Living Affinity (Nurturing the Environment, Our Relationships and the Life of the Spirit)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Human beings are social; we cannot live apart from community. According to the Buddhist monk Venerable Master Hsing Yun, When we perceive that human society is nothing other than a web of human relationship s, we will understand just how crucial our relationships are.

In Living Affinity , Master Hsing Yun describes the foundations of that web- in community relationship , love and affection, the environment , wealth and the material world, time and space, and in terms of spiritual development through a close examination of some of the key sutras and with a wisdom rooted I the knowledge of centuries and yet vibrantly relevant today.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun is he founder of Fo Gaung Shan , an order of Buddhist dedicated to the promotion of “Humanistic Buddhism” which seeks to make Buddhism useful and relevant to today’s spiritual seekers, and has temples and institutions of learning all over the world, including the university of the West in Los Angeles. Among Hsing Yun’s books are being Good and Infinite Compassions, Endless Wisdom.

Founder of the Fo Gaung Shan (Buddha ‘s Light Mountain)Buddhist Order and the Buddha’s Light International Association, Venerable Master Hsing Yun has dedicated his life to teaching Humanistic Buddhism , Which seeks to realize spiritual cultivation in everybody living.

Master Hsing Yun is the 48th patriarch of the Linji chan school. Born in Jiangsu province, china in 1927, he was tonsured under Venerable Master Zhikai at the age of twelve and become a novice monk at Qixia vinaya college. He was fully ordained in 1941 following years of strict monastic training . When he left jiaoshan Buddhist college at the age of twenty , he had studied for almost ten years in a monastery.

Due to the Civil war in china, Master Hsing Yun moved to Taiwan in 1949 where he undertook the revitalization of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. He began fulfilling his vow to promote the Dahrma by staring chanting groups, students and youth groups, and other civic-mined organizations with Leiyin Temple in Ilan as his base. Since the founding of fo Gaung Shan monastery in Kaohsiung in 1967 , more than two hundred temples have been established worldwide. His Lai Temple , the symbolic torch of the Dharma spreading to the West, was built in 1998 near Los Angles.

Master Hsing Yun has been guiding Buddhism on a course of modernization by integrating Buddhist values into education , cultural activities, charity, and religious practice. To achieve these ends , he travels all over the world , giving lectures and actively engaging in religious dialogue. The Fo Gaung Sahn organization also oversees sixteen Buddhist colleges and four universities, one of which is the University of the west in Rosemead, California.

For many of us , relationships are the primary concern and focus of our lives. When our relationship s are in balance and running smoothly , we experience a sense of well-being an happiness. When our relationship s are fraught with disconnection and distance , we feel lonely and out of sorts. While we would be extremely happy if someone offered us a solution that immediately created complete and everlasting harmony in our relationship s, the truth is that we ourselves already contain this potential – our very being is already the absolute fruition of this unimaginable potential for intimacy. In Living Affinity, Master Hsing ? Yun invites us to experience relationship s that extend far beyond what we typically consider close relationships and helps us to develop relationship not only with other people , but with everything in our experience of reality. He Helps us to understand that it is only the illusive construct s of our mind and our perpetual insistence on viewing ourselves as separate and distinct from everything around us that inhibit us from having living affinity every moment , with all things . Inherent in every person, Master Hsing Yun argues, is the unblemished and unrestricted ability to awaken affinity in every aspect of our lives.

In Buddhism, the concept of “affinity” transcends our common definition of the term, which is typically understood as a sympathy or liking for someone or something . As it is discussed in this book, “affinity" (the Chinese term is Yuan) means a profound spiritual relationship that prevails and deepens over many lifetimes. Affinity is not fleeting; it does not come and go. Affinity is the natural state of existence , it is the beginningless and endless hum of the Universe; it is the very essence of our being.

Key to understand our true capacity for affinity is realizing the truth of interdependence . The Buddha taught us that nothing can exist independently – everything is linked through interdependence and nothing can arise outside of relationship . It then follows that by the mere fact existence , we are in a natural state of affinity with all things. It is both comforting and encouraging that we do not have to struggle or devise a complex plan in order to experience affinity . We only need to our true nature in order to reveal the living affinity that always was and always will be . Within this book, we encounter specific practise, wise suggestion , and inspiring examples that can help us in this endeavour.

While the following pages explore affinity in love relationship , friendships, and communities , master Hsing Yun also encourages and instructs us to cultivate the heart and mind of affinity with the environment, the material world, money , space, time , and most fundamentally , our spiritual journey . In One comedic, yet entirely sincere, moment we are even inspired to nature affinity with our dishtowels!

The expanse of master Hsing Yun’s vision and the strength of his leadership have yielded and continue to Yielded- extraordinary result. With his tireless energy and remarkable affinity, he has established temples, universities, schools, and other organizations all over the world. His travels have taken him around the globe, where he has developed relationships with countless people from diverse backgrounds and different religious affiliations. His life admirably embodies the saying, “ With affinity, people will meet even it they are a thousands miles apart.”

Livings Affinity is a wonderful gift and a heartfelt guidebook for all who wish to explore the vast range and ultimate potential of relationship . Deep and a billing connections are simmering just below the surface of a flimsy and illusory disguise of our own creation . May you experience peace and joy as you develop a rich spiritual life , and may you delight in becoming the truth of living affinity.