Along Taiwan's dramatic eastern coastal plain in Kangle Village of Xincheng Township just north of Hualien City, where sheer three-thousand-meter marble peaks of the Central Mountain Range plunge down to meet a narrow strip of farmland three kilometers from the deep blue Pacific Ocean, a quiet lane shaded by pine and flame trees leads to a modest compound of washed grey pebble walls and white-tiled roofs bearing four characters: Jing Si Abode (靜思精舍, Abode of Still Thoughts). Devoid of gilded palace gates or donation boxes, this peaceful sanctuary surrounded by vegetable plots and peanut fields is revered by over ten million volunteers across more than sixty countries as the spiritual homeland of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.
Standing alongside Fo Guang Shan in the south, Dharma Drum Mountain in the north and Chung Tai Chan Monastery in central Taiwan, Jing Si Abode anchors the eastern pillar of the Four Great Mountains of contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism. Begun in the spring of 1966 when thirty Hualien housewives saved fifty cents of daily grocery money in bamboo banks under the guidance of the young nun Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師, born 1937), the Abode has maintained an unbroken rule of monastic self-sufficiency for nearly six decades: its resident bhikshunis till their own soil, mold candles, roast multigrain powder and craft pottery to sustain the monastery, ensuring that every coin donated by the public flows directly to hospitals, schools and disaster relief.
IDharma Master Cheng Yen, Master Yin Shun's Six-Character Charge and Baizhang's Rule of Self-Reliance
The name Jing Si (靜思, Still Thoughts or calm contemplation) was chosen by Dharma Master Cheng Yen (born Wang Chin-yun in 1937 in Qingshui, Taichung) during her earliest years seeking the Dharma in rural eastern Taiwan between 1961 and 1962. In February 1963, while in Taipei purchasing the collected works of reformist Master Taixu just prior to triple-platform monastic ordination at Linji Huguo Chan Temple, an extraordinary karmic encounter brought the young self-tonsured aspirant before the foremost Chinese Buddhist scholar-monk of the twentieth century, Venerable Master Yin Shun (印順導師, 1906 to 2005). Though Master Yin Shun rarely accepted tonsure disciples, with less than an hour remaining before ordination registration closed he received her into his lineage, bestowed the Dharma name Cheng Yen and courtesy name Huizhang, and imparted a six-character charge that shaped her entire life: At all times, work for Buddhism and for sentient beings.
Returning to Hualien to live frugally in a tiny wooden hut behind Puming Temple in 1964 while copying and reciting the Lotus Sutra, Master Cheng Yen experienced two life-defining awakenings in 1966. First, visiting a clinic in Fenglin, she saw a pool of blood on the floor left by an indigenous mountain woman suffering miscarriage complications whose family had carried her eight hours on foot, only to carry her back untreated because they lacked the eight-thousand-dollar hospital deposit. Soon afterward, three Catholic nuns visited her hermitage and remarked candidly that while Buddhist compassion was vast in philosophy, society rarely saw Buddhists building hospitals, orphanages or nursing homes for the poor. Deeply moved, the frail young nun resolved to stay in typhoon-lashed, impoverished eastern Taiwan and turn scriptural compassion into concrete relief of human suffering.
The doctrinal heartbeat of the Jing Si Dharma Lineage and Tzu Chi School (靜思法脈, 慈濟宗門) flows from the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (the opening prologue to the Lotus Sutra), which extols Bodhisattvas who become uninvited good friends to all suffering beings, steering the ferry of compassion right into turbulent waters. Rather than separating quiet contemplation from social service, Master Cheng Yen teaches cultivating sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness within, while practicing kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity without, bowing in gratitude to the needy for offering volunteers the field in which to cultivate wisdom and blessings.
From its initial charity mission in 1966, Tzu Chi expanded organically into the Eight Footprints (Charity, Medicine, Education, Humanistic Culture, International Disaster Relief, Bone Marrow Registry, Environmental Recycling Protection and Community Volunteering). Inside the main shrine of Jing Si Abode, the simple altar enshrines three serene white statues: Shakyamuni Buddha in the center, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin, embodying boundless compassion) on the left, and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Dizang, embodying the fearless vow not to attain Buddhahood until hells are emptied) on the right. Across the rear wall behind them stretches the mural The Buddha Tending the Sick Monk, reminding every physician, nurse and volunteer that caring tenderly for the ill is itself offering homage to the Awakened One.
What moves visitors most deeply at Jing Si Abode is its unbreakable institutional firewall upheld since day one in 1966: the household finances of Jing Si Abode are completely separate from the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. Over two hundred resident bhikshunis living at the Abode never accept a single cent from public charitable donations. Modeling her community on Tang-dynasty Chan Patriarch Baizhang Huaihai's monastic rule, A day without work is a day without food, Master Cheng Yen established self-supporting labor as an integral spiritual practice.
Across changing decades of Taiwan's economy, the nuns of Jing Si Abode mastered more than twenty manual trades to feed their growing community and host tens of thousands of visiting volunteers without touching charity funds: sewing baby shoes, knitting woolen bags, stitching cotton work gloves, growing rice and peanuts, washing cassava starch, hand-dipping smokeless dripless candles, and operating today's spotless workshops producing Jing Si multigrain powder, instant disaster-relief rice, books and ceramics. Because the sangha supports itself with its own calloused hands, donors worldwide trust that 100 percent of contributions reach humanitarian projects.
Pilgrims traveling to Hualien should carefully distinguish two major Tzu Chi sites located ten kilometers apart so they arrive at the right destination. Inside downtown Hualien City along Zhongyang Road stands the monumental Tzu Chi Cultural Park comprising the multi-eaved Hualien Jing Si Hall auditorium, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital (opened in 1986) and Tzu Chi University: that urban campus serves medical care, higher education and public exhibitions. By contrast, Jing Si Abode at Lane 88, Jingshe Street, Kangle Village, Xincheng Township (about ten kilometers north of downtown Hualien toward Taroko Gorge) is the authentic founding monastery where Master Cheng Yen and the monastic community reside, meditate and farm.
IIFrom Thirty Bamboo Coin Banks to the Spiritual Homeland of Global Humanitarian Buddhism
Built neither by imperial patronage nor corporate wealth, Jing Si Abode grew from fifty-cent market coins saved daily by Hualien mothers, a plot of rural farmland gifted by Master Cheng Yen's own mother, and storm-proof roof tiles mortared by the nuns' own hands beneath eastern Taiwan's fierce Pacific typhoons.
- 1963 to 1966Ordination under Master Yin Shun and founding of Tzu Chi with 30 bamboo banks (14 May 1966)After receiving Master Yin Shun's six-character charge in Taipei in 1963 and practicing behind Puming Temple in Hualien, on the 24th day of the 3rd Lunar month 1966 (14 May 1966), Master Cheng Yen, five disciples and thirty housewives founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Merit Society.
- 1968 to 1969Land purchased in Kangle Village and completion of the original Main HallConcerned by the cramped hut where the nuns worked and slept, Master Cheng Yen's mother Wang Shen Yue-kuei purchased rural land in Kangle Village, Xincheng Township. Mortgaging the deed in autumn 1968, the nuns built the modest Tang-inspired Main Hall, moving in before Lunar New Year 1969.
- 1970s to 1986Hand-mortaring typhoon-proof white tiles and opening Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital (1986)After Pacific typhoons repeatedly tore off early black clay tiles, Master Cheng Yen climbed onto the roof alongside masons to cast reinforced white cement tiles. On 17 August 1986, after seven years of tireless fundraising, Hualien Tzu Chi General Hospital opened without requiring deposits from poor patients.
- 1989 to 2000Founding of Tzu Chi University, Marrow Donor Registry, Da Ai TV and global reliefTzu Chi established its Nursing College (1989), Medical College now Tzu Chi University (1994), Taiwan's Bone Marrow Stem Cell Center (1993), humanistic Da Ai Television (1998), and international disaster relief missions across Asia, Africa and the Americas.
- 2011 to presentCompletion of the earthquake-resistant Main Assembly Hall and global homecomingsExpanded gradually across more than a dozen phases to shelter thousands of returning international volunteers, the seismic-engineered Main Assembly Hall rose behind the preserved 1969 shrine while maintaining the Abode's signature grey-and-white austerity and organic farmsteads.
Preserved intact right at the front of the compound, the tiny 1969 Main Hall covers barely fifty square meters yet holds immense historical resonance: during the Abode's earliest years while paying off bank loans month by month, that single room served ten minutes before four each morning for chanting sutras, by day for relief administration and handiwork, and at night for unrolling straw mats side by side on the floor.
IIITyphoon-Resistant Grey-and-White Aesthetics, the 1969 Original Shrine and Self-Reliant Workshops
The vernacular architecture born out of necessity at Jing Si Abode later became the unmistakable visual language of Tzu Chi hospitals, schools and community halls worldwide: double-tiered pitched roofs of white cement tiles trimmed in warm terracotta whose silhouette forms the Chinese character Ren (人, humanity, two strokes leaning on and supporting each other), paired with exterior walls of washed grey Hualien river pebbles that never peel in salty ocean air and serene white cylindrical columns.
Standing behind a sculpted green hedge trimmed in the shape of a blooming lotus, the original 1969 Main Hall features a four-column white portico, wood-lattice doors, and four understated characters reading Jing Si Abode beneath a Buddhist swastika, topped by wind-locked white cement tiles engineered against Hualien typhoons.
Positioned directly behind the historic hall, the spacious Main Assembly Hall employs warm timber flooring, cross-ventilation windows that minimize air conditioning, and a calm white-stone altar enshrining Shakyamuni, Avalokiteshvara and Ksitigarbha before the compassionate mural of the Buddha caring for an ailing monk.
Instead of sealing the ground with asphalt, every courtyard and walkway is hand-laid with porous interlocking bricks allowing rainwater to replenish aquifers and grass blades to breathe between stones, lined by camphor and Bodhi trees recalling the humble fifty-cent bamboo banks.
In clean artisanal workshops behind the residential cloister, resident nuns work daily after dawn liturgy roasting wholesome grains, formulating cold-water instant Xiangji rice for global disaster zones, molding dripless candles and firing stoneware to fund the monastery's livelihood.
Surrounding three sides of the Abode lie hectares of pesticide-free rice paddies, seasonal vegetable gardens and orchards irrigated by clean mountain runoff, supplying fresh vegetarian meals prepared in the refectory for resident nuns and visiting volunteers.
| Zone within the Abode | Date and signature materials | Primary function | Spiritual meaning in Tzu Chi tradition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Main Hall (1969) | Built 1968 to 1969, washed grey pebble walls, white cement tiles | Pre-dawn morning liturgy of resident bhikshunis before four o'clock | Preserves the humble cradle built on land gifted by Master Cheng Yen's mother |
| Main Assembly Hall (主堂) | Hualien washed stone, seismic double-eaved Ren-character roof | Morning Lotus Sutra teachings and global volunteer homecomings | Roof strokes lean together like human beings supporting one another in hardship |
| Permeable Brick Courtyards | Rain-absorbing grass-jointed pavers and native eastern trees | Outdoor walking meditation and microclimate cooling | Reverence for living soil, insects and groundwater ecology |
| Jing Si Artisanal Workshops | Grain roasting mill, Xiangji instant rice line, candle studio | Self-supporting livelihood of over 200 resident nuns | Upholds Baizhang's rule so zero public charity funds are used by the sangha |
| Kangle Organic Farmstead | Chemical-free alluvial fields beneath the Central Range | Cultivating rice, legumes and greens for the monastery kitchen | Gratitude for every grain of rice and the dignity of manual labor |
IVLandform Reading: Backed by the Central Mountain Wall and Facing the Boundless Pacific Sunrise
Dharma Master Cheng Yen has often reminded disciples that in authentic Buddhist practice, every day is an auspicious day, every hour a good hour, and every place good earth whenever the heart brings relief to suffering beings, so no geomancer was consulted when her mother bought the Kangle farmland in 1968. Yet viewed through East Asian Form School geography, Jing Si Abode occupies one of Taiwan's most dramatic mountain-and-ocean settings.
Situated at 24.05480 degrees north latitude and 121.60130 degrees east longitude on the fertile Xincheng alluvial plain (新城平原) just south of Taroko Gorge, Jing Si Abode rests its back directly against the towering metamorphic wall of Jialiwan Mountain (加禮宛山) and Sanzhan Mountain (三棧山) on the eastern escarpment of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range (中央山脈), where peaks soar past 2,000 to over 3,000 meters within a few kilometers of the plain. In classical landform terms, this continuous alpine spine forms the island's grandest Ancestral Mountain and Black Tortoise backing screen, feeding pure mineral-rich waters into Sanzhan Creek and Meilun Creek to irrigate the Abode's organic fields.
Oriented along a Sitting West Facing East (slightly Southeast) axis, the Main Hall and Assembly Hall turn their backs to the Central Range and gaze eastward across the flat green fields of Kangle Village as the Inner Bright Hall toward the sweeping crescent bay of Qixingtan (七星潭, Seven Star Bay) and the open Pacific Ocean barely three kilometers away as a vast Outer Bright Hall. To the north, the mouth of Sanzhan Creek and the Taroko headlands extend as a protective Green Dragon arm, while to the south Meilun Hill (美崙山) rises beside Hualien Harbor as a White Tiger embrace retaining coastal qi across the plain. Each dawn as the nuns chant morning sutras, the rising sun lifts straight off the Pacific horizon onto the white eaves of Jing Si Abode, mirroring a movement born on Taiwan's rugged eastern shore whose compassionate reach spans oceans across the globe.
VThree-in-One May Celebrations, Global Volunteer Homecomings and Tzu Chi's Bond with Vietnamese Families
Daily life at Jing Si Abode follows a disciplined monastic rhythm beginning ten minutes before four in the morning with bell, drum and Lotus Sutra contemplation, while its annual calendar honors both the Lunar founding date of Tzu Chi and Gregorian global humanitarian observances.
| Time of year | Calendar observed | Observance or homecoming | Core spiritual practice at Jing Si Abode, Hualien |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24th day of 3rd Lunar month | Lunar calendar | Tzu Chi Founding Anniversary and Medicine Buddha Sutra Assembly | Commemorating Tzu Chi's 1966 founding, resident nuns chant the Medicine Buddha Sutra linked live with hundreds of global chapters as volunteers bring home filled bamboo coin banks. |
| Second Sunday of May | Gregorian calendar | Three-in-One Celebration: Buddha Day, Mother's Day and Global Tzu Chi Day | Synchronized open-air Buddha Bathing ceremonies in blue-and-white uniforms expressing gratitude to the Buddha, parents and all sentient beings. |
| 7th Lunar month | Lunar calendar | Auspicious Seventh Month of Filial Gratitude and Vegetarianism | Promoting compassionate plant-based living, environmental care and practical service to parents instead of burning spirit money. |
| 12th Lunar month through Lunar New Year | Lunar calendar | Year-End Blessing Envelopes of Wisdom and Blessings | Master Cheng Yen distributes red Blessing and Wisdom envelopes funded personally from royalties of her Jing Si publications to thank volunteers and local families. |
| Year-round scheduled sessions | Gregorian calendar | Global Tzu Chi Commissioner Certification and Spiritual Homecomings | Thousands of volunteers from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas return to Hualien to weed fields alongside the nuns and study Jing Si humanistic culture. |
Jing Si Abode and the Tzu Chi movement share a particularly warm, enduring bond with the Vietnamese community in Taiwan as well as communities in Vietnam. Across Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien, the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) regularly holds free medical and dental clinics for migrant workers, provides emergency surgical aid and living support to Vietnamese factory workers or caregivers injured on the job, awards educational scholarships to children of Taiwanese-Vietnamese families, and offers free Mandarin literacy and floral arrangement classes for Vietnamese marriage immigrants. Moved by that unconditional care, hundreds of Vietnamese residents in Taiwan have trained to put on the blue-and-white uniform as certified Tzu Chi volunteers, riding the train east to Jing Si Abode in Hualien each year to pay respects to Master Cheng Yen and serve shoulder to shoulder in relief missions both in Taiwan and in Vietnam.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- No. 1, Lane 88, Jingshe Street, Kangle Village, Xincheng Township, Hualien County 97150, Taiwan (花蓮縣新城鄉康樂村精舍街88巷1號)
- Getting there
- From Taipei Main Station, ride a Taiwan Railways (TRA) Taroko or Puyuma Express train along the scenic eastern coast to Hualien Station (about 2 hours) or local Beipu Station (only 2.5 kilometers from the Abode). From Hualien Station (about 9 kilometers south) or Beipu Station, a 5-to-15-minute taxi ride along Provincial Highway 9 turning onto Jingshe Street in Kangle Village, Xincheng Township brings visitors directly to Jing Si Abode.
- Coordinates
- 24.0548, 121.6013
When visiting Jing Si Abode in Xincheng Township, Hualien, please keep in mind that this is the quiet monastic residence and working farmstead of over two hundred bhikshunis rather than a commercial tourist park: visitors are welcome to walk peacefully around the landscaped front courtyard, the 1969 historic Main Hall exterior and the Jing Si bookstore area, while residential quarters and production workshops require prior guided arrangement with the reception desk. Dress modestly, speak in soft tones, bring no meat or alcohol onto the grounds, and sort any recyclables carefully in keeping with Tzu Chi's environmental ethos.
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Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Tịnh Tư Tinh Xá (Tổ đình Từ Tế Tzu Chi), Hoa LiênEveryone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
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?Quick Questions
Where is Jing Si Abode located and why is it called Tzu Chi's spiritual homeland?
Jing Si Abode is located at Lane 88, Jingshe Street, Kangle Village, Xincheng Township, Hualien County in eastern Taiwan. Built between 1968 and 1969 by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, it is the founding monastery from which the global Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation grew across more than sixty countries.
What was the Bamboo Bank Era that launched Tzu Chi in 1966?
In 1966 in Hualien, Master Cheng Yen encouraged thirty housewives to drop fifty cents of daily grocery money into bamboo coin banks each morning rather than donating once a month, teaching that cultivating a daily habit of compassion matters even more than the sum given.
Why do the nuns at Jing Si Abode farm fields and manufacture candles and grain powder?
Following Tang Chan Master Baizhang's rule that a day without work is a day without food, the more than two hundred resident nuns support all monastery living expenses through their own farming and workshops, never touching public donations entrusted to the Tzu Chi Foundation.
How does Jing Si Abode in Xincheng differ from Jing Si Hall in downtown Hualien City?
Hualien Jing Si Hall (next to Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital and Tzu Chi University on Zhongyang Road) is the large urban exhibition auditorium and medical-academic campus, whereas Jing Si Abode ten kilometers north in rural Kangle Village is the original monastic home where Master Cheng Yen and the nuns live and practice.
How can visitors travel from Taipei to Jing Si Abode by train?
Take a TRA express train from Taipei Main Station to Hualien Station in roughly two hours (or local train to Beipu Station), then ride a taxi for 5 to 15 minutes north to Lane 88, Jingshe Street in Xincheng Township.