Hsin Tao


Hsin Tao or Hsin-tao, born Yang Jinsheng, is a Buddhist monk who set up the Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Foundation in 1989.
He is also known for his efforts in international and interfaith dialog, especially on dialog with some Muslim groups.

Biography

Early life

Hsin Tao was born in Burma, where his family had emigrated from Yunnan in China. At the age of 9, he joined a guerrilla group and engaged in warfare for the next four years. Then, when he was 13 years old, he followed the Republic of China Army to Taiwan. He became interested in the Yiguandao religion when he was 15, still serving in the Army. He was discharged at the age of twenty.

Into Buddhism

He was ordained as a novice monk in 1973 at the age of 25 under Venerable Master Hsing Yun at Fo Guang Shan, and entered Tsung Lin Buddhist College at the same time. The next year, he went to a mountainous area of Taipei city, Waishuanghsi, and meditated there for over eighteen hours a day. The following year, Hsin Tao sought out an even more remote location, in Yilan County, to continue his practice. At the age of 31, he moved to Longtan, Yilan, where he continued to meditate, for twenty hours each day. Three years later, he began a six-month retreat, including long fasts, with neither food or water. In 1983, he moved to a mountain overlooking the eastern coast of Taiwan in Fulong. His daily diet was nine "hundred flower pills" and spring water.

Founding his temple

He later founded the Ling Jiou Mountain Monastery in 1983. Through the Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Foundation, he founded the Museum of World Religions in the Yonghe District of New Taipei City, Taiwan, in 2001. He founded the Global Family for Love and Peace in New York, United States, in 2002.
He is also interested in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.