Yan Yun, former president of Taipei Medical University and current director of Tzu Chi Foundation, gave a special speech at the Dharma Sect camp. (Photographer: Guo Xuezhen)
Tzu Chi used the 50 cents saved every day to buy groceries during the "bamboo tube years" to gather the power of love and promote charity in Taiwan. Today, fifty-two years later, the social environment is very different from the past. , facing earth-shattering changes and challenges.
Yan Yun, former president of Taipei Medical University and current director of the Tzu Chi Foundation, was invited to attend the "2018 Tzu Chi Zhiye Tiren Dharma Lineage Sect Advancement Training Camp" with the theme of "Tzu Chi: Past, Present and Future!" "", we share with you the challenges faced by Tzu Chi's four major undertakings and how to deal with them.
mentioned whether there is any economy in charity? Yan Yun mentioned that he and the President of Cambridge University went to the Tzu Chi Humanities Center a few months ago to discuss and discuss with Daai TV Director Ye Shushan and others. As long as there is not a dime in one's pocket, it is an "economy of kindness". "Good management" is also the focus of research conducted by He Risheng, director of the Cultural Development Office, who is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge.
The will to do big things
"I met Tzu Chi in 1993. The reason at that time was very simple. It was a coincidence." In July of that year, Yan Yun moved away from the east coast of the United States, where he had lived for ten years, to Los Angeles on the west coast. , serves as a bone marrow transplant physician at City of Hope National Medical Center, a cancer hospital that focuses on bone marrow transplantation.
In the same year, the Taiwanese government revised the Organ Transplantation Ordinance, relaxing the requirement that bone marrow donation must be limited to third-degree relatives, and asked Tzu Chi to establish a "Bone Marrow Donation Information Center." Tzu Chi crossed the sea to ask Yan Yun for help and invited him to participate together; but Yan Yun was wondering: "The academic and technical issues of bone marrow transplantation are complicated, why should we deal with such a complicated matter?"
In addition to medical technical issues, the establishment of bone marrow Donated data centers require huge funds, and in many countries they are funded and operated by the government, and are rarely borne by civil society organizations. Yan Yun returned to Taiwan many times to witness the Master Yan, and he kept asking the Master, "Why do you have to do such a difficult thing?" However, the Master said softly, "The leader, the marrow, the brain, all the money is given to the people." This man insisted on doing great things. Yan Yun was moved by his willingness, so he devoted himself to participating.
Thanks to everyone’s joint investment and achievements, the Tzu Chi Bone Marrow Donation Data Center (now renamed Tzu Chi Bone Marrow Stem Cell Center) has become the largest bone marrow database in Asia and the second largest in the world, with a total of forty-two as of September 30, 2018. More than 7,000 pieces of information were sent to 31 countries and regions, saving 5,120 lives and families.
With the development and progress of medical technology, bone marrow transplantation has also undergone earth-shaking changes. In addition to the traditional method of marrow removal, the donor needs to go into the operating room under general anesthesia and extract bone marrow cells from the intestinal bone. Now peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood are also added. Donation not only reduces worries about marrow donation, but also increases the willingness to donate marrow. It also provides solutions to medical emergencies, serious, difficult and rare diseases.
Cross-industry cooperation
"The times are different from fifty years ago." The development of artificial intelligence is not only applied to medical education, accelerating the growth of experience, and can effectively and quickly benefit increasingly complex problems; in this way The technological development also extends to charity work.
Tzu Chi’s four major mission managers and colleagues listened attentively. (Photographer: Guo Xuezhen)
Tzu Chi is currently cooperating with Central University to educate colleagues and volunteers to operate aerial cameras, which are widely used in disaster prevention and relief work. They can survey the topography and landforms before disasters, and help those prone to landslides or landslides In places, preventive disaster prevention preparations can be proposed in advance; after disasters, damage and street conditions in disaster-stricken areas can be collected in hard-to-reach places to formulate disaster relief routes and material distribution plans.
"The Tzu Chi I knew in 1993 is very different from the Tzu Chi now." Technology has led each of us to change, and the organizational system has also undergone different adjustments, such as the reorganization of Tzu Chi's board of directors and the deepening of the Dharma lineage. The function of the sect allows the inheritance of the Dharma lineage sect to be implemented into Tzu Chi’s four major ambitions, and to coordinate and communicate with each other.
Yan Yun takes long-term care (referred to as long-term care) as an example of coordination and cooperation across industries. Long-term care is not only about medical care and illness, but also about health care and well-being. Medical care and illness are the scope of medical care, while health care and well-being are the focus of charity.
Taiwan has begun to become an aging society. Yan Yun suggested that we should establish an "old-to-elder support" as advocated by the above. Only the elderly understand the psychology of the elderly. The elderly should take care of the elderly, and the healthy elderly should help those in need. , help each other so that everyone can live a good senior life.
In the early days, Taiwan used insurance to provide long-term care. People saved money in advance and used it when they were old. Later, they promoted GDP. However, the GDP is not fixed, and it is difficult to maintain good long-term care quality with a floating budget.
As the government promotes the long-term care 2.0 policy, Tzu Chi is gradually establishing a long-term care network. Long-term care 1.0 is "charity", which means helping the poor and vulnerable, while long-term care 2.0 is "medical care". Yan Yun said that because Tzu Chi has 50 years of experience in long-term care 1.0, it can quickly integrate with Tzu Chi’s medical network and transform into long-term care 2.0. At the same time, integrating environmental protection with long-term care has become a feature of Tzu Chi’s long-term care.
Tzu Chi University and Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology are also facing the impact of declining birthrate. What should we do?
About a year ago, CEO of Education Zhiye Cai Bingkun convened many people, including Dean Liao Junzhi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others to discuss how to deal with it. They also discussed whether to merge the two schools? Or transformation? Amid the divergent opinions, everyone was reminded of Tzu Chi’s educational mission. One-third of the students at Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology are indigenous people. “If we don’t take care of them, there will be almost no one to take care of them, because the east depends on us (Tzu Chi )”
Principal Yan Yun interacted with Ye Shushan, deputy CEO of the Humanities Center. (Photographer: Guo Xuezhen)
When everyone reported the results of the discussion to the Venerable Master, the Venerable Master said: "You must fulfill your responsibility to take care of the eastern part and the indigenous people." Since the educational missions of the two schools are different, , Yan Yun suggested that the two schools jointly set their own goals and directions for running schools, and also hoped that the two schools could continue to grow without being affected by the declining birthrate.
And high-quality education is achieved through the collective efforts and love of all Tzu Chi people. It can be seen that Tzu Chi’s various undertakings are closely intertwined, indistinguishable from each other, and dependent on each other.
The Economy of Charity
After more than fifty years, Tzu Chi has undergone earth-shaking changes. It not only faces many challenges, but also faces many new responsibilities, such as climate change, ignorance, and fake news. Not long ago, someone asked Yan Yun, "Why does Tzu Chi have a business body? Why do you allow Tzu Chi to do business?" Yan Yun replied: "This is not called business, because business is a method for the circulation of good. "
A few months ago, the president of the University of Cambridge in the UK came to Taiwan. Accompanied by Yan Yun, he had exchanges with Daai TV Director Ye Shushan and others, during which they discussed good economy and good management. "Can we talk about economics in charity? Can we talk about business? Of course, because your profits are not put in your pocket, your profits are made public to the world, so not a dime is put in your pocket. , This is the economy of kindness, and this is the management of kindness. Brother He Risheng is currently a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, and his research focuses on the economy of kindness and kindness management. "
Yan Yun reminds every Tzu Chi employee, not only. We must recognize the spirit of Tzu Chi and our personal mission. “At the same time, we must face new challenges and have new understandings of new challenges. We must use the spirit of Tzu Chi to re-understand them and reflect on our own Ability, as well as the direction we need to make up for, depend on everyone's joint efforts.
(Text: Wu Ruixiang Hualien Jingsi Hall Report 2018/10/12)
