Biography of Master Zhenlin

I was born in Xinchang county of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province in Eastern China, in a village called Changqiutian. My father was a revolutionary, who later, together with my mother, became a firm member of the working class. My parents have five children. I am the third one, with two elder sisters. When I was born, I was the very pearl in the family. However, I was quite unique in what I ate from the day when I could take food. I ate only green vegetable. As long as it was fresh and green vegetable, I ate it. I said no to all other food. Such an eating style was quite a headache for my parents. Nevertheless, I just would not take any other dishes. Without other choice, my parents did their best to get vegetable for me to eat. Such a life style continued till I was thirteen when I had to attend a school quite far away from my home. I had to have the lunch at the school canteen. From then, I also was able to take pickled vegetable. Gradually, I came to accept other dishes. As I was quite small in size, and as a result always being bullied by other kids, I started to practice Kung-fu when I was thirteen. It was a Kung-fu school passed down by my ancestors through many generations.


After that, I was able to take all kinds of dishes. I continued to receive education. Everything went on smoothly. By 1983, the impact of the Reform and Opening-up Imitative started to be felt in my hometown, a mountainous area. Many schools (previously closed in the Cultural Revolution) were re-opened, and education programs launched. Riding the wave, I entered through exams the local Vocational School, bearing the thought that having a job meant everything. The school had just been reopened. It was a post-junior-high three-year program. There were no textbooks. As a result, I studied for only one year and a half there, and then became an intern at Xinchang Wool Textile Factory. Though an intern in title, I was already a real worker there. I did what other people did. Perhaps it was because of my diligence, in less than half a year, I had grasped all the techniques, by applying what I had learnt in school (my major was Wool Textile) to practice. At that time, township companies were mushrooming thanks to the Reform and Opening-up Initiative. I started to provide short-term contracted services to local township companies, to install equipment for them and provide technical guidance to their employees.


Well, I was still a student by them. I had to bribe the workshop manager so that I wouldn’t get punished for working for other employers at the same time. Later the factory launched punitive measures against it, and I had to stop doing that. Due to my bad record, I was dispatched to do three-shift work. I was quite unhappy about it. I gradually felt I did not like doing manual labour. How could I get out of it? After all, I did not have any protégé for help. As I had been very interested in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I then spent time studying it. Later, I did manage to say good-bye to manual labor by employing a tactic mentioned in the novel, and was sent to do quality check. Other than that, I also spent my spare time studying the Book of Changes, Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor, etc, partly because I got more free time, partly because I had been practicing Kung-fu and Qigong (or, the breathing exercise). The study made me realize how profound and extensive the Chinese culture is. I developed new pursuits of life.

For less than one year had I worked on quality check, I was promoted to be chief of the Communist Youth-League of the factory. I stayed at the post for five years. It was a rewarding five-year for me. Not only did I get to know friends of good knowledge, but also got the chance to look into philosophy, including Marxism-Lenism. I was leading over eight hundred young people in my capacity as the chief of the Youth-league, which also helped to improve my public speaking skills. It was also in this period that my life philosophy underwent tremendous changes. I realized that there were many questions that no philosophy could explain. When still confused by the questions, I started to read Tao Te Ching. I was so fascinated by it and really committed to studying it. Everything about the world is written and explained in clear-cut terms in the book. It also elaborates on the truth about the universe. By then policies were promulgated to intensify the reform and opening up process. The company I worked for was to be restructured as a result. As I also took the role as chief of the Association of Science and Technology of the Youth of Xinchang County other than as the chief of the Youth League, another company sent me an offer and wanted me to work as its sales chief. In 1997, I resigned from Xinchang Wool Textile Factory, and joined Xinchang Sauce Company.

It was also in 1997 that I got married. My son was born in 1998. I was able to meet Guanshiyin (Avalokiteshvara) Bodhisattva because of him. It happened one month before he was due. I was in the habit of jogging and practicing the breathing exercise every morning, but I woke up too early that day, at 4 am, as I did not see the time clearly. I lied down again and wanted to sleep for another while. All of a sudden, I was in a trance. I saw Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, clad in white, flying to me on auspicious clouds, with a baby in Her hand wearing a red bellyband. I heard Guanshiyin Bodhisattva saying to me that the baby would be my child. I could remember clearly it was a boy, and also how he looked. Still in the trance, I felt I was kneeling down and bow to Her. Guanshiyin Bodhisattva then flew away. That was when I woke up. I told my wife of the dream, and that Guanshiyin Bodhisattva was sending us a son. My wife said I had the dream because I wanted to have a son.

In fact, I wanted a girl more than a son. Anyway, I did not talk more as my wife did not believe it, and went out for the morning jogging and breathing exercise. I mentioned the dream to my parents when we were having the breakfast. Nor did they believe it. My son was later born fifteen days earlier than thought. It was a boy indeed. I had forgotten about the dream, though. My wife, however, thought of it, and asked whether the boy looked like the one in my dream. I said no. Three months later, we asked a friend to take care of our child. One week after that, my wife and I went to see him. When I took away the bedding around him, I could not help crying loudly. He looked exactly the same as the boy I met in the dream! At that time, my thought was that there was presence of Bodhisattvas. Anyway, I did not pay homage to the Buddha or Bodhisattva, nor burn incense to make offerings to them. I did not quite believe in it. Nevertheless, I gradually got more and more resistant to meat food. I felt comfortable when taking vegetarian food but bad if I ate meat. I then became a vegetarian.

I resigned from the local sauce company having worked there for less than a year. I started my own business selling native products in July of 1999. It went very smoothly. In three years time, my business had grown from having only one store to a leading company in Xinchang County. I also got more and more unrealistic and overconfident. I invested in several projects without good planning. Before long, the business was posting losses, due to the weaknesses in human resources management and governance. It was quite a tough time for me. I tasted enough bitterness of life at that time. When in adversity, one is forced to reflect back and within.


I invested and set up a factory in 2005 and got to know a friend who was a businessman. He was quite unhappy as his business had gone bankrupt. He often talked to me about his afflictions and said he wanted to leave home-life. By then, I gradually come to know more Buddhist believers, including a fellow-cultivator whom I call Elder Sister as we follow the same master. She took me to the Guoqing Temple, in Tiantai. On the way back from the Temple, I encountered a layman who sent me a copy of lecture by Master Chin-kung on the Amitabha Sutra. I developed strong interest in the Buddha Dharma after reading it. I felt it was not enough. I need to consult the Sutra itself in order to hear the voice of Shakyamuni Buddha.

I got converted to Buddhism in the next January, by Master Shi Kehui, the Chief Master of the Guoqing Temple, thus formally taking refuge in the Triple Gems since then. Still, I did not have any idea about the Buddha Dharma by then. Fortunately, I got to know Brother Shi Liumu online, with whom I talked and shared the thoughts on the Buddha Dharma. Later, I also came to Dongyue Temple, which is my permanent residence now. Thanks to Brother Shi Liumu, I got to read the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha's Fundamental Vows, which made me realize just how profound, extensive, and esoteric the Buddha Dharma is. I then went on to read the Lotus Sutra. After finishing reading it, I all of a sudden, it seems, understood the whole thing about the Buddha Dharma. I realized who I am, where I come from, and where I should be going. I have been upholding the Lotus Sutra since then. Very soon, I was able to understand all the Buddhist Sutras easily, and could lecture on them. Gradually, I found myself attaining spiritual penetration power only heard of in fairy tales. One year later in 2006, I left all my business to be handled by a colleague, and focused on the cultivation of the Buddha Dharma…