According to our founder,
Venerable
Master Hsuan Hua, Long Beach Sagely Monastery is the Way-place of Earth
Store Bodhisattva, hence the large Earth Store Bodhisattva's statue in the
back of the Buddha Hall.
The couplet on the sides of
the front entrance reads:
Long Beach Sagely Monastery
where Dharma rains equally moisten--its Way contemplates the past and
present;
Los Angeles' Dragon Palace
where sweet dews universally nurture--its virtue matches Heaven and Earth.
As you enter the Buddha
Hall, to your left is a side hall
from which Venerable Master Hsuan Hua used to lecture to the packed Buddha
Hall. Now his picture hangs on the wall behind his Dharma seat.
01-13-07:
Transmission of
Three Refuges
& Five Precepts
by the Sangha [the collective Monastics] of
Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
On our
invitation and representing
the Sangha of Dharma Realm Buddhist Association was Dharma Master Heng
Sure. The ceremony proceeded through the following rites:
Requesting the Teacher to
Confer the Refuge, Singing Praises & Bowing to the Buddhas, Seeking to
Receive the Refuges, Giving Instructions, Invoking the Presence of the
Sages, Making Repentance, Transmitting the Refuges, Making Bodhisattvas'
Vows, Showing the Benefits Derived and Exhorting the Preceptees to Comply,
Proclaiming the Precept Substance, & Transference of Merit & Virtue