Wei Chueh, Taiwanese Buddhist monk, Died at 88

  Religion

Wei Chueh was born in 1928, in Xikang and died on April 8, 2016.

He was a Chinese bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in Taiwan.

Wei was the founder of the Chung Tai Shan monastery and Buddhist order.

He was often credited for reviving the traditional teachings of Chan Buddhism.

In 1963, Wei was ordained under Master Lin Yuan at the Shi Fan Da Jue (“Great Enlightenment”) Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan.

Chueh was fully ordained as a monk in 1967 at Daijue Temple in Keelung.

Wei Chueh offered many retreats in Yilan, Hsinchu, and Hong Kong before settling into solitary seclusion at Yangmingshan near Wanli District, New Taipei.

Wei was living under extremely poor and primitive conditions but continued to practice the Dharma.

He was the founder Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County, in 1987.

He became known for organizing seven-day Zen retreats and dharma assemblies, as well as his “lively and flexible” preaching style.

As he got more successful, his temple was unable to fit more people.

Because of the continuing growth of both lay disciples and monastic disciples, Wei planned to build a larger monastery in Puli in Central Taiwan.

And,The Chung Tai Chan Monastery (中台禪寺) was inaugurated in September 2001.

It is said that Ven. Wei Chueh was one of eight venerable who proposed the World Buddhist Forum in China in 2004, a suggestion that won support from Buddhist circles in countries like Japan and South Korea.

The Grand Master, in 2005appointed his disciple Jian Deng to be the abbot of Chung Tai.

Wei Chueh passed away at 88 yrs old.