Australia's Highest Honour awarded to Master Chin Kung

By Graeme Lyall, The Buddhist Channel, June 16, 2005

Sydney, Australia -- Venerable Master Chin Kung AM was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen?s Birthday Honours List, published on Monday, 13th of June, 2005. This is the highest honour that Australia can confer on any of its citizens. He was previously appointed as Adjunct Professor by both the University of Queensland and Griffith University in Brisbane. He is the Director of the Pure Land Learning College in Toowoomba, Queensland, a training institution for the Sangha.

Hsu Yae-hong, better known by his Buddhist name Shr Chin Kung, was born in Luchiang County, Anhui Province of China, on February 15, 1927. He grew up in Cheino, Fukien and studied at The National Third Kuichou High School during World War II, and then at Nanking First Municipal High School after the War ended. In 1949, he went to Taiwan and served in the Shihchien Institution. For thirteen years thereafter, he spent his leisure hours studying Buddhism and Philosophy under the guidance of Professor Fang Tung-mei, Master Chang Jia, and Teacher Lee Ping-nan. Here the Teacher established a strong foundation for his future career.
In 1959, the left he home life at Lintzi Temple of Yuanshan, Taipei. He was given the name Chin Kung and received the full ordination to become a monk. Afterwards, he began to lecture extensively on the Buddha's teachings in Taiwan and abroad. For thirty-six years, he gave various discourses on the Flower Adornment Sutra, Dharma Flower Sutra, Shurangama Sutra, Complete Enlightenment Sutra, Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, The Diamond Sutra, The Five Sutras of Pure Land, and many more. The Teacher was also the founder of Hwa Dzan Society of Propagating Teachings, Hwa Dzan Monastery, Hwa Dzan Buddhist Library, Hwa Dzan Lecture Hall, and The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation. As a means to widely propagate the Buddha's teachings in this time and age, the Teacher began to put technology and Buddhism together.
For the first time in history, the Buddha's teachings came out on audio and video tapes, bringing benefit to countless people. The Teacher also sponsored the printing and distribution of over three million Buddhist texts world-wide, including The Great Collection of Sutras. Over a million portraits and pictures of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have also been printed for free distribution.
During his teaching career, he has served as the clerk of Lintzi Temple at Yuanshan, instructor of Tripitaka Institute at Shihpu Temple, instructor of the Buddhist Institute of Nan Pu-tuo, member of the Propagating Teachings Committee and Planning Committee in the Chinese Buddhist Association, professor and dean of academic affairs at the Orient Buddhist College at Fo-kuang Mountain, speaker of the Buddhist Seminar for University Students at Sungshan Temple, President of the Chinese Inner Learning College, professor at the Chinese Culture University, main instructor of the Buddhist Seminar for University Students at the Chinese Buddhist Association, professor of the Spiritual Living Course for East Asian Catholics at Fu Ren University, chairman of Hwa Dzan Society of Propagating Teachings, abbot of Hwa Dzan Monastery, teacher and advisor of Hwa Dzan Buddhist Library, Chairman of the Board at Hwa Dzan Pure Land Learning Center, chairman of Washington D.C. Buddhist Association, chairman of Dallas Buddhist Association, and teacher and advisor of the Amitabha Buddhist Society (Singapore), Amitabha Buddhist Association of Queensland, Amitabha Buddhist Association of New South Wales, Amitabha Buddhist Association of Victoria and Amitabha Buddhist Association of Western Australia. The Teacher has also founded fifteen Pure Land Learning Centers all over the world to promote the cultivation of pure conduct and Pure Land practice.
As of now, the elderly and respected Teacher Chin Kung has resigned from all positions in the various Buddhist organizations, and concentrates solely on the spreading and teaching of the Buddha's education, through the Pure Land Learning College and through satellite television on Hwa Tzang TV. In his practice of modest Buddha recitation, the Teacher now seeks rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.