Taipei Zhongshan Hall

■Taipei Lecture Hall

Taipei Lecture Hall’s role is to accumulate and transmit the essence of Chinese culture, and to have a positive impact far and wide. It is located on the 3rd floor of this actively used historic building, which has been renovated to transform it into a space for the study of the humanities. Established on September 15, 2011, Taipei Lecture Hall’s mission is to continue Chinese culture’s most distinctive educational traditions in a refined atmosphere.

Taipei Lecture Hall has appointed Lin Gu-fang as its principal scholar. He believes that the old, well-worn advice to “settle down and get on with one’s life’s work” is just the medicine the people of today need. For this reason, the Lecture Hall mainly teaches ‘Life studies’; through studying the Chinese Classics, students learn how to live a grounded life. In pursuit of this aim, the Lecture Hall’s courses stress realization and practice; the Hall’s lecturers have not only have a thorough knowledge of the Chinese Classics, but have also reached a high level of realization and practice.

Lin Gu-fang has designed a curriculum for the Taipei Lecture Hall based on Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism that has four aspects: self-cultivation, knowledge, art and life. The first self-cultivation lecture course was on the subject of art and self-cultivation in Chan/Zen, and was taught by Mr. Lin himself; for the knowledge lecture course, Xin Yi-yun was invited to talk about Laozi; the art lecture course was taught by Ni Zai-qin, and was on the subject of Chinese literati painting; and for the life lecture course, Xi Song taught the Zen of craftsmanship. In addition to these extended courses, the Taipei Lecture Hall also periodically holds lectures on specialist topics.

With the aim of passing on teachings about life from the Classics to help people live a settled and fulfilling life, Taipei Lecture Hall has returned to the original academy education blueprint, providing citizens with a place to study life.