Venerable Yinhai: A Generation of Eminent Monks Who Propagated the Dharma in America — Venerable Yinhai

A Generation of Eminent Monks Who Propagated the Dharma in America — Venerable Yinhai

In recent years, a publication called Dharma Seal Temple Audio-Visual News (《法印寺视听通讯》) has circulated in the United States. Rich in content and beautifully printed, it is distributed free of charge to Buddhist temples and communities across the U.S. and Canada. The publisher is Dharma Seal Temple (法印寺), located in Rosemead in the greater Los Angeles area. Its founder and abbot is Venerable Yinhai (印海法师), who came from Taiwan to propagate the Dharma in America.

Venerable Yinhai, whose dharma name was Yuanxiu (圆修), was born into the Liu (刘) family in Rugao County, Jiangsu Province, in 1927 (the sixteenth year of the Republic of China). At the age of thirteen, in 1939, he took ordination under Venerable Zhiming (智明法师) at Fahua Hermitage (法华庵) within Dinghui Temple (定慧寺) in his home county, where he bowed before the Buddhas, recited sutras, and learned the rituals and decorum of the sangha. In 1947, having reached the full age of twenty, he followed his teacher's instruction and traveled to Baohua Mountain (宝华山) in Jurong, near Nanjing, to receive the full precepts. Upon completing the precepts, he went to Tianning Temple (天宁寺) in Changzhou and enrolled in the Tianning Buddhist Academy (天宁佛学院).

Tianning Temple was the practice ground established by Chan Master Niutou Faron (牛头法融) of the Tang dynasty. Over more than a thousand years, it had weathered many cycles of prosperity and decline. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing, and in the Guangxu era, Chan Master Yekai Qingrong (冶开清熔) vowed to rebuild it. With its towering halls and monastic dwellings stretching skyward, it became one of the four great monasteries of the Jiangnan region, renowned for its winter intensive Chan practice and summer study — a great furnace for forging monastic talent. The Tianning Buddhist Academy had been reorganized from the temple's Precept Study Hall (学戒堂) and was devoted to cultivating young monastics. Beyond the standard foundational Buddhist studies, the curriculum included Chinese, English, and history and geography. When Yinhai enrolled, the abbot of Tianning Temple was Venerable Minzhi (敏智法师), a graduate of the research division of Wuchang Buddhist Institute (武昌佛学院), deeply versed in the teachings of Dharma Characteristics and Mere Consciousness (法相唯识). Minzhi had also served as president of the Academy and placed great emphasis on the students' studies. Over those two years, Venerable Yinhai made considerable progress in his learning.

In 1949, the flames of civil war spread from the north to the Jiangnan region, and the Tianning Buddhist Academy suspended its classes. The students scattered. Venerable Yinhai, then only twenty-two, endured great hardship before finally making his way to Taiwan, where he enrolled at the Taiwan Buddhist Institute (台湾佛学院), established at Yuanguang Temple (圆光寺) in Zhongli, and studied under Venerable Cihang (慈航法师). The Taiwan Buddhist Institute lasted only six months, closing that summer. Venerable Yinhai then followed Venerable Cihang to the Maitreya Institute (弥勒内院) in Xizhi, where he continued his studies.

In 1952, Venerable Yinhai left the Maitreya Institute and moved to Shandao Temple (善导寺) in Taipei. In 1955, he went to Fuyan Hermitage (福严精舍) at Qingcao Lake in Hsinchu, where he drew close to Instructor Yinshun (印顺导师). At that time, the residents of Fuyan Hermitage included Venerables Yanpei (演培), Xuming (续明), and Renjun (仁俊), who had come from Hong Kong, along with Venerables Miaofeng (妙峰), Huansheng (幻生), Weici (唯慈), Changjue (常觉), and Guozong (果宗), who had come together from the Maitreya Institute. Later, when Instructor Yin established the Hsinchu Nuns' Buddhist Institute (新竹女众佛学院), Venerable Yinhai joined the teaching staff. During this period he also taught concurrently at the Chinese Buddhist Institute (中华佛学院) in Taichung, the Zhengjue Buddhist Institute (正觉佛学院) in Keelung, and the College and University Buddhist Studies Lecture Series (大专佛学讲座) organized by the Chinese Buddhist Association.

In 1961, Instructor Yin's Huiri Lecture Hall (慧日讲堂) on Longjiang Street in Taipei was completed. Venerable Yinhai, together with Venerables Miaofeng and Changjue, accompanied the Instructor to Taipei to help prepare the Advanced Division of the Nuns' Buddhist Institute (女众佛学院高级部). In March 1962, Venerable Miaofeng accepted an invitation to propagate the Dharma in San Francisco, and Venerable Yinhai assumed the post of Hall Manager (监院), his responsibilities growing steadily heavier. In 1964, Instructor Yinshun stepped down, and Venerable Yinhai succeeded him as abbot of Huiri Lecture Hall. The inauguration ceremony (晋山大典) was held on March 29 of that year — an occasion of rare splendor.

Instructor Yinshun's virtue and learning were renowned both at home and abroad, a fact universally acknowledged. With the radiance of Elder Yin as the standard, it was no small thing for anyone to follow him as abbot. When Venerable Yinhai took up the role, he was still in his early thirties, but he worked diligently and conscientiously, following the principle of carrying on established precedent, and led the community in pure cultivation. Under the shaping influence of his character and learning, whenever there were Buddha-birthday lectures or dharma assemblies, the residents of the Lecture Hall would invite their relatives and friends to attend together, so that the Lecture Hall's lay supporters grew steadily and its dharma affairs flourished.

During Instructor Yin's tenure as abbot, group practice sessions (共修会) were held on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, with commemorative dharma assemblies, a Chan week (佛七), and seasonal sutra lectures. Faithfully maintaining these established patterns, during his six years as abbot Venerable Yinhai lectured in succession on the Treatise on the Generation of Bodhicitta (《发菩提心论》), the Pure Practice Chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra (《华严经净行品》), the Golden Light Sutra (《金光明经》), the Amitabha Sutra (《阿弥陀经》), the Sutra of the Filial Son (《佛说孝子经》), the Chapter on the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (《普贤菩萨行愿品》), and also gave talks on themes such as Essentials of Chan Studies (《禅学概要》) and Essentials of the Pure Land (《净土概要》). In the winter of 1969, Venerable Yinhai came down with influenza. With his high fever unabated, he went ahead and delivered his lecture while ill — a spirit of forgetting the self for the Dharma that drew widespread admiration.

The present Dharma Seal Temple in Los Angeles is an open venue where anyone may give a sutra lecture or speech. This openness dates back to his years as abbot of Huiri Lecture Hall. In those days he invited Venerables Shengyan (圣严), Jinghai (净海), and others to lecture there. When dharma assemblies were held and Venerable Yanpei happened to be back in Taiwan, he would invariably invite him to preside over the incense and deliver the opening instruction, while he himself served as the ceremony leader (维那) and senior seat (班首). That generous spirit, too, drew admiration.

The journal Hai Chao Yin (《海潮音》, "Sound of the Sea Tide") was founded by Master Taixu (太虚大师) in 1919 (the eighth year of the Republic of China) in Shanghai. After many trials, in 1949 Venerable Daxing (大醒法师) relocated it to Taiwan. Venerable Daxing passed away in 1952, and in January 1953 Instructor Yinshun assumed the presidency, with editorial work carried out at Fuyan Hermitage at Qingcao Lake. From 1961, the editorial office moved to Huiri Lecture Hall, with Venerable Yinhai concurrently serving as editor of the Hai journal (海刊), later assisted by Venerable Fazhen (法振法师). This arrangement continued until 1966, when Venerable Yinhai, burdened by other duties, resigned the editorship. The journal was subsequently taken over by Venerable Leguan (乐观法师), and the editorial office moved to Changle Temple (常乐寺) in Yonghe, Taipei County.

In 1967, Huiri Lecture Hall established the Taixu Buddhist Institute (太虚佛学院), with Venerable Yanpei as president and Venerable Yinhai as vice president. In October 1969, the Taixu Buddhist Institute ceased operations, and more than forty of its students were absorbed into Fuyan Buddhist Institute (福严佛学院). Venerable Yanpei continued as president, with Venerable Yinhai as vice president and concurrent director of academic affairs. Since Venerable Yanpei was often propagating the Dharma in Southeast Asia, the day-to-day running of the Institute fell largely to Venerable Yinhai, who had no choice but to shuttle back and forth between Taipei and Hsinchu. In April 1970, Venerable Yanpei, who had served three years as abbot of Fuyan Hermitage, was now based in distant Singapore, presiding over the newly built Prajna Lecture Hall (般若讲堂) where his karmic affinities flourished. Unable to oversee Fuyan's affairs, he firmly resigned the abbacy. The two communities of Fuyan and Huiri jointly recommended Venerable Yinhai as his successor. He accordingly relinquished his duties at Huiri Lecture Hall and returned to Hsinchu to take up the abbacy of Fuyan Hermitage. In September 1973, when Venerable Zhenhua (真华法师) completed his three-year term as abbot of Huiri Lecture Hall and stepped down, Venerable Yinhai was once again chosen by the community to take up the abbacy of Huiri, with the inauguration ceremony held on September 2.

In 1975, Venerable Haolin (浩霖法师), president of the Eastern Buddhist Association of New York and abbot of Dongchan Temple (东禅寺), to mark the eighteenth anniversary of Bodhisattva Cihang's passing, invited Venerable Yinhai to New York to lecture on the Sutra on the Rebirth of Maitreya in the Higher Realms (《弥勒上生经》). Before leaving, Venerable Yinhai went to Shandao Temple to bid farewell to the Hall Manager, Venerable Yunxia (云霞法师), who encouraged him, saying: "The number of overseas Chinese in America grows daily, yet Buddhist temples are few. If the conditions are ripe, you could establish a temple there to propagate the Dharma. Wherever I can be of help, I will give all I have."

Taking this counsel to heart, Venerable Yinhai went to New York and lectured for eight months. He returned to Taiwan in the spring of 1976, resigned the abbacy of Huiri Lecture Hall, and came once more to America. In Rosemead, Los Angeles, he established the Buddhist Right Faith Association · Dharma Seal Temple (佛教正信会·法印寺). After more than a year of searching for a site, applying for registration, and renovating the premises, the temple had taken on a considerable scale. On July 9, 1978, the dedication and the eye-opening (consecration) ceremony for the Buddha statues were held. He invited three monastics from Taiwan — Venerables Chengyi (成一), Fosheng (佛声), and Yunxia — to preside respectively over the ribbon-cutting, the unlocking, and the consecration. Monastics propagating the Dharma in various parts of America all came to offer congratulations — once again, a magnificent occasion.

The Venerable Yunxia who came from Taiwan to preside over the consecration at Dharma Seal Temple was the very person who had encouraged Venerable Yinhai to establish a Buddhist venue in America. His dharma name was Fayun (法雨), Yunxia being his courtesy name. A native of Rugao, Jiangsu, born in 1923, he took ordination at the age of fourteen at Dinghui Temple in Rugao, and so he and Venerable Yinhai shared the same dharma lineage from Rugao's Dinghui Temple. In 1942 he received the full precepts at Baohua Mountain, then studied at Jiaoshan Buddhist Institute (焦山佛学院), where he was a classmate of Venerables Xingyun (星云) and Lianhang (莲航). In 1943 he transferred to Yufo Temple Buddhist Institute (玉佛寺佛学院) in Shanghai. In 1949, fleeing the war, he went to Taiwan, staying at places such as Shipu Temple (十普寺) and Lingquan Temple (灵泉寺). In 1954 he settled at Shandao Temple, Taipei's foremost monastery, rising from ordinary monk to secretary and then Hall Manager. In 1978 he assumed the abbacy of Shandao Temple and the presidency of the Hai Chao Yin journal society, a position he held for ten consecutive years. While Venerable Yinhai was founding Dharma Seal Temple, Venerable Yunxia assisted him in Los Angeles. The name "Dharma Seal Temple" (法印寺) was in fact formed by taking one character from each of their dharma names: "Fayun" (法雨, "Dharma Rain") and "Yinhai" (印海, "Dharma Seal Ocean"). Upon the temple's founding, Venerable Yinhai appointed Venerable Yun as Chairman of the Board of Dharma Seal Temple.

In 1988, Venerable Yunxia stepped down from the abbacy of Shandao Temple and frequently traveled to America to teach. In February 1995 he passed away in Taipei. Venerable Yinhai composed a memorial couplet:

Forty years ago I hurried north to National Taiwan University to tend you in your illness, preparing medicine and broth for over a month — still delighted by your ever-smiling face — and so began a bond of fellow feeling and dharma friendship. Across more than ten thousand li I flew back to the homeland, to Veterans General Hospital, watching you many times over, but you only gazed silently, never speaking a word. From now on I have painfully lost a kind friend and a good teacher.

From this couplet, the depth of friendship between the two monastics is clear. The Dharma Seal Temple presided over by Venerable Yinhai is an open Buddhist venue. Any monastic or layperson who propagates the Buddha's teaching may give a sutra lecture or speech there. The Hui Ju Association (慧炬社) of Southern California, for instance, has no spacious premises of its own, and its larger events, including those featuring distinguished speakers, have all been held at Dharma Seal Temple. For many years, the monastics and eminent lay practitioners who have propagated the Dharma or traveled to America have given sutra lectures or talks at Dharma Seal Temple.

In 1983, Venerable Yinhai founded the L.A. County Pure Land Recitation Society (洛郡净业助念会) at Dharma Seal Temple. At its inaugural meeting on August 12, the attendees unanimously elected Venerable Yinhai as President. Two Vice Presidents were also elected: Venerable Richang (日常法师), Chairman of the Board of Dajue Lotus Society (大觉莲社), and layman Zhou Xuande (周宣德居士), Chairman of the Board of the Southern California Hui Ju Association. Five laypeople — Shen Naixuan (沈乃宣), Hu Foyang (胡佛暘), Guan Shu (关恕), Fan Shuheng (范叔恒), and Zhang Ouchunsen (张欧椿森) — were elected as Directors, with Mr. Shen Naixuan additionally serving as Secretary-General.

Organizing a Pure Land Recitation Society in America was a genuine pioneering effort. The Society's charter states its purpose as follows:

The chief purpose of this Society is the recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name of ten thousand virtues, to save oneself and others through the unity of compassion and wisdom, with the aspiration that all devotees may together be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. All who endorse this purpose are eligible to become members of the Society.

It further states:

When any member of this Society, or other virtuous person introduced by a member, makes advance application to the Society for recitation assistance before the end of life, the Society, upon receiving the telephone call or invitation, will promptly mobilize its members, who together with the Directors will go and assist in the recitation, so that around the moment of passing the person may, without interruption, recite or hear the Buddha's name, each invocation clear and distinct, and thus be welcomed by the Buddha into the Pure Land. Those who wish to invite monastics to preach the Dharma or assist in recitation may make arrangements in advance.

The establishment of the Society brought benefit to many devout Buddhists. On August 2, 1989, the Society's Vice President, the elder layman Zhou Xuande, peacefully passed away in his sleep at midnight at the age of ninety-one. Early the next morning Venerable Yinhai, on hearing the news, led Society members to the Zhou residence to assist in recitation. At the Rose Hills Memorial Park mortuary, Venerable Yinhai presided over the family memorial rites and directed the first-seven-day dharma observances (头七佛事).

In 1991, Venerable Yinhai planned and launched the Dharma Seal Temple Audio-Visual News (《法印寺视听通讯》). Focused primarily on Buddhist theory but also including a Q&A column, literary sketches, and Buddhist news briefs, each seventy-to-eighty-page issue was printed in three to four thousand copies and distributed free of charge — a reflection of Venerable Yinhai's generous aspiration.

Venerable Yinhai's writings are prolific; to date his translations and original works number more than twenty-seven titles, including A History of Chan in China and India (《中印禅宗史》), A Doctrinal History of the Chinese Pure Land School (《中国净土教理史》), Lecture Notes on the Sutra Contemplating Maitreya's Rebirth in the Higher Realms (《观弥勒上生经讲记》), An Introduction to Buddhist Consciousness-Only Thought (《佛教唯识论概论》), The Faith of a Buddhist (《佛教徒的信仰》), Collected Translations on Buddhist Thought (《佛学思想论译丛》), An Introduction to the Pure Land Teachings (《净土教概论》), An Introduction to the Vinaya School (《律宗概论》), Avatamsaka Studies (《华严学》), An Introduction to the Tripiṭaka (《大藏经入门》), The Origins and Development of the Pure Land Teachings (《净土教起源及其发展》), Chinese Buddhist Thought (《中国佛教思想论》), A Study of Nianfo (Recitation) Thought (《念佛思想之研究》), On the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (《关于瑜伽师地论》), A Study of the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā (《十住毗婆沙论研究》), Buddhist Thought in Asia (《亚洲佛教思想论》), Essays on the History of Chinese Buddhism (《中国佛教史论》), A History of Consciousness-Only Thought in China and India (《中印唯识教理史》), and A Study of the Four-Part Vinaya and the Mahāyāna Precepts (《四分戒律与大乘戒之研究》). In recent years he has translated and serialized On the Practice of the Western Pure Land (《论西方净土之修持》) in the monthly Hai Chao Yin.