This paper examines the empowering process of religious language and stories in Buddhist Tzuchi Association in Taiwan. Drawing upon self-narratives of five Tzuchi volunteers, this study finds that these narratives reconstruct their life stories and reality and thus function as a therapy for individuals. The re-construction undergoes in the context of "larger-than-oneself" belief, directing one toward religious cultivation other than worldly roles. It is persuasive by offering a positive and meaningful framework of life for the narrators. On the other hand, these volunteers’ narratives often cite the "Words of Still Thoughts," a collection of the talk by Master Cheng Yen, the founder of Tzuchi. These narratives along with their stories are widely circulated via books, tapes, radio and television, and thus become a kind of modern religious "Book of Morality" (shan shu) following the "Words of Still Thoughts." Appealing to admonish good and evil as traditional shan shu did, these story-tellings are characterized by daily encounters along with cultivation from Tzuchi’s services. Such experiential narratives are rooted in life and strengthen "Words of Still Thoughts" as a moral guidance from below. The mutual flow of language and life elicits converting power for the audience and appears to be a significant condition for religious narratives to be influential. As the central media of religious communication, narratives not only represent or reflect upon reality, but also possibly reconstruct living reality and bring forth healing and transformation of individual lives.
