| Tzu
Chi College of Medicine |
 |
| (Translated by Joy Hsiao) |
|
Tzu Chi College of Medicine was established
in 1994 in Hualien, Taiwan. Its founding objectives are:
1. To use kindness, compassion, joy, and unselfish
giving to cultivate knowledgeable and compassionate medical personnel
who, in addition to treating diseases, can also provide holistic
care for patients and reduce both physical and spiritual suffering.
2. To provide medical personnel for areas most lacking in medical
resources. With the sacrificial spirit of "I will go wherever
I am needed" and the establishment of universal health care
and a medical network, the shortage of medical personnel in remote
rural areas can be improved.
The educational goals of the Tzu Chi College
of Medicine are:
1. To promote humanitarian education and to
realize the highest educational principles of kindness, compassion,
joy, and unselfish giving as well as respect for all life.
2. To encourage diversity in thinking and regularity in daily
living, and to foster excellent, skillful doctors whose mission
is to heal people.
3. To emphasize social medicine and reinforce medical services
in destitute areas in order to maintain good health and healthy
social development for all citizens, thus further raising the
quality of medical care in eastern Taiwan.
4. To emphasize high-quality medical research in order to maintain
quality education and attain quality medical treatment.
The school's emblem symbolizes the "Eight
Petals" in Buddhism. It represents the continuous commitment
of Tzu Chi members to following the Eight Noble Paths (Right View,
Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Contemplation, all
of which help one follow the right paths and avoid evil). The
Buddhist swastika signifies the turning of the dharma wheel; it
represents the highest ideal of the Buddhist spirit: "When
others are hurt I feel their pain, and when others suffer I feel
their sorrow." The roof of the Abode of Still Thoughts, which
is shaped like the Chinese word "?" (man), signifies
the humanitarian principle of education. The word "medicine"
represents quality medical education, a book symbolizes the mission
of education, and a cluster of flowers and fruit signifies the
continual planting, flowering, and fruition of the Tzu Chi organization.
