Tsai Chih-Chan

TAIWAN, Penghu

Tsai Chih-Chan was originally named Tsai Wang-Kan and was also known as Cai Zhichan. She had a Dharma name of Ming Huei. She was a poet, painter, and nun from Magong, Penghu Islands in Taiwan.
At the age of nine, Tsai started to follow a vegetarian diet and embroidered images of the Buddha. She later learned about poetry from Chen Hsi-Hu and enjoyed reciting poems, in addition to creating works of calligraphy and painting. She often submitted her poems during assemblies, and would always include a painting. In 1934, Tsai traveled to Xiamen to study at the fine arts academy. She went to Kaohsiung at the age of 24 and later painted murals at the Prior Heaven School (present day Fu Shan Temple) in Changhua.
In 1935, Tsai’s painting, Udumbara, was enlisted by the 9th Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition. She then studied at Lingyin Temple in Hsinchu, and in 1957, she returned to Magong to renovate Cheng Yuan Hall, where she assumed the position of abbess.
Tsai’s paintings include Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Flowers, among several dozen other works. She was also the author of Collection of Chih-Chan’s Poems and Paintings.