Everyone's life pursuits are different, some people pursue money and wealth, some people yearn for peace and smoothness, some people pursue knowledge and truth, and some people pursue inner peace. Regardless of their goals, they have their own desires and creeds in secular society, which gives them the motivation to survive.
In society, there is a group of people who are different, who are far from the world, who let go of their own desires, and most of them become full-fledged Buddhists by taking refuge in Buddhism. In the materialistic world, they are looking for the pure land of their hearts, and they have found spiritual sustenance that transcends material and money.
Wei Lei, formerly known as Master Da'an, from Nanchang, Jiangxi, is one of the many followers of Buddhism and a special presence among them.
In 1985, China was in a stage of rapid development, but the country's educational resources were extremely scarce. Therefore, being able to train a college student was an incomparable honor for an ordinary family at that time.
In that era when his peers were rare, Wei Lei stood out with his excellent results, not only successfully admitted to the university, but also admitted to the Chinese Renmin University as a graduate student.
In the context of that era, being a graduate student was a supreme honor for Wei Lei and the people around him. He is the pride of his parents and teachers, the pride of his motherland and the indispensable talent force for future construction.
Under the ardent expectation of his family and teachers, Wei Lei did not disappoint them, and made many achievements and honors during his graduate studies. He has continued to study his professional field, explored the latest scientific and technological developments, and tackled many disciplinary topics, which has been praised and rewarded by many senior professors.
Among these achievements, Wei Lei's research breakthroughs in philosophy and Buddhism are the most significant. In his quest for thinking and human nature, he published a book in 1998, a year after graduating from graduate school, which became one of his masterpieces.
Wei Lei's 500,000-word masterpiece, which is a collection of natural sciences and philosophy, coupled with his unique views on Buddhist theory, has aroused widespread heated discussions as soon as it was published.
His understanding of Buddhism was in-depth and original, which impressed many experts and scholars. However, all this did not happen overnight, as early as 1978, when he entered Jiangxi University as an undergraduate student in Chinese literature, he already showed a strong interest in Buddhist culture and in-depth research.
His mature mind and future planning have enabled him to always adhere to the study and study of Buddhist culture in his studies.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree, Lei Wei has accumulated a wealth of work experience and practical experience, and he has served as a lecturer and professor for many times. From 1982 to 1985, he served as an assistant professor in philosophy teaching and research at the Party School of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, focusing on local religious affairs and related religious issues.
In the process of in-depth contact with religious culture, he was keen to pursue purer Buddhist studies, so he used his spare time to study on his own, and successfully entered the graduate school of the Department of Philosophy of Chinese University, becoming a graduate student in the department.
In the past years, Wei Lei has become a lecturer in the Theory Department of the Beijing Police Academy with his outstanding Buddhist research results, which is a remarkable achievement. However, despite his great academic success, Wei Lei's heart was not satisfied.
His quest for the Dharma is still deep and intense, and he longs to explore the world of the Dharma in his heart with a purer mind. Therefore, in 2001, he made a major decision, which was to return to the temple and become a Buddhist**, with the Dharma name of Venerable Daan.
Wei Lei, as Master Da'an, devoted his passion for life to the study of Buddhism and the exploration of philosophical human nature. He firmly believes that this is the greatest motivation and success in his life.
However, his maverick path has not been smooth, and he has suffered many criticisms and setbacks. He was born into a traditional Chinese family, and his ancestors' education made him initially unfaithful to Buddhism, and for a while, he was even skeptical of Buddhism, believing it to lack a modern consciousness.
He openly published statements in major newspapers questioning the development of Buddhism. But as fate would have it, a serious illness caused him to completely change his concept of Buddhism.
The sudden serious illness made Wei Lei realize the ultimate proposition of life - life and death at the moment of his life. He understood that the importance of the issue of life and death transcended all else, and that without comprehending life and death, one could not truly understand the true meaning of life.
So, after **, he began to search for the answer to life and death, hoping to seek liberation by coming into contact with different religions. He studied ** religion, Islam and Taoism in China, but none of these religions satisfied his doubts about life and death.
Eventually, his eyes fell on Buddhism. Through learning and exposure to Buddhist culture, he gradually realized the true meaning of life and death that he pursued and found the direction of life.
That was the first time he had the idea of becoming a monk and becoming a Buddha, and this idea was like a seed taking root in his heart.
In 1991, Wei Lei chose a different path – to become a monk and study Buddhism, and he wanted to stick to the world of Buddhism in his heart. This decision means that his future will be full of challenges and crises.
At the time, this choice was widely regarded among Buddhists as reasonable and worth pursuing, as it enabled one to escape the worldly and accept the mysteries of the Dharma with the quietest and most holy mind.
However, in that period of social tradition, it was difficult for most traditional families to understand that after obtaining a high degree of education, they would give up their future fame and wealth to become a monk and study Buddhism.
Wei Lei has shown excellent learning talent since he was a child, which makes the elders in the family have endless expectations and dreams for him, and they believe that Wei Lei will one day succeed in his studies and serve the motherland.
With this vision, Wei Lei's parents firmly supported him to complete a series of studies from high school, college to graduate school. Every promotion of academic qualifications carries their deep expectations for their son's academic success and return.
However, they were shocked when they learned that the child was determined to devote himself to Buddhism and was ready to retreat to Buddhism and study deeply. At the time, most people thought that studying Buddhism was an important part of traditional Chinese culture, but ordination had a different meaning.
In order to escape from the predicament of reality, they choose to believe in Buddhism, hoping to find inner peace under the protection of Buddhism. The other type is people who live in poverty and have long looked down on the world, they will voluntarily cut off their seven emotions and six desires, escape into the empty door, and spend the rest of their lives.
But Wei Lei doesn't belong to any of them. Although his family is not wealthy, but with the efforts of his parents, he has no worries about food and clothing, and he himself has had outstanding talents since he was a child, and his path to education has been smooth, and he has achieved many achievements that are difficult for others to achieve.
Wei Lei's choice shocked his family and friends, who felt that there were countless possibilities for his future, but the option of becoming a monk did not seem to exist. However, in the best years of his life, he chose this path that was different from ordinary people and the most impossible - becoming a monk.
Everyone tried to dissuade him, but Wei Lei always adhered to his beliefs, and in his limited life, he was attached to the world of Buddhism that he believed in.
In the worldly eyes, Wei Lei chose to escape into Buddhism and devote himself to the study of Buddhism. Although his contributions to economic construction and other industries were limited, he made indelible contributions to China's ideological and cultural fields.
In the holy land of Buddhism, in order to resist worldly desires and lustful desires, Venerable Daan developed a set of mental methods. The core of this set of mental methods is to recite the name of "Nam Mu Amitabha" at least 10,000 times a day.
The Venerable Master believes that the 12 rays contained in the name of "Nam no Amitabha" are like this, and the pure light in them can effectively suppress the ** minds of sentient beings. Whenever our hearts are polluted, as long as we insist on chanting the name, we can turn the heat into coolness.
1.With the chanting of the Buddha's greed and lust, Master Da'an called it a "short-cut" practice method. This method is not only in line with the Buddhist practice philosophy, but also in line with the characteristics of the modern society, even if you are busy every day, you can practice by chanting the Dharma in your spare time.
As a monk who has had an epiphany, Venerable Da'an will enter the hall every day to recite the Buddha's four incense sticks for about six hours, 24 hours a month day and night, and chant the Buddha's name uninterruptedly throughout the whole process.
2.Venerable Da'an advocates greed and lust through chanting the Buddha, which he calls "fast food" practice. This method is in line with both Buddhist practices and contemporary society, so even if you are busy every day, you can practice the Dharma in your spare time.
The ordained enlightened Venerable Da'an would enter the hall every day to recite four incense sticks for about six hours, 24 hours a month day and night, and chant the Buddha's name uninterruptedly.
3.Venerable Daan advocated chanting the Buddha to curb greed and lust, which he called the "convenient" method of practice. This method is not only in line with the Buddhist philosophy of practice, but also adapts to the needs of modern society, even in the busy daily life, you can practice and cultivate your mind through chanting the Dharma in your spare time.
For Venerable Da'an, a monk who had an epiphany, he went into the hall every day to recite four incense sticks for about six hours, and recited the Buddha 24 hours a day and night every month, and recited the Buddha's name continuously throughout the whole process.
4.Venerable Da'an emphasises the use of Buddha chanting to resist greed and lust, which he calls a "fast food" practice. This method is not only in line with the Buddhist philosophy of practice, but also in line with the characteristics of modern society, so that even people who are busy with daily life can practice and nourish their minds through chanting the Dharma in their leisure time.
For Venerable Da'an, a monk who had an epiphany, he went into the hall every day to recite four incense sticks for about six hours, and recited the Buddha 24 hours a day and night every month, and he recited the Buddha's name uninterruptedly throughout the whole process.
During the annual ritual, Venerable Daan was always stricter with himself, and he became more sacred and solemn when he recited the Buddha. At this time, in the silent night, we can hear the solemn bell and the sound of Master Da'an chanting the Buddha over and over again.
Each trumpet is filled with his deep belief in the boundless Dharma and the true meaning of life that he has found in the Dharma world. In addition to spreading the Tao of chanting Buddha and cultivating the mind, Venerable Daan also continued the spirit of Master Huiyuan on the issue of the inheritance of the temple.
He organized Dharma followers to rebuild the Donglin Lotus Society, focusing on promoting the Pure Land. Although in the process of rebuilding the ancestral garden, Master Da'an led the Donglin Temple Sangha to make great efforts, but they resolutely did not carry out commercial operation, and with the support of believers at home and abroad, they finally succeeded in casting the 48-meter-high bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha and creating the Pure Land Garden of Donglin Temple.
Venerable Da'an's devout belief in Buddhist teachings and resolute opposition to commercialization are his dedication to the purity of Buddhism, and a belief attitude that many temples today should learn from.
As we all know, Buddhism, as one of the three major religions in the world, has a wide and far-reaching influence. Since it was introduced to China by merchants in the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, it has taken root in the land of China and has experienced a long process of cultural development.
In the course of China's development of more than 2,000 years, Buddhism has quietly penetrated into China's politics, philosophy, literature, art, folk customs and other fields, and has imperceptibly influenced us.
Since ancient times, Buddhism has deeply permeated the lives of Chinese, from the murals, buildings, sculptures of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, to the temple blessings of the village New Year, all of which reflect people's belief and admiration for Buddhism.
With the addition of highly educated people such as Wei Lei, China's Buddhist ancestral halls have developed rapidly, and there are now more than 33,500 temples and the number of believers has reached 22More than 20,000 people.
This year, through Venerable Da'an's social media account and blog, we can see that he is in a very good state of mind and has always been firmly moving forward in Buddhism.
In February 2022, Venerable Daan made public his latest** and New Year's teachings. Master Da'an in ** has a delicate face, although the traces of time have climbed up his cheeks, his kind expression has fully demonstrated his inner peace.
On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Master Da'an personally visited the Pure Land Garden of Donglin Temple to inspect and guide the work on the spot, and conducted the final review of the statue of the sixteen patriarchs of the Pure Sect. He took this special opportunity to give a lecture at the Sangha Assembly that day, and that in the new year our work will start with the patriarch's project.
Master Da'an's Weibo has been continuously updated with some content about the path of the Cicada Buddha, and there are messages from believers under each article, which fully shows his important position in the hearts of believers.
A former graduate student, now Master Da'an, he is determined to dedicate his life to the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha, and behind his ordination is his personal faith tempering; His original intention of reciting 1 million Buddha horns was his deep respect for the Buddha.
As for his resolute opposition to the commercialization of temples, it has always been a controversial topic, but time will tell, and we will not comment on it, just quietly waiting for the passage of time, perhaps this is the wisest attitude.
1.Reading show: Invite Master Da'an to come to the temple to give a lecture and recite a Buddha number to go home; Biography of Master Changzhen of the Great Virtue of the Pure Sect; In the 2012 millennium, we searched for masters and explored the lives and lives of Jiangxi's historical and cultural giants; In 2012, Venerable Da'an entered the Pure Land, and the Elysium was close at hand; 2013.07.12, China ** newspaper.
2.Reading show: Invite Master Da'an to come to the temple to give a lecture, listen to him recite a Buddha name, and take you home; The biography of Master Chang Zhen, a thousand years of prosperity; Explore the life and life of Jiangxi's historical and cultural giants, in 2012, Master Da'an entered the Pure Land, and the Elysium is within reach; 2013.07.12, reported by China ** Daily.