Yi Yungao
chinese-American Buddhist leader (1951–2022)
Yi Yungao (simplified Chinese: 义云高; traditional Chinese: 義雲高; pinyin: Yì Yúngāo; Jyutping: Ji6 Wan4gou1; born Wenjiang District, Sichuan in 1951- January 22, 2022), also known as Wan Ko Yee (the Cantonese version of his name using Western name order) and Dorje Chang Buddha III (第三世多杰羌佛), was a Chinese-American artist, Buddhist religious leader and self-declared third reincarnation of Dorje Chang (Vajradhara), a claim not universally accepted and doubted by many Buddhists.
He had many wealthy followers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and China. In 1999, he moved to the United States and lived with his family in Pasadena, California, where he would live until his death in 2022 from natural causes. In addition to his Vajradhara claim, Yi also said that he was the second reincarnation of Vimalakirti and had performed miracles.
Art
In March 2015, "Ink Lotus", a painting by Yi, sold for $16.5 million at public auction. In 2012, two paintings by Yi sold for $230,000 and $330,000. Greg Brown, an art appraiser with an emphasis in Asian art, expressed puzzlement at the sudden increase in value of works by Yi. Greg Brown was quoted by LAist as suggesting that followers of Yi were purchasing his art. A spokesman for Yi said that profits from sale of Yi's artwork were donated to charity.
In 2011, the International Art Museum of America opened in San Francisco, California.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Yi Yungao” as chinese-American Buddhist leader (1951–2022). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yi Yungao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.