Wei Chueh

{{Short description|Chinese Bhikshu (Buddhist monk)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{more citations needed|date=June 2015}}

{{Infobox religious biography

|background = #FFD068

|name = Wei Chueh

|image= Master Wei-Chueh.png

|caption =

|alias =

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|birth_date = 1928

|birth_place = Yingshan County, Sichuan, Sichuan, China

|death_date = {{death date and age|2016|4|8|1928|df=yes}}

|death_place = Puli, Nantou, Taiwan

|nationality = Taiwanese

|religion = Chan Buddhism

|school =

|lineage = Linji school

|title = Venerable Master or Grand Master

|location = Taiwan

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Wei Chueh ({{zh|c=惟覺法師|p=Wéijué}}, 1928 – 8 April 2016) was a Chinese Bhikshu (Buddhist monk) from Taiwan. He is the founder of the Chung Tai Shan monastery and Buddhist order. Wei Chueh is often credited for reviving the traditional teachings of Chan Buddhism.

Wei Chueh was born in 1928 in Yingshan County, Sichuan. In 1963, he was ordained under Lin Yuan at the Shi Fan Da Jue (“Great Enlightenment”) Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan.{{cite news|title=Buddhist Grand Master Wei Chueh dies|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/04/10/2003643599|accessdate=10 April 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=10 April 2016}} He was fully ordained as a monk in 1967 at Daijue Temple in Keelung. He offered many retreats in Yilan, Hsinchu, and Hong Kong before settling into solitary seclusion at Yangmingshan near Wanli District, New Taipei. He lived under extremely poor and primitive conditions, but continued to practice the Dharma. In 1987, he founded Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County. Wei Chueh became known for organizing seven-day Zen retreats and dharma assemblies, as well as his "lively and flexible" preaching style.{{cite news|last1=Lu|first1=Kang-chun|last2=Chen|first2=Jay|last3=Wu|first3=Lilian|title=Founder of Chung Tai Chan Monastery passes away (update)|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201604090009.aspx|accessdate=9 April 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=9 April 2016}} As his popularity increased, his temple was unable to fit more people.

Due to the continuing growth of both lay and monastic disciples, he planned to build a larger monastery in Puli in Central Taiwan. The Chung Tai Chan Monastery was inaugurated in September 2001.

Wei was one of eight venerables who proposed the World Buddhist Forum in China in 2004, a suggestion that won support from Buddhist circles in countries like Japan and South Korea.

In 2005, the Grand Master appointed his disciple Jian Deng to be the abbot of Chung Tai.{{cn|date=March 2019}}

Wei died at the age of 88 on 8 April 2016.{{cite news|title=Founder of Chung Tai Chan Monastery is dead|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201604090001.aspx|accessdate=9 April 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=9 April 2016}}