A TRIBUTE TO VEN. MASTER HSIN YUN

The most important and influential Buddhist centre in Taiwan ROC today is undoubtedly the    monastery of Fo Kuan Shan at Kaoshiung in the south.

Fo Kuan Shan, which literally means the Mountain of the Light of the Dharma, is a well developed piece of hilly land covering more than 300 thousand acres. Magnificently erected within it are several palace like shrine halls, various huge towers and giant sized statues, and a few blocks of multi-storeyed hostels complete with modern hotel like facilities. There are also a college for Buddhist studies, a high school, an orphanage, an old folk home, a museum, and even a very well kept burial ground.

Visitors to Fo Kuan Shan (and there are thousands of them every day from various parts of the world) are invariably impressed by its scenic natural surroundings, beautiful Buddhistic architecture and solemnful religious atmosphere. But few realize that fifteen years ago this place was still an uninhabited piece of jungle land.

The person who was responsible for turning the jungle into a great and dignified Buddhist centre is Venerable Master Hsin Yun.

Venerable Master Hsin Yun, a native of Chiangtu, Chiangsu Province in Mainland China was born in 1926. He became a novice at the age of twelve and was fully ordained as a Buddhist monk of the Linchi Chishai tradition in 1941 at the Temple of Chishai Mountain. Then he studied at Chishai Buddhist College and Chaosan Buddhist College, both very well-known Buddhist institutes of higher learning. He had taught, preached, written and edited for several years before he came to Taiwan in 1949, and he continued to do all these after that.

Buddhism was first introduced into China about two thousand years ago during the Han Dynasty. Since than it integrated well with the Chinese culture and became an inseparable part of it. In the process Buddhism in China had acquired its own identity which distinguishes itself from Buddhism practised in other parts of the world, with the Mahayana teaching being its basis. But the progress and spreading of Buddhism in China have been full of ups and downs. There were times when it flourished especially with the help of Buddhist rulers. But at other times it was severely persecuted.

In modern Taiwan, Buddhism are facing fierce competition from traditional Chinese beliefs (often mistaken as Taoisme) as well as other major world religions such as Christianity. On the other hand there is also an increasing number of science trained young people who find religions unattractive and irrelevant.

As a person who deeply understands and fully practices the teaching of the Buddha, Venerable Master Hsin Yun has realized that Buddhism is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted today. Nevertheless he is strongly convinced that Buddhism is still the best guidance of life and mankind in this modern world. There is an urgent need to reintroduce Buddhism to the Chinese people in Taiwan. It is necessary to present the teaching of the Buddha in its true form in a convincing way inspiring to the modern minds. He has worked hard for a breakthrough and succeeded through the establishment of the Fo Kuan Shan.

Thus the Monastery of Fo Kuan Shan is by no means an ordinary Buddhist institution or a    traditional one. On one hand the teaching of Buddha is faithfully and completely maintained and practised there. On the other hand there are so many innovations to make it into a modern religious institution so suitably fitted into the modern way of life.

Venerable Master Hsin Yun himself is a very proficient speaker of the Dharma. The audience in his regular Dharma talks held at public assembly halls are always counted in thousands. He also appears regularly on Taiwanese TV stations to speak on the Dharma.

Venerable Master Hsin Yun is also a very prolific writer. He has written many books and articles which have brought hundreds of thousands of people into Buddhism. In fact part of the building fund for Fo Kuan Shan has come from royalties he receives for his writings. In recent years, with the near completion of his enormous effort in the building of Fo Kuan Shan, Venerable Master Hsin Yun has extended his Dharma propagation activities overseas. He has visited the U.S., India, Japan, Hongkong, Singapore and Malaysia, giving talks, meeting devotees, setting up branches of the monastery of Fo Kuan Shan, and organizing Buddhist activities of various types. He has been well received everywhere he goes and brought the light of Dharma to many people and many places.

Venerable Master Hsin Yun is also very interested in and concerned with Buddhist youth activities. He became one of the religious patrons of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia in 1983. In 1985 a very successful world seminar of Buddhist youths organized by WFBY was held in Fo Kuan Shan. In appreciation of his contribution, he was the first person appointed to be the patron of W.F.B.Y.

Four years ago Venerable Master Hsin Yun founded the American International Buddhist Promoting Foundation based at Los Angeles and was elected as its President. The Foundation consists of members from different nationalities residing in the United States of America. In addition to this Foundation, he initiated the formation of the American Young Buddhist Association which is also an active regional centre of W.F.B.Y.

Because of his contribution to the academic studies of the Buddha Dharma, he was conferred upon a Doctor of Philosophy by the Eastern Buddhist University in the early seventies and was appointed as the Dean of the Indian Cultural Research Institute by the University of Chinese Culture.

Recently he formed the Han-Chang Buddhist Association for bringing together devotees of the Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan.

(This article, written by Leong Kok Kee, was first published in WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHIST YOUTH SOUVENIR MAGAZINE, 1986. It was one of the earliest effort to introduce the Grand Master to the English educated. Since then, Ven. Master Hsin Yun has greatly extended his influence by forming the International Buddha Light Association which has branches throughout the world, as far as South Africa.)

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