Saturday, 10/05/2024
The rebirth story
Senior Venerable Thich Chon Thanh has still kept a marvelous tongue relic.
Update: 15/07/2007
The world over has had a relic which is often mentioned and\r\nvenerated - that is the tongue relic of Sir Kumarajiva, and this has been\r\ntransmitted orally for over 2,000 years.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSir Kumarajava translated a large number of sutras from the\r\nSanscrit language into Chinese - about 98 in number - of\r\nwhich a number have been lost and now the remainder is only about 50. He is a\r\ncitizen of Hsinchiang country, presently called Shinjang .\r\nHis father originated from India and his mother was a princess of Hsinchiang country.\r\nHe translated most of the Buddhist sutras. His vow was that if the sutras he\r\ntranslated were incorrect in the doctrine of the Buddha then when he was dying\r\nhis tongue would be kept for evidence and, as a result, his vow was\r\nmaterialised.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAlthough Sir Kumarajava translated a large number of sutras\r\nfor China, he was not the first translator in this area of operations. The\r\nfirst one is Parthamasiris, the king of Persia nowadays. Parthamasiris succeeded\r\nhis father to the throne just for half a year. Then he abdicated in favour of\r\nhis uncle to practise Buddhism, did the translating work of Buddhist sutras and\r\ndied in China.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nA Vietnamese monk has still kept a marvelous tongue relic.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe monk mentioned here is Senior Venerable Thich Chon\r\nThanh. There are many cases in which a master just gives his disciple a name\r\nwhich also creates a future and career for the latter.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTextually, Chon Thanh means a real sound, or something which\r\nis most tranquil, most lofty or the truest to life’. Accordingly, during his\r\nreligious life the Senior Venerable did use his own real sound and voice to\r\npreach the Buddhist Dharma everywhere.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn 1971, Hue Nghiem Buddhist Junior College officially\r\nstarted its first academic year. This school was managed by Most\r\nVenerable Thich Tri Tinh as its director and Most Venerable Thich Buu Hue as\r\nits vice-director. Senior Ven. Chon Thanh followed his 8-year program course at\r\nthis institute and finished it in 1977. But he still continued and did not\r\nfinish the sutra course until 1991 - this program was\r\ndirected by Most Ven. Tri Tinh.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nPERIOD OF DOING RELIGIOUS WORK
\r\n\r\nDuring the period of time taking his cultivation course at\r\nthe institute, especially from 1966-1975, Senior Ven. Chon Thanh was one of the\r\nBuddhist cadres who had the mission of building Buddhist establishments in the\r\nwestern and eastern provinces, which was the policy of the Vietnam Buddhist\r\nChurch. He was also a member of the Central Lecturer Group under the command of\r\nThe General Office of Buddhism Preaching headed by Most Ven. Thich Huyen Vi.\r\nThe mission of this organisation was to propagate the Dharma everywhere until\r\nSaigon had its new political regime.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAfter April 30, 1975 the program named ‘Following the\r\nprevious footmark and returning to old scenery’ put forward by the Most\r\nVenerable, who was also the head of this pagoda, aiming at creating auspicious\r\nconditions in the salvation through the Dharma Door of Buddha recitation.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTogether with his Buddhist fellows, Senior Ven.\r\nThich Chon Thanh took in turns to enter a silent session avoiding any affinity\r\nand scenery. For this, they unanimously took their vow to go to be born in the\r\nPure Land of Amitabha Buddha so as to repay their master’s merits and prayed\r\nfor them to return to the Lotus Land or the Extreme Happiness Land which is\r\nlocated in the West when they would receive their impermanence in life (death)\r\nand be led there by Amitabha Buddha.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIt should be noted here that after April 30, 1975 and due to\r\nthe situation of Vietnam, Senior Ven. Chon Thanh took part in self-improvement\r\nsessions many times aiming at chanting the Buddha’s title known as Amitabha\r\nBuddha.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAccording to a Senior Ven. who was very close to Sen. Ven.\r\nChon Thanh, and who wrote to us that Sen. Ven. Chon Thanh’s religious virtue\r\nhad become more and more shining ever since. Therefore, the Church of Vietnam\r\ninvited him to take charge of the training work of all inland clergy and hold\r\nthe position of Head of The Propagation of the True Dharma. Since then his\r\n‘real sound’ (the textual meaning of his name) had been exploited and his heels\r\nhad stepped all over the regions of his country. He had led a simple life and\r\nhad neither competed with anyone nor hoped for a share of society’s products.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDuring 20 years, from 1981 to 2002, he used his tongue to\r\nchant Anitabha Buddha’s name and advised all Buddhists to chant the\r\nBuddha’s great name wherever he came for preaching.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDuring the time we collected ducuments to write about Master\r\nChon Thanh, we did not find any proofs relating to the reason(s) why he kept\r\nhis tongue as a relic. To quest about this, many times we tried to ask some\r\nVietnamese who were close to the master and here are what we knew:
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n1- Before passing away, Master Chon Thanh had\r\nsome parting words to his students right in class and recommended everybody to\r\npurify themselves to chant the Buddha’s name regularly. He also had his\r\npictures taken and sent them to his students as souvenirs. These show that the\r\nmaster did know his death in advance. We also asked whether some of his\r\nacquaintances had heard of his other unintentional words. In reality, few\r\npeople have ever disclosed something about their eternal departure from their\r\nlives even the case of the elderly nun named Tri Thuan who was the abbess of\r\nThe Buddha of medicine Pagoda - she left a testament\r\nwriitten two years before her death but did not say anything before she died.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n2- With his willingness to require a death in the\r\nPure Land, Master Chon Thanh entered a pure abode several times. In reality\r\nthere are many people who want to lead their religious life but just to care\r\nfor their existence more than for Buddhist Dharma. But, Master Chon Thanh\r\nclearly saw that there should be a need for chanting the Buddha’s name in\r\nisolation and he, accordingly, for twenty years long had taught people to\r\nrecite the Buddha’s name.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIt seems to be exaggerated to deduce that thanks to Master\r\nChon Thanh’s talent for announcing news and directing important ceremonies that\r\nhe wanted to keep his tongue as a relic when he would be absent from this life\r\n(after his death).
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn this book we mentioned the story about Master Minh Thông,\r\nwho previously practised Zen but later transformed himself to the Pure Land\r\nsect and thanks to his regular recitation of the Buddha’s name that he could\r\nsurvive his serious illness. After that he was be able to do the translating\r\nwork of the three Pure Land sutras and knew by heart the 48 great vows of\r\nAmitabha Buddha, and so while Sen. Ven. Minh Thong was dying Senior Ven. Nhu\r\nDien saw this Buddha appeared and welcomed the former.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThanks to the article written by Sen. Ven. Thich Minh Thong,\r\nwho was a close colleague of Sen. Ven. Chon Thanh, that we immediately found\r\nthe place where Sen. Ven. Chon Thanh’s tongue relic was kept.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMaster Minh Thông wrote to us, “For over twenty years long\r\nMaster Chon Thanh always used his tongue to propagate the correct Dharma and\r\nhelped many people escape their delusion and great misery.†Specially, with the\r\nDharma Door of Buddha recitation, we can help ourselves and practise\r\nSamantabhadra conduct in offering things to all living beings. Master Chon\r\nThanh not only recited Buddha’s name by-himself continually but also taught\r\npeople how to recite Buddha’s name correctly and encouraged them to do this regularly\r\nbecause, accordingly to him, this is the real form and meaning of offering.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAs we have ever said that all professional lecturers have\r\nused their tongue to preach the Dharma, and this is therefore not anything new\r\nto everybody. What special about Master Chon Thanh was that he always prayed\r\nunder his breath to Buddha and he also encouraged everybody to do this. This is\r\na common lesson for all those who want to reach the world of extreme happiness\r\nafter their death. To gain this, one must rely on the merits and virtue of\r\noneself. It is thanks to his own merits and virtue that Master Chon Thanh knew\r\nthe day of his death in advance.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMaster Minh Thong wrote, “Master Chon Thanh died in an\r\neasily way after his slight illness and among the prayers to Buddha from his\r\nschool-fellows.â€
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhy was Master Chon Thanh able to leave this world in such a\r\ngood way? The answer is: For the past twenty years he had not been busy with\r\neither money or pagoda matters. He just cared about preaching the Dharma,\r\npraying to Buddha and teaching everybody how to do the prayers correctly.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nLet’s listen to Master Chon Thong’s comments on Master Chon\r\nThanh, “Master Chon Thanh is a level-headed and accommodating monk, always\r\nsacrificed all his life for everybody. He really practised Bodhisattva\r\nSamantabhadra conduct in offering things to all living beings“.
\r\n\r\nIn Surangama sutra the Buddha said, “A Budhisattva cannot\r\nattain Buddahooh if he has not practised Samathabhadra conduct.â€
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe feel very much regret that we were not present\r\nin Saigon so that we might get in touch with those who ever lived with Master\r\nChon Thanh or were his students so as to have more information than what we\r\njust knew and wrote about him.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe hope that once this booklet has been published, we will\r\nget more information about Master Chon Thanh to complete our future edition.\r\nFor with such a scanty quantity of information we have, it is not fit to be\r\nmentioned about a great person like Master Chon Thanh who has dedicated his\r\nwhole life for us all and left an eternal tongue to everybody as a relic.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe common name of Master Chon Thanh is Phan Van\r\nBe. He was born on March 13, 1949 in My Xuong Commune, Cao Lanh rural district\r\nof Kien Phong Province - now Dong Thap Province. His\r\nfather’s name is Phan Van Vinh (Mr.) and his mother name is Nguyen Thi Men\r\n(Mrs.). He has 6 siblings - 2 sons and 4 daughters of whom\r\nhe is the eldest child of the family.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMaster Chon Thanh was born into a poor peasant but\r\nkind-hearted family with strong faith in the Triratna, especially his family\r\nhad best sown the Bodhi-seed so that when the predestined affinity was\r\nsufficient, he made up his mind to take refuge in Triratna and became the first\r\ndisciple of Sen. Ven. Thich Thien Tho, the abbot of Phuoc Lam Pagoda in Tan\r\nUyen rural district of Bien Hoa Province, now Binh Duong Province. He was given\r\nthe taboo name Nhat Be, and his Buddhist name was Chon Thanh.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt the sixth Buddhist representative congress in HoChiMinh\r\nCity, Master Chon Thanh was officially voted into the position of Main\r\nSecretary of the Managing Committee and also Head of the Propagation of the\r\nTrue Dharma of HCM City and he held these positions until his death.-
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTranslated into English by Mr. Hoang Huan, layman.
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