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.

Across continents and coastlines, Tzu Chi volunteers and community members joined hands and hearts beneath one shared spring sky on May 10, 2026, to celebrate Buddha Day, Mother’s Day, and Global Tzu Chi Day.

At Tzu Chi offices from California to New York, participants breathed in the scent of fresh flowers placed upon altars, hands together in prayer as thousands of miles away in Taiwan, the same aspirations for peace and unconditional compassion rose into the air.
Through synchronized ceremonies, and joined by Tzu Chi’s founder, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, from the Jing Si Abode in Hualien, communities bridged oceans in shared reflection.

John Fell, a retired captain with the City of Chico Fire Department, spoke with the levelheaded, approachable demeanor of someone who had spent decades serving others on the front lines.

Growing Into Leadership: Tzu Chi Academy Alumni Stories Written by Jiali Liu Translated by H.B. Qin Edited by Ida Eva Zielinska Published #80 | Spring