Temple Pilgrimage
We offer free guided tours around the temple as well as Dharma discourses to all kinds of social groups. If interested, please register and make an appointment at the counter. A senior devotee will be guiding your group for a round trip of the temple, introducing every important structure, their construction history and purpose. If required, a Dharma talk given by one of our resident monks can be arranged as well.
Light of Wishes
The tradition of light offering to the Buddha stems from the Ajitasena-vyakarana-nirdesa sutra, in which the story of light offering made by a poor woman was told. The poor woman used her only money, a coin, obtained from begging to buy oil to light a lamp and offered it to the Buddha. As she placed the lamp before the Buddha, she made the wish: “I have nothing to offer but this tiny lamp. Through this offering, in the future may I be blessed with the lamp of wisdom. With this wisdom, may I free all beings from darkness. May I free all their obscuration and lead them to enlightenment.” At the daybreak, venerable Maudgalyayana, one of the Buddha’s chief disciples, tried to put out the lamps with his supernatural power. The lights of all lamps were extinguished, except that of the lamp offered by the poor woman. Upon seeing this, the Buddha told Maudgalyayana that he could not put out the glowing light of this lamp because it was offered with devotion of someone who sincerely gave rise to the great Bodhicitta (mind of awakening). The Buddha also proclaimed that in the future the poor woman would certainly become a Buddha whose name is Lamp Light Sumeru.
Moreover, in the Avatamsaka Sutra, it says that “The light of a single lamp in a dark room can dispel thousand year’s darkness. Likewise, the light of great Bodhicitta, if entering the mind of sentient beings, sins and defilements accumulated through countless lifetimes will be cleansed. ” Buddhist followers used to offer lights in front the Buddha in order to implore for intelligence, health and a prosperous career, etc.. However the true purpose of light offering is to enlighten the Buddha nature of the people. Therefore the motivation behind the offering is very important. At the time of light offering, one should make the wish to eliminate the ignorance of all sentient beings with the light of awakening and wish to obtain Buddhahood together with all sentient beings in the universe. With this sincerity of a pure mind, the benefits brought by the offering will be tremendous.
Medicine Buddha’s Light
According to the Sutra of the Vows of the Medicine Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Crystal Radiance, the seventh vow of the Medicine Buddha is: “I vow that in a future life, when I have attained Supreme Enlightenment, sentient beings afflicted with various illnesses, with no one to help them, nowhere to turn, no physicians, no medicine, no family, no home – who are destitute and miserable, will, as soon as my name passes through their ears, be relieved of all their illnesses. With mind and body peaceful and contented, they will enjoy home, family and property in abundance and eventually realize unsurpassed supreme enlightenment.” In addition, this sutra also mentioned about the offering of the longevity pennant and light in front of the Medicine Buddha. Due to that reason, many followers often make light offering to the Medicine Buddha to ask for health and recovery from illness.
Venerable Meng Can (a famous Chinese monk) also admonished people to generate Bodhicitta in sickness and wish all sentient-beings be free of illnesses and pains. Thus through transforming sorrow to strength, one can also cultivate merits during the hard times of illness.
Pu Fo Rituals
With the development of Buddhist repentance rituals in China, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasty, prayer rituals in Buddhist temples were almost formed. Since then, “Pu Fo” became a prayer ceremony for granting wishes and releasing suffering souls and elevating them to a better realm.
The word “Pu Fo” which means universal Dharma in Chinese, originated from the Three-Level Teaching created by the Zen master Xinxing. The Three-Level Teaching categorizes the Dharma (Buddha’s teaching) into universal Dharma and individual Dharma. The universal Dharma does not distinguish between the superior and the inferior methods that the Buddha taught, nor does it differentiate people into saints and mortals. As it does not advocate one method but repel the others, it is called as “universal”. To the contrary, the individual Dharma distinguishes between the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism as well as between saints and mortals. Master Xinxing deemed that during the first five hundred years after Buddha’s Parinirvana which is the proper Dharma age, people were fit for practicing the one-vehicle Dharma according to their capacities. For the second five hundred years after Buddha’s Parinivana, which is the semblance age of the Dharma, people practiced the three-vehicle Dharma according to their different capacities. Therefore the practical Dharma in this period is called as individual Dharma. After one thousand years of Buddha’s Parinirvana, which is the decaying and termination period of the Dharma, people’s capacities are inferior. They are either attached to the view of emptiness or to the view of existence. The Mahayana practitioners and the Hinayana practitioners criticize each other, thus create the negative karma of denigrating the Dharma. The Dharma that agrees with the Three Level Teaching is the universal Dharma. Its full name is Universally Authenticated and Universally Appropriate Dharma.
The Pu Fo rituals are further divided into:
- Pu Fo ritual for longevity
Pray for health, peace and safety of the alms giver.
- Pu Fo ritual for the deceased person
Pray to deliver the soul of the departed relative of the benefactor and wish him/her to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of the Amitabha Buddha.
During the ceremony, the benefactors should wholeheartedly follow the masters to chant the sutra. After the ceremony they should endeavor to do good deeds, learn and practice the Dharma and dedicate the merits to their deceased relatives and to all sentient beings.
Prayer Services for the Deceased Person
Sentient beings who are not enlightened are all bound in the Samsara (the cycle of rebirth). After the death, whether one will be reborn in the three good realms (the heavenly realm, the human realm and the asura’s realm) or in the three evil realms (the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm and the hellish realm), matters to everyone. It is in accordance with the causal nature of one’s own karma. There are several factors that determine one’s rebirth place, among which one’s last thought upon death is very important.
The Western Pure Land of Bliss is created by the power of great vows made by the Amitabha Buddha. Its virtues and adornments are described in the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, the Amitayurdhyana Sutra and the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. The Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha says that: “Sentient beings who hear about the Western Pure Land of Bliss should make a vow to be reborn there. Why is this? Because they will be associated with the most virtuous people there.” Unlike the heavenly realm, the beauty and bliss of the Pure Land will not cause attachment and greed of people, which make one commit sins and become depraved in turn. It provides a perfect environment for one to cultivate without worries and distractions until one obtains the state of non-retrogression in the Path towards complete enlightenment.
Historical cultivators with great virtues such as master Zhizhe of the Tiantai mountain, master Yongming Yanshou and master Hongyi all sought rebirth in the Pure Land. There were also quite a lot of examples of the ordinary persons who realized rebirth in the Pure Land with right mindfulness at the end of their lives. Therefore when their relatives die, those who have faith in the Amitabha Buddha, should act according to what master Yinguang advised: firstly, they should skillfully console and channel the person who is at the end of his life to give rise to the faith in the Pure Land; secondly, they should recite the Amitabha Buddha’s name without letting up in front of the deceased person for several hours to establish his mindfulness and concentration on the Amitabha Buddha; thirdly, they shouldn’t move the corpse and cry so as not to disturb and distract the deceased person during that period. They should help him to let go of everything he is related to in this life time and to seek rebirth in the Pure Land with a single-minded effort.
Zhu-Lin temple provides free prayer service for the deceased person at both the funeral and the cemetery.
Seven Seven-Day Rituals for the Deceased
People can register to set up a temporary memorial tablet in the Ancestor Memorial Hall of Zhu-Lin temple for their newly deceased relatives. Within the 49 days after the death of the deceased, every seven days, the masters and devotees will chant sutra and perform prayer rituals for the newly deceased in order to assist them to be reborn in the Pure Land.
Placement of Ashes Urns and Memorial Tablets of the Deceased
The Ancestor Memorial Hall located in the back corner Zhu-Lin Temple is built to place the ashes urns and long-term memorial tablets of the departed followers.
If interested in the above services, please register at the counter or call 08 84474022 for more information.