Gwang-Chin Master was born Huang Wen Lai in 1892 in Hui An County, Fukien Province, China. Due to his family’s extreme poverty he was sold to the Lee family, who were not wealthy either, but had a fruit growing business that allowed them barely to scrape together a living. His parents died in 1902 when he was just 11 years old. Realising how impermanent human life is, he took refuge with Master Ray Fang of ChengTien Monastery in Chuen Jo. In 1927 he took ordination at Cheng Tien Monastery.
From the very beginning he was an ascetic practitioner. In the monastery one of his duties was to ring the morning wake-up bell. One morning he slept late and after that he never lay down to sleep for the rest of his life.
At the age of 95, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, he called together all of the disciples who were in charge of his different monasteries. He told them that he would pass away soon and that they should divide his relics among ChengTien Monastery, Gwang Ming Yen and Miaou Tong Nunnery.
|
