42nd Patriarch of the Hsienshou (Avatamsaka) and Ci'en Schools
Ven. Sakya Haiyun Jimeng (Sea Cloud) was born in 1950 in Taiwan. Ven. Elder Bhikshu Meng Chan ordained
Ven. Haiyun Jimeng into the Buddhist monkhood in 1990 and gave him the dharma name Chang Yi. In 1991, he received
all 250 precepts and formally became a Bhikshu.
Master Sea Cloud has a close affinity with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra and special
insights into the Avatamsaka Sutra. Actualising the Conduct and Great Vows of Samantabhadra, he has founded the
Da-Huayen Monastery in Taipei, and its branches in various regions in Taiwan. In spreading the dharma, he adheres
steadfastly to the principles of magnanimity, non-racial and non-regional differentiation, and equality. He values
both scriptural practice and Huayen Ch'an (meditation), and has founded an Huayen Ch'an Retreat Centre in Sanhsia, Taiwan,
where students may do scriptural practice as well as Huayen Ch'an.
The Chinese Buddhist community in the mainland has invited Haiyun to teach the Avatamsaka Sutra in
Beijing, Xi'an, and Datong. As well, he has co-founded the Institute for Advanced Huayen Studies with the
Shaanxi Normal University. He has lectured in monastaries and universities in many countries in South East Asia,
and has helped the North American Avatamsaka faithful found the Huayen Buddhist Community of North America, and its branches
in Detroit, Chicago, Boston, and San Jose in the United States, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Here in North America,
he has lectured at the Universities of Toronto, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin and temples in Toronto and
Vancouver before founding the ABCBC in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Ven. Haiyun Jimeng - 42nd Patriarch of the
Tang Xianshou and Ci'en Schools
Historically speaking, the Floral Garland School is based on the Avatamsaka
Sutra, and counts as one of the eight major Mahayana schools of Chinese Buddhism. From its beginnings in the seventh century,
the Avatamsaka lineage has continued down to the present day. Master Haiyun has revitalised the modern Floral Garland School.
On 21 September 2008, the 41st Patriarch of the Floral Garland (Hsienshou Huayen) School and Yogacara (Ci'\en) School granted the
patriarchal lineage to Ven. Haiyun (Sea Cloud), making him the current 42nd Patriarch of both schools. The
former embodies the teachings of the Madhyamaka thoughts of Nagarjuna and the latter, the Yogacara teachings of Asanga and Vasubandu.
Between 27 and 29
December 2008, Master Haiyun Jimeng led a pilgrimage to Lakulish International Fellowship's Enlightenment Mission (拉克魯希神國際覺明傳道會)
or in short LIFE Mission (生命傳道會) in Rajarajeshwardham, Gujarat, India. Swami Rajarshi Muni, a practicing advanced yogi and Founder of LIFE Mission, performed a Diksa granted Ven. Haiyun Jimeng the most secret Shaktipat initiation (literally, transmitting spiritual energy and right
initiating him into the order or the right conferring of Dharma name/practice to him). This removed all obstacles from his path and ensure his rapid progress on the spiritual path. Swami
Rajashi Muni opened his inner eye (awaken his dormant
Kundalini spiritual, instinctive, or unconscious force/power) and blessed him with the ability to perform,
teach, and pass down the tradition of Divine Yoga.
The Madhyamaka
and the Divine Maha Yoga schools differ fundamentally. Ven. Haiyun Jimeng shoulders and has urged his disciples
and devotees to bear the mission of resurging both heritages over the next 500 years. Ven. Haiyun Jimeng has revitalised
Huayen teachings to include five faculties: Divine Yoga (Zen), Pureland, Esoteric (Vajrayana), Vinaya and Scriptural
Practice. The Floral Garland teachings emphasise the integration of Buddhist practice with all aspects of life,
and Ven. Haiyun Jimeng believes that they are particularly suitable for the modern age.
In tandem with modern times, Master Haiyun Jimeng has revolutionised traditional
Buddhist thoughts by ushering in the "Fourth Buddhist Period," which he envisages, will succeed the contemporary
Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana periods. Dr Albert Einstein succinctly put it, "I don't have any religion, but if
I had to choose one, I would choose Buddhism." For in the Fourth Buddhist Period more technically known as Samantabhadrayana,
the Universal King Vehicle, multitudes of people will practise the spirituality that ultimately liberates them from the sea
of birth, aging, sickness and death. Like a fish swimming in the ocean looking here and there for the ocean
itself, you do not have to look anything more in this new age. All knowledge is available to us within each breath if
we are but aware enough to recognise it.
In his 1970 bestseller Future Shock, Alvin Toffler already argued
that people in the modern age would suffer from information overload that would cause all sorts of dysfunctions at the personal,
family, and social levels. The more science and technology become advanced, the more scientists begin to see that their proven
axioms or facts that serve to form our cosmic view and the bases of all branches of sciences are limited, but nevertheless
accord with what the Buddha had revealed over 25 centuries ago.
In this age of future shock, in order to resolve
all such dysfunctions, one must each gain insight of the way of life worth living for oneself and for others. According to
Master Haiyun Jimeng, the time is at hand whereupon the teachings of classic Avatamsaka Buddhism will merge with western sciences
and technologies, ushering in the dawn of "Neo-Classic Avatamsaka Buddhism." Master Haiyun envisages that in the
next 500 years, such teachings will grow, blossom and fruit in the west and eventually western Avatamsaka Buddhists will return
the perfected teachings to the orient in a totally different form. Are you not fortunate that you are about to witness and
experience the Dawn of the Age of Avatamsaka?
