My dear son, Venerable Ding Hong, last Sunday, the venerable and respected Venerable Master Chin Kung visited the Hsiang Kuang Buddhist Centre to participate in the . As I stood there, I felt compelled to speak from the depths of my heart and share with the Master the thoughts that have been weighing upon me for quite some time. I truly hope that you will soon receive instructions from the Master and find the opportunity to visit us here. Life at the centre is incredibly fulfilling and passes by with remarkable speed. Today is already the weekend, and in just a few days, we will hold another assembly. While I dare not hope that you will be able to attend this first assembly of August, there are important matters I wish to share with you now.
The True Essence of
You have met Practitioner Su before and have formed a positive impression of him. Beyond his extraordinary abilities in performing for beings in the spirit realms and his profound skills in visualization, there is a much more vital aspect that I hope you will learn from him: his compassion and his vast mind-capacity. I have observed this clearly during my time here. When Practitioner Su leads the fourfold assembly of future Buddhas, his mindset is always one of profound care. He thinks to himself: if these members of the fourfold assembly can attain Buddhahood, they will be able to save and help countless more beings in the future. Even if a student treats me poorly because they are currently suffering from a spiritual attachment, their original nature remains inherently good. My response to them should not be mere endurance; it must be true compassion. I must use this compassion to tolerate and embrace everything they go through. Beyond this, he is always contemplating how to help his students awaken and understand the reality of their own spiritual attachments. As an abbot, if you do not possess a vast mind-capacity and boundless compassion, you will not be able to nurture true teachers and future Buddhas.
The Responsibility of an Abbot
As long as one is alive and interacting with others in this world, it is impossible for everything to be perfectly smooth. Even in the face of adversity, one must maintain the intention to plant good roots in every thought. Only then can one successfully cultivate the fruit of for the fourfold assembly. A truly excellent abbot is not merely concerned with his own ability to achieve rebirth in the Western Pure Land. The most important task is to ensure that every single person he leads and practises with is also able to achieve rebirth. This is a goal of the utmost importance, one that must be pursued with the greatest diligence and a sense of profound responsibility.
The Natural Flow of the Dharma
In the practice of the Buddha’s gate, many things occur as a natural manifestation of conditions. They cannot be strictly planned or over-analysed. I am not a full-time monastic, so I can only share with you the small portion of wisdom I have gathered from listening to the sutras here. I look forward to your arrival with great anticipation. Practitioner Su has thirty years of great cultivation, and there is so much to learn from him, especially regarding the role of a monastic and the responsibilities of an abbot. You have always been a person who approaches every task with sincerity and accountability. I encourage you to set aside a period of time to come here, live among us, and learn these true skills. When you return home, I believe you will possess a completely different perspective, and you will be able to contribute far more effectively to the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings. I am here, waiting for your arrival.
