http://www.baus.org/baus/library/shen.html
Dr. SHEN, CHIA THENG (1913--), co-founder of the Buddhist
Association of the United States (abbreviated hereafter as BAUS),
was born on Dec. 15, 1913 in Chekiang, China. In 1937, after
obtaining his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the National
Chiao Tung University in Shanghai, he had served for the next ten
years in Central Elec. Mfg. Works and then in the National
Resources Commission in the Chinese government. In 1947, Shen had
his own international trading company opened in Shanghai and then
moved his business to Hong Kong in 1949. In 1952, he and his family
came to the United States and, along with some business partners,
established a shipping company and thereafter had held various
shipping executive positions until his retirement in 1980. In 1973,
Shen was conferred with an honorary Litt. D. by St. John's
University in New York.
Ever since his youth, Shen had always felt spiritually drawn to the
Buddhist teachings of personal cultivation toward enlightenment and
compassion for all sentient beings. But it was not until he came to
the United States that he started to study Buddhism seriously.
Guided by some learned Buddhist friends in the States, Shen has
attained a deep understanding of the profound and subtle principles
of the religion. He has the vision that the ever-new wisdom
embodied in the Buddhist teaching, along with other w orld
religions, will help bring about world peace and alleviate the
suffering of mankind. He has therefore dedicated himself to the
cause of promoting friendship and mutual communication among all
religions, and to introducing the Buddha Dharma into the Western
world, in particular America, which he recognized as a fertile soil
for the propagation of Buddhism for the benefit of its
people.
Over the years, Shen's efforts and financial support has led to the
formation of the BAUS in 1964, and in 1971 the Institute for
Advanced Studies of World Religions in New York. Since accurate
translation and publication of the Buddhist scriptures into western
languages are essential if Buddhism is to be appreciated
beneficially by the Western world, Shen donated in 1968 a property
in San Francisco to Rev. Hsuan Hua to establish the Buddhist Text
Translation Society for just that purpose. In 1971, he fur thermore
helped found the Institute for the Translation of the Chinese
Tripitaka(ITCT) in Taipei, Taiwan. The most important publication
of the latter is a 496-page book entitled A Treasury of Mahayana
Sutras, which was published in 1984 by Penn State University.
To allow North American Buddhists to have a place for regular
Dharma Assembly and to attend lectures given by renowned Dharma
masters and learned Buddhists from all over the world, Shen and his
wife, Upasika Woo Ju Shen, donated in 1969 a property in Bronx,
N.Y. to BAUS to establish the Temple of Enlightenment. In 1970,
Shen started the Bodhi House in Long Island, N.Y., which has been
used as headquarters
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