In 1991, founder of Taiwan-based Tzu Chi Foundation, Master Cheng Yen received The Magsaysay Community Leadership Award from the Philippine Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. This is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Asia. Along with the award came a prize money of US $30,000 (worth approximately Php 825,000 then) which the Master distributed to two beneficiaries - the victims of the China flooding and of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. The award paved way to the exposure of the Master’s compassion to the Chinese community in the Philippines.