(Seattle / Lianchi)
[Preface]
The Founding Temple—Seattle Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple—has launched its first seminar/workshop series at our library. The initiative arose after several mealtime conversations in which the Root Lineage Guru (Grandmaster) and Shimu (Grandmadam) encouraged the Founding Temple to strive for reform and breakthroughs. Beyond offering daily vegetarian meals to all visitors, they urged us to develop long-term educational programs that “recharge” practitioners—raising knowledge and spiritual caliber, satisfying the desire to learn, and ensuring that every pilgrim to Seattle “returns from the treasure mountain with treasures in hand,” benefiting in body and mind. We express special thanks to Shimu for donating a professional Bose wireless microphone and Bluetooth PA speaker, enabling clear audio for future classes.

Going forward, the Founding Temple will plan both dynamic and contemplative courses with lively, diverse content to serve all ages—seniors, adults, youth, and children. In the near term, in addition to seminars on exoteric and esoteric Buddhism and the Daoist Five Arts, we will offer series such as Guided Readings of Grandmaster Living Buddha Lian-sheng’s Collected Works, Yoga for Health, Kung Fu Fitness, Language Learning, Medical & Health, and Digital Technology—all taught by qualified professionals. We warmly invite everyone to participate, perfecting both worldly and transcendental resources. With the Grandmaster’s blessings, we hope that beginning in the Year of the Rabbit the Founding Temple will accelerate its pace, present a renewed spirit and scale, and manifest greater strength in liberating sentient beings. Please watch the Founding Temple’s website and Facebook page for course announcements, and kindly offer your support and feedback.
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[Beginnings Are Hard—Education Is the Right Remedy]
At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 8, the Founding Temple successfully held a two-hour seminar in the temple library on “An Outstanding True Buddha Dharma Center.” About forty participants from Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, and the local community attended enthusiastically. The session was engaging and highly interactive, offering a platform for learning and exchange and deepening everyone’s understanding of the true meaning of “benefiting others benefits oneself, sharing benefits others, and fulfilling one’s responsibilities.” The event strengthened confidence and motivation to put the Dharma into practice—perfecting oneself and benefiting beings.

That day, a large group from Hong Kong and Macau hoped to take a commemorative photo with the Grandmaster in front of the Founding Temple before their departure two days later. Unexpectedly, it began raining after lunch. Not wishing to disappoint them, the Grandmaster braved the rain to take the group photo—moving and delighting everyone.

By a little before three o’clock, attendees gradually took their seats, and the organizers thoughtfully prepared refreshments. When staff distributed note paper and pens, some senior participants—unused to classroom settings—grew nervous, thinking there might be a test!

The seminar began by introducing the three speakers and their topics: Elder Acharya Lianseng, Director of the Core Office of the Religious Affairs Committee; Venerable Lianyin, Abbot of Seattle Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple; and Acharya Lianchi, the Temple’s secretary. Acharya Lianchi opened by explaining how to skillfully apply the Bodhisattva’s Four Means of Embracing—giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and cooperation—how to make good use of the True Buddha School’s abundant resources to guide people, and how cultivating with an ordinary and straightforward mind to purify body, speech, and mind itself adorns a Dharma center.

Elder Acharya Lianseng then delivered the main talk on how to become an outstanding True Buddha Dharma center. Drawing on decades of experience as abbot of Zunsheng Lei Zang Temple in California and on recent involvement in organizational renewal (including the launch of the school’s new website), he guided attendees to explore the school’s operations and direction, the challenges many centers face, and ways to increase a center’s power to attract and educate beings. His fluent Cantonese and effective teaching style made the content easily graspable and fostered closeness among all present.

Next, Abbot Venerable Lianyin shared current and future construction and administration at the Founding Temple—how to harness teamwork so the center runs more harmoniously, and a preview of improvements now underway, with the hope that when everyone returns on their next pilgrimage, they will see a fresh new look.

Throughout the class, Acharya Lianchi interwove lively team competitions to teach through play. In “A Thousand-Mile Transmission of Sound,” mantras were passed along like a relay baton, allowing participants to realize how the sound can gradually distort—and thus why mantra recitation should follow the Root Guru’s pronunciation. In “Guess the Grandmaster’s Books,” several dharma sisters on stage acted out book titles via charades, igniting spirited competition. The final “Dharma Quiz” tested knowledge of Buddhism and the True Buddha Tantric Dharma; everyone eagerly raced to answer. Team Two achieved the highest score and won. Prizes included insulated tea tumblers (printed with the Grandmaster’s artwork), protective amulets, elegant pendants, and Padmakumara mantra-wheel necklaces, prompting rounds of cheers.

During the closing Q&A, attendees posed questions about the day’s content, personal practice, and center management, and offered suggestions for the school and the Founding Temple. Explanations of the Founding Temple’s distinctive “Six Golden Furnaces Method for Burning Paper Offerings” and the efficacy of divination by moon blocks (jiaobei) and lot-drawing before the Golden Mother and the Buddhas drew particular praise.

Afterward, while filling out feedback forms, participants expressed high satisfaction and gratitude for the Founding Temple’s thoughtful arrangements, noting how inspiring and helpful the program was. The tangible rewards and intangible gains became a beautiful memory of this pilgrimage. Many offered heartfelt thanks to the three lecturers for deepening their understanding of the ideals and practice of a True Buddha Dharma center. They pledged to continue cultivating, to be part of an outstanding Dharma center, and to encourage more people to join such seminars to make life richer and more meaningful.

One dharma sister’s comment was especially touching:

“Coming here, I felt the Grandmaster, acharyas, and venerables caring for us. It was so warm and joyful—I felt we are not like orphans.”