Summer Retreat Medicine Buddha Gratitude Ceremony
夏安居報恩藥師法會

Timed with the monastic practice of holding a summer retreat, Chung Tai Chan Monastery and all branches around the world hold a 3-month daily recitation of the Medicine Buddha Sutra every year from April 15 to July 15 of the lunar calendar.

This year, 2012, around 30-50 diligent devotees took time to come to Ocean Sky every night before going home from work to chant the sutra and to recite the Medicine Buddha Mantra for 49 times with mindfulness and respect. After Dharma talks by Abbess or sometimes by the other Masters, all lay people go home filled with great Dharma joy.

Medicine Buddha is the Master of Healing. He made Twelve Great Vows to free all sentient beings from diseases of the body, speech and mind, so that all sicknesses could be cured, all hindrances and difficulties resolved, and one’s lifespan lengthened. By chanting the Medicine Buddha Sutra, a disciple comes to understand that the only path to seek in order to achieve true healing from all sicknesses is to cleanse and purify all actions and thoughts.

Liang Huang Jeweled Repentance Ceremony
梁皇寶懺法會

The Liang Huang Jeweled Repentance Liturgy was chanted previously in Ocean Sky in 2005 and 2009. This year, 2012, the monastery adopted the liturgy for its year-long Saturday night repentance practice. Every week, benefactors, together with their family members, are given the auspicious chance to formally invite the Celebrant Master into the Chan Hall in beautiful and solemn rites. Then, depending on the chapter being chanted, the corresponding material from the ten offerings is offered to the Buddha at the start of chanting.

The Liang Huang Jeweled Repentance Liturgy was compiled by Chan Master Baozhi, at the request of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty for his deceased wife, Empress Chi. Because of her many grave offenses, the Empress was reborn as a python after she died. Her sufferings were so intense that she appeared to the Emperor and begged him to save her.

Master Baozhi advised the Emperor to repent and pay homage to the Buddha on Empress Chi’s behalf in order to cleanse her grave sins. The Master then carefully selected the words of repentance from different Buddhist scriptures and compiled the ten-chapter liturgy. Due to the merits generated from the Emperor's sincere repentance for her, the Empress Chi was reborn in Heaven.

For over 1400 years, from the Liang Dynasty up to the present, people have sought out opportunities to recite this lengthy liturgy, because it demonstrates that the act of reflecting back to our wrongdoings, accepting responsibility for them, and repenting with sincerity, can result in blessings and peace of mind.