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COMMEMORATIVE INTRODUCTIONS
Sometimes an event of such magnitude occurs to an individual that it radically alters the course of his life. For a small yet steadily increasing number of people this has been the case upon our encountering the Elder Tripitaka Master Hstian Hua. Due to the karmic matrix, perhaps there were some of us who wished to do away with the violence, enmity and suffering which characterize this world; or some who wanted to find some sort of ultimate True Freedom; or some who had hit a low point on a cycle of self-injurious actions in the name of art or love. The Master has compassionately, patiently, and graphically shown us that in order to change the world, one must eliminate the origins of what makes the world violent, hateful, and painful in one’s own mind; that true freedom is to be had simply by ending the cycle of birth and death; and that to harm oneself or others creates fitting retribution to be undergone in the future.
That the Master, a strictly orthodox exemplar of the ideal of all five schools of Buddhism, has been able to profoundly influence and change the lives of headstrong young Americans gives one a small idea of the perfection of his own practice and strength of his vows. When people begin to see the inconceivable and ineffable methods employed by the Master, and the responses which he evinces, they will get an inkling of the dynamic magnitude of the Buddha and his teachings.
American Disciple
Bhiksu Heng Yo
Gold Mountain Monastery
September 1973
***
The Venerable High Master Hua teaches the Middle Way, which is in short, on the part of an enlightened master, the blending of true principle with expedient means, and is on the part of a student, the ability to maintain a detached but vigorous balance in his cultivation of the Way while constantly faced with a world of dualities. The adherence to the Mean followed by both master and disciples, extends throughout the various stages of cultivation and attainment on the orthodox path to enlightenment. Thus the Venerable Master Hua teaches that spiritual penetrations such as knowledge of past lives, knowledge of others’ thoughts, the ability to heal, and the like, are to be regarded as incidental to the final goal of cultivation—Buddhahood, total enlightenment. Although such powers are not to be regarded as an end in themselves, they provide effective tools for the sage firmly rooted in the Middle Way who is intent upon teaching and transforming others.
The records of miracles performed by the Venerable Master which are contained in this volume are testimony to the Master’s unsurpassed wisdom in the use of expedient means, as well as an affirmation of his unceasing compassion which extends not only to human-kind but also to beings who have wandered off the Middle Way into deviant and demonic states. The SuraTlgama Mantra, as revealed in the Suraflgama SUtra, and the Great Compassion Mantra, as revealed in the Great Compassion Heart DharanZ Sutra, are two important Dharmas which the Master propogates. As long as there are disciples of the Buddha who are able to hold these mantras and accord with the principles of the Middle Way, then even the fiercest deviant and demonic beings can be led from the hells they are creating.
Thus it is with the hope of awakening the faith of all beings and encouraging the study and practice of the Buddhadharma that this Records of the Life of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua is presented.
American Disciple
Bhiksuni Heng Ch’ih
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua’s Dharma Portrait
Acknowledgments
Bhiksuni Heng Yin
Commemorative Photographs and Calligraphy
Bhikgu Yin Hsun – Upasaka Shih Chi
Bhikgu Tao Yuan – Bhikqu Nan T’ing
Upasaka Tseng Kuang-en
Translator’s Introduction
Bhikfuni Heng Yin
Commemorative Introductions
Bhiksu Heng Yo – Bhiksuni Heng Ch’ih -
BhiksunZ Heng Hsien – Upäsikä Kuo Chin
Vickers – Upftsaka Kuo Chou Rounds
The Elder Dharma Master Hsuan Hua
As I Know Him – A Bilingual Article by Upüsikä Hsia Ping-ying
Foreword to the Life
Bhiksu Heng Kuan
THE LIFE
Part I: Early Years
Part II: Early Cultivation
Part III: Bitter Practices Beside the Grave
Part IV: Miracles Beside the Grave
Part V: From Student to Teacher
Part VI: Disciples
Part VII: The Pilgrimage
Part VIII: The Dharma Transmission
Committee for the Publication of the Master’s Biography
The Translator
Records of the Life of DhySna Master Hsuan Hua:
Cover Calligraphy by painter Upasaka Chang Dai-ohien Calligraphed title page by Professor Tseng Hsien-pin
