A Taiwanese Buddhist nun who established a compassion relief foundation nearly four decades ago has seen it grow into a worldwide volunteer organization that assists victims of disasters like the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia last December.

Venerable Master Cheng Yen was born in Chingshui, a small town in central Taiwan, in 1937. When she was twenty-three years old, she left home to become a Buddhist nun. In 1966, she established the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which has concentrated its activities in the four major missions of charity, medicine, education, and culture. The foundation, which now has over four million supporters, provides disaster relief throughout the world, sending supplies to victims and dispatching volunteers to help them rebuild their lives.

The Buddha found that the theory of karma was often confused with fatalism, but he turned the message of despair into one of hope. He encourages the sinner to realize that it is never too late to mend.

I. Loganathan is honorary president of the Buddhist Society of India and of the Gautama Buddhist School, Karnataka State, India.

As Buddhism gains widening acceptance as a European religion, new questions are raised about whether its presence will be lasting, and about the resulting dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.

Michael Fuss is a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. After ordination as a Catholic priest, Dr. Fuss specialized in Buddhist studies and today is engaged in Buddhist-Christian dialogue and is a member of the International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter Group. Among his publications is Buddhavacana and Dei Verbum (Leiden: Brill, 1991), a comparative study of scriptural inspiration in the Lotus Sutra and the New Testament. This article is adapted from an article that originally appeared in The Way (Vol. 41, 2001), a journal for contemporary Christian spirituality published by the Jesuits in Britain.

It might be wise when we pray to recognize that we may be treating the Buddha as a mere means to attain our own desires.

Kinzo Takemura, now retired, was the director of the Overseas Mission Office (now the International Faith Dissemination Group) of Rissho Kosei-kai and the president of Kosei Publishing Company. He served for many years as chief secretary to the late Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, founder of Rissho Kosei-kai.

Anxiety over human relationships is the main source of stress among people in the workplace and the community as a whole. In an attempt to alleviate that stress, companies and schools often have professional counselors available, and more and more people are seeking their help. We seem to have lost the knack for human relationships.

Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and the Niwano Peace Foundation, a president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), and chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan). This article is a translation of a recent interview with Rev. Niwano that originally appeared in Rissho Kosei-kai's Japanese periodical Yakushin.

This essay is part of a continuing series of translations from a volume of inspirational writings by the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. DHARMA WORLD will continue to publish these essays because of their lasting value as guidance for the daily practice of one's faith.

Nikkyo Niwano, the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, was an honorary president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace and was honorary chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan) at the time of his death in October 1999.

The heart of the second half of the Lotus Sutra contains a parable about a wise physician who used skillful means to heal his poisoned children. We are those sick children, and the Buddha is the wise father who uses every means available to save us. We must learn not only how to see the Buddha in others, but also how to let others see the Buddha in us.

Gene Reeves is currently studying, teaching, and writing on Buddhism in Tokyo. A consultant and teacher at Rissho Kosei-kai, he was recently a research fellow at Rikkyo University. Before coming to Japan in 1989, Dr. Reeves was the dean of Meadville/Lombard Theological School and professorial lecturer in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

An Indian travel agent describes how his curiosity about Japanese Buddhism led to his visiting Tokyo and discovering the bodhisattva practice of Rissho Kosei-kai.

Pradeep Saksena is the director of the Delhi Dharma Center of Rissho Kosei-kai in the Indian capital.

The mother of an elementary-school boy who was then nine years old describes her personal experience with one of his classmates who was seen as the main cause of the chaos that was disrupting school for everyone.

Harumi Ogawa is a member of the Minami-Tama Branch of Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo.

Early Buddhists looked up to Sakyamuni as a great teacher who had been able to control his own passions. He exemplified the ideal of human existence.

The late Dr. Hajime Nakamura, an authority on Indian philosophy, was president of the Eastern Institute in Tokyo and a professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo at the time of his death in October 1999. This ongoing series is a translation of Gotama Buddha, vol. 2 (Tokyo: Shunjusha, 1992).

This is the eighty-second installment of a detailed commentary on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.