THE VENERABLE GREAT DHARMA MASTER TỊNH KHÔNG HAS ENTERED PARINIRVANA

With deep reverence, we bow before the Venerable, newly entered into Parinirvana, the Great Dharma Master Tịnh Không, who devoted his entire life to the study, practice, and propagation of the Pure Land school.

The Great Dharma Master Tịnh Không, born Từ Nghiệp Hồng, was born on February 15, 1927, in Lư Giang District, An Huy Province, China. In his youth, he studied at the Third National Middle School and the First Municipal Middle School of Nam Kinh. In 1949 he came to Taiwan, where he served at the Thật Tiễn Academy, devoting his spare time to the study of classical texts, history, and philosophy. At the age of 26 he began studying Buddhism and adopted a strict vegetarian diet, first seeking instruction from the philosopher Professor Phương Đông Mỹ. He then studied under the eminent Tantric master, Great Master Chương Gia. Finally, he traveled to Đài Trung to seek the Dharma from the Buddhist scholar and lay elder Lý Bỉnh Nam.

In 1959 he took monastic ordination at Lâm Tế Temple in the Viên Sơn area of Đài Bắc City, receiving the Dharma name Tịnh Giác and the Dharma title Tịnh Không. After receiving full ordination, he traveled widely, lecturing on the sutras and expounding the Dharma throughout Taiwan and around the world for over sixty years without interruption.

The Venerable Master Thích Tịnh Không was a master deeply versed in the scriptures and treatises of the various Buddhist schools, as well as the teachings of other faiths such as Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. In particular, with regard to the Pure Land school of Buddhism, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to its practice and propagation, achieving truly remarkable success. To this day, thousands of his teachings have been released in the form of cassette tapes, video recordings, CDs, VCDs, and DVDs. Moreover, he was a pioneer in using multimedia and Internet technology to spread Buddhist teachings, with a particular focus on the Pure Land school. His lectures can be found widely across websites and YouTube in numerous languages. The Venerable Master always emphasized that Buddhism is not a religion, nor is it a philosophy — Buddhism is the education of the Buddha, grounded in wisdom and compassion for attaining enlightenment, rather than a superstitious faith.

With one-pointed reverence, we bow before the Venerable, newly entered into Parinirvana, the Old Dharma Master Tịnh Không, born Từ Nghiệp Hồng. We vow to hold fast to and rely upon the profound and compassionate Buddhist teachings he left behind.