Past & Present Chancellors
The Founder: Venerable Master Hsing Yun
Venerable Master Hsing Yun was born in 1927 in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, China. At the age of 12, he was tonsured by Venerable Master Zhikai in Qixia Temple, Nanjing, with Dajue Temple in Yixing, Jiangsu, as his ancestral temple. In 1964, the Venerable Master built Shoushan Temple in Kaohsiung and founded the Shoushan Buddhist College, and in 1967, he founded the Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Buddhist Order, with the objectives to propagate the Dharma through culture; foster talents through education; benefit society through charity, and purify people’s minds through spiritual cultivation. The Venerable Master is dedicated to promoting Humanistic Buddhism and integrating past and present traditions. He also formulated the rules and regulations and published the Fo Guang Shan Pure Regulations Handbook, which has brought Buddhism to a new milestone of modernization.
Today, under guidance of the Venerable Master, there are over 200 Buddhist monasteries established across five continents, among which Hsi Lai Temple in the United States, Nan Tien Temple in Australia, and Nan Hua Temple in South Africa, and Zulai Temple in Brazil, being the largest in each country. There are also 16 Buddhist colleges and universities including Fo Guang University and Nanhua University in Taiwan, University of the West in the United States, and Nan Tien Institute in Australia.
The Venerable Master is also the founder and president of the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA). The BLIA has over 170 chapters and millions of members worldwide.
In 2012, Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism was founded, with the objectives to: promote Humanistic Buddhism, returning to the original intents of the Buddha; establish a system for the contemporary Humanistic Buddhist thought; collect and compile academic research literature on Humanistic Buddhism, as well as promote its popularization.
Founding Director and Deputy Chancellor: Venerable Tzu Hui
Term: 2012–2016
Born in Yilan, Taiwan, and was a graduate of National Lan-Yang Girls’ Senior High School. In 1957, Venerable Tzu Hui graduated from the Taichung Training School for Early Childhood Education with first-class honors. In 1965, she was tonsured by Venerable Master Hsing Yun and received the full ordination at Fa Yun Temple in Miaoli. She studied at Bukkyo University and Otani University in Japan from 1970 to 1973, receiving a Master’s degree from Otani University and became the first bhikshuni in Taiwan to study abroad and obtain an M.A. She then worked as a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan, where she conducted research on Early Buddhism. She has been serving as an attendant and translator to Venerable Master Hsing Yun in his Dharma talks for many years and is excellent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Japanese languages. She assisted the Venerable Master in Dharma propagation and was instrumental in the establishment of schools at local and abroad, from Tzu Ai Kindergarten, Jiun Tou Elementary and Junior High School, to University of the West, Fo Guang University, and Nan Hua University.
Her experiences include:
- Former Principal, Pu-Men Senior High School
- Former Chancellor, Chinese Buddhism Research Institute and Fo Guang Shan Tsung-Lin University
- Professor, Chinese Culture University
- Former Director, Academic Affairs, University of the West and Fo Guang Shan Foundation for Buddhist Culture and Education
- First Secretary-General, Buddha’s Light International Association World Headquarters
- First Director, Fo Guang Shan Executive Council
- Founding Publisher, Awakening the World Periodical and Universal Gate Magazine
- Former Abbess, Fo Guang Shan Tokyo Temple
- Former Head Abbess, Fo Guang Shan Hong Kong and Macao
She also:
- Led monastic students in singing Buddhist hymns as a way to propagate the Dharma since 1978, and formed Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastic Choir under the guidance of Venerable Master. The choir is a pioneer in performing Buddhist hymns in Europe, Australia, America, and Asia.
- Organized “Sounds of the Human World—Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Buddhist Songs & Music Campaign” in the past three years, which has drawn enthusiastic responses from the public.
- Organized a million-member World Buddhist Examination.
- Organized and planned for the welcoming of the Buddha’s tooth relic in Taiwan.
- Held international Buddhist academic conferences and other large-scale activities, all of which demonstrated her dedication to promoting Buddhism, life education, and Buddhist hymns.
- Was awarded the Merit Medal of Honor by the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) in recognition of her contributions to Buddhist culture and education, and is the first bhikkhuni in the Buddhist community worldwide to receive this honor.
2nd Chancellor: Venerable Chueh Pei
Term: 2016–2017
Her experiences include:
- M.A. Degree in Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, Nanhua University.
- Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, Nanhua University.
- Lecturer, FGS Tsung-Lin University and Srimala College.
- Secretary-General, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) Chunghua and World Headquarters, and the United Association of Humanistic Buddhism, Chunghua.
- Director, Humanistic Buddhist Reading Association.
- Invited as a guest speaker at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Hainan in 2012, and was the first bhikshuni invited to the forum in its history.
- Received the National Award for Social Education Contribution (Individual Category) from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan in 2005.
3nd Chancellor: Venerable Miao Fan
Term: 2017–Present
Her experiences include:
- Graduate, Chinese Buddhist Research Institute.
- Former Abbess, Yuanfu Temple in Chiayi, Taiwan.
- Former President, Chiayi City Bo’ai Community College.
- Former Deputy Secretary-General, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) Chunghua Headquarters.
- Former Director, Buddha’s Light International Association-Young Adult Division (BLIA-YAD) Chunghua Headquarters.
- Former Chancellor, Fo Guang Shan Tsung-Lin University.
- A columnist of The Merit Times.
- Since 2013, co-edit the Collection of Works on Humanistic Buddhism series with Professor Cheng Gongrang, Emeritus Professor of Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, focuses on exploring the theory and practice of Humanistic Buddhism advocated by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.
- Author of Life Is Like a Formal Buddhist Meal.
