Author:Tsui Chung Hui
Translated by: Chiu Chu Lee, Corey Bell
Photos: Provided by Tung Lin Kok Yuen

Education for Cultivating Wisdom and Spreading the Dharma

Po Kok First Free School, Hong Kong’s first Buddhist Girls’ School.

Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s vital contribution to Buddhist education in Hong Kong has been ongoing since the early part of the last century, and is today as strong as ever. This impressive durability is testimony to a heritage of adaptability and responsiveness that can be traced to the organisation’s origins.  Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s inauguration was at a time of great unrest for China, coinciding with the Sino-Japanese War, political and economic transformations and crises, and the impending collapse of traditional cultural and moral values. The very survival of Buddhism, as with many institutions of its time, hinged on its willingness and ability to transform. One of the key pioneers that took up the challenge to reform Buddhist education was the founder of Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Lady Clara Lin-Kok.

Although born into an era of immense turmoil, Lady Clara (1875-1938), who married Sir Robert Ho Tung at the age of 20, was blessed with a life of considerable comfort and stability. Yet despite her personal fortune, she was in no way insulated from the sufferings that surrounded her, and was strongly convinced that Buddhist education held an important key to realizing their alleviation. At that stage China had entered the Republican era and Buddhism faced new challenges from competing Western ideologies and institutions. Buddhist education, however, was slow to modernize, and the religion suffered widespread stagnation. A general lack of respect for Buddhist monks and nuns festered, their being seen as uneducated and unproductive. Many monks and nuns were illiterate, and were thus unable to formulate and pass on their knowledge of the Dharma. In addition, Buddhist institutions contained few people that possessed the skills or knowledge to make concrete contributions to the welfare of society. Saddened by this, Lady Clara resolved to set up a school for the education of Upasikas (lay female disciples), aiming to propogate a correct, systematic understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, and nurture vocational skills to enable students to secure their own livelihood and serve the broader community. The ultimate goal was to produce all-rounded Buddhists who could benefit others while benefiting themselves, and attend to spiritual needs without neglecting material necessities.

Being a mother of ten and wife to Sir Robert, an accomplished entrepreneur, Lady Clara began her mission humbly by first promoting Buddhism in her family.

Supporting a Rounded Education in the Family

Although Lady Clara had altogether ten children (three sons and seven daughters), she actively paid great attention and assistance to the early education of each of them. She believed in the virtues of a rounded education, and gave special attention to nurturing strong moral values. To this end, she would often introduce the Buddhist teachings to her husband and children. More importantly, by following and applying the teachings, she was a positive and encouraging role model. Lady Clara gave generously to the disadvantaged and impaired, and was both concerned with, and engaged in broader social issues. Her words and deeds were to have a far-reaching effect on the moral development of her children.

Lady Clara’s engagement with her children’s education was to lay the foundations for many of the innovations she was to introduce in her later educational projects. At that time, in spite of the Chinese dominated demographics of early Hong Kong society, English was the only language taught at many schools. Lady Clara therefore employed private tutors to teach her children the Chinese language and Chinese classics, seeing to it that they be well educated in the language, culture and ethics of her society. She also met with school principals pressing for the employment of Chinese teachers and the inclusion of Chinese in the curriculum. As a result of this, the “Lady Ho Tung Chinese Award” was established to enhance students’ interest in the subject.

Lady Clara also went against the grain of the entrenched scholastic conservatism of her time by paying much attention to the cultivation of recreational and other interests. To this end she hired instructors to teach her children boxing and music, and encouraged them to participate in various extra-curricular activities, often personally taking them out on excursions, boat rides, and swimming trips, in addition to attending and supporting all school activities. As recorded by her son Shai-Lai in his work “Anecdotes of the Life and Meritorious Deeds of My Deceased Mother, Lady Ho Tung, Clara Lin-Kok,”, Lady Clara also encouraged her children to bring their classmates home - particularly those from poor families - so as to help her children acquire better social skills and awareness.

Perhaps most importantly, Lady Clara strongly rejected the traditional yet, at her time, still widespread and entrenched discrimination against the participation of females in advanced education. As a result, all of her daughters gained degrees from Hong Kong’s premier university, The University of Hong Kong, and furthered their studies overseas. Each went on to make significant contributions to society through their respective careers.

Spreading the Dharma

In 1922, Lady Clara extended an invitation to three eminent monks from Nanjing - Venerable Master Ruoshun, abbot of the Qi Xia Monastery, and Venerables Aiting and Yuhua from the Bamboo Grove Monastery, to conduct a seven-day Buddhist ceremony marking the Ming Yuan festival in Hong Kong.  She also asked Venerable Master Ruoshun to witness her ceremonial commitment to abide by the Five Precepts, which formally  the Buddha. The seven-day ceremony also coincided with Sir Robert Ho Tung’s 60th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, the whole family, led by Lady Clara, recited Amitabha Buddha and prayed for good fortune together. It was truly a memorable occasion.

In 1925, Lady Clara invited Venerable Yuangong to give a series of open Dharma talks at her residence on Seymour Road in Hong Kong. The talks lasted for three months, during which the eminent monk discussed the contents of several important Mahayana sutras. This event marked the first instance of a dharma talk being hosted by a single family in colonial Hong Kong, and the event was warmly welcomed by the local Buddhist community, attracting the attendance of thousands of Buddhists from around Hong Kong and even neighbouring Canton (now Guangzhou) – a remarkable feat given the underdevelopment and inconvenience of transport infrastructure at that time.  This event also served to inspire other Buddhists in Hong Kong to organized similar events. Lady Clara was greatly buoyed by the thirst for Buddhist learning displayed by local Buddhists during these events, and began plans to establish a permanent venue for the dissemination of the Dharma.

Po Kok Free School for Girls

In 1930, Lady Clara set up the first tuition-free Buddhist School for Girls on Percival Street, naming it the “Po Kok First Free School for Girls.” Soon after she established the “Po Kok Second Free School” at Lung Shung Street, Macau. To maximize their social contribution, both schools were located in districts with a high percentage of financially disadvantaged households. The curriculum, comprised of mainly practical subjects including basic maths and sewing, were designed to help students attain greater independence, financial security, and to help them assist their families. Later in the fall of 1932, Lady Clara invited Venerable Aiting to make another visit to Hong Kong to teach the Dharma, and in consultation with him established the Po Kok Center of Buddhist Studies at the Hai Yun Hermitage on Castle Peak to serve as a training centre for female devotees.

Tung Lin Kok Yuen

In the year 1931, Lady Clara received a 50th Wedding Anniversary gift of HK$100,000 from her husband, which she decided to use to fulfill her dream of constructing a Buddhist temple. In her Notes on Mountain Travels, she stated, “I am going to spend the whole big sum on the construction, which I would call ‘Tung Lin Kok Yuen,’ to express gratitude for my husband’s virtuous act. In offering to sentient beings a way to meritorious living, my husband has brought merits upon himself, too. The construction will also be a tribute to my parents. When it is completed, the Centre of Buddhist Studies on Castle Peak and the Po Kok Free School for Girls on Percival Street will be relocated there. One section will be used as a library, and another for the free distribution of Buddhist books. When this is done, the aspiration held in my heart for so many years will finally be accomplished.”

In 1935, the construction of Tung Lin Kok Yuen was completed, and the Po Kok Free School for Girls and the Centre of Buddhist Studies were both moved to the new site. Tung Lin Kok Yuen became Hong Kong’s first Buddhist School for Females (both nuns and female lay practitioners). Foremost a place for the dissemination and practice of the dharma, Tung Lin Kok Yuen served a multiplicity of functions, accommodating in the single establishment a Buddhist School, a library, a lecture hall, a dining hall, quarters, and a Buddhist book distribution centre.

The eminent Chinese Buddhist figure Venerable Master Taixu, in praise of the scale and management of the new centre, noted that Tung Lin Kok Yuen compared favourably to the successful Qihuan Monastery, which was established by Lay Buddhist Yang Renshan in Nanjing. He stated, “Lady Clara Lin-Kok’s Tung Lin Kok Yuen is of a grander scale than Qihuan Monastery, and boasts a larger number of students than Qihuan Monastery. Managed with confidence in the Dharma and with a good network of connections, Tung Lin Kok Yuen will certainly have a substantial influence on the future development of Buddhism in China.”

﹝Continue next page﹞

Lady Clara Lin-Kok, a pioneer who initiated reform in Hong Kong’s Buddhist education as the Republican era began in China.	Lady Clara Lin-Kok was married to Sir Robert Ho Tung, with whom she shared a happy family life. But she was determined to contribute to the deliverance of sentient beings from suffering, and the aspiration took her far beyond being a mere householder.
Lady Clara Lin-Kok insisted that women, too, were entitled to good education. All her children pursued further studies overseas after gaining a first degree in Hong Kong, and have each made remarkable accomplishments in society.	Curriculum offered by Po Kok Girls' School was for practical purpose. It tried to help students to apply it to earn a living and to become independent. A photo is taken from the home economic classroom at the school.
Po Kok Centre of Buddhist Studies.	When Tung Lin Kok Yuen was completed in 1935, Po Kok Girls' School and Po Kok Centre of Buddhist Studies were both relocated at the new site. Tung Lin Kok Yuen became the first Buddhist School established for female lay Buddhists and bhikkhunis.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Po Kok Girls' School has turned out many talents.	Po Kok Primary School on Shan Kwong Road, Happy Valley.