serving with compassion

the word ‘tzu chi’ which is in chinese means ‘serving with compassion’ or ‘compassionate relief’.

when the tsunami disaster occured in penang, one of the earliest group to be at the scene of the disaster and also at hospitals is the buddhist tzu chi merit society. they were at the scenes to offer the surviving victims food and drinks and at the hospitals (morgue) to console grieving families and relatives.

well known as just tzu chi, i had great admiration and high respect for them. after a disaster, they would always be the first to be there, to offer the victims help in form of food or consoling. i remember long ago, the great fire at some area around beach street, just hours after the fire happened, tzu chi members were there at the relief centre, armed with pots and pans to cook food for the victims, and they also bought along clothes, mattesses and pillows.

tzu chi would help everyone, irregardless of race or religion. i remember 2 days ago reading about this news of the fisherman not getting aid yet in this malay fishing village in kuala muda, kedah. one of them was saying, the fisherman association only give aid to their members but “the buddhist gave aid to us even i’m not their member.”

not to long ago, they had started a street collection drive. i did not personally run into them but my sister did, and she told me that these tzu chi members were so polite. there were 4 of them, one holding the donation box, one holding the tsunami poster, and 2 others presumably doing the requesting of donations. it seemed that whenever someone put in some donations, all 4 of them would bowed to that person at the same time saying thank you. and they say thank you in all the 4 languages too, depending on who gave. if it was a malay, they would say ‘terima kasih’ and bowed; if indian, they would say ‘nendri’ and bowed.

since i admire them so much, i decided to google tzu chi and come out with more than 120,000 hits! tzu chi in malaysia has its own website but it is in chinese.

you can read a brief history of tzu chi here. it was started in 1966 by a nun in taiwan. presently it has branches in more then 50 countries, including many in the US. it’s interesting to note of tzu chi’s missions and ‘footprints’ which are as follows:

Four Major Missions:
1. Charity
2. Medicine
3. Education
4. Culture

Eight Footprints:
1. Charity
2. Medicine
3. Education
4. Culture
5. Bone Marrow Donation
6. International Relief
7. Community Volunteers
8. Environment Protection

tzu chi’s works in malaysia for the tsunami victims were mentioned in a press relese, released on the web here.

it seems that tzu chi is mentioned in the online encyclopedia too.

my salute goes to all the members of tzu chi for their dedication in wanting to serve those affected by misfortune with such compassion. god will bless you abundantly for your wonderful works.