Dharma Master Cheng Yen wins Niwano Peace Prize

This article was published by the Macroview Weekly on May 16, 2007. It reports that Taiwan's venerable Buddhist Master Cheng Yen was recently awarded the 24th Niwano Peace Prize for her lifelong dedication to humanitarian relief, charity, medical service and public education.

Cheng Yen is founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which has emerged as Taiwan's largest charity after 41 years of development. She is the first Taiwanese to receive the prestigious Niwano Peace Prize since the Niwano Peace Foundation established the award in 1983.

A representative of Tzu Chi Foundation received the trophy on behalf of Cheng Yen in a grand ceremony held at the Tokyo office of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. According to the representative, Cheng Yen takes great pride and joy in receiving the award. “She regards it as a great honor and a recognition of the work in Taiwan and around the globe of the large army of Tzu Chi volunteers.”

As Cheng Yen has never travelled abroad, she asked the representative to receive the award on her behalf. According to the representative, Cheng Yen has decided to donate the 20 million yen (US$167,000) in prize money to the Tzu Chi Foundation for various charity programs. The day the award was presented also happened to be Cheng Yen's 70th birthday.

Many Japanese religious leaders and foreign representatives attended the awarding ceremony, which was presided by Nichiko Niwano, president of the Niwano Peace Foundation. A large group of media professionals covered the event.