About · 如意精舍

The center on Fengguidou mountain.

Ru-Yi Meditation Center sits at roughly 800 metres on Fengguidou mountain, in the Xinyi Township of Nantou County, Taiwan. The mountain weather is generous: mist that drifts and re-makes the landscape through the day, and winters where plum blossoms open against the snow and the air carries their perfume far enough to clear a quiet mind.

Our history

A return to the hometown.

The two masters were born on this mountain. Years later, after taking their vows and training away from home, they noticed something simple: the people of their own village had no easy way to study the dharma. The thought stayed with them, and in time it became a quiet vow — to return one day, and to plant the seeds of the teaching in the soil they had grown up on.

In September 2017 they came home. They turned the family dwellings they had grown up in into a small monastery, with one teaching aim — to help others build right view and right understanding of life. A Buddhist study circle was started for elementary-age children. An online book club followed, so that lay practitioners scattered across Taiwan could read, listen, and reflect together. And because the next generation deserves the same chance to begin early, a children's spiritual growth camp soon joined the calendar.

The monastery sits at the end of a winding road, and the masters know that reach is hard. They are not in a hurry. Their wish, as they describe it, is simply to serve the dharma for all living beings — one student, one season, one returning visitor at a time. Ru-Yi Meditation Center was founded on September 21st, 2017 by Ven. Master Da-hui and Ven. Master Yang-hui.

The meaning of Ru-Yi

Ru-Yi 如意

Ru-Yi is the transliteration of the Mandarin 如意. In Mandarin, rú yì means "everything goes your way," and is often seen in phrases like 諸事如意 (Zhū shì rú yì): everything as you wish.

In the context of Buddhism, however, rú yì carries a deeper meaning. In the Bodhi path to enlightenment, there are 37 factors to develop. Four of these factors are known as the spiritual powers — referring to concentration on intention, effort, consciousness, and investigation. In Pāli they are called Iddhipāda, a compound term meaning "power" and "base." In Mandarin this translates to 如意足 (rú yì zú), literally "wishful foot."

Rú yì therefore has a profound meaning: to have the spiritual power to have things go your way — thereby having a mind that is a master of itself, able to accomplish what it wants. That is the practice this center is named for.

Our founders