Exceedingly rare causes and conditions for becoming a Buddhist monk of Master Da An.

Master Da An is the current abbot of Donglin Pagoda in Lushan, a Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Temple.

Here\r\nare his narrations of his leaving home:

Earlier, I did not only distrust the Buddha, but also\r\ndefamed Buddhism and wrote books and essays which considered Buddhism to be\r\nnegative and outdated. It might be because of creating the evil karma, I was\r\nseriously sick and then discovered the biggest problems in human life were\r\nbirth and death during the period of sickness. If the problem was not solved\r\nproperly in some religion, all of the doctrines of that religion would be empty\r\nwords. Hence, after recovering and leaving the hospital, I started my study of\r\nother religions such as Christianity, Islam, Taoism to seek the path to escape\r\nthe cycle of birth and dead, but to no avail. Finally, I approached Buddhism,\r\nespecially Pure Land Buddhism, which I found that it was the right path that I\r\nhad been looking for.

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It should be added that seeking my method of practice to\r\nescape the cycle of birth and dead did not depend on any principle and\r\nreasoning. The causes and conditions were that once I got a recording of Buddha\r\nRecitation from pagoda and while listening to it   ,I burst into\r\ntears. It was marvelous because I had not cried for many years. Why could this\r\nsound...? Then, I came to a conclusion that I could gain access to the Pure\r\nLand Buddhism and its Sutras through Amitabha Buddha recitation.\r\nActually, Buddha recitation to gain rebirth in The Western Land of\r\nUltimate Bliss of the Pure Land sect was a best solution to the problems\r\nof birth and death's. Since then, I have studied Buddhism and recited Buddha’s\r\nname. 

After studying Buddhism for a year, in 1991, I thought of\r\nleaving home but faced many obstacles due to my own heavy karmas. In\r\nMainland China, most of the people have a negative view on the home-leaving\r\nmonks. Firstly, the intense opposition from my family made me unable to\r\ncontinue discussing this issue with them anymore.  At that time, I\r\nwas relatively highly educated, and I intended to be a monk after completing\r\nPhD course.  From the viewpoint of the people of Nanchang - the\r\nmetropolis of Jiangxi province, the leaving home are the useless and worthless\r\nguys. Therefore, in accordance with my family's wishes and public opinion, I\r\ntaught at a university in Beijing. As a result, I was a layman for 10 years.

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 In 2001, the conditions for my renunciation were ripe\r\ndue to a retreat for Buddha recitation. Since 1999, every summer, I took a\r\nretreat to recite a million Buddha's names. In 2001, I also led a group of\r\ngraduate students from Beijing to a temple in Hubei for cultivation. The\r\npagoda, meanwhile was preaching Amitabha Sutra, so we retreated for\r\nBuddha recitation, finishing reciting a million Buddha's names within 10 days,\r\nlistening to Amitabha Sutra for half a month, and finally diligently resumed\r\nthe Buddha recitation just within 7 days, not 10 days. That means more\r\nthan 140 thousands of the Buddha's names were recited within a day and my sleep\r\ntime was not over 4 hours a day. It was in the 2nd time of the retreat for\r\nBuddha recitation that my oppressive feelings of renunciation through\r\nmany years became much stronger than ever. I told myself to wait until I\r\nfinished my Buddha recitation; then I would be in front of the Buddha statue\r\nand decided to become either a monk or a lay person.

How to decide? I thought of drawing lots. In the 7th day of\r\nthe Buddha recitation when it would be finished in an hour, I wrote out them on\r\ntwo pieces of paper: one note was “Become a monk” and the other was “Become a\r\nlayman”. In addition, I arranged the drawing very closely: that lot had to be\r\ndrawn 3 consecutive times or it would not count, and I did it while my eyes\r\nwere closed. First, I kowtowed to the Buddha 3 times, then closed my eyes and\r\ndropped these two notes onto a table, resuming kowtowing the Buddha 3 times.\r\nFinally, I closed my eyes again and put my hands on the table to draw lots and\r\ndecided that if  one of these two notes was touched first, it would\r\nbe chosen. That was such an extremely old way of drawing lots but it worked\r\nwell! In the first time, I touched the note “Become a monk” and so were the\r\nresults of the second and the third time by the same way. In the 4th time, the\r\nresult was similar. Thus, I did not draw anymore and decided to leave home to\r\nbecome a monk.

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 I told the story to a Master in Mount Jiuhua who also\r\nfound it strange. Then, he asked me how I had done it and to do it again in\r\nfront of him. In similar sequence, one of the two notes on the table was chosen\r\nand he told me to give it to him. He opened it and in this 5th time, the result\r\nof my casting lots was the same: “Become a monk”. Believing in this predestined\r\naffinity, I returned to Beijing, arranged all the work for my renunciation\r\nwhich was quite favorable this time and I became a monk soon in 2001. Honestly,\r\nin my thinking, my renunciation came true and occurred very smoothly thank to\r\nthe magical power of recitation of the Amitabha Buddha’s name and the 2\r\nmillions Buddha's names, which helped me escape the secular society. If I had\r\nnot had this power, I would probably have not fulfilled my dream. That’s all\r\nabout the causes and conditions of my renunciation.