(8)Famen Temple – Diplomatic Protocol

This is the eighth in a seris of translations of this Chinese introductory material about Xuecheng Da Heshang:

Intro to Da Heshang

The last page in the series is:(7) Guang Temple – the Three Do Nots

（2）法门寺 Famen Temple

应法门寺常住两序大众的礼请，经陕西省佛教协会批准、上报中国佛教协会同意，法师于2004年1月16日荣膺法门寺住持。在晋院仪式上，法师表示：“我来法门寺的任务：第一是做好工作，第二是搞好法门寺的团结，第三是发展佛教的各项事业。”

In response to the formal request of both sides of the Sangha of Famen Temple, ratified by the Shaanxi Province Buddhist Association, and with the agreement of the China Buddhist Association, Dharma Master was promoted to Abbot of Famen Temple on 16 Jan 04. In the general and formal ceremony, Dharma Master affirmed: These are my missions in coming to Famen Temple: The first is to do good work. The second is to complete Famen Temple’s solidarity, and the third is to develop every Buddhist enterprize.

晋院后不久，法师就礼请了新一任执事，成立了五人领导小组，并进一步完善了寺院各项管理制度。在一次执事会上，大家谈及寺院改扩建工程遇到困难时，法师说：“这些有形有相的生灭法都好办，目前真正需要的是人才建设，这一点刻不容缓。”

Not long after the general ceremony, Dharma Master formally requested a new deacon, and set up a five-person leadership team, and took a step forward in perfecting the monastery’s overall management system. There was a time on the deacon’s meeting, when everybody was talking about difficulties encountered in the work schedule of an addition to the monastery, that Dharma Master said: These tangible and characteristic phenomena that come and go can be managed quite well, but right now what is really needed is the building up of personal talent, and on this point I do not tolerate delay.”

2004年4月11日和5月22日，法师在法门寺率两序大众以佛教最高礼仪，先后接待了前来视察和指导工作的中共中央总书记、国家主席胡锦涛和西藏佛教精神领袖十一世班禅大师。同年5月25日至6月5日，法门寺佛指舍利被迎请到香港供奉十日，法师担任迎送团副团长。期间法师接受了香港凤凰卫视、大公报、民报等多家新闻媒体的采访，在接受媒体采访时，法师说：“佛指舍利出访香港，是一件‘发心不可思议、因缘不可思议、功德不可思议、果报不可思议’的佛门盛事。”

On 11 Apr 08, Dharma Master led the two great Sangha divisions in Buddhism’s highest formal ceremony, to welcome the secretary general of the central government and Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao who had previously inspected and worked on leadership, and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the 21st century Great Meditation Managing Master. From 25 May to 5 June of the same year, the Buddha’s finger relic of Famen Temple was sent by invitation to Hong Kong, and Dharma Master undertook the role of vice grouphead of the liason group. Dharma Master said, “That the Buddha’s finger relic was sent to visit Hong Kong was a prosperous event of “Inconcievable Bodhicitta, inconcievable causes and conditions, inconcievable merit, and inconcievable results.”

为进一步稳固道风学风建设，依照佛制，法师在开设学习班、举办讲座、举办法会的同时，还倡导恢复了每月初一、十五诵戒制度，并率领大众于2004年6月7 日，举行了自国家恢复宗教政策以来，法门寺首次结夏安居。通过这些措施，建立起了清净和合的僧团，谱写出住持正法、续佛命脉的新篇章。法师在一次安居开示中提到：“安居结束后就办培训班，先提高寺院内部僧人素质，以后再办佛学院，将来要并弘三大语系，八大宗派，开设多种课程。”同年8月29日至9月5日，法师主持了盂兰盆普度法会暨第一届传授在家三皈、五戒、菩萨戒法会，共千余人参加。11月11日，值逢药师佛圣诞，法门寺佛学班在法师的精心策划下成立。

Dharma Master, in order to progress in stabilizing the ramping up of the study and practice regimes, following the Buddhist system, even while initiating study groups, conducting lecture courses, and conducting dharma assemblies, also advocated the restoration of the system of chanting the Precepts on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, and also on 7 June 2004, carrying out the government’s policy of restoring religion, conducted Famen Temple’s first summer retreat. On one occasion in lecturing during the summer Retreat, Dharma Master pointed out specifically: after the completion of the Retreat, we are going to have a cultivation group, first elevating the inner essence of the Sangha within the monastery, afterwards, taking care of the Buddhist Academy, and in the future, we will expand the three great language systems, and the eight great lineage schools, and initiate more kinds of study courses. From 29 Aug to 5 Sep of that same year, Dharma Master presided over the Ulambana (Obon) Universal Crossing-Over Dharma Assembly, and for the first time transmitted the At Home Three Refuges, Five Precepts, and Bodhisattva Vows, and altogether more than 10,000 people attended. On 11 Nov, taking advantage of Medicine Buddha’s Birthday, Famen Temple’s Buddhist Study Group was established by Dharma Master’s meticulous strategem.

应韩国佛教宗团协议会邀请，2005年11月11日至12月20日，法门寺佛指舍利被迎请到韩国供奉42天，法师担任中国佛教代表团迎归团团长。他在恭送仪式上发表讲话说：“千载一时，因缘殊胜，众生欢喜，在这佛指舍利即将赴韩国供奉的无量法喜中，让我们共同沐浴在佛陀慈悲、智慧的吉祥之光当中，为人类的和平与进步事业多做功德。此次盛举必定为进一步巩固中韩两国佛教界的“黄金纽带”关系起到巨大的促进作用。”在迎归安奉法会上，法师说：“中韩两国的传统友谊，以及中韩两国人民种种的友好关系，必将会得到进一步的加强和发展，为两国人民带来更多真实的利益。”

In response to the Korean religious group’s protocol committee’s invitation, Famen Temple’s Buddha’s finger relic went to Korea to honor the invitation from 11 Nov 05 to 20 Dec 05. Dharma Master served as the chairman of the Welcoming Return Group of China Buddhism’s Representative Group. In the formal Respectful Sending ceremony, he said: “That once in ten thousand years, the causes and conditions being extraordinarily auspicious, the masses being happy, In the boundless happiness of the consecration of the Buddha’s finger relic just about to go to Korea, makes us bathe together in the auspicious radience of the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom, and makes great merit for mankind’s peace and progressive enterprize. This prosperous undertaking must necessarily take a step forward in consolidating China And Korea’s “Golden Link” relations to the point of promoting huge advances.” In the peaceful offering at the Welcoming Return Dharma Assembly, Dharma Master said: “The long tradition of friendship between China and Korea, and every kind of friendly relationship between the people of China and Korea, will be strengthened and developed by a quantum jump, bringing many more real gains to the people.”

2006年2月16日，缅甸总理梭温先生一行40多人访问法门寺。同年4月24日，斯里兰卡总理维克勒·马纳亚克先生一行9人访问法门寺，总理邀请法师去斯里兰卡进行佛教文化交流，法师说：“中斯佛教友好交往历史悠久，我先后去贵国访问过三次，受到贵国政府和佛教界高规格的欢迎。今天在法门寺能见到您们，我们很有缘。”同年5月17日，中国法门寺与韩国道诜寺缔结“友好兄弟寺院”在800多人的见证下，学诚法师和韩国道诜寺方丈禅默慧慈大和尚在证书上签名并交换了文书。22日，法师率两序大众迎接全国人大常委、中国佛教协会副会长嘉木样·洛桑久美·图丹却吉尼玛活佛考察团一行。法师说：“南北传与藏传佛教同根同源，一脉相承，只有比肩同进，团结合作，佛教这个整体才能和合发展、进步壮大；我们信奉的都是本师释迦牟尼佛，弘扬的都是佛陀‘慈悲、智慧、平等、圆融’的和平教义，目的都是净化人心、利益社会与维护世界和平。”

On 16 Feb 2004, Myanmar’s Prime Minister Mr. Soe Win, together with more than 40 people, visited Famen Temple. On 24 April of the same year, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mr. Wikremanayake visited Famen Temple with nine people, and when the prime minister invited Dharm Master to visit Sri Lanka to promote Buddhist cultural exchange, Dharma Master said: “China and Sri Lanka have a long-established history of friendly association, and altogether I have visited your esteemed country three times, and have recieved the top level welcome of your esteemed country’s government and Buddhist community. That today I can see you at Famen Temple, means that we really have conditions together.” ((Interesting protocol. When it gets this polite, such as “your esteemed country” (贵国), there’s often a refusal or decline coming. Xuecheng was involved in building new ties with Korea, and the ongoing problem represented by Tibet, and he had no time to repeat old work in Sri Lanka. -xp)). On 17 May of the same year, China’s Famen Temple and Korea’s Taoshen Temple completed a “Friendly Brother Temples” agreement, and witnessed by more than 800 people, Xuecheng Fashi, and Chanmo Huisi Da Heshang, the abbot of Korea’s Taoshen Temple signed the credentials and exchanged documents. On the 22nd, Dharma Master led the two-part Mahasangha in welcoming the representative to the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress and the vice-president of the China Buddhist Association, Jamyang Losang Jigme Tubdain Qoigyi Nyima (嘉木样·洛桑久美·图丹却吉尼玛) together with his investigative group. Dharma Master said: “The northern and southern traditions are from the same root and the same source as Tibetan Buddhism, one transmitted heart-beat. Only by equally going forward together, working together in solidarily, can this whole situation in Buddhism peacefully develop, and progressively expand. What we all believe in is our original teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, and what we promote is all the Buddha’s peaceful doctrine of ‘compassion, wisdom, equality, and universal interpenetration,’ and our goal is to purify the human mind, benefit society, and protect world peace.” ((This is neither boilerplate, nor euphemism, nor social noise. I’m preparing to comment separately about why it was necessary to use this particular language, in a paper entitled: “Doctrinal Deviance in Tibetan Buddhism.” -xp))

身教先行、言教相随是法师一贯的风范，。只要在寺院，法师每日必坚持上殿、过堂，即便是凌晨1点多才休息，第二天也依旧上殿。有一次因身体欠佳，医生叮嘱不能上殿，可法师第二天仍然闻板起床，他说：“养成懈怠懒惰的习气以后不好改。”在饮食上，典座法师怕他不习惯西北的饮食，想为他单独做饭，他却说：“我从来没开过小灶。”有一次用斋时，侍者问他：“师父您是南方人，吃馒头习惯吗？”他笑着说：“做什么吃什么，入乡随俗嘛。”他衣着朴素大方，有一次侍者发现他的袈裟破旧了，准备为他再请一件新的，他知道后认真地说：“不需要，我从八九年当方丈至今，这件袈裟跟随我整整十五年了。”后来又补了好几个地方继续穿，侍者暗自叹道，这才是名符其实的袈裟。法师与社会人士相处时，常以其宽广的胸怀、高瞻远瞩的思想和深厚的文化底蕴，同来访者探讨各个领域的问题，几乎每次都让来访者满载而归、法喜充满。

To first put into action in his own case, and to practice what he preaches is Dharma Master’s consistent style. Whenever in a temple, Dharma Master must absolutely go to the group ceremonies, eat with the Sangha, and even if he didn’t rest until one o’clock in the morning, on the next day he will go up with the Sangha as usual. There was one time when, because he was not physically up to par, the doctor repeatedly urged him not to go to ceremonies. But the next day when he heard the wake-up board, he said: Having formed lax and lazy habits, it will be difficult to change them afterwards. With respect to eating and drinking, the temple chef dharma master was afraid that he would not be accustomed to the food of the northwest, and he was thinking of cooking for him individually. But Dharma Master said, “I have never before opened up a small kitchen.” One time, when eating vegetarian food, his attendant asked him: “Teacher, you are from the south. Are you accustomed to eat steamed buns?” He laughingly said: “Whatever is prepared I will eat. Having come to the country, one adapts, is it not?” He relies on a simple generosity; one time his attendant dicovered that his monk’s robe was old and tattered, and was preparing to request a new one. After he knew about that, he said very sincerely, “It’s not necessary; since I became an abbot in ‘89 until now, this monk’s robe has followed me for the entire fifteen years.” Afterwards he continued to wear it in going to quite a few places, and although the attendant sighed about the path within himself, only then was it a monk’s robe of which the name fit the reality. ((The monk’s robe often means the monk’s life. -xp)) When Dharma Master harmonizes with personages from the world, his broad embrace and high-gazing and far-seeing ideology, and his profound cultural resources constantly make those who come visiting to investigate questions in every area, almost in every case, return loaded down and full of Dharma happiness.

看着如今法门寺的迅速成长，有人说这是法师的功德，但他却说：“这是大家发心承担的结果。”在这位年轻“长者”的带动下，法门寺昔日的盛况一定会早日重现，明天一定会更加光辉灿烂！

When they see Famen Temple maturing as fast as it is today, some say it is Dharma Master’s merit, but he says: “This is the result of everyone’s Bodhicitta and assuming responsibility.” Under the impetus of this young “Mature One,” Famen Temple’s ancient glory will soon reappear, and tormorrow it will certainly be even more sparkling and brilliant!

((Amen. Asian Buddhism is fortunate, and the planet is fortunate that the Sangha at Famen Temple had the maturity to invite this most orthodox of all possible Buddhist masters to deal with their case. To restart such things as the semi-monthly chanting of Precepts, and the summer Retreat at Famen Temple is to empower the entire Mahayana Revolution all over again, with the same integrity and power that it enjoyed when Buddhism first came to China, and to Famen, at the time of Christ. Only that kind of integrity and power can project the broad orthodox Mahayana Dharma across the big water to America, and I hope to live to see it fly by. -xp)) </strong