48 Vows Of Amituofo: Blessings For This Life & The Next

Dharmasharer SG

Feedback From Previous Rounds:

Dear Brother Shen, I’ve enjoyed every lesson since Module 1 of ‘The 48 Great Vows of Amituofo’ course. It is very engaging, informative and easy to understand. It has a tremendous impact on me as all the missing pieces in my life have been finally put together. I’ve found my faith in Amituofo and would surely aspire and practise to reach his Pure Land. Thank you for your time, guidance and generous sharing. You’re a truly great Dharma teacher of the modern days. Amituofo, Josephine

Dear Teacher Shi’an, Thanks very much for conducting this course on the 48 Great Vows of Amituofo. After understanding the rationale behind each vow, I am further touched by Amitabha’s great compassion. There is no reason for us not to aspire to be born in his Pure Land! Thanks for the tireless effort you put in to make the lessons interesting and simple enough for us to understand by showing modern examples, colourful slides and video clips. You are indeed an excellent Dharma teacher! I would encourage all Pure Land practitioners to attend this course. It is important for us to know and understand Amituofo’s great vows as this would strengthen our faith and aspiration to reach Pure Land. 16 lessons (Module 1 & 2 together) just passed so quickly. I always leave the class filled with Dharma joy (法喜充满) at the end of each lesson. Thanks for sharing. Amituofo! – Ivy

I enjoyed being in your class. I like how you relate the lessons to real life example that would allow it to make logical sense and be much easier to understand. Thank you much.- Janet

Unless you overcome the fear of death, you will never be able to live fearlessly. This is what you will learn in this class, and more. With Bro. Shi’an’s wit, passion and generous sharing, you will come to realise that you hold the key to your future. And with diligent effort [and the blessings of Amituofo], you can actually enjoy a better life now, rather than later. Great job in delivering another excellent class and may you reach out to many more! –Han

Hi Shi’an Laoshi, as usual, very well-researched and collaborated! The modules did answered some of my questions on why certain vows are made… Looking forward to next year’s courses. Amituofo. – Zann

Dear Teacher Shi’an, I am glad that I had the affinity to attend your class for both module 1 & 2 of the ’48 Great Vows of Amituofo’ course. Your teaching and constant reminders to practise minfulness of Amituofo had inspired me to make some changes that I know they will increase my faith. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you with appreciation from the bottom of my heart. Once again, thank you for being a great Dharma teacher with your undying efforts to propagate Dharma to all of us. Yours sincerely, Yam Hoon

I sincerely appreciate your effort, time and generosity in sharing your knowledge and experience. It has strengthened my faith in Pure Land. I am blessed to have come to know about your teachings. I have encouraged my brother to attend your class on ‘Understanding Amituofo’. – Mee Nah

阿弥陀佛！It’s my first time attending your lessons, quite by chance. Saw the poster put up during one Sunday helping out at one of the children Dharma class for the first time. Initially, I thought it’ll be a boring or dry lesson. But it turns out that I was fully awake throughout your lessons… The lessons come alive during the teaching and I do really enjoy and ponder on many things that were taught. I do hope to study more sutras in the near future from your classes. Thank you so much again, and for your good work + skilful teaching. - KK

Great thanks for your sharing during the lessons. I learnt a lot from your sharing and greatly appreciate the opportunity that you have given us to learn more about Buddhism. My Mum too – she values your sharing and specifically asked to go for the 48 vows to learn more. Look forward to more of your sharing. - Violet

Thank you for painstakingly explaining every vow, giving a lot of examples and analogies that are innovative, relevant and interesting… and sharing of many Dharma stories. Every lesson helps to strengthen our faith and aspiration to go Pure Land… Thank you for sharing the Dharma… I have learnt a lot. Amituofo, Meow Lin

I always enjoy your lessons. - Bee Lan

Thank you very much for your clear teachings. : ) It’s indeed my blessing to be able to understand more about Amituofo through what you have taught. I am very grateful. Thank you. - Hock Chye

I really enjoy your lessons. Prior to meeting you I have read some of your books and have been a TDE subscriber for years. I am a beginner actually. So what you shared is interesting and informative to me… I signed up for 48 vows without knowing anything about Amituofo except it is a ‘mantra’! I am glad I did! You are very good at conducting such lessons in an interesting and lively manner, with very good visual effects too. I really appreciate your time and effort put into your research, detailed interpretations and guidance. Attending your ’48 Vows’ and ‘Understanding Amituofo’ courses has further strengthened my faith. My husband and I are very encouraged to take on the practice more seriously. We are looking forward to more of your courses. As the year is drawing to a close, I thank you, not just for the recent lessons, but also for all these years, for what I have learnt from your books and publications. I also sincerely wish that you are always blessed to continue your great work in sharing the Dharma. - Jenny

You are a really ‘Wonderful’ instructor. I really enjoy your class. It so interesting, so interactive. Looking forward for your class every week. A million thanks. - Wallace

Thank you Brother Shi’an for the painstaking planning, preparing and presenting of the course! The amount of research put into the numerous slides for the very interesting and mind-blowing knowledge-sharing sessions (and notes) is indeed commendable! We enjoyed the sessions and fellowship sessions and wish that everyone who attend them do too. We now believe that our aspiration to go to Pure Land has become stronger. We’ll definitely recommend people to attend the next run. Amituofo! Tio Siang & Jacqueline

Btw, I enjoy every single lesson and your effort is definitely appreciated! Amituofo, Monica

Dharma Teacher Shi’an is very sincere and earnest in delivery of his courses. Always filled with many interesting and creative analogies or metaphors to let us have a better idea and understanding. The various creative media used and implementation of the element of humour brings the Dharma classes alive without boredom, very often allowing me to feel inspired and invigorated with renewed energy after the lessons. Really appreciate the amount of effort Teacher Shi’an put into preparing his classes. Hope that the work of Teacher Shi’an will continue and benefit more of us! - Ricky

I would like to take this opportunity to say I enjoyed your lessens. They are very interesting. Many thanks. - Lilian

Thanks, Brother Shi’an for conducting the class. You had put in a lot of effort to explain in English. - Iris

About Teacher:

Shen Shi’an 沈时安: An independent Buddhist teacher, author, researcher, translator, editor and poet, he was one of the founding members of the Dharma Propagation Division of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Bright Hill Temple in Singapore) in 1997.

Holding a Masters of Arts degree in Buddhist Studies that covered all major Buddhist traditions, he served as a Dharma Trainer and Project Coordinator in its Community Development & Training Department until 2011, focusing on Buddhist research, writing, teaching and answering of media queries on Buddhism.

He was the founder of the temple’s Youth Mission (now ‘KMSPKS Youth’), a book purchaser for its Awareness Place project, and the Chief Editor of the Web & Library Department, that co-supported Buddhanet.net, a popular Buddhist education website.

He is the founder and editor of TheDailyEnlightenment.com since 1997, one of the world’s largest independent Buddhist inspirational e-newsletters with over 31,000 members, the editor of ‘Be a Lamp Upon Yourself’, ‘The Stonepeace Book (Volume 1-2)’, ‘Awaken: Gateway to Buddhism (CD-ROM)’ and the writer of ‘The Daily Enlightenment: Reflections For Practising Buddhists (Book 1-7)’ and the bestselling graphic novel, ‘The Amazing & Amusing Adventures of Sam & Sara: The Zen of All Kinds of Stuff!’ (He is the author-editor-translator of 13 books.)

He also contributes occasionally to magazines such as ‘Nanyang Buddhist’, ‘Awaken’ (for which he was a Contributing Editor), ‘For You (Information)’ (for which he was invited to be an editorial board member), and ‘Eastern Horizon’. He served with the film selection team of a Buddhist film festival, writes movie reviews for BuddhistChannel.tv, the world’s leading Buddhist news network, and popularised [email protected], which is an innovative way of sharing the Dharma through detailed reviews and discussions of both popular and offbeat films.

Using retranslated sūtras and treatise texts, he has taught on the Pure Land teachings at Singapore Buddhist Federation, Kong Meng San, Pu Ji Si Buddhist Research Centre and Poh Ming Tse. He also leads the Pureland Practice Fellowship.

He is also occasionally invited to conduct Dharma discussions for youths of tertiary institutions’ Buddhist societies (NTUBS, NUSBS, SIMBB, NPBS, NYPBS) on various subjects, and to introduce Buddhist life perspectives at Secondary Schools (St. Patrick’s School, Manjusri School), Junior Colleges (Catholic Junior College) and International Schools (UWCSEA, SJII).

He was also invited to share on Buddhism by Dharma Drum Mountain (Singapore), Fo Guang Shan (Singapore), Tai Pei Buddhist Centre, Singapore Buddhist Mission Youth, Singapore Buddhist Youth Mission, Wat Ananda Youth, Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society, The Buddhist Union, Buddhist Fellowship and Kampung Senang. He has also been invited to Indonesia and Malaysia to teach.

He was a committee member of the Inter-Religious Organisation, through which he served in interfaith harmony projects by writing and giving of public talks, having represented Buddhist points of view at national events held by NACLI, NHB, NHG, SAF, SPF, MHA, ACM, SPM, STB, OnePeople.sg, IRCC and MCYS.

He also co-runs Moonpointer.com, which is a community blog that promotes creative sharing of Buddhism via thousands of articles. He can be reached at tde thedailyenlightenment.com for invitations to share the Dharma via articles and talks.

Interview In Buddhist Magazine: http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/07/interview-with-shen-shian