Ocean Sky Chan Monastery

Introduction According to the sutras: “It is difficult to be reborn as a human, very hard to encounter the Buddha Dharma, and very rare to meet a wise teacher.” In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, it is indeed not easy to encounter Buddha’s teachings. To make it easier for the good-natured Filipinos to know about true Dharma, the compassionate Grand Master Wei Chueh of Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Taiwan established Ocean Sky Chan Monastery in the Philippines, in order to give the locals an auspicious opportunity amid a serene and pristine setting, to study Zen Buddhism and meditation, which is the essence of Buddha’s teachings. Ocean Sky Chan Monastery is located right at the center of the National Capital Region of Metro Manila, in a barangay (Filipino for the smallest district) called “Little Baguio”, adjacent to the booming Greenhills commercial district in San Juan City. The Monastery is an elegant and spacious building with a small pocket garden at its entrance. The Meditation Hall and Lecture Hall can separately accommodate more than a hundred people, who regularly come to attend meditation classes, listen to Dharma talks, and join in the liturgical ceremonies, or other activities. Chung Tai Lineage Founding Master Wei Chueh Known as the Grand Master of Chung Tai Chan Monastery, Venerable Wei Chueh is a successor to the Linji Chan (Zen in Japanese) lineage; he has been instrumental in revitalizing Zen Buddhism in Taiwan in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Grand Master Wei Chueh was born in the late 1920s in Yingshan, Sichuan Province, China. In his youth, he was educated in the Confucian classics and delved deeply into the study of Buddhism. In 1963, he was ordained under Master Linyuan at the Shifang Dajue (“Great Enlightenment”) Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan.