Lin was born into a wealthy family in Wu Feng in 1933. He graduated from Chien Kuo Senior High School and further studied architecture and art in London in 1949. Lin has taught at a famous college of art in the UK and served as an instructor at Royal Academy of Arts. In 1958 he started his personal exhibitions in many modern galleries in London and received the Encouragement Award from the Modern Art Association, London in 1961. In 1966, he also won the first award in the Public Painting Exhibition around entire UK held by Ulster Museum of Fine Arts. In the 60's to 70's, when engaged in minimalism art creation, he made a great contribution to grant "modern" meaning to the "margin" tradition of Chinese paintings. His works are collected by many art museums in Europe and USA.