| Wei Chueh | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Ch'an Buddhism |
| School | Ch'an |
| Lineage | Rinzai Linji |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Born | 1928 Sichuan, China |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Taiwan |
| Title | Venerable Master or Grand Master |
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.
Wei Chueh was in 1928 in Sichuan, China, In 1963, he was ordained under Master Lin Yuan at the Shi Fan Da Jue (“Great Enlightenment”) 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.
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.
In 2005, the Grand Master appointed Ven. Master Jian Deng, his disciple, to be the abbot of Chung Tai.
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