Dharma Drum Mountain facts for kids
| 法鼓山 | |
Dharma Drum Mountain logo: three mountain peaks and a meditating monk; combined, the logo forms a hand.
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Dharma Drum Mountain Fagushan |
| Order | Mahāyāna |
| Established | 1989 |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Ven. Chan master Sheng-yen |
| Abbot | Ven. Guo Huei (past: Ven. Guo Dong) |
| Site | |
| Location | Jinshan District, New Taipei City, Taiwan |
Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) is a special place for learning about Buddhism. It's also a cultural and educational group. A wise teacher named Sheng-yen started it. He lived from 1931 to 2009.
The main goal of Dharma Drum Mountain is to teach people about Buddhist ideas. They want to help make the world a better place. They call this creating a "Pure Land on Earth." Their main center is in Jinshan District, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Dharma Drum Mountain is one of the most important Buddhist groups in Chinese Buddhism. In Taiwan, Master Sheng-yen was seen as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings." Dharma Drum Mountain is also one of the "Four Great Mountains." These are the four biggest Buddhist groups in Taiwan. The others are Tzu Chi, Fo Guang Shan, and Chung Tai Shan.
Contents
The Story of Dharma Drum Mountain
The journey of Dharma Drum Mountain began a long time ago. It started with two places: the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Culture (CHIBC) and Nung Chan Monastery. Both were founded by a respected monk named Dongchu. He was a student of a famous monk, Grand Master Taixu.
CHIBC started in 1956. It focused on sharing Buddhist culture. They did this mainly by publishing magazines. One popular magazine was Humanity Magazine. Nung Chan Monastery was built in 1975.
Dongchu passed away two years later. In 1978, his main student, Sheng-yen, took over. He became the new leader of both Nung Chan and CHIBC. Under Sheng-yen's guidance, both places grew very quickly. Soon, there were too many students and followers for the buildings to hold.
So, in 1989, they bought a big piece of land in Jinshan, New Taipei City. This land was hilly. They wanted to build a new, bigger monastery there. This new place could welcome all the growing numbers of people. Sheng-yen named this new monastery Dharma Drum Mountain. This is how the Dharma Drum Mountain organization began.
The design for the new monastery took seven years to plan. The actual building process took even longer. Sheng-yen cared a lot about nature. He made sure the buildings fit into the hills. They didn't change the natural shape of the land much. He watched over every step and detail.
The first part of the DDM complex started being built in 1993. Most of the buildings you see today were finished in 2001. In 2006, Master Sheng-yen's student, Venerable Guo Dong, became the new abbot.
The main goal of the organization is to teach Buddhism. They want to help make the world better for everyone. Dharma Drum Mountain also helps with charity. They often do this by giving money to other charities. By 2005, it was thought that about 400,000 people were part of the organization.
Exploring the Main Center at Jinshan
Dharma Drum Mountain in Jinshan is a large group of buildings. It has monasteries and places for education. It's the main headquarters for Dharma Drum Mountain around the world. It's also home to several schools. These include Dharma Drum Sangha University (DDSU) and Dharma Drum Buddhist College (DDBC).
DDSU is a special school for training monks. Monks come from Taiwan and many other countries to study here. They can study Basic Training, Buddhist Study, and Chan Study. DDBC is for both monks and people who are not monks. It offers advanced programs in Buddhist Study and Buddhist informatics.
The Dharma Drum Mountain complex in Jinshan has many interesting buildings. Here are some of them, starting from the entrance:
- Building II
- First floor: Bus station
- Second floor: Visitor center and a theater
- Third floor: The Guanyin Hall, a peaceful place with a pond and waterfall
- Fourth floor: A dining hall that serves vegetarian food
- Building I (Its ground floor is actually the third level because of the hills)
- Third level: A hall showing the history of the founding
- Fourth level: An art display area
- Fifth level: A room for different exhibitions
- Sixth level: The Grand Buddha Hall
- Chan Hall
- Dharma Drum Buddhist College
- Library and Audio-Visual rooms
- Dharma Drum Sangha University
- Monks quarter
- Nuns quarter
The DDM Complex also has some special features:
- The DDM Emblem Rock
- A stone with the words "A Spiritual Mountain and Sublime Environment"
- A statue of a welcoming Guanyin
- The world's largest Lotus bell
- A statue of the founding Guanyin
- A statue of the Medicine Buddha
- Seven walking paths with cool things to see. These include streams, a bamboo forest, and thick woods with many birds and insects.
What Dharma Drum Mountain Believes In
Their Vision and Spirit
Dharma Drum's main goal is to "make humanity better and build a pure land on earth." Their spirit is to "give ourselves to help everyone."
Three Ways of Learning
Dharma Drum teaches in three main ways:
- Learning through School: This helps train smart Buddhist people. They can then do research, teach, or help others.
- Learning through Public Events: This shares Buddha's teachings. They use things like meditation or saying Buddha's name. They also use modern cultural activities.
- Learning through Helping Others: This means improving how they help people. They also use helping others to reach their teaching goals. For example, DDM has helped after natural disasters. They helped after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake.
Four Kinds of Environmentalism
Dharma Drum promotes four ways to protect our world. These ideas come from Buddhism and fit with modern environmentalism. They offer guidance for living well today.
- Protecting the spiritual environment: This means taking care of your mind and inner peace.
- Protecting the natural environment: This is about taking care of nature. It includes being thankful for what we have and using resources wisely.
- Protecting the living environment: This means taking care of the places where we live.
- Protecting the social environment: This is about how we treat each other in society. It includes being kind and respectful.
Six Ethics for Your Mind
These are like guidelines for how to act in different parts of your life:
- Family Ethics (how to act in your family)
- Living Ethics (how to live your daily life)
- School Ethics (how to act at school)
- Environmental Ethics (how to treat the environment)
- Workplace Ethics (how to act at work)
- Ethics between Ethnic Groups (how to treat people from different backgrounds)
Dharma Drum Mountain Around the World
Dharma Drum Mountain has centers and temples in many countries. You can find them in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
See also
- Buddhism in Taiwan
- Four Great Mountains (Taiwan)
- Four Heavenly Kings (Taiwan)
- Guo Yuan
- Guo Xing
- Nung Chan Monastery
