DDM Global News
A 52-Day Online Group Practice Event by CMC and DDRC
"All the Supreme and endless merits from mindful chanting, I now universally transfer. May every sentient being, drowning and adrift, soon be born to the Land of Ultimate Bliss!"
Since Feb. 12, 2021, Chan Meditation Center and Chan Retreat Center had jointly conducted Medicine Buddha Mantra Intensive Recitation from 5:00 to 5:40 pm on a daily basis. Finally, on Apr. 4, this 52-day online group practice event ended with the Amitabha Sutra Recitation Ritual in Three Sessions. Monastics and lay practitioners of the monasteries mutually completed this Buddhist service which benefitted both the living and the deceased.
2On April 4, 2021, from 3:30 to 9:30 pm, the Amitabha Sutra Recitation Ritual in Three Sessions was conducted to commemorate the Qingming Festival. Through live stream, Ven. Guo Yuan and the other monastics led some 200 devotees from around the world to practice chanting single-mindedly.
The director of Dharma Drum Retreat Center, Venerable Chang Yuan, stated that the Amitabha Sutra Recitation Ritual in Three Sessions is a Pure Land Buddha name recitation method promoted by Chan master Zhongfeng Mingben. The founder of Dharma Drum Mountain, Master Sheng Yen, once said "If the human mind is unsettled, ghosts and deities will be unsettled as well, which will bring us disasters in turn." Sentient beings without a strong peace of mind are easily influenced by the challenging environment. Thus, responding to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic since early 2020 and many recent disasters around the world , the monasteries decided to launch a 51-day Intensive Medicine Buddha Mantra Recitation on the first day of the Lunar new year, with some 100 participants each day. Overcoming the limitations of space and number of attendees, the live-streamed practice event provided an easy way for devotees to practice intensively for a longer period, praying that the pandemic will end soon and all sentient beings would be healthy and safe.
In the Amitabha Sutra Recitation Ritual in Three Sessions, Ven. Chang Yuan urged everyone to follow the liturgy and pray that the deceased would be reborn in Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land and people alive can ward off misfortunes and cultivate merits. With "The ending opens the door to another new journey," he encouraged everyone to continue practicing, protecting, and promoting BuddhismChan Meditation Center Youtube Channel
Text: Heng Yang (楊恆)
Photo: Tin Ting
Translation: Hsiao Chen-an
Editing: Mei Beh, Keith Brown