Author: Tsui Chung Hui
Translated by: Stephanie Chin, Corey Bell
Photos: Provided by Tung Lin Kok Yuen
Tung Lin Kok Yuen is elegant and special.Whilst drinking tea on a hot June afternoon I found in a pile of old magazines a poem published by the “Po Kok Quarterly” 50 years ago. This poem described Tung Lin Kok Yuen in a most captivating impressionist manner, drawing parallels to the ‘Pure Land’ or Amitabha. The following is a translation:
The Solemn Tung Lin Kok Yuen Fu Wan San
As the breeze blows over
The setting sun with clouds hanging over
Western sky outside the gates
Where crows sit on trees in the yard
With fragrance of lotus and birds chirping
In an orchestra with beetles
Performing sonnets of Chopin
Spread out in a painting
Drawn by nature
In mid summer
Filled with poems.
The starlight over every home
Among high rises surrounded by
Brown stones with brick roofs
Red and yellow
Stands alone in amidst
Swirling hills and walls
Lined with trees
Wearing veils of silver
What a solemn world.
In the deep dark sky where
Stars are few
As cool as water
Emerges with fairies from this palace
Wearing beautiful gowns
Made of silk clouds
With incense
And chants of sutras
Prevailed with blessings amidst
Statues of Buddha
Inside the court yard of Maitreya
in Tusita which is
Pure land manifested on earth
With no dust.
As I closed the 50 years old book of poems I decided to visit this ‘Pure Land’ on earth.
I took the tram to Happy Valley. A huge Chinese temple made of brown bricks and with a yellow roof appeared after I walked ten minutes along Shan Kwong Road. This is Tung Lin Kok Yuen - established in 1935 as the first Buddhist School for women in Hong Kong. The founder was Lady Clara Lin-kok - the wife of one of the richest entrepreneurs of early colonial Hong Kong, Sir Robert Ho Tung.
The Founding of Tung Lin Kok Yuen
Lady Clara married Sir Robert when she was twenty. She had a happy family and wanted to serve society. In those days Buddhist education in China was not popular. There were many charity groups operated by churches, but none run by Buddhists, who neglected educational and charity work. It was also difficult for women of that era to receive an education, particularly those who were poor. Lady Clara felt women could play a significant role in society, and therefore established Tung Lin Kok Yuen, the first school in Hong Kong to teach women Buddhism and practical skills. At the entrance, there were two stone steles with the inscriptions “Po Kok Free School” and “Po Kok Centre of Buddhist Studies”. In 1931 Lady Clara established Po Kok Free School on Percival Street and Lung Shung Street in Macau, which were ghettos in those days, to teach poor families skills that could help them earn a living, such as basic maths, sewing, weaving, etc. Then in 1932, Lady Clara established the “Po Kok Centre of Buddhist Studies,” and invited Venerable Aiting from the famous Bamboo Grove Monastery to give dharma lectures. Tung Lin Kok Yuen was established in 1935, and served as a Buddhist School, as well as a venue for Buddhist practice. It contained a dharma hall, lecture theatre, library, sutra hall, dinning hall, ancestral hall and dormitories.
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