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monasteries of Theravada tradition have higher consistency, and their main goal is not violating any precept. Moreover, monks are allowed to learn and stay from one monastery to another as long as the monk has a good reputation. On the contrary, it is difficult for monks and nuns to get permission to stay at monasteries which they are not tonsured at. Since the monastic system varies from monastery to monastery in Taiwan, the background of the founder or the person who are in charge should also be taken into consideration when conducting this particular research.
2.1 The Founder Background:
In the present age, the old Chan master is said to be the great practitioner, who has achieved highly in both Chan and Tantrism.18 He is among the fortieth posterity of the Lin-ji Chan sect, a disciple in the direct line from the venerable Xu-yin in Mt.
Fu-chiu, who is the ninth generation of the old Chan master Pen-zhou’s Dharma lineage. Besides, the old Chan master also takes the Dharma lineage of Gue-yang sect.
The old Chan master was born in 1915. He joined the monastery and started his schooling as a novice when he was seven years old. He graduated from the Department of Literature of Hu-nan University when he was twenty-one, and in the same year he received full ordination at Gui-yuan Monastery in Han-yang.19 After that, he spent three years in wandering around, visiting exhaustively the skillful masters in the mountains. During that period, he practiced Tantrism under the great Tantric master, and studied Buddhist logic and Sanskrit in Jiang-yang Monastery in Tibet. At the age of twenty-four, he became the abbot of Lei-yin Monastery in Mt.
18 The old Chan master is the founder of C.F.S. He is known to people as the old Chan master.
19 According to the old Chan master himself, Hu-nan University was previously called Yue-lu shu-yuan (嶽麓書院).
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Fu-chiu; at twenty-eight, he took up the post of abbot of Fan-yin Monastery in Mt.
Tian-yue. While wandering in northern Thailand in 1941, the master met an Indian ascetic and a Tantric practitioner by chance, and he passed on the ancient Brahmin Tantrism to the master.
The old Chan master came to Taiwan in 1948 as the consequence of an unexpected recruitment into the army. After having served the army for about ten years, he resumed his monkhood and lived a life of austerity. He had made the round-the-island wandering twice. In 1964, the master instructed at a monastery in Tainan County. In 1971, he resided at Gu-yan Chan Monastery where he served as the abbot and started his career of monastic education. In 1973, he became the second abbot of C.F.S.’main temple.20 In the next year he established, abiding by his master’s order, C.F.S. lineage to widely spread out the Dharma lineage.
From 1991 onwards, at the request of the devotees, the old Chan master has been establishing centers and monasteries in every urban area. Nowadays there are twenty-seven temples affiliated with the Association of C.F.S. throughout the country.
On the other hand, to comply with the needs of the times, the old Chan master devotes himself to the activities of social welfare, carrying out the Bodhisattva’s vow and practice of loving kindness, compassion, rejoicing and equanimity. Combining the force of seven Buddhist assemblages, the master has founded C.H. Buddhists Association, the Foundation of C.F.S. Charity, the Foundation of C.F.S. Culture and Education, and C.H. Broadcaster.
Starting from 1999, the old Chan master has been giving religious talks on television. In order for the Buddha’s teachings to spread all over the world, he makes
20 C.F.S. is an anonymous name for the monastery that I have done my research with. The complete name for this Buddhist institution should be C.F.S. United Merit Foundation because it has many temples and non-benefit foundations. To be short, I will call it C.F.S.
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great efforts in integrating various mass media such as magazine, broadcasting, internet, audiovisual dissemination and so on. In particular, the master aspires to spread the doctrines of Wisdom in his whole life. He has been writing for the younger generation to explore the meanings of the Buddha’s teachings, and so far more than eighty works have been published.
Daily Works
The old Chan master of C.F.S. spends most of his time in the main temple and the branch temple in Kaohsiung. Due to his old age, he rarely gives lecture to both sangha and lay disciples in recent years. Although he had already passed on his authority and position as an abbot, he still has the authority of making major decisions of the monastery. Usually, he will go to his office at the C.H. Broadcaster every morning until lunch time. Now, he takes only lunch meal every day, but he would intake some liquid food if needed. After his office hours, he spends most of his private time in writing. Any lay disciple who wants to talk to the founder has to make appointment first with his secretary, and this is even true for his own sangha disciples.
People from the managing departments of the monastery will report to him during his morning office hours. Secondary matters of the monasteries will be handled by the managing department of the monastery. He did not personally tonsure his direct sangha disciples for many years, and other respected elder monks or nuns will perform novice ordination ceremonies for him. In addition, new member of the monastery can choose the second character of their dharma names. The first character indicates the dharma lineage, and people from the same monastery will have the same first character. The founder’s later sangha disciples do not have a close relationship with him like those who have been ordained for many years because he no longer educates them one by one. It is hard for him to recognize every
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