Article by Dr. Lin Chin-Lon, CEO of Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation
Translated by Mindy Chen
The Tzu Chi medical mission originates from one compassionate thought of Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen. It also manifests the spirit of the Lotus.
Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen once stated, “Bodhisattvas are the bridge for ignorant human beings to become the enlightened ones like the Buddha. In other words, we must do what Bodhisattvas do in order to become the Buddha, the enlightened One.” She also stated, “Tzu Chi aims to put what Bodhisattvas do into practice in life. In The Lotus Sutra, the Buddha taught that doing as a Bodhisattva does is the best way for being enlightened. The Lotus Sutra shows how Bodhisattvas practice the Buddha’s teachings, which is so called the Bodhisattva’s pathway that the Buddha pointed out for living beings to become enlightened. Now, Tzu Chi also follows the Bodhisattva Pathway; all Tzu Chi members are able to realize Buddhism through taking the Pathway.” Venerable Dharma Master has three wishes: the purified minds of human beings, the harmonious societies, and the world free from disasters. The Tzu Chi medical mission is carried out, following Venerable Dharma Master’s ideas and footprints.
In 1966, Venerable Dharma Master established Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation. She told her female followers to save fifty cents from their grocery money each day, which is so called the “Bamboo Bank” stage of Tzu Chi. Despite of the little money obtained from all the “Bamboo Banks”, people, however, gradually felt Venerable Dharma Master’s compassion. The power of love brought about the small-scaled charity. While working for charity, Venerable Dharma Master realized that the sickness causes the poverty. The poor usually have no money for medical treatment when they are sick; a family usually suffers from the financial problem after paying the expensive medical fee.
There are few hospitals or clinics in eastern Taiwan. In 1972, Tzu Chi set up a free clinic on Ren Ai Street in Hualien. The doctors and nurses from Hua Lien Hospital supported the free clinic; they treated the poor and gave them medicine. It started the Tzu Chi medical mission. During then, patients suffering from serious illness had to be transferred to the hospitals in western Taiwan and it was usually too late for them to be treated. Therefore, Venerable Dharma Master vowed to build a local hospital with up-to-date equipment, warm and friendly medical services.
Through the hard time of fundraising, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital was inaugurated in 1986. In succession, Tzu Chi Hospitals established the branches in Yuli、Guanshan、Dalin、Taipei and Taichung according to different causes and conditions. The complete Tzu Chi medical system is set up in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan. Besides, in Suzhou, China, a Tzu Chi outpatient clinic was also established. In Indonesia, Tzu Chi Hospital has been under construction as well.
Before becoming the Superintendent of Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, I had returned from America and worked as the vice superintendent in Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital for five years. During the period of time, many patients came to the hospital from Guangfu, Ruisui and other remote villages located in southern Hualien. They usually took one or two hours to travel to the hospital for treating heart diseases. Whenever they listened to the checkup schedule including blood-drawing, ECG testing and ultrasonic testing, they usually wore sad faces not only because the checkup process was time-consuming but also because they had to get the checkup report after one week for the treatment. Patients told me: “We will be broken for the frequent travelling.” Through their explanation, I realized that it indeed caused them a lot of travelling time and money. Therefore, I changed the checkup process for their convenience: they did the checkup in the morning and got their medicine at noon. Therefore, patients didn’t have to travel many times to the hospital in order to get treatment and medicine.
Once after evaluating the hospital, an evaluation committee member said, “The hospital’s quality control is poor. The Laboratory has sixty percent of urgent cases and forty percent of routine cases.” I explained to the committee member, “Patients in eastern Taiwan indeed took time and money to come to the hospital due to the special terrain. However, I cannot treat them without the checkup reports. For their convenience, the checkup report must be available in one hour so that I can give medicine based on the checkup result as soon as possible, and patients can go home with medicine afterwards. Therefore, all their checkup cases became urgent. After listening to my explanation in detail, the committee member agreed to it. Putting patients the first is the thoughtful Tzu Chi medical culture.
In 1999, the PACS system was set up in Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital. In addition to saving the physical checkup time, it also saves the expense of X-ray films and film-developing chemicals. During that time, we chose Personal Computers (PCs) to run the medical system instead of mainframes, which eventually helps upgrade the medical system.
In retrospect, I have been fortunately to participate in the Tzu Chi medical mission for twenty years. It’s joyful to witness the growth of the Tzu Chi medical system in the fields of medicine and culture. What’s more, whenever disasters take place, all medical teams from every Tzu Chi Hospitals always swiftly work with international TIMA members in the disaster areas to provide medical services. This year is also the twenty anniversary of TIMA. We are grateful for the rising and flourishing of TIMA in fifty five countries. Through the charity and medical missions, we left our footprints and medical love on the lands of ninety four countries.
It happens to be the time for the fifty anniversary of Tzu Chi Foundation, the thirty anniversary of the Tzu Chi medical system and the twenty anniversary of TIMA. We felt an immense gratitude to Venerable Dharma Master and other masters in Jing Si Abode. We also appreciate all the support from volunteers and staff members. In concert, we protect lives, health and love; in the future, we will fulfill the missions hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder based on the spirit of the Lotus and Bodhisattvas. The medical caring will go to all places in need by the way of gratitude, respect and love.
