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26 EASTERN HORIZON | FACE TO FACE

Dharma in Every

Moment of our Lives

By Venerable Chuan Wen

Venerable Chuan Wen was born in Malaysia in 1964.
He became a teacher but later decided to become a

Buddhist nun and was ordained by Ven. Guang Yu (
廣餘長老) in 1978, the same year she learnt about
the Dharma. She then went to study at the Fo Guang
Shan Tsung Lin University where she graduated in
1988. She has trained at temples in Malaysia and
Taiwan. Since 2006, she has being appointed the
Abbess of Hoeh Beng Temple in Kuala Lumpur.

She is also one of the Religious Advisors of the Young
Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM), founder

of the Buddhist Magazine ‘Fa Lu Yuan’
(法露缘) and a regular contributor to another
magazine ‘Ci Bei’ (慈悲). In 2004, she inaugurated

‘The Dharma Practitioners Camp’ (行者培训营)
which has since attracted many youths who are now
regular volunteers in the temple.

Venerable Chuan Wen did her first Kong-An Zen
(koan) retreat during the winter of 1997 in the The
Kwan Um School of Zen. The teachings of Korean
Zen Master Seung San have had a great influence on
her life. In 2015, she was given dharma transmission
and “inka” teaching authority by The Kwan Um
School of Zen.

Zhi Yi Wong interviewed Venerable Chuan Wen
for Eastern Horizon about her role as an abbess of
an important Buddhist temple in Kuala Lumpur,
how she divides her time between being abbess
of a temple, a dharma teacher, and a dharma
practitioner, role of Korean Zen on her practice, and
differences between Korean Zen and Chinese Zen.