The cartoon version of Still Thoughts was born at the 30th anniversary of Tzu Chi. Through words, sound, and now the cartoons, Still Thoughts spreads the Tzu Chi spirit to the human world through a wider variety of channels.

The story of the successful production of the cartoon version of Still Thoughts by Tsai Chi-chung begins with the first meeting between the artist and Ho Teng-yao, an honorable board member of Tzu Chi.

About one and a half years ago, Brother Ho chanced to read Tsai's Zen Talks, another cartoon book. He discovered that the profound meaning of Buddhism could also be expressed with simple words and cartoons. It occurred to him that if Master Cheng Yen's Still Thoughts could be done in the same way, more people would benefit from the book.

Days later, when Ho went to visit Tsai, he was overwhelmed by over a thousand statues of Buddha in his office. He also felt the artist's honest nature. When Ho mentioned his idea to Tsai, the artist replied that his schedule for the whole year was full and that he couldn't spare any time to do it. At that time, he was working on another Buddhist cartoon book, Buddhist Sutra. He said that he would think about it in a year.

During that year, Ho would phone up the artist whenever he passed by his office. If the artist had some free time, he would invite Ho to come up to share his thoughts on studying Buddhism. They could talk for hours until late into the evening, sometimes to midnight.

The artist recalled that Ho would leave a message on his answering machine every two or three days, and there was a time when he didn't even want to answer the phone. Ho's strenuous efforts demonstrated to Tsai the Tzu Chi spirit of "walking persistently on the Path of the Bodhisattvas."

When the year was up, Tsai did not know how to refuse, so he finally drew a couple of samples and told Ho, "You will change your mind after seeing them."

Ho understood Tsai's dilemma. The artist always considered creation to be a channel for the expression of his inner world. He could not be forced by outside pressure to paint. Ho communicated with Tsai with patience and honesty. Ho was confident that the project would go forward because in his mind, the artist was a good friend and a teacher who loved to help others.

One day when Tsai was browsing through Still Thoughts, he discovered several concepts similar to his own, which made him decide to start the project. "The Buddha is our spiritual teacher. We should not just worship him in the temple, but should go out and put his teachings into practice." The artist emphasized, "Personally experiencing the teachings of Buddha is the true belief of Buddhism."

Tsai chose to be a cartoon artist because he enjoyed the job, regardless of how difficult it was. He never doubted his decision. Even though the process of his art was different from the normal standards of this world, he never changed his mind or regretted his decision. In this, he happened to agree with Master Cheng Yen: "Work willingly and accept the results happily."

Growing up in Taiwan for the last forty years, the artist observed that Taiwan's economic boom and the ensuing flurry of construction has brought bustling, wealthy, modern metropolitan scenes throughout the external environment. Unfortunately, there has been a large gap between the speed of urban development and the development of the people's inner, spiritual space. Tzu Chi people quietly give of themselves and gather all people to walk on the Path of the Bodhi-sattvas. The strength to steadily promote this great love is indeed the bodhisattvas' spirit of compassion.

The most important question in producing this book was how to draw Master Cheng Yen. Basically, the Master's face was drawn in the same way as the Buddha's. The artist's skillful pen drew with simple lines the Tzu Chi world of "feeling other's pain as my own, eliminating their pain and offering them joy."

Besides expressing the Master's ideas from Still Thoughts, the artist also uses one third of each page to introduce the Buddha's teachings. This is to confirm that the Master's thoughts come from the Buddha's wisdom.

"In my past productions, such as Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, I drew how I looked at them," Tsai said. "But here I was merely an assistant who structured Still Thoughts into the cartoon."