In the 1940s, the time that the fate of the Chinese people and Chinese Buddhism fell into the nadir, a 14-year-old boy was ordained to be a Buddhist monk in Nantong, in Jiangsu Province,China. Since then he had embarked on the journey of pursuing and spreading the Dharma for nearly 70 years. It was also a quest for faith and life itself.

Master Sheng Yen portrays Master Sheng Yen’s turbulent life and times in a factual form. The film unfolds on the streets of New York in 1979, recounting the Master’s course of life with chapters each covering ten year’s time, including The Dying Fire of His Faith (1949), Second Ordination (1959), Leaving for Japan (1969), Chan Practice and Spreading the Dharma (1979), Founding Dharma Drum Mountain (1989), Care for Life and Death (1999), and Master Sheng Yen’s Passing Away (2009).