Master Bo Yuan was from Fu?an, Fujian. His secular surname was Li and his given name was Defu. At nineteen, he left home under Chan Master Jingsheng at Guanghua Temple on Lion Peak. At twenty, he received full ordination under Chan Master Xuyun at Yongquan Temple in Gushan, Fuzhou, then entered Shigu Buddhist College and later served as guest-master in the Gushan monastic community. After coming south in 1947, he served as superintendent of Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang and permanent adviser to the Malaysian Buddhist Association. His calligraphy formed a style of its own, vigorous and majestic like the Diamond Sutra inscriptions of Mount Tai. Grounded in stele methods, it is expansive, unrestrained, and enhances the sculptural and overall beauty of stele learning while expressing the tranquil transcendence of monastic calligraphy.