The author told the story about the original intention of why the Longquan Monastery was rebuilt, and explained to us a small mind could grow into a great mind through practice.

“In accordance with the teachings we practice, in accordance with actions we speak.” is the greeting from our Master Xue Cheng, to us Buddhist disciples in the New Year of 2018. The greeting manifests the Buddha’s ultimate truth, that is, to study and follow the Buddha’s teachings, to unify knowledge and practice, and to be diligent in striving for salvation. All of the truth is full of the earnest expectation to us disciples from our master.

Actually, Master Xue Cheng, is an example of virtuous monk. When he was very young, he desired to attain Buddhahood for all living beings. With the holy mission in his heart, our master spoke according to his mind, acted in accordance with his words, preached Buddha Dharma with loving-kindness and great compassion. Our master’s teachings in his booksBecoming aware of the meaning of life,Speak properly,Listen carefully, his instructions in Daily Dharma, his preaching Dharma by elaborating canonical books likeOne Hundred Dharmas, and question-answering and puzzle-solving in his blog and Wechat, all of these inflow our hearts just like the sweet rain falling on the parched seedlings and the bright light breaking the darkness of thousands of years.

During the period of his study in Beijing more than 20 years ago, our master had a small mind to build a monastery. Everyone knows, at that time in Longquan, barren mountains and stone ripraps were here and there, faded trees and grass withered, few people came to visit here, and the monastery was covered with heavy dust. But our master was so determined that he guided the Sangha to carry out his play by actual efforts. They worked by the light of the moon and the stars, broke the ground and moved away the stone ripraps, fetched the building materials and built the monastery in person. Facing all kinds of difficulty, our master paid ferocious effort, and finally, he succeeded in creating this miracle. Nowadays, the mountains that used to be barren have shown the great vitality, the spring water of Longquan Monastery that used to be dry has become clear and flown in a steady stream. The ancient monastery reappears its purity and holiness of the Three Gems.

Our master bases himself upon Buddha Dharma, absorbs Chinese traditional culture, keeps his steps with the modern times, takes the whole world in view, introduces Chinese Buddhism toward the world, spreads Chinese outstanding culture to the globe. Our master is always thinking of the living beings, and he expects all living beings to eradicate suffering and enjoy happiness, our country is prosperous and our people are at peace, and all of the world is peaceful and undisturbed.

In fact, so many things that our master has done have shown that he has fulfilled the purpose of “Practicing in accordance with his words, speaking in accordance with his actions.”
 As we can see, at the very beginning, our master just had a very small mind to build a monastery, but now the small mind has grown into a great one, and it has benefited so many people, including you and me, the visible and the invisible，
Everyone, let’s keep our master’s instructions and teachings firmly in mind, purify our mind, be diligent to practice morality, concentration and intelligence, unify our knowledge and practice, try our best to practice in accordance with the teachings and speak in accordance with our actions.

That’s all. Thank you!