A unique blend of spiritual and practical teaching has won many admirers.
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul in Hualien, Taiwan
In a serene corner of the Bodhisattva room on the second floor of Tzu Chi University's medical school, hundreds of temple-shaped crystal urns give off a calming light.
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| One of the majestic crystal urns. |
Each majestic urn contains the bones and ashes of what the school calls the "silent mentors", those who have donated their bodies to the university to help in the training of medical students.
In a unique experiment to encourage prospective doctors to combine a spiritual connection to their patients with the gritty reality of medicine, Master Cheng Yen established the school in the eastern region of Taiwan in 1995. It's aim is to develop healthcare and medical education while teaching students to do good deeds and help others in accordance with Buddhist teachings.
The school's department of anatomy is famous for giving medical students the opportunity to achieve medical excellence along with social responsibility and ethics. Their "silent mentors" integrate Buddhism into the curriculum.
"Most doctors we meet have only flipped over x-ray films, written medical prescriptions and told us to go home. But doctors here are required to take one extra step to help patients," said James Wu, who has been working as a volunteer at the anatomical medicine department for over 25 years.
"Our mission is to be humane doctors. We want doctors to be good at not only medical sciences but also humanities, having a caring and loving heart for others. Good health means happiness and the job of a medical worker is to make people happy."
During anatomy classes, four medical students study with a "silent mentor". Apart from anatomical sciences, they also have to study a biography of each "silent mentor" and watch video footage of the donor when he or she was alive.
The idea is to bring home to the students that the body in front of them was once a real human being, a person who had a soul and conscience and a desire to help others by donating their bodies to science.
One "silent mentor" in his videotaped message told of how he struggled with last-stage cancer. He did not want to receive chemotherapy because he intended to donate his body for medical research. He depended only on aspirin to ease the pain until his death.
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| The Bodhisattva room where bones and ashes of the ‘silent mentors’ remind students of their contribution to Taiwan’s medical studies and healthcare system.APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL |
The donor encouraged medical students to learn from the "silent mentors" so they can become good doctors.
"Medical students can cut up the bodies of 'silent mentors' and make as many mistakes as they like. But when practising as a doctor, they cannot cut up a patient's body by mistake, not even once," he said in the videotape.
When finishing a lesson, the students have to sew back all body parts and wrap each "silent mentor" with pure-white linen. Each body is kept in a temperature-controlled room for anatomical study for two to three years.
Each year a religious ceremony is held for the "silent mentors" at Tzu Chi temple in the university's compound. Medical students of all levels, doctors and relatives of the "silent mentors" attend.
The students write letters of gratitude to the "silent mentors" and put them in their coffins. Then they carry the coffins to the crematorium.
Later, the ashes are kept in the crystal urns in the Bodhisattva room. Pictures of the "silent mentors" are displayed at the entrance of the building to allow the students to express their gratitude.
Apart from attending medical classes, students at Tzu Chi University are also required to take flower arrangement, tea-making and Chinese calligraphy courses for mental and spiritual development.
They are also required to do volunteer work and public service. Some choose to play music for patients at Tzu Chi hospital.
The university's philosophy has struck a chord with many Taiwanese people. More than 22,000 Taiwanese have signed consent forms to donate their bodies for medical research purposes. Half of them are Tzu Chi volunteers, including Mr Wu.
Tzu Chi has donated "silent mentors" to other medical schools which lack bodies for anatomy classes on condition the schools perform the Tzu Chi-style ceremony to pay respect to the corpses.
In Thailand, Tanvaa Tansatit, head of Chulalongkorn University's anatomy department, said about 6,000 people have signed consent forms to donate their bodies to medical research. But only 200 to 300 bodies are available for study each year.
He said that was insufficient for medical students and specialists. The corpses, called by the Thai medical students ajarn yai (principal), were also needed for the surgical training centre at the faculty of medicine.
Unlike Taiwan, those donating their cadavers for medical research in Thailand usually do not reveal themselves to the public. But royal cremations are to be held every year for the ajarn yai to show gratitude for their good deeds. Before classes begin, students bring garlands to pay homage to the cadavers, Mr Tanvaa said.
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