Farewell to a much-loved monk/artist
April 28th, 2009
Bo-Yuen painting in his studio.
APRIL 14 — There are quite a few festivals that fall in April. For the Chinese community, there’s the annual Ts’ing-ming when they visit the graves in honour of their ancestors.
For the Christians they observe Good Friday and Easter, the death and rebirth of their saviour Jesus Christ. And the Thais who live here celebrate Songkran, the annual water festival signalling their lunar New Year.
It is in this mixed mood of death and birth that I write about two nonagenarian Malaysian artists. The venerable Bo-Yeun, 96, passed away this week and Fung Yow Chork, 91, is critically ill in hospital (I shall write about him in another article).
In the early years, there were two well-known artists/monks in Penang. One was the late venerable Chuk Mor from the Triple Wisdom Temple and the other was Bo-Yeun from the Kek Lok Si temple. After many years, Bo-Yuen left Penang in 1961 to set up the Hu-Bin Vihara in Petaling Jaya.
They were among the first batch of young monks who migrated from Fujian, China, to serve in the local temples. Their passing marks the end of that line of descendants from China.
The citizens of Malaysia have the right to live in freedom, dignity and fraternity. 
Remembering all the deaths and sorrows of our fellow human beings all over the world, due to the military and civilian conflicts. Hoping we may find a more peaceful way to settle our warfare.
"The world has enough for everyone's need but not everyone's greed." Mahatma Gandhi
This exhibition at KLPac from 17August to 13 September 2009 tel: KLPac 03 4047 9010
Our last exhibition was in November, 2008, at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center.
'In the Face of Disability' is a photo exhibition of disabled athletes in action. This show was last displayed at KDU school and it is on tour to various locations, on request. Please contact Victor Chin for more details.