Transmitting the Light of Dharma Day

Master Sheng Yen, founder of Dharma Drum Mountain, passed away on February 3, 2009, the ninth day of the first month on the lunar calendar. The DDM sangha thus designated the day as the Transmitting the Light of Dharma Day. DDM’s followers gathered together at its branch monasteries island-wide and recited Amitabha Buddha’s name, in memory of the eighth anniversary of the Master’s death and his life-time teachings to practitioners around the world. Participants at the ceremony were grateful for the opportunity to have practiced the Dharma under the Master’s guidance; they vowed to continue the Master’s compassionate vows to benefit others, by committing to help purify people’s minds and society.

Learn the Compassion and Wisdom as Shown in Bodhisattvas

In his talk, Ven. Guo Dong, abbot president of DDM, shared that the most precious gift Master Sheng Yen left us is his teachings of the Dharma, and so the best we can do to repay his kindness is to practice the Dharma. Participants watched Master Sheng Yen’s video Dharma talk, in which he urged people to learn the compassion and wisdom as shown in bodhisattvas, and apply his admonition— “Kindness and compassion have no enemies; and wisdom engenders no vexations”—in their daily life.

Lighted the Main Lamp and the Initiation Lamp

The ceremony started with the chanting of the Ancestral Masters Praise. Then the host monk at each branch monastery lighted the main lamp and the initiation lamp, followed by the recitation of the Dharma Transmission Verse, when participants sequentially proceeded to the front of the Buddha statue and received the lamp from the monk, signifying the continuation of Master Sheng Yen’s compassionate vow and participants’ aspiration to keep their vows in mind and practice the Bodhisattva path for the benefit of others.

Held at DDM’s Overseas Dharma Centers

Apart from Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Transmitting the Light of Dharma ceremony will also be held at DDM’s overseas Dharma centers, in Malaysia, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Jersey, Vancouver, and Sydney, for local devotees to remember Master Sheng Yen’s teachings and make vows to practice and share the Dharma, wishing all sentient beings to benefit from the Buddha’s teachings.