Chinese Han Transmission Tantrayana – Holy Tantra Gu Fan Mi Jin-Gang-Dhyana Buddhism (abbreviated as Tantrayana Buddhism or the School), as implied by the name, belongs to Tantrayana Buddhism. Tantrayana Buddhism originated from the Bhagavan Gu Fan Mi Fo Fan Vidyadhara Tantrayana Buddhism that was established in Ancient India by Manjusri Buddha, Maha Samantabhadra Buddha Tathagata, and Holy Ancestral Patriarch Bhagavan Zhi-Ji Vimalakirti, under the personal direction and instruction of the Great Holy Sakyamuni Buddha. Together with Exoteric Buddhism, the School disseminated Buddhist Dharma to the populace during the time when the Great Holy Sakyamuni Buddha was still present on Earth. Master Zhi-Ji is the twenty-eighth and current Patriarch Master of the School.

 

To many scholars who research in Buddhism, it is apparent that Tantrayana Buddhism is an unfamiliar name where historical information is not easily available. On the surface, this may emerge as true. One of the reasons is that, during the 9th century, Emperor Wu-Zong of the Tang Dynasty was a follower of Daoism, and he wanted to exterminate Buddhism. In history, this period is referred to as “Wu-Zong Mie Fo” (literally translated as Wu-Zong extermination of Buddhism). However, before the arrival of the Dharma disaster, the Holy Tantra Ancestral Patriarchs who were disseminating Dharma in the inner mandala halls within the imperial palaces were able to predict the incident using their observations and calculations of the Holy Tantra Time-wheel. They retreated accordingly and orderly, left the Tantrayana Buddhist temples, and merged with the general populace. Holy Tantra practitioners abandoned their Sangha Jewel forms and integrated within other schools of Buddhism, other religions, and even in all trades and professions. By doing so, even though the path of development was tortuous and undulating, the Dharma lineage was able to be preserved. Therefore, for over a thousand years, besides those who have comprehensively studied Buddhist teachings—especially Esoteric Buddhist teachings—it is difficult to obtain a full picture of the scriptural lineage transmission and oral lineage transmission of Tantrayana Buddhism—this school of Esoteric Buddhism that originated from Ancient India.

 

Furthermore, for the many scholars who undertake in-depth research in Buddhism, they often discover hidden and foreshadowed hints embedded within the text of teachings inscribed in many Exoteric and Esoteric scriptures. However, as the text is ancient and unelaborate, the esoteric significance contained within is not easy to parse or analyse. For example, within the Vairocana Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra and other fundamental root sutras of Tantrayana Buddhism, the scriptural text contains Tantrayana Dharma principles that clearly indicate the Dharma lineage transmission of the School. As these Tantrayana teachings have yet to be decrypted and deciphered, even scholars who have attained a certain degree of research regrettably narrowly fail to grasp the meaning. Hence, one of the historical missions of Tantrayana Buddhism is to ‘exotericise’ (reveal and disclose) the profound and difficult-to-understand Tantrayana teachings to the general populace and benefit all sentient beings.

 

On 16th April 1989, Master Zhi-Ji strode over the Luohu Bridge in Shenzhen, China and drew open the curtain of world dissemination of Tantrayana Buddhism. Master Zhi-Ji travelled overseas and propagated Dharma around the world, to materialise the prophecy of Master’s teacher, Bhagavan ZHI-JI Vimalakirti Jing-Wu Dharma Lord. The “Deng Feng Shou Ji (the prophecy of Deng Feng)” was bestowed in the early 20th century, and described the direction of development for the School in the progressive future. Master Zhi-Ji eventually resided in Hobart at the southern edge of Tasmania in the Southern Hemisphere. Master Zhi-Ji conforms to the arrangements of the Holy Tantra Time-wheel, gradually unveiling the seemingly mysterious veil of the School and exhibiting its original features to the world. The Headquarters for worldwide dissemination of Tantrayana Dharma was also established. Moreover, in preparation for the founding of Jin-Gang Dhyana University, Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia was established as an institution that aimed to specialise in areas of education and academic research.

 

Master Zhi-Ji works unremittingly, spreading the Dharma of Tantrayana Buddhism—this Chinese Tantrayana Buddhist teaching—to the worldwide audience through multi-channel, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional measures in accordance with the aptitude of different sentient beings so as to benefit them. To facilitate propagation and operation, not-for-profit incorporations such as Holy Tantra Esoteric Buddhism Incorporated, Jin-Gang-Dhyana Incorporated, and Jin-Gang-Dhyana Wang Xin-De Foundation Incorporated were established. Furthermore, utilising the virtual platform of information and technology to target different audiences, websites such as ‘The World of Jin-Gang-Dhyana’[1], ‘Jin-Gang-Dhyana Temple of Australia’[2] and ‘Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia’[3] were set up. Due to the current popularity of mobile communications, accounts with the usernames “古梵密 (Gu Fan Mi)” and “Light Of Tasmania” [4]have recently been set up on Chinese social media platform WeChat, allowing friends to easily access and receive information and news about Tantrayana Buddhism on their mobile devices. Similarly, the School now also has a Facebook[5] page to benefit the multi-faceted propagation of the teachings of the twelve vehicles of Buddhism. Through these social media platforms, Tantrayana Buddhism also aims to promote the tolerance and accommodation of multiculturalism, as well as understanding and harmony between different ethnicities and religions. All departments and organisations under Tantrayana Buddhism observe the constitutions and conventions in accordance with the three incorporations, that is, to adhere to the nature of purely academic research and promotion of Chinese and Buddhist culture, and not to intervene in any political matters or engage in profit-making activities.

 

Following the ideology of the ultimate virtuous kindness and benevolence of the Great Holy Sakyamuni Buddha, and under the leadership of Master Zhi-Ji, Tantrayana Buddhism is devoted to fostering talents for Dharma dissemination with equal emphasis on Buddhist theory and practice. Moreover, it advocates the principle of simultaneous development of the three cultural educational aspects as guiding directions, they are: traditional Chinese culture, traditional Buddhist culture and conventional societal education. This strives to provide society with comprehensively talented people who have high morality and healthy mentality.