Meditation Centers Worldwide Make Their Annual Pilgrimage To Chung Tai

Meditation Centers Worldwide Make Their Annual Pilgrimage To Chung Tai

Grand Master Weichueh vowed to share the Dharma with all sentient beings. He established 108 meditation centers worldwide and founded a global Buddhist community based around Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Taiwan. Every year, international practitioners from the United States, Australia, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines make a pilgrimage to Chung Tai to celebrate the completion of the summer sangha retreat. Along the journey, they pay homage to the home of their Dharma lineage and participate in the Three-in-One Dharma Ceremony traditionally held near the end of the retreat season.

Realizing principle through practice

Between August 20th and 28th, a total of 540 international practitioners steadily arrived at Chung Tai Chan Monastery. They actively participated in various Dharma events, including the Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony and prostrating to the evening bell. They also volunteered at different monastic departments, practiced meditation, visited the Hall of Patriarchs, and toured the newly renovated monastery grounds.

On August 25th, the international community gathered in Prajna Lecture Hall for a Dharma talk by Chung Tai’s Abbot, Venerable Master Jianying. During his talk, Abbot Jianying explained that Grand Master Weichueh established Chung Tai in order to provide us with a complete and systematic way to cultivate the Buddhadharma. As members of this community, we should base our practice in the mind-teaching of Chan and strive to realize Chung Tai’s vow of practice through our actions:

Manifest outwardly as an ordained monk,
Accord inwardly with the unsurpassed seal,
Practice unwaveringly the bodhisattva way,
Guiding all sentient beings to enlightenment.

In this way, we can become bodhisattvas with Chan mind. Abbot Jianying encouraged his listeners to deepen their understanding of these teachings during their pilgrimage.

The Abbot also reminded his audience to remain open to learning and to overcome self-imposed limitations. By training ourselves to find positive and beneficial aspects in every situation, each event, person, or circumstance we encounter can be a source of personal growth and development. In the system of cultivation established by the Grand Master, we can not only learn the mind-Dharma of Chan, but also how to practice the Bodhisattva Way while abiding in the pure mind at every moment. We must apply this very mind in our daily lives to actualize our bodhisattva practice, cultivate the six paramitas, and create pure affinity with all beings. Through this process, we will gradually become bodhisattvas with Chan mind. After listening to Abbot Jianying’s Dharma talk, the audience was filled with Dharma joy. Understanding the significance of their pilgrimage, they were motivated to deepen their cultivation and complete the spiritual path.

1

Abbot Jianying warmly welcomed international practitioners back to their bodhi home and explained the significance of their pilgrimage.

2

By visiting the museum, practitioners learned how the Dharma is transmitted through art.

3

Practitioners paid their respects to the Grand Master at the Hall of Patriarchs.

4

Abbot Jianying warmly welcomed international practitioners back to their bodhi home and explained the significance of their pilgrimage.

5

Abbot Jianying warmly welcomed international practitioners back to their bodhi home and explained the significance of their pilgrimage.
  • Abbot Jianying warmly welcomed international practitioners back to their bodhi home and explained the significance of their pilgrimage.
  • By visiting the museum, practitioners learned how the Dharma is transmitted through art.
  • Practitioners paid their respects to the Grand Master at the Hall of Patriarchs.
  • 5. Participants seek inner awakening during the Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony.

Bodhisattvas with Chan Mind

The Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony began at 5:00 a.m. in the Bodhi Lecture Hall. Guided by the liturgy masters, participants recited the Heart Sutra and made bodhisattva vows together. The group then set off from Great Luminance Garden, making one prostration every three steps until they arrived at the Grand Master’s Memorial Pagoda. Through the Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony, participants inwardly return to the “spiritual mountain” of their own true nature. In the evening, an international assembly gathered in the Great Enlightenment Hall and Sala Hall. Together, they chanted the Evening Bell Gatha. Every time the bell was rung, they prostrated and vowed to enlighten all sentient beings throughout the Dharma realm. The assembly also visited the Hall of Patriarchs where they paid homage to the Grand Master’s relics and expressed heartfelt gratitude for his vow to share Buddhadharma with the world. 

During their pilgrimage, international practitioners also toured Chung Tai’s buddha halls, the Chung Tai World Museum, the Buddhist Institute for Nuns, the Pu Tai Schools, the Martial Arts Center, and the Field of Merits organic garden. Through the Five Approaches to Sharing the Dharma, they experienced Buddhist cultivation as part of daily life. When the pilgrimage came to an end, all were filled with Dharma joy, having increased their merits and wisdom, as well as deepened their faith in spiritual practice.

Bodhisattvas with Chan Mind

The Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony began at 5:00 a.m. in the Bodhi Lecture Hall. Guided by the liturgy masters, participants recited the Heart Sutra and made bodhisattva vows together. The group then set off from Great Luminance Garden, making one prostration every three steps until they arrived at the Grand Master’s Memorial Pagoda. Through the Mountain Pilgrimage Ceremony, participants inwardly return to the “spiritual mountain” of their own true nature. In the evening, an international assembly gathered in the Great Enlightenment Hall and Sala Hall. Together, they chanted the Evening Bell Gatha. Every time the bell was rung, they prostrated and vowed to enlighten all sentient beings throughout the Dharma realm. The assembly also visited the Hall of Patriarchs where they paid homage to the Grand Master’s relics and expressed heartfelt gratitude for his vow to share Buddhadharma with the world.

During their pilgrimage, international practitioners also toured Chung Tai’s buddha halls, the Chung Tai World Museum, the Buddhist Institute for Nuns, the Pu Tai Schools, the Martial Arts Center, and the Field of Merits organic garden. Through the Five Approaches to Sharing the Dharma, they experienced Buddhist cultivation as part of daily life. When the pilgrimage came to an end, all were filled with Dharma joy, having increased their merits and wisdom, as well as deepened their faith in spiritual practice.

Chung Tai Tradition
Our Monastery
Our Affiliates
Dharma Teachings
Programs
Resources
Visit

Copyright © 2023 Chung Tai Chan Buddhist Foundation - All Rights Reserved