On 19 June 1969, Heng Chih was initiated into Buddhist monastic life as a novice nun by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua at the Buddhist Lecture Hall in San Francisco, California, USA. In November 1969, she became a fully ordained Buddhist nun, one of the first five Caucasian monastic disciples of Master Hsuan Hua. Thirteen years later, in 1982, she was granted permission to receive ordination a second time at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, with Master Hua presiding as Precept Transmitting Master.

Heng Chih holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Translation, earned at Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU). She is now a Professor Emeritus on DRBU’s teaching faculty, having retired from being an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia, where she taught Buddhist Philosophy for six years.

She is a founding member of the Buddhist Text Translation Society (BTTS) and since its inception in 1971 has served on all its four committees, helping prepare English publications of Buddhist texts and Master Hua’s commentaries on Mahayana Sutras and Shastras.

During her monastic life, Heng Chih has been a resident nun at several of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association’s monasteries and has lectured on Buddhism in many Asian countries. She is one of the world’s most senior Buddhist nuns and in her decades of service has helped train many others in the monastic way of life.