Founding Abbot, Venerable Master Miao Lien

Master Miao Lien was born in the Anhui Province of China in 1922. He became a monk at the age of nine and received the bhiksu precepts in the renowned Paohua Mountain in Nanjing when he was twenty. Then the Master headed for Suchou Ling Yen Temple for Pureland schooling and was trained under the strict monastic rules set up by the thirteenth Pureland patriarch, Venerable Master Yin Kuang. During his study there, the Master also had the opportunity to take up various posts in a large forest monastery (chong-lin).

In 1949, at the age of twenty-eight, Master Miao Lien fled to Hong Kong because of the Chinese civil war. He then stayed on Lantau Island and Chingshan Village hermitages for twenty years. Besides studying the Great Buddhist Canons and reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, Master Miao Lien achieved as many as ten rounds of Pratyutpanna Samadhi during such seclusion. This extremely demanding retreat requires not only perseverance and discipline, but also extraordinary effort. One round of such ninety-nine-day retreat involves no-sitting, no-leaning and no-sleeping as well as having only one meal per day. Those who practice Pratyutpanna Samadhi concentrate only on chanting Buddha's name, doing prostrations and circumambulating. Master Miao Lien is the second person in the Buddhist history to have succeeded in Pratyutpanna Samaddhi (the first being Venerable Master Taohsuan of Tang Dynasty).

Establishing Ling Yen Shan Temple

In 1975, Master Miao Lien went to Taiwan to arrange for the publucation of Mahamati Sutra. When the Master finished his official business, he toured around the island and found that people on the island were both down-to-earth and hospitable. He was also delighted to see that most colleges have their own Buddhist study groups. Although Buddhist learning was fairly popular in Taiwan at that time, there were only a few Dharma and very few large monasteries for people to advance in their cultivation. Master Miao Lien saw that the future and the prosperity of Buddhism would be in jeopardy if no further actions were taken.

Therefore, in 1984, with the help of some Dharma supporters, Master Miao Lien established Taiwan Ling Yen Shan Temple in Puli, Nantou County. The Master decided to build a chong-lin monastery, a replica of Ling Yen Shan in Suchou, China. Following the traditions passed on by Master Yin Kuang, Venerable Miao Lien, who emphasized the doctrines of the Pureland School as a way of practice, encouraged people to rely on the name of Amitabha.

Missions of the Ling Yen Shan Temple

1.	Build as many chong-lin as possible so that millions of people can practice together.
2.	Educate future Sangha leaders to ensure that Dharma can be passed on to the next generations.
3.	Expand and develop Ling Yen Shan Temple Monastery to propagate Pureland Buddhism.
4.	Establish charity organizations in order to help sentient beings.
5.	Lead as many people into reciting the name of Amitabha as possible.
6.	Turn the world into the Pureland.

Life in a Forest Monastery

Ling Yen residents place equal emphasis on understanding the teachings of Buddha and practicing the teachings. The understanding is gained through studying the wonderful Pureland Dharma and the Mahayana Sutras. The practice, on the other hand, is developed by adhering to the precepts, reciting Buddha's name and fulfilling duties of practitioners as specified in Buddha's teachings. Following the traditions of the old forest monasteries in China, the lifestyle in Ling Yen is both disciplined and rigorous:

Morning service - At 2:45 a.m., the hammering sounds of the wooden board serve as a wake-up call for all Ling Yen residents. Then, at 3:15 a.m. we attend a two-hour morning service in the Recitation Hall. The positive merits gained from the service, together with the singing of goodwill hymn and chanting of Buddha's name, are then "transferred" to the building of a peaceful nation and a harmonious world.

Morning jog - After the morning service, all residents then start doing warm-up exercise and jogging in the mountain. As while we jog, we sound off the Buddhist principles and the name of the Amitabha, so not only the body is strengthened, team spirit is also developed.

Meal time - Upon hearing the wooden clappers (signal for assembly), all residents line up and go to the Dining Hall. With utmost sincerity, we offer our food to the Buddhas before eating. We also recite Buddha's name and observe the five contemplations.

Duties - All residents are assigned specific duties in the temple. As we fulfil our duties, we turn the theoretical Buddhist concepts into practical application, cultivating not only merits, but also developing our wisdom.

Evening service - At 4:15 p.m., all Ling Yen disciples recite the Amitabha Sutra, General Repentance Rite, and the Sangharama Praise in the Recitation Hall.

"Wisdom-Life" service - At 6:30 p.m., all residents enter the Recitation Hall for the last service of the day. During this three-hour service, we recite Buddha's name, meditate, circumambulate, and end the day's service with the chanting of the Grand Parinamans (the great spiritual transference). With utmost sincerity, we "transfer" all the meritorious thoughts and good deed accumulated throughout the day to sentient beings in all Dharma Realms, hoping that they can be reborn in Pureland. The day concludes at 10:00 p.m. with the sounding of the wooden board.

Dharma Activity at the Monastery

In addition to providing a perfect training ground for Buddhist monks and nuns, Ling Yen Temple also offers lay-people the opportunity to advance their practice. For the benefit of sentient beings, we disseminate the Dharma by holding the following activity throughout the year:

Seven-day Retreats / Ceremonies

Amitabha Recitation Retreat is held once every month at the Ling Yen Temple. The objective of such is to achieve single-minded chanting of the Buddha's name. The retreat involves not only chanting, but also reciting the Amitabha Sutra, circumambulating, and doing 500 prostrations a day. During winter and summer vacations, we have lots of teachers from grade school through high school as well as college students joining our retreats. The retreats, usually with more than three hundred enthusiastic practitioners each time, are characterized by the chanting of the holy name of Buddha in union.

The Great Compassionate Mantra Retreat calls upon the benevolence of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva who has vowed to fulfil all good wishes made with the utmost sincerity.

The merits of reciting the great Ksitigarbha Sutra can eradicate past transgression of the living, and free all beings from suffering.

Ling Yen Temple organizes these monthly intensive seven-day Amitabha retreats and other occasional events in order to allow believers from all walks of life to have the opportunity to practice the teachings of Buddha. Reliance on "Namo Amitabha" - the utterance of Buddha's name - not only helps absolve past sins, but also increase wisdom. It is hoped that all believers can plant their seeds today and as their faith in Amitabha grows day by day, the seeds will become fruits and all can be reborn in the Western Pureland eventually.