On September 10, 1994, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, came to Austin to host our groundbreaking ceremony. The construction started in October 1995 and was completed on January 2000. On June 19, 1998, Venerable Master Hsing Yun named this temple Fo Guang Shan Xiang Yun Temple.
Fo Guang Shan Xiang Yun Temple is located on the scenic Capital of Texas Highway. The temple is on an 11-acre lot with approximately 20,000 square feet of indoor space. Xiang Yun Temple is surrounded by rolling hills covered by cedars that are evergreen and smell very pleasant. The temple is often submerged in a cloud-like fog. Therefore, the temple was named Xiang (fragrance) Yun (cloud). The name also takes on the meaning of the clouds that are above the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas when their presence is honored.
The Xiang Yun Temple of Fo Guang Shan is the bodhisattva monastery of Humanistic Buddhism. It actively participates in educational, cultural, charitable, medical and other life-saving undertakings. Fo Guang Buddhists inherited the truth of the Buddha, follow the traditions and morality of our great masters, and bring happiness and well-being to all our children and grandchildren. Fo Guang Buddhists take the Bodhisattva spirit of compassion, wisdom, and willingness as our framework. We adopt the cultural and educational endeavor of bringing compassion and help into the world as our goal and the integration of the relationship between the group and the self as our philosophy. Fostering the joy of peace and happiness in the world is our practice. With the four spirits of "giving people confidence, giving people joy, giving people hope, and providing people convenience,” we wish to lighten the hearts of all sentient beings and show them the way to enlightenment.
