The Arhat and The Fragrant Elephant - Buddhist Stories Vol 4
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Venerable Master Miao Lien, born in 1922, took up monastic life at age nine. During a time of war, chaos, and calamity in China, he experienced and gained a deep understanding of the sufferings in the Saha World. Molded by this trying period, he resolved to practice diligently and, consequently, made great achievements in learning the Dharma. He became even more compassionate and mindful of sentient beings.
As our Venerable Master strove to realize Buddhahood and guide countless sentient beings to transcendence, his compassion and vows were one with those of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. With Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight vows as his foundation, the Venerable Master made a forty-ninth vow:
I will help all sentient beings that have seen me or heard my sermons, or even just my name, to transcend to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss; for those who do not transcend in this life, I will continue my mission in future lives until all transcend.
Venerable Master Miao Lien’s life exemplifies this Buddha Path. From leaving home aged nine to become a monk to twenty years of concentrated practice in seclusion to building the international network of Lingyen Mountain Temple monasteries, the Venerable Master emulated the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by embracing every being as himself and caring for us all, like a father cares for his children.
On June 25, 2008, at the age of eighty-eight, Venerable Master Miao Lien entered Nirvana in a state of tranquility at the Lingyen Mountain Temple in Nantou, Taiwan. He had been a fully ordained monk for sixty-eight years. Physical existence is transient, but the legacy of compassion and virtue the Venerable Master painted during his lifetime will continue to extend beyond the limits of time and space to find manifestation in every Bodhi mind.
