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Chung Tai Chan Monastery lies in Puli, Nantou. It was designed by the famous Taiwanese architect, Li Tsu-Yuan. Chung Tai Chan Monastery’s architectural design is a blend of the Western and Chinese styles. One of the chief objects of Chung Tai Chan Monastery is to disseminate the principles of Zen Buddhism and it also seeks to uphold and give furtherance to Buddhist art and culture. Chung Tai Chan houses more than 1000 Buddhist monks and nuns, and few hundred lay people. The monk and nuns pass their days in prayers to the God. The ground for the construction of Chung Tai Chan Monastery was laid in 1990. The Monastery was completed in 2001. Chung Tai Chan Monastery’s main building expands vertically, as against most traditional Chinese temples which extend horizontally. The opulence that marks the Monastery also makes a person question if this really is a Buddhist monastery. The first thing that catches one’s eyes is a statue of Buddha in real gold. A single meditation hall is followed by endless sequences of similar halls; each hall symbolizing purity with white Italian marble. The Monastery is mainly made up of stone, which symbolizes the steadfastness of Buddhist belief. The principal structure of the temple towers over the surrounding buildings and the surrounding hills, this way it resembles a saint seated in deep meditation. Chung Tai Chan can be likened to a mini society, with students pouring in from all over Taiwan to attend the boarding school within the monastery. There are tailors, mechanics, and carpenters to fill the essentials of a society.
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