◆出家弟子扶柩　Left-home disciples carrying the casket

車隊緩緩前進，道路兩旁站滿了虔誠合掌的人群，週前圓寂的上宣下化老和尚法體，於六月十七日（週六）清晨七時，自洛杉磯地區返抵北加州萬佛聖城。

十六日下午起，南加州的長堤聖寺即舉行放生法會與移靈法會。晴朗多日的長堤市在十六日這天，忽然陰雨而氣溫陡降，似乎也為老和尚的圓寂移靈而倍感哀淒。

宣公上人在洛杉磯地區的信眾，於十六日（週五）晚間隨同老和尚靈車一同北上。扶柩隊伍於週六清晨七左右抵達萬佛聖城。

萬佛聖城的山門前懸著黃色布條，上面寫著「恭迎妙覺山萬佛聖城開山祖師上宣下化老和尚回山」。當老和尚的靈柩從靈車中迎請出來時，群眾的念佛聲更加響亮。

靈柩進入萬佛聖城山門後，道路兩旁的信眾自動向馬路中央會合，跟隨靈車向「萬佛殿」前進。老和尚座下的出加弟子首先將宣公上人法體迎請至萬佛殿，殿裡四壁的萬尊坐佛，是宣公上人當年親手打模塑造的。

在萬佛殿禮佛後，弟子們又將上人的法體迎請至老和尚生前在萬佛聖城的寮房「無言堂」，寓有無言教化之意。

慈濟功德會舊金山分會和聖荷西分會多位會員於週五即趕赴萬佛聖城，自動發心協助指揮交通及排隊等工作，充分發揮了佛教人士的合作精神。

午後十二時半，大眾排隊，在念佛聲中魚貫進入無言堂瞻仰老和尚德相。許多信眾都感覺老和尚圓寂後的法相，與禪宗六祖大師圓寂後的法相非常相似。

萬佛聖城目前遵照宣公上人遺言所交待的，舉行華嚴法會和念佛法會。華嚴法會每天開三堂，分別以中文、英文和越南文念誦《大方廣佛華嚴經》。華嚴境界是盡虛空遍法界，廣大含藏無量無邊，正如宣公上人遺言所說：「我從虛空來，回到虛空去。」

The car convoy slowly moved forward. Both sides of the road were packed with earnest people who had their palms placed together. The body of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, who had completed the stillness ten days earlier, was transported from Los Angeles and reached the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in northern California on Saturday, June 17, at seven o’clock in the morning.

In the afternoon of the June 16, Long Beach Monastery in Long Beach, southern California, held a ceremony for liberating life and a ceremony for moving the Venerable Master’s coffin. The weather had been clear and sunny for many days in Long Beach, but on the 16th, it suddenly became cloudy and rainy, and the temperature fell abruptly. It was as if Nature was grieving as well over the Venerable Master’s completion of stillness and the moving of his coffin.

On the evening of the sixteenth (Friday), disciples of the Venerable Master from the Los Angeles area accompanied the truck bearing the Master’s coffin on its journey northward. The car convoy reached the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas on Saturday morning at around seven o’clock.

A yellow banner with the words “Welcoming the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, the Founder of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Wonderful Enlightenment Mountain, on his return to the City” was suspended high up on the gate at the main entrance to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. When the Venerable Master’s coffin was respectfully taken out (and moved to a smaller vehicle), the multitude recited the Buddha’s name with even more fervor and strength.

After the vehicle bearing the Master’s coffin had passed under the arch of the main entrance, the faithful followers standing on both sides of the road joined together in the middle of the road and followed the vehicle as it made its way towards the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Left-home disciples of the Venerable Master then respectfully moved the Master’s coffin into the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The ten thousand statues of sitting Buddhas which cover the four walls inside the hall were cast and made by the Venerable Master himself in earlier years.

After paying homage to the Buddhas in the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the disciples respectfully moved the Venerable Master’s coffin into the Hall of No Words, which had been the Master’s dwelling at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas when he was alive. When the Venerable Master spoke the Dharma or lectured on the Sutras at the City, he had done so either in the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas or in Wonderful Words Hall. Yet the Master named his quarters the Hall of No Words, so it carries the metaphorical meaning for wordless teachings.

Many members of the San Francisco and San Jose branches of the Tz’u Chi Foundation hastened to the City on Friday and volunteered their help in directing traffic, organizing people into lines, and so forth, thus demonstrating the spirit of cooperation among Buddhists.
At half past noon, the assembly lined up and, while reciting the Buddha’s name, entered the Hall of No Words in succession to gaze in respect at the Venerable Master’s countenance. Many faithful devotees felt that the Master’s visage after his completion of stillness bore a great resemblance to that of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan School.

At present, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is following the Venerable Master’s last instructions and holding a Dharma assembly to recite the Avatamsaka Sutra and a Dharma assembly to recite the Buddha’s name. The Avatamsaka Dharma Assembly takes place in three locations daily, for the Great Means Expansive Buddha Flower Adornment (Avatamsaka) Sutra is being recited in Chinese, English, and Vietnamese. The state of the Avatamsaka exhausts empty space and pervades the Dharma Realm. Its vastness encompasses the limitless and boundless, precisely in accord with the Venerable Master’s final words: “I came from empty space, and to empty space I will return.”