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The Establishment of Tung Lin Kok Yuen
Lady Clara Lin-Kok was a charismatic person who upheld high standards of moral discipline.
In 1931, Sir Robert Ho Tung donated $100,000 to his wife’s educational charity as a gift to commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary. Lady Clara Lin-Kok immediately used this to establish two new facilities: the Po Kok Day and Evening School and the Tung Lin Kok Yuen temple.
A suitable location for the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Temple was found thanks to the assistance of Mr. Tam Wun Tong: a twelve thousand square feet plot of land on Shan Kong Road in the vibrant Happy Valley region, which Lady Clara purchased from the Hong Kong government at the price of $17,000. The construction project was supervised by Ven. Aiting.
Lady Clara mentioned her hopes and plans for the Tung Lin Kok Yuen project in the Notes on Mountain Travels, “Hong Kong is culturally diverse and a hub where East and West meet. However, there are currently no organizations spreading the dharma. I have faith in Buddhism and believe that the dharma is the best tool for preventing chaos and bringing harmony to society. I am [thus] trying my best to set up a permanent organization to propagate the dharma. I am so serious that I am donating this fund to the construction of Tung Lin Kok Yuen [which shall stand] in memory of the kindness of my husband has always endeavored to benefit society. It (this name) shall also serve as a memorial to the parents of my aunt and uncle.
After construction work is completed, the Centre of Buddhist Studies in Tun Mun and Po Kok Free School for Girls will be relocated here. Parts of the building will be used as a library and a distribution centre for sutras. This has been a aspiration of mine for many years that is finally being realized.”
The above gives us a rough blueprint of Tung Lin Kok Yuen at that time. Its design reflected its primary function of facilitate dharma education, and it including a Buddhist School, a library, a lecture hall, a dinning hall, dormitories, and a distribution centre for Buddhist sutras.
Tung Lin Kok Yuen was officially opened in 1935. It merged with the Po Kok Free School and the Po Kok Centre of Buddhist Studies, becoming the first Buddhist School for girls constructed in Hong Kong. Many Bhikkhunis and Upasika (lay female disciples) entered the Centre of Buddhist Studies and 108 students enrolled in the Po Kok Free School. Lady Clara Lin-Kok considered this the first step towards the realization of her aspiration to spread the Dharma throughout China and the world by starting with the propagation of Buddhism in Hong Kong and Macau.
Practicing the Virtue of a Bodhisattva as a Lay Practitioner
Lady Clara Lin-Kok was a dedicated practitioner of the Bodhisattva path, attaining considerable spiritual depth and wisdom. She understood the key Buddhist doctrines of impermanence, the law of dependent origination, and the law of cause and effect. She felt life was short and there were limitations to how much one could achieve, and that the dharma was the guiding light to true success. She also desperately wanted her family to benefit from the dharma as well. She wrote in the Notes on Mountain Travels, “I have the fortune to have a good family with merits carried over from previous lives, therefore, I sincerely wish to devote my life to contribute to good deeds as seeds for the fruits in future lives. I don’t want to waste my life without preparing for future lives. I wish my family to devote to the cause of the dharma so that we can enjoy merits in the land of the Buddha infinitely.” For this reason, Lady Clara Lin-Kok actively encouraged her family and friends to contribute to good causes and to spread the dharma.
The Buddha said, “There are twelve types of difficulties in life; the difficulty of carrying out charity when you are poor, the difficulty of wanting to learn the dharma when you are rich, etc.” Though a wife of Sir Robert Ho Tung, Lady Clara Lin-Kok was not corrupted by her affluence and status, living instead a simple, spiritually rich life marked by generosity and compassion. Indeed, Lady Clara Lin-Kok was somewhat of a model lay practitioner, showing unwavering faithfulness to the teachings of the Buddha and practicing them diligently. She observed the five precepts, practiced the ten good deeds, zealously studied the dharma, and contributed to charity. A Buddhist disciple’s first impression of Lady Clara Lin-Kok was as follows, “When I first saw her, I felt something unusual. She wore a black robe with long sleeves, the kind of robe worn by a nun, with a round collar, and a pearl around her neck. She was tall with a compassionate and pure face. She was healthy for her age of almost sixty. Her speech was laden with Buddhist terms. Without a full head of white hair, she would look exactly like an abbess. She did not look like those ordinary vegetarian old ladies. She was warm and elegant without habits of extravagance or arrogance common to the rich.”
Acquiring Teachings from Esteemed Monastics Across China
In her zealous pursuit of spiritual truth, Lady Clara Lin-Kok traveled widely to visit esteem monastics. Accompanied by her family, she began her visits in 1916, as mentioned in the Notes on Mountain Travels. She visited twenty one famous mountains in total as well as other Buddhist monasteries, including Gushan, Putuoshan, Jiuhuashan, Wutaishan, Qixiashan, Laoshan, Muoganshan, Tiantong Monastery, Ayuwang Monastery etc. She wrote of these travels, “I visited famous places for the purpose of seeking truth. I wanted to understand the cause and effect of the interrelationship of reincarnations in three lives, so that we can understand the law of reincarnations in the nine realms. I seek answers from masters, and would like to pass their wisdom down to others…….I would like to learn from the past to better the present, to verify the teaching in the past by practicing today…..I did not travel around for fun…..” Among the high monks that Lady Clara Lin-Kok visited were Master Taixu, Master. Ruoshun, Ven. Aiting, Ven. Yuangong, and Ven. Yuhua. These esteemed monastic practitioners were invited by Lady Clara Lin-Kok to convene dharma talks in Hong Kong.
During her journeys, Lady Clara Lin-Kok was most interested in the history and culture of various Buddhist temples. She particularly enjoyed collecting poems from monasteries and scenic places. These poems were quoted in the Notes on Mountain Travels. Here below is an excellent poem from Xiufeng Monastery in Lushan. The author was Shu Baixiang.
“The sky is reflected in the pond like the fruit at this moment reflecting previous lives.
The six senses have no self and delusions can be purified by drinking spring water. ”
After her visit to Lao Shan, she went to her former home in Jiujiang, where her father had served as an officer 20 years ago. Jiujiang had almost completely changed, however, an elderly man approached her and said, “Aren’t you Lady Clara Lin-Kok? Aren’t you the one that fainted at your father’s funeral and couldn’t even swallow water? It is so great to see you again.” The last time this man had seen her was when she was 18 years of age. This moved her to tears.
In 1935, Tung Lin Kok Yuen was given a Buddhist relic (a piece of tooth or bone from the body of the Buddha) by Ven. Narada from Sri Lanka when the later visited Hong Kong. He was received by Lady Clara Lin-Kok and he personally gave her the relic as a special gift.
A Guiding Light in Hong Kong
Lady Clara Lin-Kok wholly dedicated the latter part of her life to promoting Buddhist education at Tung Lin Kok Yuen. She worked diligently until the day of her death in 1938. To continue her mission in posterity she nominated successors to posts in Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s board of directors in her will, including Wong Hok Yan, Chan Jun Tao and Lam Ling Jun in addition to several earnest friends and relatives. Of this group, Lam Ling Jun became the Director and President of the Po Kok School. Since then the work of Lady Clara has been succeeded by Ven. Min Sun, who assumed the post of Abbess and the Director in 1951. Ven. Hui Ming was later appointed as the fourth Abbess and also the Director of the Board. Ven. Wing Miu and Ven. Miu Wai were being appointed as the fifth and the sixth Abbess respectively.
Lady Clara Lin-Kok had rare qualities that helped her stand out amongst other lay practitioners during Hong Kong’s early colonial period. As a woman she deeply valued and understood the role of women at home and in society, and her desire to advance Buddhist education for women was one of the key motives for her to establish Tung Lin Kok Yuen. Her deeds have made her an esteemed addition to the select group of eminent female devotees who have greatly contributed to the preservation and promulgation of the Buddhist teachings.
The history of Tung Lin Kok Yuen very much constitutes a faithful extension of the compassionate and generous endeavors of Lady Clara and her husband, Sir Robert Ho Tung. Most importantly, the sponsorship and practice of extensive charity work and the provision of Buddhist education by Tung Lin Kok Yuen continue to this day, and shall hopefully continue to touch and improve the lives of many people for a considerable period.
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