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Dharma Drum Mountain

Buddhist foundation founded by master Sheng-yen

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  • 4 chapters

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Dharma Drum Mountain is one of the most influential Buddhist organizations in Chinese Buddhism. In Taiwan, Master Sheng-yen was considered one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" and Dharma Drum Mountain one of the "Four Great Mountains" or four major Buddhist organizations of Taiwanese Buddhism, along with Tzu Chi, Fo Guang Shan, and Chung Tai Shan.

History

Long before the establishment of the Jinshan headquarters, the development of Dharma Drum originated in the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Culture (CHIBC) and Nung Chan Monastery. Both were founded by Dongchu, a prominent Chan monk back in Mainland China and later in Taiwan, who was also disciple of renowned modernist monk, Grand Master Taixu.

CHIBC was founded in 1956 and primarily active in promoting Buddhist culture mainly through publishing journals, such as the periodical Humanity Magazine. Nung Chan ('Farming Chan') was established in 1975. Dongchu died two years later, and at 1978, his principal disciple and Dharma heir, Sheng-yen became the new abbot of both Nung Chan and CHIBC. Under Sheng-yen's leadership, both institutions grew rapidly, the number of devotees in Nung Chan and students in CHIBC overwhelmed the building capacity. Therefore, in 1989, the institutions bought a plot of hilly land in Jinshan, New Taipei City in order to build a new monastery that would accommodate the increasing devotees and students. Sheng-yen named the new monastery Dharma Drum Mountain – creating the Dharma Drum Mountain organization.

The architectural design of the monastery took seven years; the construction process took further time. Sheng-yen, in the framework of his environmentalism campaign, insisted the monastery buildings to follow and adjust to the natural contour of the hills – therefore it didn't change much of its natural geomorphologic features. He personally oversaw the whole process and carefully looked after the details. The first phase of DDM broke ground in 1993. The first phase of the project, which consists most of the complex of DDM we see today, was completed and inaugurated at 2001. In 2006, Master Sheng-yen's student Venerable Guo Dong succeeded him as abbot.

The organization's main focus is on teaching Buddhism to the public with the goal of improving the world for the benefit of all. Dharma Drum Mountain does do charity projects but mostly does so indirectly through the funding of other charities. As of 2005, the organization was estimated to have about 400,000 members.

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