There was an old monk who focused all his attention on his spiritual development and seldom made friends with people. When other people fell sick, he was indifferent and unsympathetic since he did not consider it his business. He seldom helped others, even if it would only have taken a little effort to do so. Thus when he himself was taken ill, no one paid any attention to him.

When the Buddha heard what had happened to the old monk, he went with a group of his monks to see him. A foul odor reached them even before they came in sight of the old monk's house. All the Buddha's disciples turned aside and covered their noses with their hands, but the Buddha walked straight up to the monk without the least hesitation. Lifting the old monk's robe slightly, he found that his body was covered with abscesses. Urine and feces covered the floor.

The Buddha told his disciples to fetch some water, and then he bent down to bathe the old monk and dress his sores. After the disciples had cleaned up the old man's house, the Buddha explained to him that the real meaning of spiritual cultivation lies in giving love and care to other people. Not until the old monk had recovered his strength did the Buddha and his followers leave.

When you walk into the foyer of either the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital or the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, you will see a large mural entitled "The Buddha Cares for the Sick." The mural illustrates the spirit of the Tzu Chi medical mission-respect for life and prompt relief for the needy.

On the day of the grand opening of Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Superintendent Lin Chin-lon, Vice-Superintendents Chien Sou-hsin and Huang Chia-ching, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital Superintendent Chen Ying-ho, Dean of the Tzu Chi College of Medicine Lai Chi-wan, Vice Presidents of the Tzu Chi Foundation Wang Tuan-cheng and Chen Shao-ming, and Tzu Chi honorary board member Du Chun-yuan acted out the above story, demonstrating that the Buddha not only cured illnesses but also consoled people's hearts. Medical doctors at Tzu Chi hospitals are expected to follow in the Buddha's steps by taking loving care of both the physical and spiritual health of their patients.

By Li Wei-huang
Photographs courtesy of Li Chien-yi


At about nine o'clock, the rays of the morning sun slant into the forest-this is the backdrop of the picture entitled "The Buddha Cares for the Sick." Describing a story that happened 2,500 years ago, the picture depicts several Buddhist monks-one holding a bowl of soup, another a pitcher, and another wringing a towel-nursing a thin, frail monk lying on a flat rock beneath a bodhi tree.

Behind these monks is a mother deer suckling its fawn beside a river. Hills undulate in the far distance and sunlight filtering through tree leaves dapples the ground. A mist gathers in the air.

Looking for inspiration

Spreading out his painting of "The Buddha Cares for the Sick," Li Chien-yi said that when doing portraits, the biggest challenge lies in capturing the spirit and character of the subjects. Four years ago, he was commissioned by the Vatican to create a painting to commemorate one hundred and twenty-three saints martyred for their faith during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864). In order to verify the costumes and hairstyles of the people in the painting, Li went to the Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica and to the National Palace Museum in Taipei to look for relevant material. Li carried out the same kind of thorough research when painting "The Buddha Cares for the Sick" for the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital. In order to find inspiration for the composition of the painting, Li visited a temple in the mountains and asked the monks there to pose for him.

"The Buddha is conventionally presented as having a plump, full figure, but I think this kind of 'fullness' should be reflected in the spirit of the Buddha instead of in his appearance." Li said that he preferred to call the picture "Caring for the Sick with Great Love" instead of "The Buddha Cares for the Sick." "The Buddha" refers to the Fundamental Teacher Sakyamuni Buddha, while "Great Love" is the buddha-nature inherent in every one of us. Li's idea was that since we were all born with the buddha-nature, why couldn't Venerable Master Yin Shun be featured as the Buddha in the painting? Thus the inclusion of Master Cheng Yen, who is dedicated to relieving the suffering of all living beings, as one of the monks should not be surprising.

In order to accurately convey the suffering of the sick old monk, Li even went to an old folks' home to capture the picture he wanted. When a skinny, elderly man took off his clothes to prepare for a bath, Li seized the opportunity to make a sketch of him. "Under the layer of skin enveloping his emaciated body, the shoulder bones and the veins in his hands stood out prominently. It was not easy to faithfully present the whole thing."

Li racked his brain to figure out how to convey the dignified, modern spirit of the religious figures in his painting. Even the backdrop of the painting was created according to real scenes in life. The source of inspiration for the stones and entwined tree roots were old banyan trees in the Taichung Park. The Indian bodhi tree was modeled on the bodhi trees at the Abode of Still Thoughts in Hualien. The mountains in the background of the painting were modeled on the mountains behind the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital...

Originally the monk who is wringing a towel in the picture used a wooden basin, but after further consideration Master Cheng Yen decided that it should be a terra-cotta basin. The robes the monks wear, the pigeons symbolic of peace, the flock of cattle in the near distance, the farmhouses at the foot of the mountains, the grain and texture of the hundred-year-old banyan tree, the contrast of warm and cool colors, of yin and yang, the smooth contours and forms, the positions and postures of the hands and feet, the particular tilt of the heads, the creases and material of the clothes-Li did not create any of these without first conferring with the Master. It took the painter more than a year to complete the painting because it had to be revised and modified so many times.

Specialized in portraits

Li's excellence in capturing the spirit and character of a subject and in planning the composition of a painting is the result of his special background. He only finished junior high school because his poverty-stricken family could not afford further schooling for him. Owing to his fondness for painting, he decided to stay in his hometown-Lotung, Ilan County-to work as an apprentice to a movie signboard painter.

"A movie signboard usually consisted of 105 to 120 wooden boards, and it was quite a task to piece them together," Li remembered. In order to make so many pieces fit together well, it was necessary to pay close attention to the composition and overall visual continuity of the signboard. Questions such as how much space a human head should occupy had to be thought out beforehand. With such training, Li naturally formed an excellent idea about the arrangement of images in a painting.

When he was fulfilling his compulsory military service, he attended classes held for soldiers and obtained his high school diploma. After he got out of the army, he passed the entrance examination to the National Taiwan College of the Arts. By dint of the outstanding painting techniques which he had mastered over the years, his paintings won numerous prizes, including the championship of the National Exhibition of the Arts. Soon afterwards he was awarded a "newcomer's prize," by means of which he formally entered into local artistic circles. He soon found fame through his specialty in portrait painting.

Despite his lack of a notable educational background, Li was invited to teach at the Department of Applied Arts of Fu Jen Catholic University when he was thirty-three years old. While he was teaching there, he went through the lowest period of his artistic career. For four years he did not create anything at all. Finally, at the age of thirty-nine, he reluctantly took leave of his wife and children and went to the United States for further studies. Two years later, he graduated with two master's degrees in painting and fine arts.

When Li returned to Taiwan, the local art market was booming and paintings were usually sold at very good prices. The profits and interests involved in artistic creation almost drove him to create his art for commercial purposes. In order not to let his creations be reduced to the status of merchandise, he made up his mind to return to campus and devote himself to academic studies and artistic creation.

Li's specialty is oil painting. In order to ensure that "The Buddha Cares for the Sick" would last a long time without fading, it was decided that the mural should be executed by using improved wall painting techniques invented by Taiwanese muralist Chen Chin-ming. Consequently, Chen took over Li's job of copying the painting onto the wall surface. Chen completed the wall painting, the first of its kind in Asia, in a short time.

"'The Buddha Cares for the Sick' is more than just an interpretation of a Buddhist story. What we hope is that when patients and their families step into the Dalin hospital, the painting will make them feel warm and welcome." Li hoped that even in the cold wintertime, the mural would warm the hearts of patients and help ease their pain.

By Lin Shu-pai
Photograph by Lin Feng-chi


When I was a child, I liked to chase the ever-changing clouds in the colorful evening sky. I ran and jumped, ran and jumped. When I eventually got tired from all the running and jumping, I would lie down on the ground and wait for the appearance of the mysterious painter who had painted the sky in so many fascinating colors.

When I grew up, I gradually came to realize that it was only a beautiful fantasy.

The artist on the scaffold

Time passed by. The dream that had never faded in my imagination came true one day when I met the sky painter in the foyer of the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital.

Although the foyer was filled with the chanting of sutras, the clattering of machines and the shouting of orders, the man who was painting on a scaffold screened off with a safety net still worked with composure and ease.

A notice was pasted on the wall beside him: "No news coverage allowed." Driven by strong curiosity, I raised my head and asked, "I'm not a reporter, so may I go up and take a look at your work?"

When I had climbed up the uneven scaffolding, the magnificent colors in front of me fascinated me deeply and drew me to walk further behind signs that read "Do not enter" and "Be silent." I approached the mural painter, Chen Chin-ming, who had been climbing up and down the scaffold for more than seven months in order to paint the wall in front of him.

Born in Lotung, a picturesque town in Ilan, eastern Taiwan, Chen graduated with honors from the Department of Fine Arts of National Taiwan Normal University in 1972. After teaching art for three years, he went to the San Fernando School of Art in Madrid to study painting, mural painting and block printing. Because of his excellent academic performance, his advisor asked him to stay on at the school for three more years after his graduation to continue producing frescoes on the campus. His alma mater even kept his work, "Oriental Elysium," in the school and used it as an example to teach students how to create murals.

Chen returned to Taiwan in 1993. After settling down in Taichung, he devoted his time to artistic

creation, teaching and holding art exhibitions.

The purest mural

Squirting water and dabbing paints on the wall, Chen moved his brush lightly. He coughed slightly, since he had been inhaling dust for a long time working in this way.

"Feel the wall and see if it's different from the other walls."

"It feels a little gritty, but the touch is rather nice."

"We started to build the wall at the end of last year. As we built, all the sandstone in the wall was washed clean with tap water. But the water I squirt on the wall when I paint is pure, distilled water. So we can call this mural "the purest mural."

"Because the four missions of Tzu Chi will be carried on and on, from generation to generation," he continued, "the wall has to be especially sturdy and strong to endure wear and tear through the years. It took us two months to finish building the four-layered wall. We entered the second phase of the mural-making process this January. The surface of the wall was coated with five layers of durable paint. The mural will have to be maintained every seven to ten years after it is completed-this way it can last about 300 or 400 years. Take a close look... Did you notice that the mural shines in some places?" With my eyes wide open, I looked where his hand was pointing and immediately saw spots that shone like diamonds. How amazing!

"This wall painting combines modern technology and the purest pigments (pulverized stone, fossils, oxidized earth, crystal and quartz). In addition to its ability to withstand all environmental conditions such as sun, cold, heat and pollution, the mural also produces special visual effects and subtle changes on account of its saturated colors."

Counting up the months, I found that Chen had been working on the scaffolding in the hot weather for nearly seven months. How could he manage to complete such a large fresco on his own?

"A mural usually has to be divided into several parts and worked on separately," Chen remarked. "In the process of making the mural, other construction work was also underway, so I sometimes had to stop my work to facilitate the construction work. To ensure the consistency and visual continuity of the wall painting, I need to keep a cool head and clear mind."

"I have to change my clothes three times a day. Because I use the paintbrush so much, it has chafed the skin of my hand. Besides that, I tripped and fell on the scaffolding four times. The strength, time, energy and patience I have spent on the work are unprecedented."

"After the painting is finished and the scaffolding is taken away, we will need to spray five coatings of protective material on the surface of the mural." Spraying protective material on the mural-that shouldn't be very hard! "Will you do it yourself?" I couldn't help asking.

"Of course. It takes special techniques to spray the wall with protective material that has to be mixed and specially prepared for the occasion. The material has to be spread evenly on the wall so that it can fully protect the painting."

The serious expression on his face inspired my awe and respect.

*****

Ten years ago, the piece of land where the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital is now located was still a sugarcane field where few people ever went. The local people used to say, "Those who were taken ill are still living and in good health, but those who went to visit the patients have passed away." [Many people died in traffic accidents while going to far-off hospitals to visit sick friends or relatives.] Master Cheng Yen thus decided to build a hospital in this area where medical resources were scarce.

For more than ten years from the time the land was obtained to the time the hospital opened, countless people, both at home and abroad, contributed their efforts and money to make the construction of the hospital possible.

What motivated these people to put in their time and effort was their profound respect for human life. Their belief that all living beings should be cared for with love demonstrates the compassion and sympathy of the modern Buddha who vows to bring relief to a suffering world.