Experiencing Interruptions?

Following The Avatamsaka Sutra On A Journey

By believing in and reading the Avatamsaka Sutra with faith, this journey begins. In 2014, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery began promoting the Avatamsaka Sutra to Buddha’s disciples. The objective is to chant one chapter a day and complete a set in a quarter of a year so that this Sutra can bring about wonderful changes to the follower’s life.
However, promoting the Avatamsaka Sutra is not an easy task. Not only do many different versions exist, the set itself is considerably large. In addition, the text contains many archaic Chinese characters and virtually no punctuation, making reading difficult. Most people know about the Heart Sutra, Vajracchedika (Diamond) Sutra, or Bhaisajyaguru Sutra, yet not many people are familiar with the Avatamsaka Sutra. As a result, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery decided to make promoting and offering the Avatamsaka Sutra their lifelong ambition and decided to redo the typography of the Avatamsaka Sutra in order to improve readability.
During the 2015 Sangha Offering Ceremony, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery offered twelve thousand sets of Avatamsaka Sutra to all Venerable Masters and accepted applications from all Monasteries across Taiwan. After receiving applications from Korea, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery decided to start a series of travels to monasteries across the world in order to offer and promote the Avatamsaka Sutra.
In October 2017, Yuan Dao Monastery organized a group of 60 people to Xi An, China to offer the Avatamsaka Sutra. In addition to eight sects’ ancestral temples, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery traveled to a very remote city called Dun Huang. Yuan Dao Chan Monastery made an Avatamsaka Sutra offering to Leiyin Temple – the temple where Xuan Zang Master had previously been stationed. In December, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery traveled to Nanchang City of Jiangxi province to offer the Avatamsaka Sutra to new monks who had finished the Ordination Ceremony. Each new monk received a set of Avatamsaka Sutra.
As of 2019, Avatamsaka Sutra has reached the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia, as well as across more than ten countries around the world. A total of over one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) sets of Avatamsaka Sutra have been offered as of today. In China, Yuan Dao Chan Monastery travels to almost every province and makes offerings to many monks. Yuan Dao Chan Monastery hopes to someday offer one million sets of Avatamsaka Sutra so that everyone involved can enter the rich, spiritual world of Avatamsaka.
According to the Avatamsaka Sutra, the most respectful act of giving is to offer Buddhist dharma. Offering the Avatamsaka Sutra is considered an offering of the highest regard. In this documentary, there was a father who wanted to build merits for his daughter who passed away at the age of eighteen. Understanding the significance of the Avatamsaka Sutra, this father decided to financially contribute to the further printing and offering of future copies of the Avatamsaka Sutra as the ultimate gift to his late daughter.

  • Chen Hung-Cheng
    Director
  • The Corporate Body of Yuan Dao Cultural & Educational
    Producer
  • Shi, Chuan-Chen
    Key Cast
  • Chen Hung-Cheng
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    跟著華嚴經去旅行
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    38 minutes 27 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 30, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    Taiwan
  • Country of Filming:
    Taiwan
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Chen Hung-Cheng

Chen Hung-Cheng, Male, born in 1965, work in information service industry nearly 30 years. Since 2016, begin to learn film documentaries at Community University in Taichung City.

In Feb. of 2017, Chen invited by master Jan-hui for filming the documentary of support Avatamsaka Sutra to Xi'an, in Oct. of year 2017.

Filmography of Director

2017, short film, Happiness of Taichung.
(Prizewinner of online voting top 10)
2017, short film, Taste of home.
2017, short film, Tongxin bridge.
(Win Honorable mention award by Nantou’s Microfilm competition.)
2018, short film, alaya-vijnana.
2018, short film, motorbike.
2018, short film, When Seth meet Ananda.
(Shortlisted for Best film of the year 2018, Taichung City’s gold Director.)
2018, documentary, The angel heart of environmental protection.
2019, documentary, Following The Avatamsaka Sutra On A Journey.
2019, documentary, Nanshan Ichiro.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Real record, record true. This film records the Masters of the Yuandao Temple, leads a group of heart-felt Bodhisattvas, supports the journey of Hua Yan Jing, and encounters some incredible stories on the journey.

In terms of economic scale, it is necessary to support one million sets of Huayan Jing. The printing cost per set is NT$1,000, and the whole heart needs NT$1 billion. Where does the money come from? The scriptures are to be provided to the masters who are willing to be read by the masters. The transportation process is really difficult. In the difficult course, how can this group of Bodhisattvas strengthen their convictions and move forward. This is the most authentic documentary on the practice of Bodhisattva.

After the whole film was completed, I realized that in any difficult setbacks we encountered during the filming process, some people suddenly came to help at the crucial moment, who would meet in our life journey, what did it accomplish, Buddha The Buddha has already been arranged.