Summary

The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, founded in 1966 by the Taiwanese bhikkhunī Shih Cheng Yen, is a global humanitarian nongovernmental organization (NGO). Tzu Chi Foundation USA is in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ECOSOC). Tzu Chi’s “Four Missions and Eight Footprints” comprise formidable phalanxes of volunteers and professionals in the fields of charity, relief, medicine, education, and cultural production as well as international relief, bone marrow donation, community volunteerism, and environmental protection. As of 2021, Tzu Chi has provided humanitarian aid to people in 122 countries and regions. There are Tzu Chi volunteers in sixty-six countries and regions across the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and South America as well as Oceania. All organizations, particularly those with charismatic founders, face questions of long-term sustainability. The Tzu Chi enterprise must determine how each part will play a role, how to better coordinate Taiwan’s operations with operations overseas, how to recruit young talent as volunteers and professionals, and how to develop the Tzu Chi School of Buddhism and Jing Si Dharma Lineage as the threads that bind Tzu Chi together. Yet no matter what organizational and philosophical configuration may develop, Tzu Chi is a model for humanitarians and Buddhists alike on how to relieve suffering, nurture hope, and build community through the bodhisattva path.