一九四八年，叩別虛雲老和尚，赴香港弘法，闡揚教、禪、律、淨、密，五宗並重，打破門戶之見。並重建古剎、印經造像，分別成立西樂園寺、佛教講堂、慈興寺，使佛法大興於香港。
一九六二年，應美國佛教人士邀請，隻身赴美，創於三藩市佛教講堂。
一九六八年，成立暑假佛學講修班，上人講說《楞嚴經》，數十名華盛頓州立大學學生，遠來學習佛法。結業後，美籍青年五人，懇求剃度出家，創下美國佛教史始有僧相的記錄。此後，在上人座下披剃的美國弟子日多，對佛法弘揚於西方及翻譯經典，都帶來深遠的影響。
自一九六二年至上人圓寂前，多次至東南亞弘法，如印尼、星、馬、泰、越、香港、台灣及加拿大、歐洲各國。並應海外佛教團體之邀，率團往各地講經說法。
一九七四年，農曆正月十四日，至台灣承天禪寺拜訪廣欽老和尚。兩人對話中，廣老評以「說者有理」，並握手拍照留念。
上人講經說法，深入淺出，數十年如一日，陞座說法一萬餘次，現已有百餘種譯為英文，為佛經譯為英文最多者。並成立國際譯經學院，預計將大藏經譯成各國文字，使佛法傳遍寰宇。
一九七四年，上人購置萬佛城，成立法界佛教大學，培育國際性佛學專才。萬佛聖城家風嚴峻，堅守上人自出家以來的六大宗旨：不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、不妄語的原則。由於上人人格與修行的感召，萬佛聖城已成為美國佛教最重要的道場。
一九八九年，上人訪台主持「護國息災觀音大悲法會」，期間斷食三個星期，將功德迴向給台灣民眾。時舊金山發生大地震，應驗上人曾言「我在舊金山一天，就不准舊金山地震」之言。
一九九五年六月七日，上人世緣化盡，人天同悲。世壽七十有八，僧臘六十。遺囑交代：「我來的時候，什麼也沒有，走的時候，還是什麼也不要。在世上，我不要留什麼痕跡！我從虛空來，回到虛空去！」荼毗火化後，撿得舍利近萬顆，以及非常罕有的牙舍利（計十六顆）。
上人一生持戒精嚴，專修苦行，以身作則，實行「日中一食，夜不倒單」，並將苦修的功德與福報，迴向給法界一切有情無情之眾生，三十餘年未曾間斷。生前創辦法界佛教總會等，海內外道埸計二十七處。
在萬佛城，上人曾撰一聯以明其志:「凍死不攀緣，餓死不化緣，窮死不求緣，隨緣不變，不變隨緣，抱定我們三大宗旨。捨命為佛事，造命為本事，正命為僧事，即事明理，明理即事，推行祖師一脈心傳。」
待續
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In l948, the Master parted from Elder Master Hsu Yun and went to Hong Kong to propagate the Dharma. He gave equal emphasis to all five schools--Teaching, Chan, Vinaya, Pure Land, and Esoteric--in order to discourage sectarianism. He also rebuilt monasteries, printed Sutras, and made holy images, separately founding Western Bliss Gardens, the Buddhist Lecture Hall, and Flourishing Compassion Monastery, causing Buddhism to flourish in Hong Kong.
In l962 he responded to an invitation from Buddhists in the United States and came alone to America where he established the San Francisco Buddhist Lecture Hall.
In l968 a Buddhist Lecture and Practice Summer Session was held during which the Master explained the Shurangama Sutra. Thirty-some students from the University of Washington in Seattle came to San Francisco to study the Dharma. Following that session, five young Americans sincerely requested to shave their heads and leave the home-life. That marked the first time in history that American Buddhism had fully-ordained members of the Sangha. After that, the number of American disciples who shaved their heads and donned the robes grew, and they have had a deep and far-reaching influence on the propagation of the Dharma and the translation of Sutras in the West.
From l962 until just prior to his passing, the Master often went abroad to propagate the Dharma, travelling to the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as to Canada and parts of Europe. He also accepted invitations from Buddhist groups in other countries and led delegations to lecture on the Sutras and speak Dharma.
In l974, on the fourteenth of the first lunar month, he went to pay his respects on Elder Master Guang Qin at Chengtian Chan Monastery in Taiwan. In the conversation that transpired between them, the Elder Guang passed the judgment that "what he says has principle." A photo was taken as a remembrance while the two were holding hands.
The Venerable Master's lectures on the Sutras penetrated deeply, yet were easy to understand. He lectured daily for several decades, ascending the high seat more than ten thousand times. To date over a hundred volumes of English translations of Buddhist Sutras have been published, setting a record for translations by a single organization. The Master established the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts with the plan to translate the Tripitaka into all languages so as to transmit Buddhism to the entire world.
In l974 the Master purchased the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) and established the Dharma Realm Buddhist University to train specialists in Buddhist studies at an international level. CTTB's stern and lofty standards involve firmly upholding the Six Guiding Principles that the Master himself followed ever since he left home. They are: no fighting, no greed, no seeking, no selfishness, no pursuit of self-benefit, and no lying. Based on the influence of the Venerable Master's own character and cultivation, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has become the most important Way-place in American Buddhism.
In l989, the Master visited Taiwan and hosted a "Guanyin Great Compassion Dharma Assembly for Protecting the Country and Dispelling Disasters." During that time he fasted for three weeks and transferred the merit to the people of Taiwan. At that time there was a massive earthquake in San Francisco, verifying the Master's earlier statement that "As long as I am in San Francisco, I will not allow earthquakes to occur there."
In l995, on the seventh day of June, the Master's conditions in this world came to an end. Gods and humans alike grieved. He lived to be 78 years old and his age in the Sangha was 60. The instructions in his will were: “When I came, I didn't have anything at all. When I go, I also do not want anything at all. I don't want to leave any traces in the world. I came from empty space, and I will return to empty space.” After the cremation ten thousand sharira were found, and there were sharira even on the Master's teeth (sixteen of them).
Throughout his life the Venerable Master set an example for others by holding the precepts strictly and undertaking ascetic practices such as taking one meal a day at noon and never lying down to sleep. For more than thirty years he transferred all the merit and blessings from his practice of asceticism to all sentient and insentient beings throughout the Dharma Realm. He founded twenty-seven domestic and overseas Way-places under the auspices of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.
At the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas the Master once composed a verse that illustrates his resolve:
Freezing, we do not scheme.
Starving, we do not beg.
Dying of poverty, we ask for nothing.
We accord with conditions but do not change.
We do not change and yet accord with conditions.
These are our three great principles.
We renounce our lives to do the Buddha's work.
We shape our lives to create the ability to make revolution in the Sangha Order.
In our activities we understand the principles
So that our principles are revealed in our actions.
We carry out the pulse of the Patriarch's mind transmission.
To be continued |
