Chung Tai Shan is a Taiwan-based Buddhist monastic order founded by the Venerable Master Wei Chueh in 1987. The headquarters monastery itself, Chung Tai Chan Monastery was completed in September 2001and is located in the town of Puli. It is one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in Taiwan.

Designed by the famous Taiwanese architect, Li Tsu-Yuan it is widely admired as an architectural masterpiece because of the mountain monastery's more modern look with both Western and Chinese styles. The temple is only second to Fo Guang Shan's monastery in physical size and in the number of ordained disciples.

The temple follows traditional Chinese Ch'an, emphasizing on teachings based on sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation. One of the objects of Chung Tai Chan Monastery is to disseminate the principles of Zen Buddhism and it also seeks to uphold and give furtherance to Buddhist art and culture.

There are more than1000 Buddhist monks and nuns liviing at the cpmlex. The monk and nuns pass their days in prayers to the God.

The Monastery's main building expands vertically, which is the opposite of most traditional Chinese temples which extend horizontally. The lavishness of the Monastery also makes a person question if this really is a Buddhist monastery. The first thing that one wil notice is a statue of Buddha in real gold. A single meditation hall is followed by endless sequences of similar halls; each hall symbolizing purity with white Italian marble.

The Monastery is mostly made up of stone, which symbolizes the steadfastness of Buddhist belief. The main structure of the temple towers over the surrounding buildings and the surrounding hills, this way it resembles a saint seated in deep meditation.

Chung Tai Chan can be viewed as it's own small society, with students coming from all over Taiwan to attend the boarding school within the monastery. There are all trades people such as, mechanics, and carpenters to fill all the required necessities of this small society.