Dharma Talk with the topic "Shaokang, the 5th Great Master of Pure Land School” in the 85th Seven-Day Retreat

Today April 18, 2017, Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Hien, head of Vinh Minh monastery in Lam Dong province, lecturer for Vietnam Buddhism Institute (Intermediate and advanced level) in Lam Dong province and Hue Quang Institute of Sino-Vietnamese Studies, has a Dharma talk of “Shaokang, the 5th Great Master of Pure Land School “to practitioners of the 85th Seven-Day Retreat.

Master Chau Shaokang was born in Tang Dynasty. He renounced the household life in his teenage. He was a smart sramanera mastering the Nikaya sutra including Dìgha-Nikàya, Majhima-Nikàya, Samyutta-Nikàya, Angttara-Nikàya, Khuddaka-Nikàya in his age of 15. After that, he visited the White-Horse pagoda in Luoyang. Reading the book “Way to Pure Land” of master En Da (Thien Dao), he inspired the thought of preaching the Pure Land School. Later, he founded Pure Land ashram in O Longshan with lots of devout followers.

Through the life of the 5th Great Master (of Pure Land School), we find that each person is born with different karmas/merits based on the cause and effect rule. It is not the result of begging. Therefore, we should not worship Buddha as a kind of god or supreme power to beg/pray for something we want. Every day, we recite Buddha's name to remind ourselves of his merits and virtues for the purpose of self-reflection to purify our body-speech-mind, to give up greed, hatred, delusion and evils.

For years, many people have mistakenly thought that the Pure Land practitioners only recite the Buddha's name for the sake of being reborn in Buddha’s Land. In Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputta: "O Sariputta, Pure land is for those who having lots of merits and virtuous deeds only". Looking through the lives of Buddha and great masters, what can we learn from them? They came to this world with sacred mission, being engaged in preaching the Dharma, using skillful means to save sentient beings and offer them the path to the Enlightenment

We should learn from them to practice. Regardless whatever method or school we follow, we should have the wisdom-merit duo practice. When gaining enough merits, virtues and compounded conditions, we will be able to be reborn in the realm of peace and bliss for sure.

Following are the recorded photographs:

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