Taiwan’s Fo Guang Shan founder Master Hsing Yun passes away

台灣佛光山宗師星雲大師圓寂

The passing of another 'Four Heavenly Kings' of Taiwanese Buddhism


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Master Hsing Yun (星雲), the founding patriarch of Fo Guang Shan, passed away on Sunday (Feb. 5) at age 95.

Fo Guang Shan issued an announcement early on Monday morning (Feb. 6) confirming the passing of Master Hsing Yun, inviting the public to pay condolences from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day. Thousands of followers are expected to pay respect to the Buddhist master, who founded over 300 temples and undertook humanitarian work around the world.

Hsing Yun's generation of Buddhist masters have been referred to as the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Taiwanese Buddhism by contemporaries, such as Master Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain, and Master Wei Chueh of Chung Tai Shan. Only Master Cheng Yen of Tzu Chi remains alive and practicing.

Master Hsing Yun promoted humanistic Buddhism throughout his life, a tradition first developed by Master Yin Shun in China, and commonly adopted and shared by Taiwan’s top Buddhist leaders. This modern interpretation of Buddhism is predicated upon rejecting the deification of the Buddha, insisting that the Buddha must live amongst humankind, and exemplify concepts of said humanism such as: altruism, joy, spiritual practice, and concern for all living beings.

Born to a poor family in 1927 in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, China. Hsing Yun never received formal education and was left in the care of his maternal grandmother. At the age of 12, after the Sino-Japanese War broke out, he reunited with his mother and her search for her missing husband, who had most likely lost his life in the war in 1938. It was on this trip that Hsing Yun encountered eminent Master Zhi Kai in Qixia Temple, Nanjing.

He was tonsured by Master Zhi Kai and remained under tutelage for his early training. Eventually, in 1947, Hsing Yun graduated from Jiaoshan Buddhist College, where he underwent a complete Buddhist education in Pure Land, Vinaya, and other doctrinal traditions.

He later became the principal of Baita Elementary School, editor-in-chief of Raging Billows Monthly and abbot of Huazang Temple in Nanjing, according to Fo Guang Shan website.

With the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War, Master Hsing Yun arrived in Taiwan in 1949 and became the dean of the Taiwan Buddhist Seminar as well as the editor-in-chief of Human Life Magazine. In 1953, he established the Buddhist Cultural Service Centre in Taipei, and in 1967, he founded the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order.

The stated objectives of his order were propagating the Dharma through culture, fostering talent through education, benefitting society through charity, purifying people’s minds through spiritual cultivation, and propagating Humanistic Buddhism.

Fo Guang Shan was built in Dashu Township, Kaohsiung, and devoted to promoting "Buddhism for the Human World." Since 1970, the group has established nursery homes, hospitals, clinics, and worked with the Kaohsiung County Government to open apartments for the elderly. He has also donated funds for the construction of Fo Guang primary and middle schools in China and dozens of hospitals for emergency relief of the poor and elderly.

Throughout his life, Master Hsing-yun has been an active author, penning more than 100 books. In 1978, he started the Fo Guang Publishing House and Fo Guang Shan Culture and Education Foundation. He also published a daily newspaper for the Buddhist community, and published the “Complete Works of Master Hsing Yun," which spans 395 volumes and contains more than 40 million words.

Over the years, the master has met with a succession of Taiwan presidents and leaders ranging from Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). He has also had an audience with religious leaders of various countries, such as Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and others.

In recent years, he has revived Dajue Temple in Yixing, China, and established the Yangzhou Forum to promote cross-strait harmony and world peace. Through his lifelong service, he spread kindness and compassion to many corners of the world.