Heart Lotuses

In 1986, elderly bodhisattva Sung Chin-yuan, who was residing at the Joyous Life Convalescent Home, started a fund-raising activity called the "Heart Lotus Charity Sale." She hoped to contribute her effort towards the construction of the Tzu Chi hospital.

Later, other Tzu Chi members used the traditional technique of "Chinese knots" and fashioned Tzu Chi lotus emblems out of gold and silver threads. These were also called "Heart Lotuses," and were distributed as commemorative souvenirs by Master Cheng Yen to disciples at year-end celebrations in 1993 and 1994. What these "Heart Lotuses" represented was not any external material value, but the compassionate heart within every person.