aid reached 100,000 families by the end of October 2020.
Responding to a Child’s Suffering
Through these early aid efforts, Tzu Chi established a recognizable presence in India, attracting local volunteers – some of whom would play a crucial part in a touching mission launched in 2022, thanks to Master Cheng Yen’s close observation of video captured and shared by Tzu Chi volunteers.
That year, a Tzu Chi Taiwan team documented several significant sites from the Buddha’s life for use in a musical adaptation of a Buddhist sutra. These locations included Saptaparni Cave, situated on Vaibhava Hill in Rajgir, Bihar, where the Buddha spent time before his death. Seeing the footage, Master Cheng Yen’s heart was drawn to a young boy with a severely swollen abdomen. Moved by the sight of this suffering child, she urged volunteers to find and assist him.
Tzu Chi volunteer Abhishek Kumar, based in Rajgir, undertook the task of finding the boy. After searching through multiple villages, on June 14, 2022, he located 9-year-old Sandeep Kumar in Badrepool, a community nestled at the base of Vaibhava Hill. Like many in the Rajgir area, it is home to members of India’s Scheduled Castes, including Dalits. There, Sandeep lived with his parents and seven siblings, enduring significant health challenges due to his condition.
Sandeep’s parents had previously sought medical attention for him, but were unable to afford the recommended treatment and feared its risks. Recognizing the urgency, Abhishek, along with fellow volunteer Vivek Kumar from Bodh Gaya, facilitated medical evaluations for Sandeep. Consultations with specialists, including several from Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, revealed that his distended abdomen was due to a urological condition causing severe urine accumulation.
In July 2022, Abhishek and Vivek accompanied Sandeep and his parents on a 20-hour, 700-mile journey to a hospital in New Delhi. There, the boy underwent critical surgery, during which nearly two gallons of urine were drained from his abdomen. Unfortunately, due to prolonged compression, Sandeep’s left kidney had lost functionality and was subsequently removed in a follow-up surgery in August.
Since then, Sandeep’s health has improved markedly. When a Tzu Chi team visited a year later, in August 2023, they found that he had regained physical strength and was enrolled in a government school. “Our boy is well after treatment in New Delhi. We are very happy, and my heart is full of joy,” his father said. “We’re truly grateful for everyone’s care and support for Sandeep,” his mother added. “Please convey our thanks to Master Cheng Yen.”
As for Tzu Chi volunteers Abhishek Kumar and Vivek Kumar, the experience deepened their dedication to service. “I can’t believe we can save this little boy together,” Abhishek shared with grateful wonder. The two first met in 2013 while studying Chinese in New Delhi. Nine years later, Tzu Chi had reunited them for this mission of compassion.
In November 2022, Abhishek and Vivek traveled to Hualien, Taiwan, where they formally joined the Tzu Chi path through volunteer training toward certification. That month, Tzu Chi also officially registered as a nonprofit organization in India, paving the way for the two Indian volunteers to have increased opportunities to serve those in need.
Setting up a Permanent Base in India
In 2023, while on a pilgrimage retracing the Buddha’s footsteps to sacred sites where he meditated or practiced asceticism, Tzu Chi volunteers visited several villages in Gaya District, Bihar, and discovered significant local needs. These exploratory visits culminated in the establishment of an office in the city of Bodh Gaya on September 13 – Tzu Chi’s first office in India.
By then, some volunteers from Malaysia and Singapore had already been stationed in Bodh Gaya since March, launching projects in the city and its surrounding villages. As always, these initiatives uphold the Foundation’s core missions of medicine, charity, education, and humanistic culture, just as they do in other countries around the world.
