Wei Chueh

Infobox Buddhist biography
name = Wei Chueh


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birth_date = 1928
birth_place = Sichuan, China
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nationality = Chinese
denomination = Ch'an Buddhism
school = Caodong
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title = Venerable Master
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Wei Chueh (惟覺法師, Wéijué) (1928-) is a Chinese Buddhist monk situated in Taiwan. He is the founder of the Chung Tai Shan Monastery and Buddhist order. Wei Chueh is often credited for reviving the traditional teachings of Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism.

Born in 1928 in Sichuan, China, he was fully ordained as a monk in 1967 at Daijue Temple in Keelung. In his first years of monastichood, Wei Chueh started his secluded, austere practice in the Yang Ming mountains close to the Wanli area of Taipei County. He lived under extremely poor and primitive conditions, but continued to practice the Dharma. In 1982, he founded Ling Chuan Temple in Taipei County and became known for his teaching on Ch'an practices by offering many lecutres and seven day Ch'an retreats. As his popularity increased, his temple was unable to fit more people.

His disciples requested that he build a larger monastery in Puli in Central Taiwan; planning started in 1987. After more than a decade of careful planning and construction, the new Chung Tai Chan Monastery 中台禪寺 was finally inaugurated on the first day of September, 2001.

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

During the presidential election in 2004, Wei Chueh endorsed Kuomintang opposition candidate Lien Chan, and also urged his supporters to boycott an election-day referendum organised by President Chen Shui-bian, after he and his running mate James Soong visited Chung Tai Chan Monastery.

External links

* [http://www.cthouston.org/ctcmusa/CTCMhome.htm Story of Wei Chueh and Chung Tai founding]