Monday, 03/24/2025
The rebirth story
The great layman Ly Binh Nam died and left behind thousands of balls of relics
Update: 15/04/2007
About the great layman Ly Binh Nam
It is a regret for those who follow the door or method of\r\nBuddha’s name recitation but do not know anything about Sir Ly Binh Nam.
Nowadays, most of overseas Vietnamese Buddhists know and are\r\nstudents of a Chinese Superior Buddhist monk named Thich Tinh Khong. He is the\r\nmonk who has been preaching the method called liberation which was previously\r\ntaught by Amitabha Buddha who taught it to living beings at this Dharma Ending\r\nAge.
We use the term ‘Chinese monk’, not because we want to make\r\nany racial discrimination. Instead, we just want to show that Vietnamese\r\nBuddhists do not make any discrimination of the kind. Likewise, we follow\r\nBuddhism the head of which is a Nepalese. Writing down this here, we just want\r\nto prove to everybody that Vietnamese Buddhists do not make any discrimination\r\nor are not sticklers for anything. Being Chinese, Indians or Nepalese does not\r\nmatter. Instead, anyone who has firmly mastered the method that helps living\r\nbeings in escaping the six roads of samsara (the eternal cycle of birth) then\r\nit is worth for us to follow. On another occasion, we will show you the\r\nresentment of some Vietnamese who have harmed a great number of Vietnamese\r\nBuddhists.
The document on which we refer to write about the layman Ly\r\nBinh Nam was provided by layman Tran van Tuong, who is an overseas Vietnamese,\r\nand it was downloaded from the computing net of Quang Duc pagoda in Australia\r\nand it was given to us as a present. Ly Binh Nam was just a layman, but he was\r\na great one who has trained living beings at this Dharma Ending Age. He was an\r\neminent shaman, a Superior Buddhist Monk who has been admired by many Vietnamese\r\nand Chinese the world over. When writing about him, many people hesitate to use\r\nthe title ‘layman’ for fear that it makes light of the merits of a respectable\r\nSuperior Buddhist Monk. This is because of the writer’s resentment while\r\nSuperior Buddhist Monk Tinh Khong proudly says, “My teacher is a layman and\r\nwhen he accepted me as his disciple, he forced me to lay down one condition :\r\nto give up all what I had learned from the two famous teachers named Chuong My\r\nand Great Master Chuong Gia, a great Lama.
A religious cultivator must profoundly see and know how to\r\nleave everything behind. By so doing, he has mastered what the Buddha has\r\ntaught him, “Absolutely necessary to use the nought method’ and ‘Absolutely\r\nnecessary to apply the appropriate state of mind’.
What we write rely on what we often say directly what we\r\nknow without having any intention to blame anybody for anything. By saying so,\r\nwe hope that Vietnamese Buddhism will be better in the future and that all\r\nVietnamese will know how to leave things behind in an attempt to care for\r\nliving beings. We should leave everything behind, including our nationality so\r\nthat we may direct ourselves towards a world community and salvation.-
Following is a piece of writing about layman Ly Binh Nam,\r\nwritten by Quang Duc pagoda in Australia
Layman Ly Binh Nam belonged to National China times with\r\nTuyet Lu or Tuyet Tang as his title. He was a citizen of Te Nam city, of Son\r\nDong province. As a child, he was very intelligent and studious. He specialised\r\nin law, politics and also studied Chinese medicine. He studied Buddhism,\r\nespecially its religion, Zen, Purity, Mantryana. He even held the position\r\nknown as jailer of Lu rural district, but was extremely benevolent and ate\r\nvegeterian food all his life.
He relied on Buddhism with the 13th forefather of Sukhavati\r\nSect named An Quang Great Master entilted Duc Minh. He made every effort in his\r\nself-cultivation and taught people how to cultivate themselves in Purity.\r\nLater, he accepted the invitation to be a secretary for the chairman who\r\ngoverned the ancestral temple worshiping Confucius.
He followed the chairman named Khong Thuong Cong (Khong Duc\r\nThanh) who later moved to Trung Khanh and lived in the villa called Y Lan of\r\nMusic Mount. Every morning he went up to Van Danh pagoda for reciting Buddha’s\r\nname. Shortly after he claimed responsibility for the teaching at the\r\nBuddhology preaching and lecturing Association of this pagoda for a few years,\r\nwhere there were so many believers. In the 45th year of National China (1946)\r\nhe followed Khong Thuong Cong and returned to Nam Kinh and here he preached\r\nBuddhist sutras at Pho Te pagoda and Chanh Nhan Lien Xa.
In February of the 38th National China (1949) when he was 60\r\nyears old, he joined Khong Thuong Cong to Taiwan and resided in Dai Trung city.\r\nAs soon as he arranged things there, he was able to find out Phap Hoa pagoda,\r\nwhere he set up the place for preaching and for a Chinese medicine diagnosis\r\noffice. He also established the Bodhi Medical Institute and the Charitable\r\nMedical Association, etc. to make up precriptions free of charge for needy\r\npeople. He took the initiative in preaching and doing charity to help those who\r\nwere needy co-followers of the Purity Method. He often gathered people to\r\nrecite Buddha’s name and assigned preachers to visit the jails and associated\r\nfamilies. As a result, the Dharma good conditions became more and more expanded\r\nand his preaching pulpits extended to such pagodas as Linh Son, Bao Giac, Bao\r\nThien, etc. He even developed his preaching facilities all around the three\r\nregions of Taiwan, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan which\r\nspecialised in preaching the Pure Land, aiming at helping living beings.
Each year pure abodes are held many times and each time he\r\npersonally presides over and has been deeply interested in as well as\r\nconsiderate on the subjects of all those events by giving recommendations to\r\nthe attendants. He often prepared correspomdence and oral courses in Buddhology\r\nand prepared free of charge radio-broadcast programs and gave them to\r\nbroadcasting stations. As for his works, one can read the following: Summary of\r\nAmitabha Buddha sutra, which is reserved for those who have less comprehension\r\nof Buddhism can master its deep meanings, a document that teaches Buddhism\r\nreserved for students who specialise in Buddology - this collection comprises 6\r\nvolumes entitled ‘Questions and Answers on Buddology’, ‘Various types\r\ncompilation’, ‘Preaching work’, ‘A sketch’, ‘Alphabetized list’, etc. - all\r\naiming at helping living people.
Thanks to these, everybody here, there and everywhere was\r\ntreated on equal terms and enjoyed the benefits of the dharma. But later, he\r\nquit all the services so as to increase his leisure time for preaching and\r\nalways urged people to deeply believe in the cause-and-effect law as well as to\r\nfirmly recite Buddha’s name. In the method of Buddha’s name recitation there\r\nare 2 painstaking things to practise:
1. Practising cultivation in a pure abode, and this should\r\nbe reserverd for those who obtain normal capacities.
2. Giving to oneself a fixed state of mind, and this should\r\nbe reserved for outstanding people who have a resistant health.
Practitioners who perform giving to oneself a fixed state of\r\nmind have to practise standing or meditative walking - never lying down -\r\ncontinually for 90 days and their bodies are always kept covered by a cassock\r\nor a tunic. Layman Ly Binh Nam is said to have reached his fixed state of mind\r\ntwice during which he obtained his mind deeply fixed. This means that the\r\nlayman was able to keep his mind fixed and undisturbed for a long period of\r\ntime.
On April 12 of the 75th National China (1986) the layman\r\nsaid to his disciple in charge of logistics: “I am going to leave this world!â€\r\nThe next morning, after he had prayed to the Buddha to the extent that he was\r\nable to reach his mind fixed and undisturbed and made some careful\r\nrecommendations to his disciples, he lied down and passed away peacefully. And\r\nafter his physical body was cremated, he left behind to us thousands small\r\nballs of relics with five primary colours. (This was reported by layman Ly Cong\r\nTuyet about the great layman Ly Binh Nam).
Following is what Superior Buddhist Monk Tinh Khong’s talk\r\nabout the Great Layman Ly Binh Nam.
As you, friends, see that after his death, the Great Layman\r\nLy Binh Nam has left over one thousand small balls of relics of five primary\r\ncolours. This shows the results of a man who has practised his meticulous\r\ncultivation for many years spent in praying to Buddha.
Scattered in his preaching tapes, Superior Buddhist Monk\r\nTinh Khong often mentions his great master. We don’t remember exactly in which\r\nof the tapes the following document is ever mentioned:
According to Superior Buddhist Monk Tinh Khong, if basing on\r\nphrenology then layman Ly Binh Nam was not a person with true longevity.\r\nAccording to this science, a person with small ears and short chin like him\r\ncannot have an extended life. But his longevity was thanked to his charitable\r\ndeeds, such as treating medically to all poor patients and teaching Buddhist\r\ndharma to everybody, all free of charge. His financial income was very abundant\r\nbut he gave it out to needy people. He lived in a small house and did not use\r\nany servants. At his 90 years of age, he still lived by himself with a strong\r\nand healthy body. The blessings he enjoyed were just what he had created during\r\nhis previous lives. He only cultivated himself after he had studied Buddhism.\r\nThe blessing of longevity he obtained was thanked to his cultivation right in\r\nthis present life. We all need to learn about and then follow his examples.\r\nMany of us know how to speak highly of others’ success but do not follow their\r\nexamples. Such compliments, therefore, become empty words. Sir Ly Binh Nam died\r\nat his 97 years old. The thing to be noted here is that although there was not\r\na word of encouragement, there were about 600 people who came to pray to him\r\nbecause of his good deeds during his life. And the sound of praying to Buddha\r\nfor him resounded continually for 40 days - that is the period of time prior to\r\nthe cremation of his corpse.
Superior Buddhist Monk Tinh Khong explained the results that\r\nSir Ly Binh Nam gained in this life. They are intelligence and wisdom and\r\nthanked to his charity-giving. His heath and longevity are thanked to his\r\nfearlessness which did not harm any living beings. In other words, not a single\r\nliving being felt fear when confronting Sir Ly Binh Nam. Sir Ly Binh Nam had\r\nover 200 thousand disciples, and that is a great thing!
Translated into English by Mr. Hoang Huan, layman.