Other Distinguished Sangha

Venerable Chang Kai (1916 - 1990) was born in the Lunar month of November in 1916 in Fujian Province of China. He renounced in 1927 under the witness of Venerable Yuan Zhen and became a fully ordained monk at the age of 16 under Venerable Zhuan Dao.

After arriving Singapore in 1949, Venerable Chang Kai became the resident monk of Xi Putuo Monastery and assisted many people with his medical knowledge during his residence. Venerable Chang Kai's contribution was indeed remarkable with his meritorious deeds in spreading Buddhism, education and philanthropy. In 1960, he was appointed as the Deputy Head of Dharma Propagation of Singapore Buddhist Federation and he was consecutively nominated as the Head of General Affairs of Singapore Buddhist Federation in 1964 and led for 22 years. In 1965, Venerable Chang Kai initiated the forming of Singapore Buddhist Sangha' Union with the objective to collaborate both Theravada and Mahayana teachings. Moreover, Venerable Chang Kai set up the first branch of Buddhist medical clinic at Wu Qiao Tou in 1972 and 3 years later, he started the fund-raising project for construction of Manjusri Secondary School. Through the collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Venerable Chang Kai gained permission from the Singapore Ministry of Education in 1980 for incorporating Buddhist Studies as one of the subjects for "O" level examinations. Furthermore, he also published textbooks on Buddhist studies as well as initiating a training syllabus - "Applying Buddhism in teachings" for the teachers. He also formed the Singapore Buddhist Teachers Federation and acted as the consultant for the organization.

With great contributions to the society, Venerable Chang Kai was conferred with the BBM Public Service Star Medal in 1985 by the President of Singapore. In 1988, Venerable Chang Kai was elected as the President of the Singapore Buddhist Federation, and was conferred with the Education Service Medal in 1990 by the Ministry of Education (Singapore).

Venerable Chang Kai departed on 7 September 1990 in Qie Tuo Temple (Singapore) at the age of 75.