An Interview with Sun Daye (Renowned Cell Biologist and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Interview Chief Writer: Venerable Fa Ning

10 July 2026

Sun Daye:

Namo Amituofo.

What is it that people seek when they come into this world?

I once thought that through scientific research, I could get closer to the Truth. In my mind, the Truth had to be verified by countless scientific experiments and studies, supported by detailed theories, and withstand the test of time without being overturned; perhaps that could be called a Truth closer to reality.

As a plant cell biologist in this life, I have always held an attitude of humility and modesty. After studying abroad, I returned to my motherland to pioneer the field of 'plant cell signal transduction research.' As a pioneer and leader in this field, I have always carried a sense of responsibility, conducting my research with the most rigorous and self-demanding attitude.

Because I believe that those who conduct scientific research must be able to endure loneliness, and after rigorous research and experimentation, give back the scientific results to the country and society. This is what I consider to be the essential quality, responsibility, and duty of a scientific researcher. The concept of 'taking from society and giving back to society' is very important, because I believe that all resources in society are like water; they must flow constantly so they do not become stagnant and lose their utility.

In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I learned about the concept of 'space.' I accepted this explanation quite readily. After all, when I was alive, the field I studied was plant cell biology, specifically plant cell signaling.

The reason I accepted the description of a cell as a 'space' so quickly is that my research involved how plants, when encountering various changes in the external environment—such as extreme cold or hot weather—receive these stimuli from the outside and transmit messages into the cell, allowing the cell to make various responses, such as preventing heat shock or other adaptations.

Therefore, the fact that a tiny plant contains countless cells, and that within these cells there exists space containing calcium ions, calcium proteins, and so on, is something I have always been familiar with.

Therefore, after listening to the sutras and hearing the Dharma in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I realised that the human body is a vast universe. Within this vast universe, the countless cells in the human body are each a space, and within each cellular space, there is another world.

Although I felt very surprised by this statement, it was not something I could not accept. In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I clearly saw the existence of cellular space and the various changes occurring within it. This is a perspective far more precise and subtle than anything I could have seen with any scientific instrument while I was alive.

For a scientific researcher, this was a truly wonderful and precious opportunity, allowing me to clearly see that there is such a vast space within every person. Within it are countless karmic creditors and spirits, which can be roughly divided into two types: those with negative affinity, meaning karmic creditors with whom one has deep hatred; and those with positive affinity, meaning beings with whom one has formed good causes in the past, such as former colleagues, good friends, or brothers. I roughly divided them into these two categories. I saw that when a person's heart fluctuates, thinking of various people, events, and things in the world, these changes affect the countless spirits within the countless cellular spaces of the body.

Only after listening to the sutras and hearing the Dharma did I understand that the human body is like a large, shared space. In this large space, the occupants naturally include one's own soul, as well as karmic creditors and spirits with karmic affinity. Originally, there was a barrier between one's own soul and the souls of the karmic creditors. Naturally, the two could remain unrelated; although there may have been an unpleasant past, in this life, everyone has come into this new human body, and originally, it was as if they were strangers, living in their own spaces, not interfering with each other, and unaware of each other's existence.

However, when a person develops a selfish thought, or thinks of 'I', or thinks of the various sensations of this body and everything related to one's own existence. Any such mental note is like placing a very obvious mark on one's own soul within this large space of the body. This mark is so striking and obvious that it causes the karmic creditors, who were originally unrelated and sleeping, to wake up quickly and clearly discover the location of one's soul.

Just like that, these erroneous mental notes open a wide and easy path between oneself and the karmic creditors, allowing them to quickly follow this path to find one's soul and inflict various forms of retaliation. It could be kicking one's soul into some space within this large space, leaving one unable to escape, or kicking one's soul out of this large space of the body entirely. Just like that, a part of one's soul disappears, going to who knows where. This is the truth of the human world.

Seeing this series of changes, I clearly understood that one must not have even a single selfish thought. Because selfish thoughts will lead to one's soul being found by karmic creditors, and the consequence is that the soul must endure immense suffering and pay a very painful price.

When one's soul is no longer complete, how much of the control of this body still belongs to oneself? When the control of the body is gradually occupied by the karmic creditors or other spirits within, one's body seems to become like a puppet, manipulated by them, while one's own soul watches from the side, weak and powerless, and in pain. This is truly a very sorrowful thing.

I, Sun Daye, look at the situation of the people across the country, and most are like this. If everyone could understand this, they should attach importance to the concept of 'spirit health care.'

This is also a concept I proposed after arriving at the Dharma-Nature Land. That is to say, if the people of the country are to further improve their quality in the future, the most important thing is to improve the immunity of their spirits. Therefore, to achieve this, doing good spirit health care is very important.

The best method is to accept the Buddhist education of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. Because such education covers the spiritual level, and its core is to help everyone's spirits grow steadily until they attain Buddhahood, which is to find one's original face.

Attaining Buddhahood is not an unreachable goal, but a potential that everyone inherently possesses. This is a very important concept: everyone is actually a Buddha. Everyone has the ability to help immeasurable and boundless suffering beings and bring practical benefits to the human world.

This is what I learned from my benefactor—Practitioner Su of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. As the only living Buddha in the human world today, after Practitioner Su realised his true nature and attained Buddhahood, he has utilised his spiritual abilities to the fullest.

I never thought that the body was so profound, possessing abilities far exceeding those of scientific instruments. The manifestation of countless incarnations left me, Sun Daye, stunned in the Dharma-Nature Land.

When I saw Practitioner Su's spirit leave his body and manifest into countless billions of incarnations, that shocking scene still flashes in my heart with vast golden light, covering immeasurable and boundless space, which of course includes the entire vast space of our China. When Practitioner Su's golden incarnations, accompanied by countless Namo Amituofo, resonated with the Holy Name 'Namo Amituofo', it was like golden light rain falling on every corner of China and into every space.

Countless, indescribable spirits were saved because of this and entered the Western Land of Dharma Nature of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. This Buddha-land built by Practitioner Su is truly the most inconceivable miracle in the world. Because of the existence of the Western Land of Dharma Nature, everything impossible becomes possible, allowing countless suffering beings who originally had no chance to enter the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss to have the opportunity to be reborn there.

As a transit station to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Practitioner Su places the immeasurable and boundless suffering beings he has performed Chao Du for, as well as those who come seeking Chao Du, in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, allowing them to mature their good roots, blessings, and causal conditions. When the time is ripe, he sends them to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is Practitioner Su's compassion, his Ultimate Vow, and it also contains his endless Wisdom and 'skillful means'.

Gratitude, gratitude for being able to meet Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, and even more gratitude for Practitioner Su's compassionate vow power, which allows Namo Amituofo to reside at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre.

Now, under the leadership of Namo Amituofo, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju, and Practitioner Su, the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre is actively carrying out the work of saving the world. This is mainly in the hope that through education, people in the world can obtain the magnificent benefits of being free from aging, free from illness, and free from death.

Such benefits can never be obtained through religious superstition; everyone must be willing to accept the teachings of Namo Amituofo from the bottom of their hearts and believe from the depths of their hearts that they have the same unborn and undying Buddha-nature and true self as Namo Amituofo.

If you settle your mind on this 'Namo Amituofo', when each recitation of the Buddha-name awakens the compassion and goodness within you that corresponds to the Buddha, you will have the opportunity to free yourself from the suffering of aging, illness, and death.

Because all the illnesses and torments of the body come from the restless agitation of the karmic creditors and spirits within one's body. When these suffering spirits wake up within one's body, one's body will also suffer unbearable mutations.

If you lead the karmic creditors and spirits within your body to recite this 'Namo Amituofo' together, awakening the Buddha-nature that each of you inherently possesses, when the spirits within your body recite the Buddha-name with you, following each recitation, there will eventually come a day when you realise your true nature and attain Buddhahood.

At that time, you will be able to, like Practitioner Su, help yourself and the karmic creditors, cells, and spirits with karmic affinity within your body to attain Buddhahood, which is to realise your true nature together. This is a magnificent and great undertaking; it is not only attaining Buddhahood for oneself but also for the immeasurable and boundless beings within one's body. And this undertaking is something everyone has the conditions to practise. As long as you have a compassionate heart to save the world, are truly willing to let go of everything false in the world, and make a vow to go to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, you have the opportunity to succeed.

I did not have the blessings of practice in this life. Of course, it can also be said that as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I believed in scientific data and research and did not have any deep understanding of the Buddha's teachings. If I could have encountered Buddhist education earlier and understood what is meant by the universal principle, the Truth, and the righteous path, I would have wanted to use this short human life to make a greater contribution.

Even at the end of my life, I was still thinking about the research I had done on plant cell signal transduction. I never thought that in that very thought at the end of my life, my spirit would enter the cellular space of a plant after death.

In this space, I experienced the various changes within the cell. Because my own spirit was in this space, when the plant I was in was subjected to the wind and rain of the outside world, or experienced various external stimuli, I could feel in the plant cell space how the plant cell responded. This was a very subtle and strange experience.

In this state, I seemed to slowly forget my identity and just became a cell in the plant. What is wonderful is that in the cellular space of this plant, as a spirit, I could clearly feel what kind of thoughts were arising in the hearts of the people passing by the plant or the animals touching it.

It turns out that every mental note of a person produces fluctuations and can drive changes in the surrounding magnetic field. Every thought can produce a certain amount of energy, and countless thoughts represent the generation of various energies: when a kind-hearted person or animal passes near the plant I am in, I can clearly feel the magnetic field becoming pure and clear. This makes me, as a plant cell, more vibrant and healthy; and my spirit, which is in the cellular space, also feels warmth and nourishment. It turns out that good hearts and good thoughts have such miraculous effects, bringing vitality and a pure, good energy to the surrounding environment, people, events, and things, and producing an indescribable help and healing effect on the spirits within.

Conversely, when a person or animal with negative thoughts passes by, I, as a cell, can clearly feel the pressure or erosion, which has a certain damaging effect on the cell. Only then did I know that whether it is a human or an animal, this heart is so important, and it can bring such a subtle, and one could say huge, influence to the surrounding environment.

I do not know how long my spirit stayed in the plant cell space. Until one day, amidst a loud noise, a golden light enveloped my cellular space and opened the space of the plant cell, allowing me—the spirit of Sun Daye, who was originally trapped inside and unable to escape—to come to the Western Land of Dharma Nature at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia.

On the Dharma-Nature Land, I have entered a brand new world. This is a pure and bright world without night, only day, where endless energy flows. The magnetic field of purity and goodness never ceases here, and golden light shines on the Dharma-Nature Land twenty-four hours a day, representing the birthless and deathless heart-light of Practitioner Su. The immeasurable and boundless vastness of the Western Dharma-Nature Land represents the boundless mind-capacity of Practitioner Su.

It turns out that when one attains the Buddha's path, the heart-light is the Buddha-light. Buddha-light and heart-light are, in fact, one and the same, not two; this depends on how much one's own heart is in sync with the Buddha. What Practitioner Su has truly achieved is being of one heart, one vow, and one practice with the Buddha, fearlessly and tirelessly saving sentient beings in this world.

What is true Chao Du? If I had not witnessed the manifestation of Practitioner Su on the Dharma-Nature Land, it would be truly difficult to understand. I did not know that Chao Du could be so magnificent, so expansive, and could save so many suffering spirits. If I, Sun Daye, had not seen the Chao Du performed by Practitioner Su, I would not have known that to bring benefits to spirits and save the suffering world, one never needs any complex external forms. It only requires this simple, compassionate heart for all beings, and the Holy Name "Namo Amituofo", and it can be accomplished.

When I saw Practitioner Su chanting this Holy Name "Namo Amituofo" and using the inconceivable merit and power of the Holy Name to help beings depart, I realised even more the importance of this heart. A person's mental power can indeed be very limited, or it can be infinite. It turns out that the so-called "power of chanting wisdom" is the combination of a person's mental power with the merit and power of Namo Amituofo, forming a force that helps sentient beings.

Because when you chant the Buddha's name, you are actually chanting the wisdom of Namo Amituofo, the compassion of Namo Amituofo, the Forty-eight Great Vows of Namo Amituofo, and all the merits of Namo Amituofo. This Holy Name is nectar, it is Dharma-water, and it is even more so the jade dew of the willow branch that resolves the karmic fire of the human world.

Here, I also call upon the people of the whole nation to accept the Buddhist education of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre and understand what the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way are, so as to avoid causing harm to the soul. Because the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way are pure and good; when you carry even a trace of malicious thought, you will cause harm to the people, things, and events around you, as well as to yourself. Conversely, when your heart truly enters into the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way—that is, allowing your heart to remain in purity and goodness at all times—this will produce a huge and inconceivable help to yourself and the people, things, and events around you.

If you always dwell in this Holy Name "Namo Amituofo", you will constantly radiate the extremely pure and good energy of the universe. This is the preciousness of the Holy Name, allowing everyone to receive the benefits of being free from aging, free from illness, and the spirit never dies, and helping everyone to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Now the Buddha has come to this world to save the suffering beings of the world. This is a great mission to save the world, and it is also a mission that every one of us Chinese people should join together, because we are also among those to be saved.

It is very interesting that I see the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre has set up Namo Amituofo billboards in China. To the human eye, these billboards look like ordinary boards, but beyond what the human eye can see, they radiate immense golden light. I see countless dimensions being opened under the illumination of the golden light, and the spirits in these dimensions are thus able to depart.

The most wonderful thing is that when the Buddha-light shines everywhere, the cells in many people's bodies seem to be dyed golden. I see that within the range covered by the Buddha-light of the Namo Amituofo billboards, every cell in the bodies of the people there becomes more full of vitality and energy, and at the same time, they become more peaceful and stable. The influence produced by this billboard has a great help to people and has also brought purer life energy to sentient beings.

If the people of our country actively set up more Namo Amituofo billboards within China, it will be of great help to our country. After all, I clearly see on the Western Dharma-Nature Land that the people of our country are living in the interference of a large number of spirit realm beings at all times.

If there are more Namo Amituofo billboards shining brightly with golden light in China, it will form a very stable and reliable force, helping to purify the magnetic field of China and helping the people living within it to be more clear-minded. From a scientific perspective, I, Sun Daye, believe that this can directly, simply, and effectively help the people of the whole country improve their intelligence. This intelligence does not refer to IQ, but to what is called Wisdom (Prajna), because when the interference from the spirit realm is reduced, everyone has more opportunity to exert the wisdom that is originally equal to that of the Buddha.

Now, the Chinese leaders and all the Chinese people who see this letter, try to think about what an inconceivable thing this is. Whether it is the setting up of Namo Amituofo billboards or all kinds of good deeds, it is actually hoping to achieve perfection in this life. If one cannot be reborn in the Western Pure Land, one can never talk about true perfection.

Now the Buddha has come to this world, giving people in the world the opportunity to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This opportunity, which is difficult to encounter in millions of years, should be grasped. I, Sun Daye, am very grateful for the opportunity today, with the help of the temple's monastics, to speak these messages to the world. I hope that those with karmic affinity will come here to verify it, or go online to see the information of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. I, Sun Daye, am on the Western Dharma-Nature Land, and you can come and talk to me at any time.

Now I am constantly chanting this Holy Name "Namo Amituofo", hoping to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the future, attain the Buddha's path, and then descend to the world to save sentient beings with karmic affinity.

Gratitude to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su for saving my soul, which was in the space of cells. The destination of the soul after death is indeed strange and varied; it can be hell, it can be heaven, or it can enter the space of all things. It turns out that this thought before death is so important.

What exactly is this critical thought? In a situation where one cannot be the master, it is really impossible to know; because thoughts are always changing, difficult to control, and never cease. If you truly make every thought "Namo Amituofo", then when you recall this magnificent Holy Name "Namo Amituofo" at the last moment, you will be able to lead yourself and the beings within your body to have the opportunity to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. That is to fulfil the most basic and most important responsibility of each of us in this life.

In this life, when my achievements in scientific research were recognised, I received a considerable bonus. I chose to donate it all to establish a scholarship so that those in need could receive encouragement and support. I think this is a very good way to give back to society.

Therefore, after I understood the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, I not only had an idea in my heart, but I also directly propose to everyone and the leaders of China here: we should set up a fixed-amount scholarship in various universities in China, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and even every school, to support those students who have compassion and the vow to save the world in their hearts, so that they have the opportunity to come to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to learn what true Buddha's teachings are.

The point is to hope that they, like Practitioner Su of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, will find their original face. If China has one more flesh-body Buddha like Practitioner Su, that would truly be the fortune of China.

Alright, having said so much, I hope that everyone will have the opportunity to be like me in the future, to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Gratitude to Namo Amituofo, gratitude to Practitioner Su.

Sun Daye