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Master of his faith
Buddhist leader on a mission
HACIENDA HEIGHTS — One of the most powerful religious figures in the world has the nuns cracking up.
On a recent morning at Hsi Lai Temple, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, with a smiling face and a deep, measured voice, is telling one-liners, mocking his inability to learn English and wisecracking about the Asian media hounding him to take a political position on Taiwan.
Those who spend time with Hsing Yun often find themselves laughing.
“I feel that too with the Dalai Lama, that he has a great sense of humor,’ said Lewis Lancaster, president of University of the West, Hsi Lai Temple’s educational arm. “I think that’s from a great insight into life.’ But beneath the humor are serious ideals.
“The most important thing for those who come to the temple is to find peace of mind, happiness and to know other followers,’ said Hsing Yun during a recent interview at the temple.
Hsing Yun founded Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights in 1988 and his Fo Guang Shan Buddhist sect has built a worldwide following of an estimated 1 million to 3 million followers during the past 50 years.
From a hill in Hacienda Heights, Hsi Lai Temple overlooks a broad vista of the San Gabriel Valley. Hsi Lai is the biggest temple in the Western Hemisphere. Hsing Yun lives in quarters at the foot of the temple.
At 78, Hsing Yun is looking to retire from a monastic career that has seen him found 200 Buddhist schools and temples around the world, including Hsi Lai University in Rosemead, recently renamed University of the West.
“My disciples refuse to let me retire,’ Hsing Yun said.
Much of Hsing Yun’s views were shaped by growing up poor in the small Chinese city of Chiangtu, he said. At one time he was so poor that it took him a year to save up enough money to mail a letter to his mother.
“But I never felt that being poor is a very hard thing to cope with,’ Hsing Yun said. “I believe it’s very important for us to withstand the challenges of poverty and after that we will be able to see the world with a clear eye.’
Monastics at the temple teach Chinese and Americans the Humanistic Buddhist school of thought. Hsing Yun didn’t invent Humanistic Buddhism he credits Buddha with that but he has done everything he can to promote it.
“I believe that if it is Buddha, it needs to be for the general public,’ Hsing Yun said. This represents a break from the seclusive traditions of Buddhism in the past.
It’s hard to measure Hsing Yun’s impact upon the San Gabriel Valley, where an exact number of his followers here cannot be calculated, experts say. But Hsi Lai Temple does serve as a bridge for Asians, particularly Taiwanese, entering the United States.
When Kenneth Chang came to the United States from Taiwan in 1983 he didn’t know anyone. He visited a Fo Guang Shan temple in Maywood, where he met Hsing Yun.
While the temple filled Chang’s spiritual needs, it also served as a resource for a new immigrant.
“If you have any kind of problem, you have someone you can talk to,’ Chang said. “Everybody wants to give you some kind of advice, some kind of hand to help.’
Now Chang, 47, lives in Buena Park and runs an insurance office in Hacienda Heights, a few blocks from Hsi Lai Temple, which he visits twice a week.
Thousands of immigrants like Chang have been helped by Hsi Lai Temple, said James Santucci, a professor of comparative religion at Cal State Fullerton.
“Most Chinese temples are not only places of religious activity, but also a cultural center,’ Santucci said. “So, if you want to keep your Chinese roots, then the temple would be the place, because that’s where all the manifestations of Chinese culture are maintained.’
Humanistic Buddhism involves Hsing Yun in social issues, and by default in politics, but he is careful not to take political stances, he said.
During the recent contentious elections in Taiwan, Hsing Yun deliberately stayed out of the spotlight, although reporters dogged him at every turn. After about a week, Hsing Yun released a statement urging compromise on the election for the benefit of the country.
Hsing Yun stirred up political controversy in April 1996, when Vice President Al Gore visited the temple during a campaign year and was given a $5,000 gift.
“I think you have to look upon that as more of a Chinese cultural thing, rather than an attempt to participate in the political process,’ Santucci said.
It is customary to give visitors a gift, and the larger personage visiting the temple, the larger the gift, experts said.
While Hsing Yun does not take any political stance, he certainly has strong views on social justice and acts on them.
“He has given the nuns in his order equal opportunity,’ Lancaster said. “The old concept in China was that nuns had to yield to the monks, and bow to them. He removed all of that, and that was a pretty strong thing to do.’
Fo Guang Shan followers are also involved in thousands of community service projects worldwide, from feeding the homeless in downtown Los Angeles, to building schools in Africa.
Looking to the future, Hsing Yun said he would like to see an American abbot or abbotess running Hsi Lai Temple for a strong American congregation.
That doesn’t mean actively proselytizing Americans, Hsing Yun said.
“Our priority right now is localization of Buddhism,’ he said. “We’re simply offering an extra choice for Americans.’
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