Campus Tour
Jinshan Campus
Campus Facilities
Located directly next to Dharma Drum's World Center for Buddhist Education, the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts' campus extends over twenty-four hectares of land on the foothills of the Datun mountain (大屯山), featuring an exceptional view of the Jinshan plains and the Pacific ocean. Built according to a vision based on environmental protection and simplicity, the school's buildings were designed to adapt to the location's unique topography and blend in with their natural surroundings.
The institute's also enjoys an ideal location with easy access to the nearby Keelung, Tamsui and Taipei urban centers while remaining sufficiently removed from the hustle and bustle of these large cities.
First construction phase: Chan Bliss House, Sports Complex, Multi-purpose Building.
The Chan Bliss House (禪悅書苑) is primarily comprised of the Institute’s residential accommodation and a library located in the complex's Li-Ying House (麗英館). The Sports Complex (揚生館) is used for student events, meditation, yoga practice and other physical exercise. The Multi-purpose Building (綜合大樓) includes both classrooms, administrative offices and living space for students. These new facilities come in addition to the original Dharma Drum Buddhist College complex (including the Library and Information Center, academic and administrative building, and the student and staff dormitory) to form an integrated learning and living environment.
Practice and promotion of environmental protection.
The Institute abides by master Sheng Yen's vision of environmental protection, striving 'to prioritize environmentalism and avoid damage to the natural environment as much as possible; the buildings should be like organisms that have grown naturally out of the earth and be in harmony with their surroundings. There is no need for any artificial embellishment of nature, tall buildings should also be avoided; all construction should be conducted with respect for the location's original nature (本來面目).
As one of the core facets of the Institute's curriculum, the values of environmental protection are embodied in both the Institute's architecture and energy plan. As part of this vision, the location's native flora has been preserved as much as possible, with more than 50 percent of the campus still covered in trees, and 30 percent preserved as conservation areas. In order to avoid the destruction of the original hillsides, the buildings were designed to follow the mountain slopes' natural curves, creating a unique harmony between the institute's facilities and the surrounding landscape.
Future Development
In order to meet the living and academic needs of a gradually growing body of enrolled students, the construction of the campus' various facilities has been divided into two phases. In addition to the aforementioned facilities, the first phase includes the Public Equipment Center and the Great Vow Bridge (大願橋). The second construction phase will be comprised of the Great Wisdom House (大慧館)—which will serve as the Institute's primary library—and an activity center, as well as the Respect & Harmony House (和敬館) which will include lodging and continuing education facilities.
Degui Academy
No.77, Yanping S. Rd., Jhongjheng District, Taipei City 100, Taiwan
The building of Dharma Drum Degui Academy, named by Master Sheng Yen, is situated at a prime area in Taipei. It is jointly used by Dharma Drum University, the Dharma Drum Mountain Charitable Foundation as well as the Dharma Drum Mountain Young People Development Department. The sixth to the tenth floors of the building are currently occupied by the Preparatory Office of Dharma Drum University (DDU) within which the sixth to eighth floors make up the Teaching Service Area, the ninth floor the Administrative Centre and the tenth floor the Open Library.
Renovated out of an old building, Degui Academy is now a green building and equipped with modern facilities. Many learning programs and activities have been actively offered there to enrich the contemporary mind. The Academy also works towards creating a viable model for the future Dharma Drum University.
Exemplifying a Green Building Environment
Degui Academy is situated in an old building that has been modified to extend its life cycle. Instead of reconstruction, the building was renovated so that the amount of construction waste could be reduced. In addition, a unique renovation plan has produced a green building with the following features: well ventilated windows that reduce the heat from the afternoon sun, a green roof that insulates heat, upgraded lighting, energy saving air-conditioning, a cooling system without water, a building environmental control system, an e-office and so on. To save energy and reduce carbon emissions, a wide variety of ways to protect the living environment have been implemented. Some examples include the use of electronic meters that calculate the usage of electricity and water, assessment and evaluation of electricity and water usage, and rotating use of elevators during off-peak hours.
Implementing the Concept of Space Management
Degui Academy seeks to expound the spirit of Dharma Drum University through its unique concept of space management. The Wu Shi (無事) Lecture Hall on the sixth floor and the Wu Jin (無盡) Lecture Hall on the seventh floor are named after the essential teaching that when the mind is free of any matter, nothing can’t be accomplished. Therefore, one makes countless vows and fulfills them through innumerable acts. The Sui Xue (隨學) Hall on the eighth floor promotes the attitude of learning at all time, all places and from all things. This unique concept sets the foundation to establish the academy as the basis for the future Dharma Drum University.
The Space of Ten Directions (十方苑) on the sixth floor is named to express gratitude towards resources converging from the ten directions. On the other hand, the Room of Compassion and Wisdom and the Room of Harmony and Respect mark the spirit of our motto “Compassion, Wisdom, Harmony and Respect”
Arts, Humanities and Social Implementation
Dharma Drum University follows the core idea of DDM’s Threefold Education which includes extensive academic education, extensive public Buddhist education and extensive social care education. Courses are conducted to implement the education mechanism of Degui Academy.
‘Caring For Humanity’ includes a series of courses related to the cultivation of the mind such as ‘Learning Chan’s Wisdom to Transcend Adversity’, ’ Mind Power Development’, ‘Learning Chan’s Wisdom for Changing One’s Mental State’ that interpret the life stories and ‘Koans’ of great Chan masters as wisdom to be applied to modern day living. The ‘Movies and Buddhist Spirituality’ series discusses issues related to life and death through viewing movies. As for the Life Café Series, professionals and academics are invited to explore ways to harmonize the body and mind as well as to realize that Chan can be experienced everywhere. Courses in this series include ‘Chan and Spiritual Healing’, ‘Seeing a World of Beauty Through Chan’, ‘Living Our Life in the Diamond Sutra ‘, ‘Chan and Reflections of Life ‘. In ‘The Playback Theatre’, the story of the narrator is played by a participant who shares his/her own touching life experience.
On the other hand, in the light of the reconstruction of the disaster stricken area in southern Taiwan in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot of 8th August 2008, lectures about social caring that span across different fields were conducted. Examples are ‘Helper’s Self-care’, ‘Community Building: What does it mean?’ and ‘The Impact of Global Warming on Taiwan’ among others.
With social implementation led by the School of Philanthropy, the Philanthropy Forum Network for Social Transformation organized a series of several public lectures such as ‘Civic Participation in the Networking Society’, ‘Web, Design, User Experience’, ‘A Blogger's Manifesto: Free Speech and Censorship in the Age of the Internet’, as well as ‘Dialogue and the Public Sphere: The Dying Political Talk Shows in Taiwan.’ The School of Philanthropy course offers include subjects like ‘Web Applications You Must Know’, ‘Marketing and Social Entrepreneurship’ and “Leadership and High Performing Teams’.
Courses related to art offer the following: ‘Capturing Spirit- The Art of Portrait Photography’ which aims to train volunteers in photography. Volunteers who participated in this course were also invited to conduct ‘Lectures on Buddhist Art: A Guided Expedition for Sacred Buddhist Sites in India’. Together with the teacher, students of the course put up an exhibition of their works in human photography art.
Warming up and Taking Off
The future Dharma Drum University will have Degui Academy as a base to continuously organize multi-faceted courses, workshops, forums and exhibitions. We wish also, through paper-based and electronic publication media, to bring in more high-quality publications that widen people’s horizon and trigger actions. We will also invite experts and academics from various fields to conduct the ‘Dharma Drum Distinguished Lecture Series’ series as a warm up to promote DDU while at the same time we invite anyone who is interested to actively participate in this education community that is full of ideas and visions.