Skip to content Tzu Chi’s humanistic culture places a strong emphasis on the creation of a virtuous cycle of love and kindness. For instance, Tzu Chi’s hospitals are not profit-driven, and their medical services are guided by a principle of love. Only when the doctors, volunteers and patients interact with one another in love and gratitude, can the hospitals achieve the ideal of safeguarding life and health with love.”
One of the greatest sufferings in life comes from illness. Through visits to the homes of the impoverished, Master Cheng Yen found that illness often caused families to fall into poverty. She also learned that the poor often developed serious illnesses because they could not afford medical care. To help the sick and needy break this circle of poverty and illness, the Master set up a free clinic in Hualien, Taiwan in 1972, which began Tzu Chi’s mission of medicine.
Although this free medical clinic served many patients, it was still unable to meet the growing needs of the population. Thus in 1979, Master Cheng Yen decided to fundraise for the construction of a general hospital in Hualien. After overcoming numerous challenges and obstacles, the Hualien Tzu Chi General Hospital was finally inaugurated in 1986.
Since then, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation has evolved into an international medical mission. We now operate eight hospitals in Taiwan, manage the world’s fifth largest bone marrow bank, and administer the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) with more than 8,600 physicians and healthcare professionals who provide free medical services to more than 3 million people around the world by mobilizing teams of medical volunteers to hold regular medical outreaches in rural villages and towns.
The Foundation, powered by the spirit of teamwork, continues to make medical services accessible to the underserved both locally and worldwide. And, with your help, we hope to accomplish so much more.
The Samyuktagama Sutra recounts the four great virtues to be possessed by doctors: “good knowledge of illnesses” (dedicated to understanding the illnesses of living beings), “accurately identifying the cause of the illness” (carefully investigate the cause of an illness), “effectively treating the illness” (prescribe the right medicine for an illness), and “knowledge that the illness has been completely cured” (the medicine has eradicated the disease, bringing comfort and relief to the sufferer). These four virtues of good doctors can be seen in the lives of staff and volunteer doctors in Tzu Chi’s Mission of Medicine.”
Our medical mission in Canada started in 1992. Within four years we developed Phase I of our plan: the Tzu Chi Institute for Complimentary Medicine.
The development of this Institute came from our founder Master Cheng Yen’s belief that Tzu Chi should focus on establishing a foundation in clinical medicine, leading to advancements in education and scientific research. Canadians benefit from our commitment to realizing her vision.
Since 2011, we have partnered with the Taiwan Cultural Festival in Vancouver over the Labor Day long weekend, inviting local Chinese medicine practitioners to offer large-scale outdoor consultations and services in downtown Vancouver. This initiative connects the public with Chinese medicine practitioners.
To further advance the Master’s plan, we established the Tzu Chi Clinic of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCC) in 2018 and have since begun laying the groundwork for future projects.
Our registered Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors have been invited to hold consultation sessions to help people who do not have regular access to medical services. Since 2011, TCM doctors have participated in consultation sessions held by TIMA, the Tzu Chi International Medical Association of Canada, benefiting over 5,000 people. Since 2014, TCM doctors have been going to Aboriginal Single Mother Center every Monday to provide their consultation services. Our goal is to expand the reach of these sessions to all communities.
To promote health care knowledge, a free TCM health seminar has been given every month in Chinese since July 2012. Since 2014, TCM seminars presented in English have become available as well. TCM doctors specialized in different areas of health have been invited to provide practical information on how to take good care of one’s well-being. The doctors use simple language explaining and demonstrating all diseases and how to prevent and cure them with TCM. The doctors also address audience’s questions in detail.
For over 30 years, Tzu Chi Canada has donated over $6 million to more than 20 healthcare institutions nationwide, supporting equipment upgrades, healthcare education, and public health information. Continuing this commitment, $1.6 million has been donated over the past decade to further improve access to essential medical resources for hospitals and foundations across the country.
