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Master Dishen, lay surname Lü, attained realization through the Pure Land and carries the Chan lineage. The supreme power of pure vows is “Di” (Truth), and what annihilates the karmic obstacles of beings across the world is “Shen” (Deep). The Dharma-name “Dishen” was bestowed by a divine monk who, amid all-pervading Buddha-light, called it out with a lion’s roar. His ordination name is Shakyamuni Miaosheng; his ancestral home is Jimo, Shandong. On the 18th day of the 11th lunar month of Buddhist Era 2506 (the 18th day of the 11th month of the ren-yin year) he was born in Wafangdian, Liaoning Province. From birth until age three he could not speak; after he began to speak his nature was exceedingly simple and honest, and his family thought he was ill! Later, due to the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, he returned with his parents to their ancestral home.

1. 1.At the age of 26 he formed a karmic connection with a local temple; at that time no ordained monastics resided in the temple.
2. 2.When he first entered the temple he helped the monks sell tickets. As his home was far away, he rested alone at night in the accountant’s office outside the courtyard. Suddenly the walls dissolved into emptiness, Buddha-light shone everywhere, and a divine monk with a lion’s roar called out “Dishen” three times — hence the name.
3. 3.Before entering the temple he had never seen a sutra nor entered any other monastery, and knew nothing of Buddhist affairs. Thereafter he mostly associated with Buddhist and Daoist practitioners, obtaining the Diamond Sutra through a lay practitioner, the Avatamsaka Sutra from another, the Lotus Sutra at the temple, and the Shurangama Sutra from yet another lay practitioner.
4. 4.He had a great affinity with one ordained monastic; moved by this, he resolved on his own to leave the household life. At the foot of the mountain a bhikkhuni driving a cart gave him a ride to Treasure Temple; that night he saw Skanda Bodhisattva manifest, and the next day he descended the mountain.
5. 5.On his first visit to Mahayana Temple, before even entering the gate he heard bells and drums sounding together and celestial beings chanting sutras, and could not help exclaiming: “How wonderful, how wonderful, how wonderful!” At that time only one monastic and his disciple lived at Mahayana Temple. The following night Skanda Bodhisattva bestowed upon him a wordless true sutra.
6. 6.In his rented dwelling he saw a paramecium clinging to the wall, so he burned incense to send it off. The paramecium suddenly fell to the ground, near death; at that moment his hand could not move, the incense stick became bent, and he urgently recited the Buddha’s name and bowed to the Buddha beneath the bed.
7. 7.In the deep of night a golden-red Earth Store (Ksitigarbha) Bodhisattva manifested. He did not recognize it and asked a monastic; seeing that the image was identical to the Earth Store Bodhisattva in the Earth Store hall, only in a red-gold auspicious form, he then knew it was the great-vow Earth Store Bodhisattva appearing.
8. 8.While studying the Shurangama Sutra at his dwelling, a lay practitioner came to visit on a rainy day. An adept, without any fire source, ignited a soaked newspaper with his finger in the rain. Seeing this, he suddenly understood the Shurangama Sutra passage: “The nature of fire is true emptiness, the nature of emptiness is true fire, pervading the Dharma-realm, pervading the realm of space, responding according to the knowledge-measure of sentient beings.” He was overjoyed; dozens of onlookers gathered with umbrellas.
9. 9.While reading the Shurangama Sutra at his dwelling, the world dissolved into emptiness and a vast great light arose.
10. 10.In 2001 he received the precepts. In a dream he saw a tall glazed-tile temple crash to the ground. He knelt on incense in the Sangharama hall all night; soon after, he took up residence on the mountain and traveled on foot across the land.