TCU was founded on the guiding Buddhist principles of loving kindness and altruism, to uphold the sanctity of life through action. Awakened to the nature of the worldly suffering of people, of the pain of illness and its causal link to poverty, the venerable Master Cheng Yan devoted herself to alleviating affliction through direct action. Thus, in order to serve the needs of her community, she journeyed far and wide to share her message of compassion and gather charitable resources. By 1986, she was finally able to establish the first fully equipped public hospital in the area,¬ Tzu Chi Buddhist Hospital today.

Confronted with the realities of meeting the medical needs of the community, Master Cheng Yan remarked “Famous doctors are easy to get, but good doctors are hard to find.” Encountering the disparity between status and competence, and the problems of competence without “care,” she sought to systematically train the medical professionals needed to truly “care“ for their patients. Thus, in order to raise “good” doctors who would truly “care” for their patients out of a compassionate devotion to humanity, she began with their roots: Education.