Guang Qin

Infobox Buddhist biography
name = Guang Qin


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img_capt = Master Guang Qin at age 50
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birth_date = c. 1892
birth_place = Huian County, Fukien Province, China
death_date = 1986
death_place = Republic of China (Taiwan)
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denomination = Ch'an
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website = Venerable Master Guang Qin (廣欽老和尚, 1892-1986) was a renowned Buddhist monk, teacher and cultivator.

Born Huang Wenlai in 1892 in Huian County, Fukien Province, China. Due to his family's extreme poverty, he was sold to the Li family. The Lei were not wealthy either and had a fruit growing business that allowed them to barely scrape together a living. His parents died in 1902 when he was only 11 years old. He realied how impermanent human life was and took refuge with Master Rui Fang of the famous Cheng Tian Chan Monastery. In 1927, he took ordination at the same monastery.

From the very beginning, Guang Qin was an ascetic practitioner. In the monastery, one of his duties was to ring the morning wake-up bell. One morning, he accidentally over-slept and missed ringing the bell at the correct time. After that, he never lay down to sleep for the rest of his life and sat up in his sleep.

In 1985 at the age of 95, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, he called together all of his disciples who were in charge of his different monasteries. He told them that he would pass away soon and that they should divide his relics among Cheng Tian Temple and other temples, monasteries and nunneries. He later went to Miao Tong Temple, the place where he would manifest stillness.

On the fifth day of Chinese New Year, with all his disciples gathered around him he told them to recite Amitabha Buddha's name. He said, "There is no coming and no going, nothing is happening." Then he smiled at his disciples and closed his eyes. He was so still that his disciples checked and discovered that he had died amidst the Amitabha chanting. Guang Qin died at the age of 95 in 1986.

Photos that were taken by an anonymous disciple from Guang Qin's funeral displayed auspicious signs, such as lights pointing down at Guang Qin's casket and supposedly a faint silhouette which appears to look like Amitabha shine down upon the casket. Also, clouds forming a lotus flower was supposedly seen in the sky.

One of Guang Qin's relics is among one of the relics being toured with the Maitreya Project Heart Relic Tour.

External links

* [http://maitreyaproject.com/en/relic/gallery-gwang.html Maitreya Project's article on Master Guang Qin]
* [http://www.bfnn.org/kuangchin/ 廣欽老和尚網路專輯 (In Simplified Chinese only)]