This paper discusses how Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the most important practitioner of contemporary Humanistic Buddhism, has used a variety of skillful means to formulate a model for modern practitioners of Humanistic Buddhism. Venerable Master Hsing Yun has been energetically urging Buddhism to be more humanistic, relevant to daily life and the community, modernizing, and with international reach. Through literature, arts, music, and education, he envisions that the compassion and wisdom of Buddhism can become a spiritual filling station for mankind. At the same time, he has allowed for the spiritual content of Chinese culture to spread throughout the world. This has been accomplished through Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s promotion of the arts and literature. This paper, taking Hsing Yun’s Diaries as its primary source, is based upon Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s thoughts on the arts, Buddhism, life, and education. It further probes the development of Buddhist arts at Fo Guang Shan and their role in the propagation of Humanistic Buddhism.
