The Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly: Sending Off Noble Beings, the Perfect Liberation through Collective Effort

On September 17, 2025, after eight days and seven nights of intensive collective practice, the moment of concluding the ritual has come. Now, let’s take a moment to reflect: Have we drawn closer to uncovering our dharmakaya and nourished our wisdom, thereby strengthening and stabilizing our “Bodhisattva DNA,” ensuring it will never regress? Indeed, “the power and virtue of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly are inexhaustible.” The entire time and space of this ritual constitutes an unsurpassed bodhimanda for Dharma practice—a guaranteed path for swift attainment of Buddhahood.

Since beginningless time, sentient beings have been wandering in the ocean of suffering endlessly. Even when they occasionally encounter the Dharma, they often fail to seize the essence of Dharma practice due to the proliferation of misconceptions and lack of faith. As a result, they are unable to transform their karma, and after the passage of countless lifetimes, they continue to wander in samsara, unable to break free from the cyclic suffering.

The Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly is precisely the supreme Dharma gateway that enables our parents from countless lifetimes, our relatives and kin, and all suffering beings to swiftly enter the Pure Land of Amitabha (Sukhavati) and escape the wheel of suffering. It is the aspiration of Guan Yin’s (Avalokiteshvara) boundless compassionate aspiration and the distilled wisdom of successive masters, offering us the most authentic, accurate, and accessible path of Dharma practice. As long as sentient beings have faith and come to uphold the Dharma at the Dharma Assembly, the inconceivable and liberative power of the Dharma Assembly can swiftly liberate beings to the Pure Land of Amitabha, where they may learn, practice the Dharma and attain Buddhahood.

To successfully establish such a great Dharma Assembly—one that moves the space and earth to benefit both the living and the deceased—requires an immense gathering of virtuous conditions and merit. For over thirty consecutive years, we have conducted this large-scale Dharma Assembly. Beyond the vast resources of manpower and material support required, what is most crucial is a profound aspiration of compassion, free of any desire for reputation or gain, solely for the liberation of sentient beings from suffering. It is this profound aspiration that draws virtuous and accomplished masters to preside over the Dharma Assembly, unites tens of thousands of donors and faithful practitioners with a single mind, and jointly initiates this “direct train” to the Pure Land of Amitabha for all suffering beings.

In addition, prior to the main ritual, we hold five preliminary rituals. The monastic assembly recites over 400 scriptures in various shrines at the Dharma Assembly venue, while I enter a 21-day retreat to dedicate merit for the perfection of the Dharma Assembly. From the installation of the shrine to the implementation of every liturgical detail, all is done with utmost reverence and precision, strictly following the ancient tradition without the slightest negligence. The sole purpose is to inspire genuine resonance within participants, enabling them to engender great bodhicitta and receive profound resonance through diligent practice.

Special thanks to the Committee Members for the aspirations of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly, who, out of concerns for the suffering of beings, have committed to invite those lacking merit and conditions to attend may nonetheless partake in the blessings of the Dharma Assembly, receive its transformative power, and swiftly transcend samsara to get a chance to attain Buddhahood. Some committee members have already completed the accumulation for fifty preliminary sessions of next year’s Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly—an extraordinary expression of aspiration and resolve that we should all emulate, encouraging more people to participate.

As the saying goes, “The world is impermanent, lands are fragile and at risk.” A Dharma Assembly of such magnitude—uniting countless compassionate aspirations, conducted with utmost ritual precision, and relying on the harmonious convergence of many auspicious conditions—is truly a rare event, “difficult to encounter even in a hundred thousand eons.” Should any one of these conditions be absent, such an Dharma Assembly could not be held. Each time we hold one, the opportunity becomes even more precious. That we have the karmic fortune to attend this Dharma Assembly in our present lifetime is exceedingly rare and worthy of the greatest appreciation. We must seize this opportunity, participate year after year, and continue this endeavor without end. Those who have already participated should continue to reap benefit and liberation; those who have not should be encouraged to join when the opportunity arises.

Everyone should give rise to a firm aspiration to pursue the Dharma and a great compassion to liberate all beings, vowing to join together in participation and effort, never missing the chance to rescue even a single being. May all sentient beings—those with whom we have karmic connection and those without—swiftly sever the shackles of samsara, directly reach the Pure Land of Amitabha, and attain Buddhahood.

Now we come to the Sending Off of the Noble Beings, the culmination and final examination of our eight days and seven nights of practice. We must give thanks for the safeguard of all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and dharmapalas, for the guidance of the Three Masters, and for the diligence of all monastics in the Inner Shrine and Outer Shrine. We also express deep gratitude to the sponsors for their wholehearted support and to all the volunteers for their tireless service, which allowed everyone to put aside worldly concerns and fully engage in the seven-day practice of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly.

At this moment, following the recitation of the name of Amitabha, we must connect our minds with Amitabha’s vow with utmost sincerity and reverence, guiding the beings of the six realms to the Pure Land of Amitabha and purifying all afflictions and negative karma. We are to concentrate our thoughts and visualize with single-minded sincerity:
“All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the Noble Assembly, please return along the path of clouds; may the ancestors of all generations, our parents of past lives, our karmic creditors, and the beings of the six realms board the boat to the West and be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitabha.”
Finally, we dedicate the collective merit of this Dharma Assembly to all beings throughout the ten directions, that they may enter into the Dharma, perfect both merit and wisdom, and attain great liberation. May everyone enjoy physical and mental well-being and spiritual awakening; may wars cease, life be at peace, ecosystems be harmonious, and the Earth remain peaceful.