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| Master Hueigunag President |
Venerable Master Hueiguang was born in Taiwan.
After graduating from the University of California, San Diego in 1994, he left
the pursuance of a career in medicine and vowed to practice the Dharma in order
to propagate the noble teachings for the ultimate benefit of all sentient
beings.
After Venerable Hueiguang renounced his layman
livelihood, he completed his monastic training at Ts’ung Lin University in
Taiwan under the guidance of the renowned Venerable Master Hsing Yun of Fo
Guang Shan (FGS). Gradually, he evolved into a more prominent role as the dean
of the Male Buddhist College in FGS where he tenured for more then fifteen
years. In December 25 of 2008, Venerable Hueiguang received the Dharma
Transmission from Venerable Master Ben Huan at Hongfa Temple in Shenzhen,
China, as the 45th generation lineage holder of the Linchi Ch’an (Renzai Zen)
School.
At present, Venerable Hueiguang is the Abbot of
IBS temple in Taiwan as well as the President of the IBS non-profit association
in the United States. He is also serving as the guiding master of the
Bodhisattva Dharma Pitaka Association while continuing his diligent and
dedicated pursue and propagation of the Dharma teachings.
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| Shirley Tam Secretary |
Shirley
Tam was born in mainland China and moved to Hong Kong at the age of five. In 1977, she immigrated to the United
States with her husband and three children. Upon her immigrating to the U.S., her father made one
request: that she spread Buddhism in the U.S. Though she didn’t know how she would do it, Shirley made a
vow she would one day fulfill his only request of her.
As a
Buddhist practitioner, Shirley began volunteer work that included cleaning
state parks, visiting senior retirement homes, collecting used eyeglasses for developing
countries, serving lunches and dinners for the homeless at St. Vincent DePaul,
and visiting hospitals and prisons in Southern California. In 1995, wanting to expand her ongoing volunteering
work, Shirley joined her husband, Danny, in volunteering with the IBS Prison
Program.
Working
diligently since joining the prison program to help those incarcerated recognize
their potential as secretary and volunteer chaplain of the IBS prison program, Shirley is
responsible for many tasks. Some
of her responsibilities include submitting applications to the warden to visit
prisons, coordinating with prison chaplains to schedule visitations, preparing
reports to the parole board for inmates who are appealing, organizing annual
fundraiser event and arranging the annual Vesak celebration in state prisons.
Fulfilling
the promise she made to her father on a daily basis with increasing reach and
influence, Shirley continues to spread the Buddha’s teaching to help those
incarcerated realize they do not have to continue to suffer.
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| Daniel S Tam CFO |
Daniel S Tam was born
and raised in Hong Kong. He
immigrated to United States in 1977 with his wife; Shirley and three children
age 7, 5 and 2. He finished his
B.S. degree in business major at San Diego State University. He worked for an import company as a
Chief Financial Officer while at the same time dedicated his time volunteering
to serve the communities such as homeless at ST. Vincent De Paul, join force at San Diego Buddhist
Association to expound the Buddha Dharma.
He and his wife
Shirley started visiting the prison inmates in 1995 and since then without any
interruptions. In 1997, he studied
his master degree in Buddhism Philosophy at University of the West under the
guidance of Prof. Lewis Lancaster who is one of the well-respected scholar in
the world. He joined force with IBS and helped to establish a non-profit
organization 501 ( c ) (3) status in 2004. During the course of visiting the prison at Calipatria State
Prison, many inmates benefiting from his teaching and were touched by his
compassionate action. After the
inmates transferred to a lower level prisons, they sent in request for the
further visit. Calipatria State Prison
is not just a reference point of this prison visitation program but also
fulfilling the main teaching of Buddhism – “ Dependent Origination”.
