Serving Ammanites and Bedouins, Palestinian refugees and Iraqi citizens, Chen Chiu-hua, the "Eastern Warrior," embarks on a mission of love and hope to those who have suffered in war.

"After taking me across countless desert miles, I really want to thank my car." Amongst all the people I've known, he is the first to utter these words. As Chen Chiu-hua stepped on the brakes and stopped his car, we knew the 1.4-liter sedan provided by the Jordanian royalty had finally given in to the harsh desert conditions.

We stared out the window, watching the sun sink into the horizon, the oceanic blue sky slowly changing to dusk. With the emergence of glittering stars, the desert's evening chill gradually consumed the hot atmosphere. We were stranded approximately a hundred miles away from Amman with the temperature dropping to minus 10 degrees. Earlier we had crossed the border of Iraq and Jordan to help refugees, and now we were stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Fortunately, we weren't totally out of luck. The car had broken down near a military encampment, and our Arabian Tzu Chi volunteer, Aburasha, volunteered to go and enlist their help. Surprisingly, when the soldiers learnt that Chen was amongst us, they honored his presence--even the commander came out to greet him in person.

The commander invited us into their camp for some hot tea, and the night was warm with their enthusiasm and spirit. At the same time, a vehicle sent by the royal family to accommodate us was on its way from Amman.

Back in '74

In the 1970s, while the world was occupied with the stalemate of the Cold War, Taiwan and China also maintained an icy relationship across the straits. In Taiwan, elite, stringently trained combat units were prepared to invade and retake the mainland. One such unit, responsible for the initial assault when time came to land on the coast of China, placed special emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. Based at a marine camp in southern Taiwan, Chen was a combat instructor with a seventh-degree black belt in Taekwondo. In 1974, the Ministry of National Defense sent him to Jordan to serve as the head coach for the Royal Guard.

Without any idea about this new land, Chen arrived in Jordan, thousands of miles away from home, where the only language spoken other than Arabic was English. Chen knew neither, as using body language was considered sufficient to train the Royal Guard. Nevertheless, his inability to communicate with the locals made it hard for him when he went to the markets. He forced himself to study English every night after work. Despite having to run all the way to the city and back, he never gave up.

At the time, the king of Jordan was Hussein Ibn Talal, with El Hassan Bin Talal the designated successor to the crown. As Chen served these two men, his modesty and sincerity along with his sense of honor and integrity won their respect. Both Hussein and Hassan requested his services as their personal trainer, and after witnessing his skill and finesse in martial arts, King Hussein asked him to help promote Taekwondo as a national sport. Although these requests overwhelmed Chen's already-packed schedule, he took on the responsibilities as part of his mission to Jordan. The first Taekwondo training center in Amman was established three years later.

Chen was normally warm and friendly; however, his eyes glared with the bellicosity of a soldier when he trained his students. From veteran guards to new recruits, everyone respected and revered Chen. Once, a boy wet his pants when Chen merely stared into his eyes. "A fighter's vigor and confidence usually draws the line between victory and defeat. That is the most important part of our training," Chen explained.

Just as he asked his students to push their limits, he always did his best to test and expand their limits. The young boy who once feared the master grew up and earned a sixth-degree black belt. Today, he works as an assistant for Chen.

Although Chen laid the foundation for the Taekwondo discipline in Jordan, he never took credit or accepted any tuition for his service.

Achievement and emptiness

After his honorable discharge from the military in 1977, Chen married Kao Yi-yi, a flight attendant for Royal Jordanian Airlines, and settled down in Jordan. In 1980, Chen invited his younger brother, Chen Te-hsiung, who was a seventh-degree black belt master, to join him in Jordan. Together, the brothers trained the Jordanian Taekwondo national team. Facing differences in culture and language and at times discrimination from others, the brothers nevertheless pulled together and put their hearts into training their athletes.

At the Olympics in Seoul in 1988, Chen's hard work came to fruition. The team earned a bronze medal, the first in Jordanian history. The country was frenzied by the news, while the royal family reserved first-class tickets and readied a feast to welcome the return of Chen and the athletes.

As the team of Taekwondo heroes stepped off the plane, a national honor guard lined up in columns around the young Prince Hassan, who stood upon the red carpet with ribbons and flowers in his hands to greet them. The generous King Hussein, overjoyed with the team's achievement, bought each team member a Mercedes-Benz as a gift, while Chen's name became a front-page item around the country.

However, there seems to be no escape from the nature of social politics, and despite Chen's indifference to politics or fame or fortune, false accusations were made against him, and he consequently decided to resign from the national team.

Due to overwhelming public outcry, Chen decided to join again in 1998. He led the national team to win two silver medals and three bronze medals at the Asian Olympics in Thailand. The following year, the team's championship victory at the Pan-Arab Games in Jordan heightened the morale and sense of superiority of the Jordanian Taekwondo community.

Having reached the pinnacle of his career, Chen began to feel the fading strength of age and decided to retire. At present, Chen is still Prince Hassan's Taekwondo instructor and concurrently consultant to the Jordan Taekwondo Association. In his thirty years in Jordan, Chen has trained five generations of students, numbering in the thousands.

The two years following Chen's retirement could be considered the time of his self-exploration into his own limits. After studying from videotapes and books on martial arts, Chen applied to take a test in Korea and successfully attained the eighth-degree black belt--a symbolic recognition and high honor for a true martial arts master.

Having pursued trophies and awards that now decorate a wall in his home, Chen sought a new direction for the next stage in life. Realizing the endless journey of learning and the importance of a great teacher, Chen suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart. "Although I am such a good teacher to my students, where can I find my own teacher to ask for guidance?"

Hope and warmth

Tzu Chi people had started their charitable services early on in Jordan. Chen had also become acquainted with Tzu Chi, and while visiting a relative in Taiwan, he happened to attend the opening ceremony of the Tzu Chi Great Love Television station on January 1, 1998. There, he was deeply impressed with the concerted actions of Tzu Chi members and Dharma Master Cheng Yen's inspiring lecture. The impression, like a key unlocking a heavy rusty gate, freed the lock in Chen's mind and brought light to the meaning he sought in life.

In the fall of 1998, Lin Hui-cheng, head of the Jordan Tzu Chi branch office, passed away after the first year of operation, and someone had to assume the leadership. Heeding the call, Chen and his brother undertook the role along with their families and a few volunteers. Together, the nine-person team continued to carry out the Tzu Chi missions.

In the beginning, Chen did everything in a do-it-yourself way, including decorating the branch office and sketching signposts and billboards with his own hands. At home, Chen arranged a quiet corner where he could meditate at four every morning to purify and tranquilize his mind.

Only a few ethnic Chinese--around seventy people--live in Jordan, so of course it would be easy to doubt just how much Chen and his crew could ever accomplish.

Amidst the Middle East conflicts and the American-led war in Iraq, Chen has continued guiding his team across the borders to assist those in need of their aid. Traversing countless miles, from Al Mafraq, near Jerash, in the north to Petra and Wadi Finan in the south, from Ruwayshed in the east to an orphanage, a nursing home for the elderly, and a center for the handicapped in Amman in the west, the crew has never ceased to bring care and hope to the needy. Moreover, Chen and his team periodically visit Palestinian and Chechnyan refugee camps to deliver provisions and supplies to everyone without discriminating against their ethnicity or nationality.

Although the roads in Jordan are clear and smooth, the trips are often time-consuming and tiring. Yet Chen, abiding by Master Cheng Yen's philosophy of "Just do it," continues to persist in facing the challenges on the Path of the Bodhisattvas.

The U.S.-Iraqi conflict in March brought Chen to the front line. In response to the potential flood of refugees, he took the initiative to contact Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan to request blankets, food, and other provisions. When the supplies arrived at the harbor, they were temporarily stored in the warehouses of the Hashemite Charitable Society, a charity foundation sponsored by the Jordanian royal family. Chen visited the Ruwayshed refugee camp in early April. He raised enough funds to reunite an Iraqi woman and her two children with her husband, who was working in the United Arab Emirates.

Though constantly hindered by the chaos and dangers of war, Chen never stopped distributing aid and supplies to refugees. Toward the end of May, the team pushed into Iraq, spreading the love of Tzu Chi in the midst of the conflict. All of these accomplishments were born out of the love, hope, and care of this nine-member team.

Master Cheng Yen teaches us to "respect all life." This simple phrase transformed Chen, who stopped drinking alcohol altogether. Pursuing fame and pleasure also became things of the past. Chen jokes, "Now all the trophies and awards on this wall are merely to fend off evil spirits." A person's transformation can spread to those around him: two Jordanian volunteers have similarly quit smoking and drinking.

An image is indelibly imprinted in Chen's memory. At the grand opening ceremony of the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital in 1984, the petite Master Cheng Yen, facing the tremendous pressure of raising money for the construction of the hospital, clenched her teeth and showed a resolute expression on her face. This image that Chen saw in a documentary keeps reminding him to be persistent in facing any hardships and challenges that might come his way.

In the cruel desert, where concepts of Social Darwinism rule the destinies of most local animals, care and consideration have become even more vital to ensure people's survival. Having spent most of his life traversing the desert, Chen reflects on the tiny struggles amidst this vast land. Yet he brings hope and care to those around him. The struggles of this "warrior from the East" have perhaps woven a tale of persistence and compassion that will bring hope to Jordan from generation to generation.