Wei Chueh (, 1928 – 8 April 2016) was a Chinese ''

Bhikshu A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist c ...

'' (

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk) from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. He is the founder of the

Chung Tai Shan Chung Tai Shan () is a Taiwan-based international Chan Buddhist monastic order founded by the Ven. Wei Chueh in 1987. The monastery headquarters, Chung Tai Chan Monastery (or Chung Tai Chan Buddhist Temple, 中台禪寺), completed in September ...

monastery and Buddhist order. Wei Chueh is often credited for reviving the traditional teachings of

Chan Buddhism Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit ''dhyāna in Buddhism, dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century Common Era, CE onwards, becoming e ...

. Wei Chueh was born in 1928 in

Yingshan County, Sichuan Yingshan County () is a county in the northeast of Sichuan Province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Nanchong Nanchong (; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of S ...

. In 1963, he was ordained under Lin Yuan at the Shi Fan Da Jue (“Great Enlightenment”) Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan. He was fully ordained as a monk in 1967 at Daijue Temple in

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port Provincial city (Taiwan), city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan a ...

. He offered many retreats in

Yilan Yilan may refer to: China * Yilan County, Heilongjiang (依兰县), county of central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China * Yilan Town, Heilongjiang (依兰镇), seat of Yilan County * Yilan, Jilin (依兰镇), town in Yanji Taiwan ...

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

, and Hong Kong before settling into solitary seclusion at

Yangmingshan Yangmingshan National Park is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan, located in both Taipei and New Taipei City. The districts that are partially in the park include Taipei's Beitou and Shilin Districts; and New Taipei's Wanli, Jinshan ...

near

Wanli District, New Taipei Wanli District (), known in Basay as Masu, is a rural district on the rocky seacoast in northeastern New Taipei City in northern Taiwan. Wanli is a popular tourist destination and the site of the Cape Yeliu Miocene Formation which features dis ...

. He lived under extremely poor and primitive conditions, but continued to practice the Dharma. In 1987, he founded Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County. Wei Chueh became known for organizing seven-day Zen retreats and dharma assemblies, as well as his "lively and flexible" preaching style. As his popularity increased, his temple was unable to fit more people. Due to the continuing growth of both lay and monastic disciples, he planned to build a larger monastery in Puli in Central Taiwan. The Chung Tai Chan Monastery was inaugurated in September 2001. Wei was one of eight venerables who proposed the

World Buddhist Forum The World Buddhist Forum () was held in Hangzhou City and Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China, China, from April 13 to April 16, 2006. It was the first major international religious conference in China since the founding of ...

in China in 2004, a suggestion that won support from Buddhist circles in countries like

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. In 2005, the Grand Master appointed his disciple Jian Deng to be the abbot of Chung Tai. Wei died at the age of 88 on 8 April 2016.

References

External links

Story of Wei Chueh and Chung Tai founding
1928 births 2016 deaths Chan Buddhist monks Taiwanese Zen Buddhists People from Nanchong Taiwanese people from Sichuan {{Buddhist-clergy-stub