Compilation of the first oversea “Tzu Chi History”
The first oversea workshop on Tzu Chi’s history compilation was held in Tzu Chi Singapore in 2013, and that had kickstarted a long journey of compilation of Tzu Chi oversea history. Team members were tasked to sort, classify, research, verify and chronologize 20 over years of data before they begin composing each chapter of the book. Each of the step had tested the endurance and perseverance of the team members. After several years of combined effort by the Editorial and Compilation Department in Taiwan and the Documentation Team in Singapore, “Tzu Chi Singapore History” is finally published in 2020 after several workshops and a final proofreading workshop in 2019. The book is also the first book on oversea Tzu Chi history that was ever published.
The first “Tzu Chi Oversea History” was finally published in 2020.
Keeping up with the pace of Master Cheng Yen, Tzu Chi’s stories ought to be archived. Thank you very much to our team for working very hard to produce this book.
Back in 2012, Tzu Chi Dharma Lineage Historical Archival and Research Centre was established to compile 50 years of Tzu Chi's dharma scriptures, history and other Tzu Chi related works. In 2013, the first overseas Tzu Chi history workshop in Singapore had officially started the process of history compilation.
Head of Tzu Chi Foundation Editorial and Compilation Department, Hong Jing Yuan
I remember during that workshop, they showed me the data that were kept in boxes. I was stunned to see all those (data) being stored this way. I then told them that they must organize these data properly. These (data) are very precious, many people will not see them if they were not published, because the boxes containing the data would have already been sealed.
Tzu Chi Humanistic Culture Team Lead, Yan Su Yuan
This is a huge mission to us, we mobilized almost every one of our volunteers. Our volunteers had made use of their holidays and after working hours to compile the data at Jing Si Hall.
Flipping over 20 years of data, the team had verified, chronologized the timeline and composed the articles one by one to compile the stories of Tzu Chi Singapore in this 300-pages of "Tzu Chi Singapore History". Just scan the QR code at the end of each article for further reading. The vivid infographics are included to give readers a clearer picture too.
Head of Tzu Chi Foundation Editorial and Compilation Department, Hong Jing Yuan
It is a rather outdated thing to do to compile history at this era, but it is still very important. Because we all have our origin, we need to know why we are still doing what we do despite the hardship, because this is the right thing to do. Master Cheng Yen had said, just do what is right.
Where there is Tzu Chi volunteers, the mission of helping the poor and educating the rich will continue, Tzu Chi’s dharma lineage and its school of Buddhism will be passed down and the history of Tzu Chi will continue to be compiled and archived.
