Chan Yun

CHINA, Liaoning

Chan Yun was a monk and artist who studied fine arts in Japan when he was young and was proficient in calligraphy and painting. After the death of his father, he renounced at the age of 29. He was fully ordained at Yuantong Temple in Beijing and studied under Master Cizhou of the Vinaya school. In 1949, he relocated to Taiwan and later established Lien Yin Temple in Nantou in 1963. Chan Yun emulated the works of Cizhou and Hongyi, two prominent monks of the Nanshan Vinaya school. He led the monastics at Lien Yin Temple to uphold the precepts very strictly. Additionally, the annual precept retreat he organized for undergraduate students starting in 1966 became well-acclaimed in the Taiwanese Buddhist community. Chan Yun’s delicate painting of the Amitabha Buddha Triad in 1957 was widely circulated.