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近盛師是馬來西亞，彭亨州，文德甲人，祖上由中國福建省永春縣移民來馬，落籍已不知多少代了，但家中仍說閩南語。父母自認是佛教徒，但行的是中國一般民間信仰的拜拜，過年過節拜神祭祖。
小時，父親和祖母常帶她到廟上去，不知為什麼，對廟上她總有著說不出的親切感；十多歲時，看到身邊人為家庭，為生活而爭吵，開始覺得人生多苦，心裡煩躁不已，渴求有個歸依處。一次鄰居家有喪事，請了當地佛教會的人來助唸，雖然不知道唸的是什麼經，但經聲一入耳，她頓時感到一股無法形容的清涼，非常舒服，好像找到了什麼似的，後來才知道唸的是《阿彌陀經》。
近盛師生性內向，從小就是個沒嘴葫蘆，一天可以不說一句話，所以一直等到上了中學後，才經同學帶入了當地的佛教青年會，在自行研習佛學之後，瞭解了人生確實多苦，並肯定了出離之路--出家修行，頓時心裡有了依靠，那時她才18歲。一次，經佛教會同修的介紹，她知道了上人，在看了《上人開示錄》，及錄影帶「修行在聖城」之後，才找到了可遵循的修行之路。看到上人日中一食，衣不離體的制度，心中大喜，那正是自己願意過的生活。
一天，那位同修到萬佛城參方，一個月後剃了頭，她也知道自己出家的路該怎麼走了。對於她的決定，家人除妹妹外，集體反對，她不便再靠家裡生活了，於是出外工作，自力更生。工作之餘，周末就到紫雲洞（現名般若觀音聖寺）參加法會。
1994年搬進般若觀音聖寺住，不久安排在登彼岸服務，後來又離開了道場外出工作。工作期間，每天感覺自己像行屍走肉似地，生活毫無意義，十分厭倦。一天，百感交集，不能自己地匍匐在地，聲淚俱下，於虛空中悲切地向觀音菩薩求懺悔；懺悔往昔種下的業因，以致今生在出家的路上，有諸多障礙。
第二天，有相識的居士打電話來，主動替她申請來美的簽證，居然順利請到十年的簽證。一年後，籌足旅費，辦好來美事宜，向父母表明心意。父母原指望她出嫁，這時知道再也留不住女兒的心了，忍痛簽了「出家同意書」，放她來美。
於是她在97年到萬佛城拜萬佛寶懺，拜完即留了下來，在君康真素齋幫忙；於99年11月24日星期日，在慶祝上人及觀音菩薩出家紀念日時，如願落髮，法名親茂。這時父母也改變了態度，全家在精神上都支助她出家的意願，衷心祝福她，讓她感到十分欣慰。
出家後在法界聖城、金峰寺受訓上課，學習沙彌尼律儀，出家規矩等課程，課餘出坡。幾年的學習下來，近盛師對戒律的研習，特別感到興趣，願深入探究其緣起及作用，瞭解其精神所在，才能活學活用，得其受用。
近盛師生性隨遇而安，當問及受完大戒後，她願住哪個道場時，她說，「哪都好，只要是上人的道場，都一樣。」近盛師現在金聖寺常住。
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Jin Sheng Shi came from Mentakab City in the state of Pahang in Malaysia. Her ancestors immigrated from Yong-chun County of Fu-jian Province in China several generations ago, but her family still speaks the Fu-jian dialect at home. Her parents consider themselves Buddhist but practice Chinese folk worship. They offered meat dishes to ancestors and deities and prayed to them for protection.
When she was little, her father and grandmother used to take her to temples, where she always experienced a sense of familiarity for some reason. When she was in her teens, she noticed that people around her were always fighting with each other in order to make a living. She started feeling that life was full of disappointments and suffering. She was afflicted and longed for something to rely upon. Once her neighbor invited people from the local Buddhist Association to recite a Sutra for a funeral. She did not know what Sutra it was, but the soothing sound of recitation instantly calmed her heart. Later she learned it was the
Amitabha Sutra.
Jin Sheng Shi is very quiet and could pass a whole day without uttering a single word. She did not become involved in the Buddhist Youth Association until high school. After studying Buddhism on her own for a while, she understood that life was indeed full of sufferings But she also found a way out—to leave the home life and cultivate the Way. She was only 18 at the time. Through a fellow cultivator in that Association, she learned about the Venerable Master Hua and after reading his
Instructional Talks and viewing the video “Cultivation in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas,” she found a path that was practical in cultivation. When she read about the Venerable Master’s requirements of eating only one meal a day at noon and always wearing the precept sash, she was elated because such a lifestyle appealed to her.
One day that fellow cultivator came to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to study, and after one month she entered the monastic life. Jin Sheng Shi wanted to follow the same path, but with the exception of her younger sister, her family was strongly opposed. It would not have been appropriate for her to live off of them anymore, so she moved out, got a job and became independent. After work she would go to Prajna Guanyin Sagely Monastery to participate in Dharma assemblies.
In 1994 she moved into the Prajna Guanyin Monastery and then to Deng Bi An Temple. Before long she moved out of the Way-place and got a job again. During this time she felt like a corpse and her life was totally meaningless to her. One day she was overcome with emotion and rolled on the ground crying. She spoke to the air, seeking repentance before Guanyin Bodhisattva. She repented of the bad karma she had created in the past, which had so obstructed her path of cultivation.
The following day, a laywoman called and offered to help her apply for a visa to come to the United States. She obtained a ten-year visa. A year later, after she had saved enough money, she told her parents that she wished to leave the home-life. By that time her parents realized that they could not change their daughter’s mind and that she would never marry, so they signed the agreement to let her leave the home-life.
After she came to CTTB in 1997 and attended the Repentance Before Ten Thousand Buddhas, she stayed on and worked as a volunteer in the vegetarian restaurant. Two years later, on Sunday, November 24, 1999, the commemoration of Guanyin Bodhisattva’s and the Venerable Master’s leaving home day, her head was shaved with her parents’ consent, fulfilling her wish. She received the new name Chin Mao.
Afterwards she was trained at the City of the Dharma Realm and Gold Summit Sagely Monastery. She attended classes on the Shramanera [Novice] Precepts and Rules of Deportment and worked in between classes. After several years of training, she was particularly interested in studying the precepts further so as to understand their circumstances of establishment and their essence, so that she can better uphold and benefit from them.
Jin Sheng Shi is good-natured and easygoing. When asked where she would like to be at after she is ordained, she smiled and said, “Any place is fine as long as it is the Venerable Master’s Way-place.” She is currently living at Gold Sage Monastery.
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