Charity   Medicine   Culture   Education Tzu Chi College of Medicine

A Hope for a New Era
The Tzu Chi College of Medicine was opened on October 16, 1994. After many hardships, the dream of more than 2 million Tzu Chi members of nurturing conscientious, skillful doctors was finally realized. The Master hoped to stimulate the students' altruism with religious spirit and to form their abilities with scientific medical studies. The doctors would not only treat bodies and minds but they could also follow the self-sacrificing spirits of the Goddess of Mercy and Albert Schweitzer by treating wounds, curing illness, saving the poor, and educating the rich. The task is difficult and the road is long. In the year 2000, the first group of graduates will bring new hope to the medical field in Taiwan.

The Tzu Chi College of Medicine	In a Zen meditation class, students learn to control their breath and thoughts in order to train more acute powers or reasoning.

The Truth, Goodness and Beauty of the Spiritual World
Features of the curriculum at the college include getting a good education, nurturing the spirit of humanitarianism, and building up correct perspectives on life and morality. Humanitarianism is an attitude toward life and a cultivation of humanity. The goal of Tzu Chi education is not competition for high grades, but the activation of humanity's deep, pure buddha nature, love and compassion. The Master hopes that students will not only have excellent medical skills, but that they will also care about people. With a combination of both, they will be good doctors who are both skillful and moral. Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Zen meditation, art appreciation, and sign language are common elective classes at the college. Flower arrangement is an encounter between people and nature. Tea ceremony is a way of treating others. Zen meditation is a dialogue between oneself and one's soul. Through observation and experience of the unity between humans and heaven, life becomes more perfect, enriching and authentic.

A student gets a practical lesson in volunteer work at the Tzu Chi Hospital as he wipes a patient with damp towels under the guidance of experienced volunteers.	Students sacrifice a holiday and perform in a prison to express their concern and blessing to the inmates.
Athletic Drug Testing Center In response to the ever-growing problem of drug abuse and at the request of the Ministry of Education, the Athletic Drug Testing Center was established on April 14, 1995. The center went into operation in 1996 during a national sports event in which it tested winning athletes for banned drugs. It is hoped that within five years of its establishment, the center will be certified by the International Olympics Committee. In the future, the service will be expanded to help the government with anti-drug activities.	Leave the Body Behind Anatomy is the foundation of medical studies, but due to the traditional Chinese view that a corpses should be buried whole, all the medical colleges in Taiwan have shortages of available bodies. In one college, 200 students had to share one body. Master Cheng Yen taught that people have the right to use, but not to own, their bodies. By November 1996, more than 850 people had signed agreement cards to donate their bodies after death. Currently, 30 bodies have already been donated and 13 are in use.- At the Tzu Chi College of Medicine, about four students share one body, the lowest ratio in the country.