Wei Chueh

Who is Wei Chueh?

Wei Chueh 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 Buddhism.

Wei Chueh was born in 1928 in Sichuan, China, In 1963, he was ordained under Master Lin Yuan at the Shi Fan Da Jue Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan. He was fully ordained as a monk in 1967 at Daijue Temple in Keelung. For over ten years, Venerable Wei Chueh went into solitary seclusion in the Yang Ming mountains near Wanli, a suburb of Taipei. He lived under extremely poor and primitive conditions, but continued to practice the Dharma. In 1982, he founded Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County and became known for his teaching on Ch'an practices by offering many lectures and seven day Ch'an retreats. As his popularity increased, his temple was unable to fit more people.

Due to the continuing growth of both lay disciples and monastic disciples, He was requested to 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.