![Volunteers gathered at the thoughtfully decorated entrance, ready to welcome guests. [Photo by Lim Chin Shein]](/images/Articles/RW/2025/KL20251207_lzs01_023.jpg "Volunteers gathered at the thoughtfully decorated entrance, ready to welcome guests. [Photo by Lim Chin Shein]")
Laughter, music, and heartfelt blessings filled the air as more than a hundred guests gathered at Jing-Si Books & Café in Bukit Bintang to celebrate its 21st anniversary, together with the adjacent Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre, which opened a year later. The milestone marked over two decades of nurturing minds and hearts through books, tea, and humanistic culture.
Joyful voices rose in unison as volunteers, staff, and guests gathered around a cake adorned with the number “21”, singing a birthday song at Jing-Si Books & Café in Wisma Bukit Bintang. Held on December 7, 2025, the celebration commemorated the café’s 21st anniversary and the 20th year of the Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre – two neighbouring spaces that have become cherished havens for reading, reflection, and lifelong learning in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
The atmosphere was warm and inviting. Clusters of pink, white, and blue balloons, and a large “21st Anniversary Celebration” display greeted visitors at the entrance. Inside, shelves showcased books by Master Cheng Yen alongside carefully curated publications, while the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and tea wafted through the air. More than a café, this is a “community lounge”, a place where wisdom, warmth, and kindness are shared daily.
◎ From aspiration to reality: A cultural space in the city
The dream of establishing a Jing-Si Books & Café in Kuala Lumpur dates back to the year 2000, when the first Jing-Si Books & Café opened in Penang. Inspired to create a similar space in the Klang Valley, local volunteers searched for a suitable site but were met with repeated challenges.
In 2004, a turning point came when entrepreneur Lim Haw Sek, moved by the spirit of Tzu Chi during a visit to Taiwan, offered the use of his premises on the lower ground floor of Wisma Bukit Bintang at a nominal rent for the book café. The following year, the adjacent unit was allocated for the Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre, extending the mission from reading and reflection to lifelong learning.
Former outlet manager Koay Si Hui recalled the pioneering days with a smile, “We had no experience running a book café. Together with a few volunteers, we travelled to Taiwan to learn the operating model from our counterparts and brought it back.”
She remains deeply grateful for the volunteers who stepped forward to serve – learning to prepare beverages, promoting Master Cheng Yen’s books, and even coming night after night to clean. “It was their dedication that kept the book café going,” she added.
◎ A sanctuary where stories find new beginnings
Over the past 21 years, Jing-Si Books & Café has become a refuge for the weary and a source of strength for those at life’s crossroads. Si Hui recalls a young man who stumbled into the book café when his life hit rock bottom after being betrayed in business. He sat in silence day after day, finding solace in the book café’s tranquillity.
“One day, I handed him ‘Challenges: The Life and Teachings of Venerable Master Cheng Yen’. He read and wept. Learning about Master’s perseverance in founding Tzu Chi and building a hospital helped him see his own struggles differently. He decided to rise again, start anew, and rebuild his life,” she shared.
Often, the ripple of compassion begins with a single page or a single phrase. Years ago, after the book café screened a documentary on Hsieh Kun‑Shan, the renowned mouth-and-foot painter from Taitung, Taiwan, one visitor was deeply moved and purchased 1,000 copies of his book, for volunteers to distribute to schools across the Klang Valley.
“A film touched one person, and that person’s generosity went on to touch countless others,” Si Hui reflected. “It’s life influencing life.”
◎ Reading as an inner source of strength
Kee Lee Choo, part of the book café’s first volunteer team, admitted that she initially had little interest in reading. That changed after she attended a film-sharing session at the book café, where “A Life Bounded for Two”, a documentary about ALS patient Ma Wen-zhong and his wife, who founded the Hope Primary School, was screened. Intrigued, she began reading the book and, over several weeks, completed the thick volume during her volunteer shifts.
“From then on, I fell in love with reading,” Lee Choo shared. The essence of the books she read gradually became her inner strength. During difficult home visits, she would recall how Master Cheng Yen faced challenges without being overwhelmed, reminding herself to find ways to support families through hardship.
Today, Lee Choo continues to recommend Master’s books and other meaningful titles to visitors. To her, every book is a treasure, waiting for the readers to uncover its value. Her wish is simple yet steadfast – that the book café will continue its mission for another 21 years and beyond.
◎ A lounge for the community
Jing-Si Books & Café has long served as a “community lounge”, welcoming everyone, from curious first-time visitors to students revising for exams, to patrons seeking a quiet place to breathe and reflect. Volunteers prepare drinks, recommend suitable books, and invite guests to talks and activities designed to spark insight and foster community connection.
One secondary school student, tall and passionate about hip‑hop dance, faced a harsh reality: due to a congenital heart condition, strenuous movement was risky. Communication between him and his worried mother became strained, and tensions grew at home. The book café became a turning point.
Volunteers invited the student to draw Jing Si Aphorism scrolls, reflect on their meanings, and take part in charity visits to a centre for people with disabilities. Witnessing the challenges of those with physical and intellectual disabilities, the student gradually refocused on his studies, improved his academic performance, and learned to be more considerate at home.
Eventually, his mother, deeply moved by the changes she witnessed, joined Tzu Chi as a volunteer herself, illustrating how personal transformation can ripple outward to touch families and communities.
◎ From learning to volunteering
Joining in the anniversary celebrations, the Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre organised a series of trial classes open to learners of all ages. From Chinese paper-cutting and small animal crafts made from recycled foil packaging, to ink painting and rock painting, the centre transformed into a lively yet calming studio of creativity.
Among the familiar faces was Lim Thow Pang, the continuing education centre’s first yoga instructor and also the first instructor to embark on a volunteering journey and become a certified Tzu Chi volunteer.
He recalled that when the centre staff invited him to share a Jing Si Aphorism with his students at the end of each class, he was worried that the teachings might be too profound to explain. However, the moment he opened a Jing Si Aphorism booklet, he realised how closely the words resonated with everyday life.
From then on, he began concluding each class with an aphorism, inviting students to carry a simple, meaningful reflection into their daily routines, such as:
“Learn by doing; awaken in learning.”
“Getting mad is like a bout of temporary insanity.”
“We must not allow ourselves to follow our desires, but rather be mindful of guarding our hearts and discipling ourselves.”
Thow Pang shared how Jing Si Aphorisms reshaped his own life, especially one that reads, “Doing good deeds and practising filial piety cannot wait.” When his elderly parents expressed a wish to travel to China, the words came to mind, prompting him to set aside work to accompany them. After their return, his mother was diagnosed with diabetes, gradually lost her mobility, and later passed away. He found comfort in knowing he had fulfilled her wish before impermanence arrived.
For two decades, Thow Pang has faithfully taught yoga at the continuing education centre. “I hope more people will step into the book café and the continuing education centre, to learn, to volunteer, and to let their lives shine,” he said.
◎ A celebration rooted in gratitude
The anniversary event brought together memories, gratitude and heartfelt blessings. Deputy CEOs of Tzu Chi KL & Selangor, Tien Chin Hsiang and Tong Siew Bee, joined volunteers and staff on stage to lead the birthday song, honouring the perseverance and growth of both the book café and the continuing education centre.
Throughout the day, guests revisited cherished moments, from the early days of learning how to run the book café to the many programmes that expanded its reach. With renewed energy, both spaces now look to the future with clarity of purpose: to promote reading as a source of inner strength, share humanistic culture that uplifts daily life, offer programmes that blend learning with self-cultivation, and invite everyone to step in, sit down, and discover warmth, peace, and the value of life, whether through a book, a class, or a single good word.
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As the celebration drew to a close, laughter lingered, teacups were emptied, and balloons swayed gently above the doorway. Jing-Si Books & Café and the Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre begin another year as they have every year since opening: with open doors, open hearts, and a steady invitation to read, learn, serve, and grow.
