Curatorial

Curatorial Overview of "60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy":

Commemorative Exhibition of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s One-Stroke Calligraphy

Venerable Ru Chang / Curator

Photos courtesy of Huizhong Temple

"60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy": Commemorative Exhibition of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s One-Stroke Calligraphy held its grand opening on January 18, 2026, to mark the relocation and inauguration of the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery in Taichung. This exhibition serves as a tribute to Venerable Master Hsing Yun following his passing, commemorating his centennial birthday. "Passing the Lamp" carries a profound meaning: the lamp embodies the Dharma, and its transmission signifies the Venerable Master’s light being passed on, lamp to lamp, among his disciples. The year 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Fo Guang Shan. Curating this One-Stroke Calligraphy exhibition at the newly relocated Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery at Huizhong Temple carries three primary significances: first, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Fo Guang Shan; second, to commemorate the Venerable Master’s centennial birthday; and third, to celebrate the completion and relocation of the 17th global branch of the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery at Huizhong Temple.

To manifest the spirit of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Dharma propagation, upon entering the main gate of the new art gallery, one is greeted by a sculpture of the Venerable Master at the age of ninety. With a compassionate expression, leaning on his cane, he welcomes everyone into the gallery. The sculpture is surrounded by a Zen-inspired dry landscape garden composed of withered wood, branches, and white sand. Its minimalist imagery symbolizes the purity of the Venerable Master’s true mind, as well as the path he traveled in his Dharma propagation, which is immeasurable and boundless, like the sands of the Ganges. Above the sculpture is a Dharma wheel installation, symbolizing the continuous turning of the Dharma wheel and the universal radiance of the Buddha’s light.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun once said that a temple is itself a museum. In his work Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years, he wrote, "I would rather have no place to eat or sleep than to be without an entire floor to serve as an art gallery." In keeping with this vision, Huizhong Temple has set aside an entire floor for an art gallery, putting into practice the Venerable Master’s vision of propagating the Dharma through arts and culture. With Taichung City as its foundation, the temple aspires to radiate outward, illuminating the five continents and connecting with all sentient beings.

This commemorative exhibition is organized into five sections, centered on Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s philosophy of Humanistic Buddhism and this year’s Year of the Horse spring couplets. The five sections are: "Broadly Developing Good Affinities," "Buddhist Affinities," "Harmonious Coexistence," "The Horse Brings Success," and "Writing Spring Couplets Year After Year." Through the Venerable Master’s extensive collection of calligraphy, the exhibition presents his character and lifelong spirit of Dharma propagation in full.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun believed that the most precious aspect of the Dharma is "causes and conditions." He encouraged devotees to cherish their blessings, actively form good affinities with others, and understand that only by developing good affinities can one gain the support of others. The exhibition section "Broadly Developing Good Affinities" centers on extending the spirit of the "Three Acts of Goodness." Beginning with the purification of the three karmas of body, speech, and mind, the spirit is embodied in the practice of "Practicing the Buddha's Way." To practice the Three Acts of Goodness, one must also cultivate patience. Only then can conditions come together in harmony, good affinities bear positive fruit, and merit and virtue continue to grow.

Following this idea, the second section, "Buddhist Affinities," connects the exhibition with devotees in the Greater Taichung area. Venerable Jue Ju, the temple abbess, has curated a unit featuring a collection of calligraphy works that the Venerable Master previously presented as gifts to his devotees in Taichung. These works include the phrases "Perfection of Both Merit and Wisdom" and "Compassion and Prajna." Through these simple blessings, the Venerable Master continued his human-world Dharma affinities with the devotees.

The "Harmonious Coexistence" section presents Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s lifelong advocacy of respect and tolerance, as well as his vision of creating a world of harmonious coexistence. To live without conflict between self and others is among the most beautiful ideals in the world. When society is guided by compassion and wisdom, the Saha world can be transformed into a pure land in this human realm. One featured work in this section is "Two Goods and Two Bads," which reads: "A good heart and good fortune will lead to a lifetime of prosperity. Good fortune with a malicious heart turns blessings into misfortune. A malicious heart and bad fortune will bring disaster and poverty." Through rhythmic and parallel phrasing, the Venerable Master’s teaching is made clear and easy to understand.

As the exhibition progresses, visitors encounter one of its highlights: an image of Venerable Master Hsing Yun writing calligraphy, set against a massive display of the Heart Sutra. Together, they create a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Facing the image of the Venerable Master is another monumental work, the "Song of the Ten Practices." This work best expresses the principle, reflected in relationships between individuals, within families, across society, and among nations, giving it profound significance for the modern world.

The One-Stroke Calligraphy section also features works that respond to the new aspirations for the Year of the Horse, extending from the theme "The Horse Brings Success" to the spring couplets section "Writing Spring Couplets Year After Year." In Chinese culture, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches mark the passage of years, while the zodiac animals serve as symbolic representations. Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s spring couplets highlight the traits of these animals and embody profound philosophical meaning. Taking the horse as an example, those born in the Year of the Horse are known for speed and agility. If one can, like a horse, travel a thousand miles in a day, success will surely follow. An entire wall covered with red spring couplets creates a festive and auspicious atmosphere, offering blessings to all who visit the exhibition.

In addition to the One-Stroke Calligraphy exhibition, the venue also features cultural artifacts related to Venerable Master Hsing Yun, including his ordination certificate, robe and bowl, whisk, as well as photographs and videos. These objects offer visitors a glimpse of the Venerable Master's daily life and presence during his lifetime.

The exhibition concludes with an interactive experience area divided into four zones. Visitors may quietly copy passages from Humble Table, Wise Fare and the Heart Sutra; take photos at a check-in area popular with younger visitors; participate with family members in rubbing activities; and visit "With One Seal, the Lamp Is Transmitted and the Prayer Tree," where they may offer blessings for themselves and their families. It not only provides an opportunity to reflect on the exhibition, but also affirms that the Dharma is ever-present in everyday life.

To date, the One-Stroke Calligraphy exhibition has been held 186 times and has welcomed more than 7 million visitors. "One-Stroke Calligraphy" has become synonymous with the Venerable Master's calligraphic works. The "60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy": Commemorative Exhibition of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s One-Stroke Calligraphy is on view at the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery, Huizhong Temple from January 18 to June 28. This year, it will also be presented successively at 27 Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery branches around the world.

Through this special exhibition, we hope to continue embodying and sharing Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s lifelong compassionate vow in the human world: "With a heart filled with compassion and vows to save others, my body is like the ocean of the Dharma, unbound. Should you ask what I have achieved in this lifetime? Peace and happiness now shine over the five continents."

Two Goods and Two Bads

Writing Spring Couplets Year After Year

A Compassionate Statue of Venerable Master Hsing Yun

at the Age of Ninety

Venerable Master Hsing Yun Writing Calligraphy

Curatorial Overview of Fo Guang Shan Commemorative Exhibition:

60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy

Venerable Ru Chang / Curator

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Fo Guang Shan and the centenary of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s birth, the Fo Guang Shan Religious Affairs Board designated the series of major events in 2025 under the theme "60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy." In response to this theme, the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Headquarters curated this exhibition as a major exhibition for its global branches in 2026.

As this exhibition is intended for the wider society and is not limited to Fo Guang Shan’s internal community, it is titled "Fo Guang Shan Commemorative Exhibition: 60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy (1967-2026)." The title highlights the relationships among time, space, and the human world, allowing visitors to immediately recognize the exhibition’s two central focuses: Venerable Master Hsing Yun and Fo Guang Shan. The exhibition’s overall curatorial structure and narrative are developed from this foundation.

The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections: "Foreword," "Ten Decades of Venerable Master Hsing Yun," "Fo Guang Shan’s Four Objectives," "Global Distribution Map of Fo Guang Shan," and the concluding section "Peace and Happiness Shine upon the Five Continents." Multimedia and interactive installations are integrated throughout the exhibition, including the video Ten Decades of Venerable Master Hsing Yun produced by Beautiful Life Television (BLTV); a projection area for the Chronicle of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Life; the "Prayer Tree" interactive installation inspired by the Venerable Master’s Dharma words; "Taking a Photo with Venerable Master Hsing Yun"; "With One Seal, the Lamp Is Transmitted; A Hundred Years of a Shared Journey—Color-Blocked Commemorative Postcards"; a "Spring Couplet Rubbing Area"; a "Writing Spring Couplets Year After Year Photo Area"; and "A Message to Venerable Master Hsing Yun." In addition to presentation at Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery branches, the materials will be provided to Fo Guang Shan temples worldwide without galleries, with content adjusted to local venue size.

The first section serves as the exhibition entrance hall. Upon entering, visitors first see the words "For the sake of Buddhism." The text quotes a passage from the chronology in the Complete Works of Venerable Master Hsing Yun describing a scene in 1967, a busload of devotees arrived at a barren mountain, and the passengers were unwilling to disembark. At that moment, the Venerable Master reflected: "I stepped off the bus alone and walked a slow circuit around the hill. After reflecting for a long while, I said to myself with firm conviction: I must come here and establish this mountain!"…Looking back over my life, I cannot claim to have harbored any grand aspiration. I would not dare take on so weighty a mission as reviving Buddhism or bringing benefit to all under heaven. Yet from the moment I left home to become a monk, the one thought that has never left my heart is simply this: "for the sake of Buddhism."

These few words serve as a powerful preface, clearly revealing the Venerable Master’s initial aspiration in founding Fo Guang Shan. Next to this are the lyrics of "The Song of Fo Guang Shan" written by the Venerable Master, which depict the scenery and spirit of Fo Guang Shan while also expressing his ideals, vision, aspirations, and grand vows for Buddhism. Through this preface, visitors quickly gain an initial understanding of the causes and conditions behind the founding of Fo Guang Shan. The entrance hall also includes prefaces by the Most Venerable Hsin Bau and the art gallery, offering a concise overview of the exhibition.

The second section, titled "Ten Decades of Venerable Master Hsing Yun," guides visitors in learning about the Venerable Master. In Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years, published in 2013, the Venerable Master divided his life from birth onward into ten decades, spanning eight major decades such as "A Life of Learning," "A Life of Itinerant Learning," and "A Life of Literature." The ninth and tenth decades were later supplemented by his disciples. To provide visitors with different ways of viewing the content and to avoid excessive reading, this section incorporates audiovisual presentations of the ten decades and projections of the Venerable Master’s chronology. In this way, the limited exhibition space is extended through digital media, transforming static content into a dynamic experience. This not only gives visitors a deeper and broader understanding of the Venerable Master but also shows through excerpts from his chronology that everything he did throughout his life was for Dharma propagation—everything was "for the sake of Buddhism."

After visitors have gained a basic understanding of the Venerable Master, the third section, "Fo Guang Shan’s Four Objectives," introduces Fo Guang Shan from four perspectives. The section begins with a passage from the Venerable Master’s How to Be a Fo Guang Member: "Many Buddha’s Light members gather at Fo Guang Shan, and not a foolish gathering! We have the ideal of promoting Buddhism, and we have the aspiration to benefit society. We know that the future wisdom-life of Buddhism is entirely entrusted to the work of the Dharma. Educational, cultural, and charitable endeavors that promote Buddhism are all skilful means for spreading the teachings."

These brief words help dispel the common misconception that Fo Guang Shan is involved in too many activities, while also highlighting the Venerable Master’s core value of "do what is in accordance with Buddha." To ease the sense of heaviness that may arise from the density of space and time, and to enliven the viewing experience, this section also includes the interactive feature "Taking a Photo with Venerable Master Hsing Yun." Life-sized cutouts of the Venerable Master at the ages of thirty, fifty, seventy, and eighty invite visitors to take a photo with him and create a meaningful memory.

The fourth section is the "Global Distribution Map of Fo Guang Shan." In addition to listing Fo Guang Shan temples across the continents, it also introduces the official establishment of the Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA) in Los Angeles, United States, in 1992. Today, BLIA has established associations in more than 170 countries and regions across five continents, making it the largest global Chinese Buddhist organization. Through the global distribution map, the ideal and practice of the Venerable Master—"May the Buddha's light shine universally on the three thousand realms; let the Dharma stream flow across all five continents"—are fully presented.

The fifth and final section, "Peace and Happiness Shines Upon the Five Continents," brings the imagery back to the Fo Guang Shan Monastery. It quotes the final verse from the Venerable Master’s An Honest Revelation: "With a heart filled with compassion and vows to save others, my body is like the ocean of the Dharma, unbound; Should you ask what have I achieved in this lifetime? Peace and happiness now shine over the five continents." This highlights that the Humanistic Buddhism promoted by Venerable Master Hsing Yun throughout his life never departed from the supreme Buddhist aim of liberating all sentient beings from suffering and guiding them to lasting happiness.

The exhibition’s overall structure is woven together through these five sections, allowing the narrative to unfold in a clear and orderly way. Beyond the exhibition script described above, the heart of the exhibition lies in the exhibits themselves, which serve as material evidence for the story being told. Because the exhibition centers on Venerable Master Hsing Yun and Fo Guang Shan, the display focuses on cultural artifacts such as the Venerable Master’s robes, alms bowls, ritual implements, ordination certificates, letters, manuscripts, "One-Stroke Calligraphy," and statues of the Venerable Master. The Dharma propagation undertakings developed from the Four Objectives are presented through related achievements, such as publications, newspapers, and special commemorative items. The overall color scheme is based on warm tones, creating a sense of stability and radiant splendor.

The exhibition "60 Years of Passing the Lamp, Honoring a 100-Year Legacy" serves two purposes: first, to celebrate Fo Guang Shan, founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, as it enters its sixtieth year, with the Dharma water of Humanistic Buddhism flowing across all five continents; and second, to commemorate the centenary of the Founding Master’s birth. Although the Venerable Master has passed away, his Dharma body remains ever-present, continuing to lead us forward with courage. For this occasion, the Most Venerable Hsin Bau was specially invited to record a video offering encouragement and blessings.

The exhibition is being presented across 27 branches worldwide, highlighting Fo Guang Shan’s sustained efforts and influence in spreading the Dharma across five continents. In April 2026, the IBT New Zealand Art Gallery successfully launched the exhibition, featuring four thin silk banners of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s "One-Stroke Calligraphy" suspended in the center of the venue, inscribed with: "Never Forget One’s Initial Aspirations," "A Life With Palms Joined," "Non-Duality of Emptiness and Existence," and "Enlightenment Is in the Present Moment."

The exhibition also includes a themed area dedicated to the Venerable Master’s centennial life and legacy, a map of Fo Guang Shan’s global distribution, and a photo wall documenting local Dharma propagation achievements. This wall records the twenty-year journey of Fo Guang Shan in New Zealand’s North Island as it has followed the Four Objectives in promoting culture, education, charity, and collective cultivation. It demonstrates how Humanistic Buddhism has taken root in different parts of the world.

Ten years ago, in 2016, during the 50th anniversary of Fo Guang Shan’s founding, Venerable Master Hsing Yun wrote in "Prospects for the Future of Fo Guang Shan": "Looking back on the founding of Fo Guang Shan, the path was arduous and filled with hardship. Disciples of Fo Guang Shan must remember the tireless efforts of those who came before us. In our cultivations, studies, and careers, we must be diligent, self-aware, and reflective; we must not be lax or arrogant. Both monastics and lay devotees must uphold the spirit that 'Glory goes to the Buddha, success goes to the community, benefit goes to the society, merit goes to the devotees.' For as long as we live, let us dedicate our body and life, selflessly and without attachment to self, to benefit all sentient beings and devote ourselves fully to the propagation of Humanistic Buddhism. Humanistic Buddhism will surely pass its light in all directions and illuminate the great universe." May this exhibition serve as a shared encouragement for all Fo Guang members.

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