Building III

The Dharma Drum Sangha University is located in the quiet, remote hills of Jinshan District, Taipei County, in an enclosure with both traditional and modern architecture, with a Buddhist Library and Information Center containing an extensive collection of books and other materials in print and electronic form.  Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education dedicated to spreading Chinese Buddhism, offers a global and diversified environment to study Buddhism. Cultivating Monastic Talent Venerable Master Sheng Yen returned from the United States in 1977 to succeed as abbot of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Culture and Nung Chan Monastery. To cultivate monastic talent capable of spreading the Dharma and sustaining the existence of the Three Jewels in the world, Master called members of the Institute for the Translation of the Chinese Tripitaka and people who had participated in seven-day Chan retreats to establish the Institute of Three Studies. Over time, the institute saw an increase in membership, some of whom decided to become monks and nuns after the Institute for Chinese Tripitaka Translation closed. The Three Studies Institute, whose goal was to cultivate young Buddhist talents, gradually became the Dharma Drum Mountain Sangha University. 

The Library and Information Center of the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA) is a research library specializing in Buddhist studies. The library has more than 70,000 volumes and subscribes to more than 550 current newspapers, making it one of the largest collections of Buddhist studies in East Asia. The Library and Information Center has one of the largest collections of canonical editions in the world. The Library and Information Center has more than 70 editions of the Buddhist Canon in various texts and languages: Chinese, Tibetan, Manchu, Sanskrit, Pali, Japanese, English, Thai, Burmese, Khmer, Laotian and Dai, among others. The Library and Information Center has an extensive collection of precious Burmese palm leaf manuscripts, and in 2008 the Library and Information Center acquired a large collection of Tibetan text microfiche, including the Library of Congress collection PL480 and various editions of Kanjur and Tanjur. The Library and Information Center provides access to all digital editions of the Buddhist Canon, such as CBETA, TBRC, ACIP, CSCD, etc. In addition to these Buddhist study tools, The Library and Information Center provides the electronic version of Siku Quanshu (四庫 全書, Complete Library of the Four Treasures), the BAS bibliography databases, the electronic journal databases such as JSTOR and Religion ProQuest and other services.

The Chung-Hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies (CHIBS) was established in 1985 by Venerable Master Sheng Yen, founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM). In 2001, the CHIBS he moved to the DDM World Center for Buddhist Education, located in Jinshan District, Taiwan. In 2006, CHIBS successfully approved the Ministry of Education's requirements to establish the first private Buddhist institute, “Dharma Drum Buddhist College,” in Taiwan. In 2007, CHIBS stopped enrolling students, transferring that responsibility to the Dharma Drum Buddhist Institute. Since Venerable Master Sheng Yen passed away in February 2009, CHIBS has continued to focus on being a global promoter for the academic study and research of Chinese Buddhism, thus fulfilling one of Venerable Master Sheng Yen's primary goals. Together with the Sheng Yen Educational Foundation, CHIBS now employs the entire pool of trained people and resources to foster research and spread of Chinese Buddhism within and outside the country. A very successful application of CHIBS resources has been a cooperative editorial project with Columbia University in New York City, in which CHIBS locates and funds excellent research projects on aspects of Chinese Buddhism from the dynasty Sung until the Republican Stage, and assists the Columbia University Press in its publication. In addition, Chinese research papers will be published by the Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation. CHIBS also helps universities around the world with funding for conferences and workshops related to aspects of Chinese Buddhism. In addition, CHIBS provides exchange students and scholars with assistance in conducting their investigations of Chinese Buddhism. Finally, CHIBS continues to publish its internationally known Chung Hwa Buddhist Journal, and will reintroduce readers to the multilingual journal of Buddhist Studies Chung Hwa, showing the results of research by graduate students. .