TZU CHI USA JOURNAL

“Trees as Teachers,” Sheila Kennedy, Professor of the Practice of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explored how trees can guide an architecture rooted in the interconnection between the health of the natural world and human well-being. Bringing ancient arboreal wisdom into conversation with contemporary design, digital tools, climate urgency, and forest ecology, Kennedy grounded the inquiry in Buddhist tradition, noting that trees appear in early Buddhist art before figural representations of the Buddha. Moreover, the Buddha’s life unfolded in forests and beneath trees, most famously beneath the Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi Temple in India, where he attained enlightenment.

“What does Buddhism have to do with design?” asked Eugene Y. Wang, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art at Harvard University and Founder and Director of the Cognitive Aesthetic Media Lab (CAMLab) at Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, as he opened his keynote address, “Design After Buddhism: Back to Future,” during the 2026 Tzu Chi Global Symposium for Common Goodness. Held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from May 7 to 9, the gathering, co-hosted by the Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation and CAMLab, had already explored how Buddhist teachings move from philosophy and scripture into lived practice, how the thought of Tzu Chi founder Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen shapes its humanitarian action, and how the Bodhisattva path can respond to the needs of the contemporary world.

Opening the panel, Pei-Ying Lin, Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies at Chengchi University in Taiwan, explored the ethical structures that allow compassion to become durable across cultures and communities.

At the heart of Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s teachings, and the Tzu Chi School of Buddhism and Jing Si Dharma Lineage she established, ancient Buddhist teachings are not only studied or recited, but applied through active service that relieves suffering, protects the environment, and responds to the needs of our time.

William A. McGrath, Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies at New York University, opened the symposium’s consideration of health and care by turning to two paradigmatic Buddhist physicians, Jīvaka Kaumārabhṛtya and Yutok Yönten Gönpo the Elder.

Presented in a video message that opened the 2026 Tzu Chi Global Symposium for Common Goodness at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s words offered more than a greeting.

Journey to Enlightenment’s expansive, layered vision required an intricate process of research, design, and production, beginning with an assessment of the Buddhist sites and artifacts it draws from.

On May 9, Journey to Enlightenment: A Multimedia Exhibition on Buddhist Cultural Heritage opened at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the 2026 Tzu Chi Global Symposium for Common Goodness.

Emerging from those early efforts, the first Tzu Chi Academy in the U.S. was officially established on April 1, 1994. Over the past 30 years, what started as one school has grown into a nationwide network of 26 academies, bringing together thousands of students, parents, and volunteers in a shared educational community.

On the morning of April 5, 2025, a slight chill hung in the air in Chicago, Illinois, and the community thrummed with anticipation. Police cars had already blocked off West 23rd Street in Chicago’s Chinatown, waiting for the celebration to begin. It wasn’t long, however, before the sound of gongs and drums rang out, and two dancing lions “chewed up” lettuce, oranges, and green onions one by one, signifying good luck, auspiciousness, and wisdom in turn. Tzu Chi USA’s new Chicago Service Center would soon open its doors.