Sheng Yen

In 1989, the master Sheng Yen with a vision to establish it as a world center for Buddhist education dedicated to academic research, Dharma practice and propagation, and social charity. Over time, it has developed into an organization that endeavors in Dharma propagation and popularization, promotion of Chan practice, culture, and education, and social charity in Taiwan and overseas. Currently, branches of DDM Buddhist practice and meditation centers have been set up in Taiwan and other countries in Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. For a long period of time Master Sheng Yen traveled between Taiwan and the United States to spread the Buddhadharma and visited other countries around the globe to offer guidance on Chan practice, and was recognized internationally as a prominent Chan master. With the formal transmission of both the Linji and Caodong lineages of the Chan school, the Master was able to penetrate the Buddhist canon and integrate various Buddhist traditions to offer guidance and teachings suitable for people from different cultural backgrounds in a natural and vivid manner, thereby incorporating and influencing numerous people in both the West and the East.

Master Sheng Yen was devoted to spread the Buddhadharma with a language and perspective accessible to a broad audience in modern time. Despite his hectic schedule, he nonetheless dedicated himself to writing and authored more than 100 books. Other than publications in Chinese, English, and Japanese, many of his books were translated into other languages and published worldwide. Moreover, he won various prestigious honors in Taiwan, including the Sun Yat-sen Art and Literary Award, the Sun Yat-sen Academic Award, the National Culture Award, and the President Cultural Award, and others.