18 Facts About Hsing Yun

Hsing Yun was a Chinese Buddhist monk, teacher, and philanthropist based in Taiwan.

Hsing Yun was the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist monastic order as well as the layperson-based Buddha's Light International Association.

Hsing Yun was considered a major proponent of Humanistic Buddhism and one of the most influential teachers of modern Taiwanese Buddhism.

Hsing Yun was born Lee Kuo-shen in 1927 in Jiangdu village, Jiangsu Province in the Republic of China.

Hsing Yun received the upasampada vinaya precepts under Ruoshun at the same temple in 1941 and received the dharma name Wuche.

Shortly after taking the full precepts, Hsing Yun was first inspired by Buddhist modernism in 1945 while studying at Jiaoshan Buddhist College.

Hsing Yun fled mainland China to Taiwan in 1949 following the communist victory in the civil war but was arrested along with several other Buddhist monastics.

In 1966, Hsing Yun bought some land in Kaohsiung and started building a large monastery.

Hsing Yun's Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order is a proponent of "Humanistic" Buddhism, and Hsing Yun himself was the abbot of the order until his resignation in 1985.

In Taiwan, Hsing Yun was notable for his activity in political affairs, particularly as a supporter of the One-China policy as well as government legislation supported by the Kuomintang, and was criticized for his views by those in favor of Taiwan independence and by religious figures, as being overtly political and "considerably far afield from traditional monastic concerns".

Hsing Yun encouraged reconciliation between China and the Dalai Lama, but tried hard to avoid causing rifts between him and his organisation and the Chinese government.

On 26 December 2011, Hsing Yun suffered a minor ischemic stroke, his second in that year.

Hsing Yun died at his residence in Fo Guang Shan monastery on the afternoon of 5 February 2023, after years of unstable health.

Hsing Yun was 95, and had spent 85 years of his life as a monastic.

Hsing Yun's body was placed upon a dais inside the Cloud Dwelling Building where he lay in state for seven days while visitors paid their respects.

Hsing Yun's remains were cremated at Daxian Temple in nearby Tainan, Baihe District.

Hsing Yun's urn was returned to Fo Guang Shan's Longevity Memorial Park the same evening.

Hsing Yun's ashes were interred inside the Patriarch's Shrine nearby the Fo Guang Shan monastery campus.