本寺导师

    明学大和尚，1923年2月出生，俗姓冯，名祖慎，浙江湖州人氏

    1947年8月到灵岩山寺。

    1948年农历二月，依普陀山三圣堂真达老和尚出家，同年在南京宝华山受戒。

    1949年4月到11月去福州舍利院拜慈舟老法师学戒律。

    1956年9月至1959年9月在北京中国佛学院就读，毕业后仍回灵岩山寺任监院。

    1970年至1979年，文革期间，被迫下放到苏州天平果园劳动，前后整整十年，初心不改。 

    1980年冬季，明学大和尚正式任苏州灵岩山寺方丈，并在当年成立了“中国佛学院灵岩山分院”，担任副院长。 

    1994年当选为中国佛教协会咨议委员会副主席。

    1988年当选为江苏省佛教协会副会长。

    1998年7月当选为苏州市佛教协会会长。

    1983年当选为苏州市人民代表。

    1998年当选为江苏省政协委员。

    1992年任中国佛学院副院长至今。

    2001年当选为江苏省佛教协会会长至今。

    现任中国佛教协会副会长，江苏省佛教协会会长，苏州市佛教协会会长，苏州灵岩山寺方丈，中国佛学院灵岩山分院、中国佛学院南京栖霞山分院、寒山寺寒山书院院长等职务。

    2006年接受本寺邀请，为本寺领导师。

Mentor of the Qingjingsi Temple

Grand Master MingXue

Having been enjoying the fame of the “Paradise on Earth”, Suzhou is a brilliant pearl in the abundant and beautiful golden delta of the Yangtze River.  Since ancient times, Suzhou has boasted its advanced culture and its great men who, in return, have been bringing glory to this place.  Since the Sunwu period in the late East Han Dynasty, more and more Taoist and Buddhist temples were built in both bustling streets and secluded places, making visitors linger and enchanted in their never-ever fading beauty.  On the banks of Lake Tai in the western suburbs of Suzhou, stands Lingyan Mountain, a renowned mountain in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and also a Buddhist resort.  This is also the place that Master Yin Guang, the 13th Patriarch of Pure Land School, was ordained as a monk, spent the prime of his life and eventually reincarnated into the Pure Land.  Due to the enlightenment of his morality and prestige, Lingyan Mountain Temple becomes a famous Pure Land Dharma Center (Bhodimandala) across the country.  The Abbot in charge currently, Master Shangmingxiaxue, 86 years old already, was born in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province.  At the age of 7, together with his mother, he went to Lingying Temple in Hangzhou City to burn joss sticks and worship Buddha. In August, 1947, he came to Lingyan Mountain Temple.  In February, 1948 (based on the lunar calendar), he was ordained a monk by Old Monk Zhenda in Sansheng Hall, Putuo Mountain, and was initiated into monkhood in Baohua Mountain in Nanking in the same year.  From April to November in 1949, he went to the Buddhist Shrine Institute in Fuzhou to learn commandments from Old Master Cizhou.  From September, 1956 to July, 1959, he received his education in the Buddhist Academy of China in Beijing.  After graduation, he went back to Lingyan Mountain Temple and worked as Monastic Manager.  During the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to labor in Tianping Orchard in Suzhou.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Policy on Freedom of Religious Belief was restored and carried out by the Party. Consequently, the Suzhou government returned three temples to Buddhists, including Lingyan Mountain Temple.  Open to visitors in the New Year's Day of 1980, they were among the earliest temples in the country to implement the policy.  During the Cultural Revolution when Master Mingxue was laboring, he kept practicing Buddhism and didn’t leave the Lingyan Mountain though he was forced to leave the temple.  His devotion to the temple won him reputation among the masters in Suzhou.  At the end of 1979, Master Mingxue accepted the invitation of the Religious Department of the Suzhou government and took the responsibility of preaching as well as reconstruction and reparation of Lingyan Mountain Temple.  He was the first monk to go back to the mountain after the religious policy was put into effect. When he returned to the ever-haunting temple, all sorts of feelings welled up in his mind.  Seeing all neglected tasks to be undertaken, he felt the task was arduous and the road was long.  In the winter of 1980, Master Mingxue was promoted to the abbot of Lingyan Mountain Temple.  To restore the prestige of the Pure Land Dharma Center, he inherited and improved the temple regulation stipulated by Master Yin Guang.  In 1981, he made the Stipulations on Co-Living in Lingyan Mountain Temple, and received affirmation from Mr. Zhao Puchu, the president of the Buddhist Association of China.  Strictly regulating the monks by the Stipulations, Master Mingxue also scrupulously observes them.  For years, he has treated all the monks as brothers, whether distant or close, and therefore has won everyone’s reverence.  Even in his seventies, Master Mingxue still remains assiduous, shows no interest in worldly desires, convinces people by his virtues, teaches people by precept and example, and takes the lead to cultivate morality.  By practicing Buddhism incessantly, he has revitalized the morality of Lingyan Mountain Temple, and brought popularity to it as well.  Inspired by the practice in Lingyan Mountain Temple, more and more monks have been attracted there.  Edified by the practice of Pure Land Dharma Center, they purify and calmly cultivate themselves with Dharma. Some of them live there over ten years long. Some even live there nearly all the time, seeking rebirth into the Pure Land and comfortably waiting for the other life when eventually foreknowing the right time approaches.  Despite the undesirable living conditions there, the number of residing monks annually remains 150 or so.  Everyday, Lingyan Mountain Temple makes it a routine to read teachings in the mornings and evenings, recite commandments every 15 days, and hold “Intensive 7-day Recitation Retreat” in recitation hall constantly during the year.  Its influence is evident.  It’s well-known to all that Lingyan Mountain Temple doesn’t conduct Buddhist ceremonies just for repentance, but many pious people still kept going up to the temple to attend “Intensive 7-day Recitation Retreat” every year, and thus well preserves the feature of pious Pure Land Dharma Center built by Master Yin Guang. Mater Mingxue is now the vice-president of Buddhist Association of China, the president of the Buddhist Association in Jiansu Province, the Abbot of Lingyan Mountain Temple in Suzhou.  He leads his life in the pure land, practicing Buddhism for more than half a century, and never ceasing Buddha recitation and moral cultivation.  He advises us to be devoted to Buddhism, following its principles, praying for all living creatures and purifying all the souls.  It’s the great honor of Qingjingsi Temple in Baotou to invite Master Mingxue as the mentor.

The Couplet on the Gate of the Lingyan Mountain Temple:

The Pure Land’s gateway to abandoning the three evil roots reveals the miraculous tactics of following the example of the Buddha.

Amitabha Buddha’s unyielding desire for blessing the nine realms of error shows all the living the great plan of reaching the Buddha-realm.