Venerable Wu Shin's Trip to Brazil (May, 2004)

After the end of the busy schedule of the Library's 12-day Anniversary Celebration, we jumped on the flight to Sao Paulo the second evening. Upon exiting the customs, a good number of Dharma friends led by Brothers Sheng-Kai Chang and David Hsieh already waited in the Sao Paulo airport and delivered a warm welcome to Venerable Wu Shin, the first Pureland School Reverend landed on Central and South America. The carefully planned 5-day program by Brothers Chang and Hsieh to introduce the Pureland School Dharma education started right at this moment.

In the evening of the first day, after resting for just a few hours, Ven. Wu Shin hosted the first lecture — Introduction to Buddhism as an Education. There were anywhere between 130 and 150 interested Dharma friends in the audience. Also in a separate section, there were more than 20 Brazilian friends who were listening to the lecture via Portugese translation provided by a young second generation Chinese-Brazilian. The lecture was very well received. Many friends kept asking questions after the lecture ended for another hour or so.

On the second and the third day, Venerable Wu Shin lectured on "Changing Destiny — Wishful Things Will Come True" and "The Merit of Buddha Name Chanting" respectively. Sao Paulo City Councilman Mr. William Woo stopped by and delivered welcome to Venerable Wu Shin right before the second lecture started. These lectures were again very well attended by Chinese-Brazilians and Brazilians. With Venerable Wu Shinˇ¦s excellent presentation skills and humor, the atmosphere was very relaxed and enjoyable. Like the first day, many friends stayed after the lectures and dialogued with Venerable Wu Shin for questions and answers.

There actually have been many Buddhism practitioners in Brazil over the years. Although there has not been a formal Pureland School group, all groups have been practicing Pureland School cultivation method for quite some time. Upon Dharma friendsˇ¦ request, Venerable Wu Shin agreed to conduct a Pureland School Buddha Name Chanting and Meditation practice. On the morning of the third day, Venerable Wu Shin instructed Bert Tan to lead the practice in the Main Hall of the Chun-Kwan Temple. The Main Hall has a dimension of 30 meters X 50 meters and a 7 meter high ceiling. With more than 100 Dharma friends in the chanting practice, the sincerity reflected in the chanting plus the excellent acoustic effect of the Main Hall effectively helped practitioners to settle their minds and practice deep concentration. What a good experience!

On the fourth day, we flew to Rio de Jainero. Venerable Wu Shin hosted an open dialog with Dharma friends there in the evening. The dialog was very successful; a local Buddhist group indicated that they will be adding the Pureland School practice into their routine practice agenda. The dialogue gathering did not adjourn until after 11:00 PM.

Because I had other commitments, I had to fly back to Chicago on the fifth day while Venerable Wu Shin continued to stay and he hosted another Q&A session in the evening in Sao Paulo before he left for Philadelphia.

Although this was the first visit of Pureland School Reverend to Brazil, the influence and impact will definitely be profound and visible for Dharma education. Before I left Brazil for home, I heard that a few groups already decided to switch to practicing Pureland School cultivation method. They were also inquiring about the possibility and when the next visit of Pureland School Reverends will be.

In summary, the experience of this trip was very positive. I am especially delighted to see that so many Chinese-Brazilian and Brazilian friends are so receptive to Pureland School Dharma education. This reflects that the Dharma conditions are mature for our friends in Brazil ˇV this is in particular to congratulate and to be happy for.

All the lecture and dialogue sessions (in Chinese), except the last one, were recorded and made into audio CDs already — a total of 10 CDs. Two sets have been sent to Dharma friends in Brazil. These CDs will soon be made available in the Library for patrons to check-out and/or to make copies.

ˇ´ Bert Tan