The world of Tzu Chi April 2020 (Vol.121)

W hen the grand opening ceremony for the Tzu Chi College of Nursing took place on September 17, 1989, every guest received a gift book, courtesy of Gary Ho, a Tzu Chi volunteer and convener of the ceremony. The book was Jing Si Aphorisms byDharmaMaster ChengYen. “Jing si ( 静思 )” means “quiet contemplation”, and the book later became the first Tzu Chi book published for sale to the general public. Launched in November 1989, it made the list of Taiwan’s top ten bestsellers of 1990. The main editor of the book was Kao Hsin-chiang, a veteran in print media and a well-known editor in his day. He first met Master Cheng Yen in March 1989. The book was published a mere six months later and has been a popular publication ever since. It has been translated into nearly 20 languages and distributed around the world. Gems in simple, plain language Hsin-chiang was the chairman of Taiwan’s oldest evening newspaper, China Times Express when he was enlisted by his good friend Gary Ho to help put together a book of Master Cheng Yen’s teachings. Since Hsin-chiang did not know much about Tzu Chi, Gary invited him to a gathering of Tzu Chi honorary board members to understand the group better. Two days later, he and Gary visited Master Cheng Yen, who happened to be in Taipei at the time, on one of her regular trips around Taiwan. Hsin-chiang listened to the Master talk about her life – about how, as a child, she had had to escape air raids during World War II; how she lived through her adopted father’s sudden passing; how she harvested rice in the countryside of Fengyuan, central Taiwan; and how she ultimately decided to leave home to embark on the search for life’s truths. In early May that year, about two months after Hsin-chiang had met with the Master, he phoned Hong Su-zhen, who had just quit her job at the Central Daily News , and invited her to “do something together for Tzu Chi”. He told her about his idea of publishing a book of sayings by Master Cheng Yen. Gary arranged several meetings in which 19 Tzu Chi volunteers, who were also team leaders, shared their favourite sayings by Master Cheng Yen. Later, each of their teams was asked to provide five sayings by the Master. At the same time, Su-zhen interviewed some senior Tzu Chi volunteers and asked them to share what they had learnt personally from the Master that they felt had really benefitted them. Su-zhen also spent a week at the Jing Si Abode, the convent establishedby theMaster.The Abode also served as the Tzu Chi headquarters. Su-zhen read through transcripts of the Master’s Dharma talks as well as journals written by the Master’s followers. The journals recorded what the Master’s followers had seen and heard when they were around her. Eventually, Su-zhen was able to select more than a thousand items from all she had collected for further refinement. Then came Hsin-chiang’s turn to put his editing skills to good use. This was before the era of personal computers, so he cut the selected material into small strips, each strip containing one aphorism. Then he spent three days squatting on the floor, sorting and classifying the strips of paper. Gary personally saw him doing this and was impressed by his dedication and effort. The completed book was composed of two parts. In the first part, the Master addressed pecial Feature 2020 • 04 28