Mr. Lee Choon Seng was born in Ying Choon county, Fukien province. He joined his father in Negri Sembilan in his youth and later moved to Singapore to set up his own property business. He was very successful in his business and was highly regarded as a Chinese community leader. He has been described as a logical-minded and reserved person.

The Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation

Mr. Lee Choon Seng became the managing director of Ho Hong Bank in 1931 when it ran into difficulties and underwent a management change. He held the position until Ho Hong Bank merged with two other banks to form the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC). He then became a director in the First Board of Directors of OCBC until his death in 1966 as the Chairman of the Bank.

The Buddhist Publications Circulation Centre

In tandem with the increase in lay members, the early 20th Century saw the emergence of Buddhist lay organizations. Chinese Buddhist Association (1927) and the Singapore Buddhist Lodge (1933) were the two prominent ones among them.

The Singapore Buddhist Lodge was first started as the Lian Serh Sutra Chanting Society which had its roots as the Buddhist Publications Circulation Centre – a sutra circulation centre for circulating Chinese Mahayana sutras in Singapore. The Buddhist Publications Circulation Centre was in turn set up by Venerable Zhuan Dao, Venerable Swee Teng, Mr. Lee Choon Seng, Mr. Khoo Seok Wan, Mr. Zhuang Du Ming, among others, at a meeting on 16th July 1933 in Phor Toh See Temple in Yan Kit Road. They were also the promoters of the Singapore Buddhist Lodge.

Mr. Lee Choon Seng was elected as one of the directors of the Buddhist Publications Circulation Centre. When a preparatory committee was formed to set up the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, he was one of the pro-tem committee members.

The Singapore Buddhist Lodge

The Lodge was officially set up on 30th June 1934 but had a fixed address only in September 1934 when Mr. Lee Choon Seng donated a double storey house at 26 Blair Road for its use. He also contributed an additional $1,000 for furniture and other expenses, a considerable sum at that time. At the point of setting up, the Lodge had only a small membership of over hundred but most of the members were from the Chinese social elite.

But the membership gradually grew to over 2000. To meet the needs of the larger member base, Mr. Zhang Jia Mei and  Mr. Zhong Tian Shui decided to rent bigger premises at 17 Kim Yam Road in 1946. In 1950, the 8th President of the Lodge, Mr. Zhang Shu Yuan and Mr. Lee Choon

Seng each donated $10,000 to start a fund-raising drive to purchase the rented premises. Since then, the Lodge continued to increase its membership with spiritual guidance provided by Venerable Sek Hong Choon.