关于诚振

Growing up and finding my values

I, Kia Ming Tan (陈家明), was born and raised in Malacca, Malaysia. I now work and live in Singapore, and am 52 years old this year.

I am the youngest of my parents’ six children. After my parents separated, my mother supported and raised all six of us on her own by running a hawker business. She still lives in Malacca today, cared for and accompanied by my two elder sisters.

Although my mother did not receive a formal education, she constantly taught us through her example to be honest, responsible, hardworking, and resilient. Her example helped me understand that true character is cultivated through life’s challenges, rather than determined by educational qualifications.

Our family was not well-off, and resources were limited during my childhood, but my mother always placed great importance on our education. Most of us understood how hard she worked and were devoted to her. My parents’ separation helped me recognise, even at a young age, both the preciousness and fragility of family, and planted in me a deep sense of responsibility towards my own family.

I attended 革成 Primary School and St. David’s Secondary School in Malacca, before studying for a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia. My studies generally went smoothly and nurtured a sense of self-discipline and responsibility. After graduation, I entered the telecommunications industry. I currently work as an operations manager in a multinational company.

My connection with Tzu Chi

In 1996, during my second year at university, an alumnus introduced me to a Tzu Ching camp organised by Tzu Chi in Penang. This was my first close encounter with Tzu Chi.

What impressed me most at the camp was the care and attention that Tzu Chi volunteers put into organising every activity. Whether arranging chairs or preparing tableware, they attended to every detail with the utmost care. Their earnestness and respect deeply moved me.

Through the activities, I learned about the spirit behind Master Cheng Yen’s founding of Tzu Chi. I came to understand that Buddhism is not only about personal spiritual cultivation: Buddhists can also actively engage with society and benefit others. Although I had encountered the Dharma in secondary school, Tzu Chi’s practice of Humanistic Buddhism helped me truly understand how Buddhist teachings can be expressed in everyday life and action.

At the end of 2000, I travelled to Taiwan with my Tzu Ching seniors to take refuge under Master Cheng Yen. The Master bestowed upon me the Dharma name “Cheng Zhen” (诚振), further strengthening my commitment to walking Tzu Chi’s Bodhisattva Path.

After becoming a Tzu Ching member, I participated in programme planning and a range of activities, including camps, relief distributions, free medical clinics, and environmental protection work. Through taking on these responsibilities, I learned about Tzu Chi’s Dharma lineage and tradition, its beautiful spirit of humanistic care, and the importance of teamwork and helping one another succeed.

After graduating from university, my work circumstances also led me to participate in activities at Tzu Chi’s Malacca branch.

When I came to Singapore for work in 2000, Tzu Ching seniors 李建群 and 黄章威 helped me connect with Tzu Chi Singapore. I continued participating in Tzu Ching activities, including camps, environmental protection work, visits to the 喜乐之家 care institution, and street fundraising. I also served as the programme team leader for the Tzu Chi youth group. These experiences deepened my understanding and appreciation of Tzu Chi’s Four Missions and Eight Footprints.

One of my most unforgettable volunteering experiences was the opportunity to join Tzu Chi Singapore’s free medical clinic in Batam, Indonesia, in 2002. It was an experience of profound inner growth.

At that time, medical facilities in Batam were relatively scarce. The clinic was held at a community health centre with very basic equipment and an unclean environment. I witnessed how Tzu Chi volunteers built a temporary hospital from the ground up.

They created registration and waiting areas, makeshift consultation rooms, a dental clinic, and an operating theatre. Many patients sought treatment for cleft lips, unexplained swellings, and other conditions. The queues were long, yet the patients waited quietly. Through the skilled hands of the medical volunteers, they found hope for a future beyond their physical difficulties and pain.

Family and aspirations

In 2004, I married 陈慧雯. We met through Tzu Ching activities. She was also a Tzu Ching member and currently works as a senior executive at KidSTART in Singapore. Through volunteering and learning the Dharma together, we grew to appreciate and support one another, and became life partners within Tzu Chi’s humanistic environment.

We have three daughters. The adjustments and responsibilities of family life have deepened my understanding of what it means to be a husband and father, and helped me better understand the hardships and challenges people face in life.

After marriage, family and career responsibilities gradually drew me away from Tzu Chi activities. Nevertheless, my Tzu Ching friends stayed in touch, and our connection was never broken.

In 2013, the conditions came together for me to participate in the Water Repentance sutra adaptation. From then on, I made a vow to follow a vegetarian diet. Although family and career commitments later prevented me from remaining actively involved in Tzu Chi, I have always been grateful for the quiet companionship and care of my Tzu Ching seniors.

Returning and taking responsibility

In 2023, the conditions were right. With encouragement from my senior, 杜进强, I returned to Tzu Chi. Putting on the grey volunteer uniform and entering training was more than a return to a role; it marked a deepening of my faith and commitment.

The seeds of goodness planted more than twenty years earlier had become quiet for a time, but had never disappeared. Upon returning, what I felt most deeply was gratitude and the reassurance of finally finding my place. It was not a surge of emotion, but a sense of calm that came from knowing my direction.

After returning to the community, the care and companionship of the community leadership team helped me begin participating in various missions and responsibilities. These included supporting the flow of participants at the Buddha Bathing Ceremony, serving as the Eastern District community liaison, leading an environmental education point, providing stage audio support for the Year-End Blessing Ceremony, and visiting charity care recipients. Every responsibility was an opportunity to learn, and made me cherish the strength of working together even more.

At the 2026 Buddha Bathing Ceremony, I had the opportunity to help with the venue setup, participant flow, and community liaison work. Throughout the preparations, I deeply experienced Tzu Chi’s spirit of unity, harmony, mutual support, and cooperation. Watching an empty space become a dignified setting for the ceremony, and then return to its original state, helped me reflect on life’s movement “from nothing to something, and from something to nothing.” Although the event ended, the strength of goodness and love that we created together remained. It also helped me rediscover the original aspiration I felt when I first entered Tzu Chi.

I also lead a community environmental education point. This responsibility has deepened my understanding of environmental sustainability. I have observed how Tzu Chi’s environmental mission has evolved over the years: from “bowing our heads to do recycling,” with its focus on collecting and sorting resources, towards “raising our heads to speak about environmental protection,” with a greater emphasis on education and outreach. Today, recycling stations are also environmental education centres. Sharing environmental principles with community residents has helped me better appreciate the importance of education and my own responsibility to protect the environment.

I currently take part in community charity visits and am learning to take the lead in caring for a case. Through monthly home visits and ongoing care, I am learning to approach every household with gratitude, respect, and love. Each care recipient has a different life story, and these encounters help me treasure everything I have.

The first person I cared for left the deepest impression on me. Only a few months later, that person passed away from illness. This encounter brought home the impermanence of life and reminded me to cherish the present. We cannot know whether tomorrow or impermanence will arrive first. We should therefore treasure every opportunity to give, and let no moment of life pass without meaning.

Certification is the beginning of responsibility

My greatest change through Tzu Chi has been learning gratitude. I see people and situations with greater openness and no longer dwell so much on small grievances. A Jing Si Aphorism says, “Happiness comes not from having more, but from taking issue with less.” It reminds me to let go of attachment and practise greater acceptance in my family, career, and volunteer work.

When I enrolled in volunteer training last year, I hesitated over whether I could shoulder the responsibilities and whether I was ready. Then my wife reminded me, “The Master is no longer young. Why aren’t you making the most of this opportunity?” Her words were a wake-up call.

I realised that favourable conditions will not wait forever, and that the bond between teacher and disciple should never be taken for granted. The rapid development of Tzu Chi’s work in Singapore over these years also reminds me how rare it is to obtain a human life, encounter the Dharma, and meet a wise teacher. All the more reason to cherish the present, listen to more teachings, and take on more responsibilities.

Through training courses, community Dharma study, and the responsibilities I have undertaken, I have gradually realised that certification is not a completion, but the beginning of responsibility. After certification, I must remain mindful, continue learning the Dharma diligently, and work to improve myself. With greater humility, I hope to serve among people, learn to give without expecting anything in return, and put the Dharma into practice in everyday life and action.

Master Cheng Yen teaches, “Certification is the beginning of responsibility.” If the opportunity arises, I hope to learn through charitable service and international missions, gaining experience in an area I had less exposure to during my Tzu Ching years. In different environments, I hope to learn to give and to recognise my blessings by witnessing suffering.

Walking together with diligence and purpose

Returning this time, I have seen senior volunteers grow older, felt joy at the growth of younger and middle-aged volunteers, and witnessed the continuation of the Dharma lineage. An organisation’s lasting development depends on passing its work from one generation to the next. I vow to broaden my participation in Tzu Chi’s missions, encounter more, and learn more, so that I can deepen my understanding of its Dharma lineage and tradition. I hope to take the Dharma to heart and put it into action, and become a Tzu Chi volunteer who can shoulder responsibilities, welcome others onto the path, and carry the tradition forward.

As a father of three daughters, I know that teaching through example is more powerful than teaching through words. I hope that taking responsibility on the Tzu Chi path will support not only my own growth, but also show my children through action that life offers more than career success and achievement. We can also contribute to society and do our part for others.

I also hold a vow in my heart: that one day my wife, 陈慧雯, and our three children might walk Tzu Chi’s Bodhisattva Path with me. When the conditions are right, I hope we can train and become certified together, share responsibility for its missions, and progress as a family within its Dharma lineage and tradition. May we form wholesome connections and help keep the Buddha’s teachings alive.

Looking back on the road I have travelled, I would like to say to my younger self: Keep going, Kia Ming. I may not have begun this path early, but my direction is now firmly set.

This precious human life, so difficult to obtain, I have obtained. The Dharma, so difficult to hear, I have heard. A wise teacher, so difficult to meet, I have met. As a disciple, I can only cherish the present and strive diligently, again and again, so as not to let down my teacher’s kindness or waste this life.

Thank you, Master Cheng Yen, for your teachings. Your child has returned!

I am grateful for the companionship of my Tzu Chi Dharma family, and for my family’s support and understanding, which allow me to walk the Bodhisattva Path with peace of mind.

With gratitude!

May Master Cheng Yen enjoy good health, continue teaching the Dharma, and be blessed with boundless longevity and well-being.

Your disciple,

Kia Ming Tan, with palms joined in respect

6 June 2026