Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師), founder of the nation’s largest charity organization, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, was recognized by the Roosevelt Institute on Sunday for her lifetime commitment to public service, not only in Taiwan but around the world.
Master Cheng Yen was presented with this year’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Distinguished Public Service Award at a ceremony held at Tzu Chi’s headquarters in Hualien by Roosevelt Institute chairwoman Anna Roosevelt and its president and chief executive Andrew Rich.
The institute is a non-profit organization devoted to carrying forward the legacy and values of former US president Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor.
Speaking at the ceremony, Anna Roosevelt, the couple’s granddaughter, said the institute’s board decided unanimously to recognize Master Cheng Yen because her efforts have allowed millions of people around the world to embrace hope and the promise of a better life.
The award is granted to leaders from all areas of civil society who demonstrate a lifetime commitment to outstanding public service, Anna Roosevelt said.
It was the first time the institute had bestowed the award on a recipient outside the US, she said.
Known for its ability to quickly overcome obstacles of distance, politics and culture, Tzu Chi has established a remarkable record of achievement under Master Cheng Yen’s leadership, including building hospitals for the sick and providing shelter for the homeless around the world, Anna Roosevelt said.
She praised Tzu Chi for bringing hope and relief to hundreds of thousands of people in the wake of the tsunamis in Indonesia in 2004 and in Japan this year, after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and following the earthquake in Haiti last year.
Franklin Roosevelt once said that the “test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have too little,” and the Tzu Chi Foundation has dedicated itself to this simple but profound principle, Anna Roosevelt said.
“Thanks to its adherence to these ideas, and to the compassionate vision of its founder, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, millions of people all over the world have been able to embrace the hope and promise of a better life,” she said.
Rich said the award symbolized the integration of the two strengths of virtue and goodness — strengths strong enough to change the world.
In accepting the award, Cheng Yen expressed her gratitude to the thousands of Tzu Chi volunteers in every corner of the world for their selfless devotion in helping strangers in need.
She also presented a letter to Anna Roosevelt thanking the institute for recognizing the power of Tzu Chi volunteers to change the world.
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