Page 41 - 42-Winter 2014_Final

Quarter Century of Compassion
Culture (1989-1997)
Tzu Chi in the USA
1989 – 2014

he Mission of Humanistic Culture spreads Tzu Chi’s core values while
recording the footprints of compassion and Great Love through print
Tpublications, videos, websites, translations, and more.
When Tzu Chi was newly established in the United States, Global
Headquarters in Hualien was already producing Tzu Chi Monthly magazine,
Tzu Chi Readers’ Club biweekly newsletter, and Tzu Chi World radio program.
At that time, the internet was not yet widely used, so sharing information
overseas was difficult. For Tzu Chi volunteers in the United States to learn
from Taiwan’s experience and encounter Master Cheng Yen’s teachings,
they largely relied on copies of magazines and cassette tapes mailed from
Hualien. As soon as these spiritual resources were received, the tapes would
be quickly copied and sent with magazines all across the country. These
would then become the primary sources for new materials produced and
broadcast in the United States.

In 1990, Tzu Chi volunteers began broadcasting a weekly program, Tzu
Chi World, on local Chinese radio in Los Angeles, California. In 1994, this
show starting airing daily to give listeners more opportunities to encounter
Master Cheng Yen’s Dharma teachings and understand Tzu Chi’s activities
and philosophy.
In 1991, Jing Si Aphorism promotions began broadcasting every
Wednesday and Thursday evening via North American satellite. The following
year, Taiwan’s Chinese Television System (CTS) started broadcasting these
same promotions twice daily on their channel in the United States, and their
Los Angeles correspondent frequently reported on Tzu Chi’s U.S. activities
for the Taiwan audience. Rey-Sheng Her, now Tzu Chi Spokesperson and
Humanistic Culture Development Department Director in Hualien, resided
in Los Angeles at the time. Each Saturday, he produced and hosted a ten-
minute program entitled Tzu Chi World on the local Chinese-language
television station.
The Dharma can be spoken, and it can also be expressed through
images and the printed word. In May 1991, the first local Tzu Chi publication,
Tzu Chi World U.S.A., emerged in the form of a four-page, tabloid-sized
newspaper. In those days before computers were common, volunteers
across the country faxed and mailed their local news stories to Tzu Chi USA
Headquarters, where one editor and several volunteers gathered these
records of important events and wrote out the news character by character
before typesetting and printing. Thus they fulfilled their mission of sharing
Tzu Chi news each month. Starting as four pages entirely in Chinese, in 1993

www.us.tzuchi.org | 41