DHARMA MASTER MING LONG

Dharma Master Ming Long is a native of Chiu Keng, Chiang Hsi province; his family name was Chien. In his youth, he lost both Ms parents and was brought up by his uncle. At an early age, he felt the impermanence of all things and wanted to transcend the mundane trappings of the world, but the causes and conditions were not yet ripe.

At age 20 he and his uncle took refuge with the Triple Jewel and he started to investigate the Buddhadharma. To his happy discovery. Buddhism was the "medicine to save the world," which he had been looking for all along.

At age 28 he went to pay homage to P'u T'o Mountain at Nan Hai Province, the sacred Way Place of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. Here he met his teacher, the Venerable Hsin Chih, and later left home under him. Dharma Master Ming Long began concentrating his studies on the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. Every morning and evening he faithfully recited one volume of the sutra. He has indefatigably adhered to this Dharma door for more than 50 years. Even today he still maintains his practice.

At age 30, Dharma Master Ming Long embarked upon a life as a "cloud water monk," meaning that he traveled like the floating clouds and running water to Way Places throughout China, bowing to Good Knowing Ones, and learning the Dharma from them.

He made a vow to pay homage to the four most holy mountains in China. First he went to Chiu Hua Mountain, the shrine of Earth Store Bodhisattva; then to Mt. Omei in Szechuan, the shrine of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. He had already made his pilgrimage to P'u T'o Mountain, and he never made it to Wu T'ai Mountain, the shrine of Manjusri Bodhisattva, because by that time internal strife in the country made passage impossible.

In 1948 he received the full precepts at Nan Hua Temple under the Venerable Master Hsu Yun. He also encountered the Abbot Hua during this time and in fact the two became "precept brothers."

"In 1949, I walked from Yun Men Temple in Canton all the way to Yun Nan Province. From there I went to Rangoon where, with a friend, we worshipped and bowed to the Great Golden Pagoda. The next year we started plans to build a temple. Twenty five years later our work was complete and the Sukhavati Temple of the Ten Directions now houses the tallest Buddha image in all of Rangoon."

Knowing that Buddhism is beginning to flourish in the West, Dharma Master Ming Long has decided to resume his life as a cloud and water monk and came to Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco in the Winter of 1978. "I will dedicate my life as a protector of the Proper Dharma and propagate its growth in the West," he pledges.