Taipei- Sheng Yen, one of Taiwan's four most respected Zen Buddhist masters, died of natural causes Tuesday at the age of 79.

"He died of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome at around 4 pm (0800 GMT)," said a spokesman of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Zen Buddhist centre established by the eminent monk.

Rated as one of Taiwan's 50 most influential people in 400 years, Sheng established the mountain retreat in Taipei County in 1989 to promote Zen Buddhism.

"He was a highly valued and much respected master in Taiwan and we feel a big loss for his death," said Su Jun-pin, spokesman of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan.

The late master had hundreds of thousands of disciples, ranging from ordinary people to politicians and celebrities. Both incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou and his predecessor Chen Shui-bian sought advice from the master.

Born into a poor farm family in the Chinese province of Jiangsu in 1930, he became a Buddhist monk at the age of 13. He later joined the Kuomintang (KMT) army to fight against the Chinese Communists during the civil war and followed the KMT forces to Taiwan in 1949 after the nationalists lost the war.

He stayed in the army until 1959, when he resumed his Buddhist practice. He spent six years in solitary retreat and went to Japan to pursue a doctorate in religious studies.

Sheng taught dharma principles in the US, where he set up a meditation centre in New York in 1979, which earned him renown. (dpa)