Venerable Master Hsing Yun was born in Chiangxu province, China in 1927. Tonsured under Venerable Master Chih Kai at the age of twelve, he became a sramanera (novice monk) at Chi-hsia Shan, a monastery in Nanjing.
 
He was fully ordained in 1941 and went on formal monastic training at Chi-hsia Vinaya school and Chiao-shan Buddhist College. His commitment to the Buddhist education was already under way when he left the directorship of Hua-t'sang Temple in Nanjing, for Taiwan in 1949.
 
Years of dedicated endeavors gave Master Hsing Yun his sense of mission to the revitalization of Buddhism in Taiwan. The proliferation of his education, social and cultural understandings was pinnacled by projects of establishing organizations of laity.
 

Shou-shan Buddhist College, Kaohsiung, founded in 1965, realised master Hsing Yun's conception of tertiary education that amalgamates Buddhist practice and traditional scholarship. Fo Guang Shan (literally meaning the Buddha's Light Mountain ), Kaohsiung founded in 1967, emblematises his vision of Humanistic Buddhism. Propagating Humanistic Buddhism is the primary aim of Fo Guang Shan. Its goals are to provide religious, educational, cultural and charitable services to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. In religious terms, Fo Guang Shan is a vehicle to contribute to making the Buddha's Light shine all over the world.

 
Since then Venerable Master Hsing Yun has established 16 Buddhist colleges and 3 universities, including Nanhua University, Fo Guang University in Taiwan, Hsi Lai University in Los Angeles. Working hard to follow the vision of bringing Buddhism to all walks of life, Master Hsing Yun founded the Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA) in 1992 in Los Angles. It is an organisation for lay Buddhists. There are over 150 BLIA regional chapters around the world with millions of members.
 
Master Hsing Yun's vow to spread the Dharma as his mission and to benefit all sentient beings as his career subsequently took him to Australia, in the pass years, where he continues to steer Buddhism along the passage of modernisation through education, cultural activities, charity and religious practice as well as globalisation; and building of temples in each of the five continents. Fo Guang Shan Melbourne (I.B.C.V) is one of the 100s Fo Guang Shan branch temples around the world established in Melbourne since 1992.
 
 
 
Contact FGS Melbourne
 
 
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