塞納河邊，梁皇啟建

The English writer Dickens’s masterpiece A Tale of Two Cities is set against the backdrop of the 1789 French Revolution. The most dramatic scenes of that period of history are none other than Louis XVI and the Queen being sent to the guillotine, and the ensuing Reign of Terror led by Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Countless innocent aristocrats, clergy, and commoners were sent to the guillotine because of their political views or religious beliefs. Robespierre later became even more extreme, and even the number-two figure within his own camp, Danton, and even the sixteen Martyrs of Compiègne did not escape. This radical system ultimately headed toward its own destruction, and karmic retribution quickly fell upon himself. After his death, people wrote this piece of black humor on his epitaph: “Passerby, do not mourn for me; for if I were alive, none of you would be allowed to live.”

The smoke of history has dispersed, and the tracks of karmic conditions intersect. It is precisely this religious and historical background, full of blood and tears, that leads to the protagonists we are going to talk about today——Saint Jacques, and the Church of The Two Saints.

Among the many biographies in the Venerable Master’s work the Water Mirror Record: Turning Back the Tide of Heaven, there are U.S. Presidents Washington and Kennedy, and Franklin, the founding father on the hundred-dollar bill. Yet there is not a single figure from French culture or history⋯⋯

Strictly speaking, there is! Once. That was the precept transmission for the dead after the 1987 Water-Land-Air Great Dharma Assembly. At that time, when the celestial phenomena suddenly changed, the Venerable Master asked everyone: “What language are they speaking? Does anyone know? It seems to be French.” This was an interlude of the Water-Land-Air Dharma Assembly————the taking of refuge and requesting of precepts by numerous members of the Bourbon royal family.

Was it because of this karmic condition that the seeds were planted for the Venerable Master, despite illness, to lead a delegation in 1990 on a European tour that included France? It is not known.

In 2003, Reverend Heng Sure and other monastics of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA) came to France; they transmitted the Three Refuges and Five Precepts; among those who took refuge at that time were, Master Jin Di and Master Jin Lun who were still laypersons (including Layman Zhang Qinyang and others. Once Master Jin Lun arrived at CTTB, all he thought was to leave home and did not want to leave CTTB.

In 2011, Reverend Sure, Dharma masters Heng Syun, Heng Je, along with Jin Yu Shi, Jin Zhi Shi, and others, came to Paris. They rented the Temple bouddhique Linh Son to hold a Dharma assembly, where they transmitted both the Precepts for the Deceased and the Three Refuges and Five Precepts. This outlines the general journey of the DRBA Sangha to France over the years.

The Dharma requires a two-way journey. What about the laity? Starting from 1992, some devotees gradually drew close to CTTB. Upasika Huang Guohua (Yuehua) came to participate in the Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance almost every year. Her vow was not to seek wealth and status for her descendants, but rather a wish that her children and grandchildren could draw near to the Proper Dharma and resolve for Bodhi.

As time flew by, groups of devotees grew older, many turning from dark-haired to silver-haired. The urgency for DRBA to reconnect with the local devotees here became increasingly clear. If we had not seized the opportunity, the proper time and conditions for DRBA to propagate the Master’s Dharma in France might have slipped away.

In 2019, the DRBA Sangha held the Emperor Liang Repentance for the first time in Grenoble. Upasaka Huang Guochun, who had almost lost contact with DRBA since taking refuge with the Master in 1990, reconnected with us during this assembly. Filled with enthusiasm, he wrote an invitation to entreat us and personally traveled to CTTB during the pandemic to request DRBA to establish a branch monastery in France.

With all conditions fulfilled, we did not fail our initial resolve. In 2023, the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association France Branch was officially established. From 2023 to 2025, the branch held one major Dharma assembly each year, including a Guanyin Dharma Assembly and two Emperor Liang Repentance Ceremonies.

This year, the Year of Bingwu (2026), the Emperor Liang Repentance began on Saturday, October 10, and concluded on October 17. Thanks to the excellent choice of venue, the number of participating devotees increased significantly compared to previous years. A large number of Sangha members from DRBA also came to support, forming a grand assembly.

The Bhiksuni Sangha sent a delegation of six members: led by Dharma Master Liang, including Dharma Masters Heng Jiao, Heng Zu, Heng Li, Heng Jie, and Jin Wei. The Bhiksu Sangha included Dharma Master Xing flying in from Hong Kong, and Dharma Masters Jin Yan and Jin Xiao from the US and Canada.

Counting from the inaugural session in 2024, this year marks the third time the Emperor Liang Repentance has been held. Looking back to 2023 when the branch was newly founded, a Guanyin Dharma Assembly was held at École Sainte-Geneviève de Nanterre in the suburbs of Paris; subsequent repentance ceremonies were held in ‘24, ‘25, and this year, achieving three consecutive years of the “Three Repentances of Liang.”

It is worth mentioning that in December 2025, the branch purchased a residential property in Deuil-la-Barre, a satellite city in the northern suburbs of Paris, and converted it into the “Cibei Jingishe” (Compassion Hermitage), with Dharma Master Jin Di stationed there permanently from the Bhiksuni Sangha. Moving from official registration to possessing a permanent propagation center is a milestone event in the history of “DRBA France.”

Dharma, wealth, companions, and place—all conditions harmoniously came together. Year after year, the number of lay disciples coming to support from home and abroad has gradually increased. A major breakthrough of this assembly was renting a Catholic church. The venue is located in Paris’s little Chinatown, close to a metro station. Thanks to this geographical convenience, as many as 70 to 80 devotees participated during the opening and closing days, attracting faithful from other European countries: Peter who rushed from Norway, a couple who traveled from Hungary, and Upasaka Qinjing (Mohammad), an Iranian national currently working in Germany who took refuge just last year.

With the conditions ripe, the accomplishment of the event still relied on the unity of everyone. Since the church is quite a distance from the Compassion Hermitage, the daily lunch offerings had to be cooked at the Hermitage, packed into stainless steel containers, and transported all the way through the bumpy streets of Paris to the venue.

The memorial plaques to be written and the registrations for the Three Refuges and Five Precepts were extremely detailed, requiring great patience. On the men’s side, Upasaka Zhang Yiyang picked us up and dropped us off every day… Sometimes, to set up the venue or rush the cooking, sleeping time was only two or three hours. All of these moving details are what touched me most during this year’s repentance.

The fourfold assembly of disciples upheld the same vision and worked together with concerted effort, making the Dharma assembly a great success — even a visiting Catholic lady was deeply moved, stating that she could genuinely feel that powerful and penetrating positive energy.

Catholicism is deeply embedded in the cultural gene of France. Since ancient times, France has been hailed by the Holy See as “the eldest daughter of the Church” (La fille aînée de l’Église). This year, a bold attempt was made to rent a Catholic church in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Its full name is the Church of Saint Jacques and Saint Christophe (Église Saint-Jacques-Saint-Christophe), which I called the Church of the Two Saints when forging Dharma affinities. This church has a history of nearly two hundred years.

In previous years, the Dharma assembly venues were either at lay devotee Guo Chun’s Bodhi Vihara or in borrowed schools; the addresses were somewhat remote, and it was not easy for the faithful to make the trip. So this year we chose to rent a Catholic church in the 19th arrondissement of Paris; the hall where the Dharma assembly is held is next to a branch of the Seine, and right beside it is a fire station. Many people stroll, walk their dogs, or jog along both banks of the river while listening to the quietly flowing water; every Thursday and Sunday, the small square behind the church becomes a temporary market—bustling with people buying groceries, an endless stream. Full of the warmth of everyday life, yet one rarely hears anyone hawking or haggling. The church is nearly two hundred years old. Because its name is quite long—the full name being “Église Saint-Jacques-Saint-Christophe”—I called it the Church of the Two Saints when I gave the Dharma talks.

The so-called Two Saints (the “saints” here are not the same concept as the “three worthies and ten saints” in Buddhism) refers to Saint Jacques and Saint Christophe; given space constraints, I will mention only Saint Jacques here. After Jesus Christ was crucified, he had twelve apostles. Eleven of them, for the sake of spreading Christian doctrine, forgot their bodies for the Dharma and in the end nearly all (except Saint John) [suffered martyrdom], and the first among them to be persecuted to death was Saint Jacques. These forebears of Catholicism are truly worthy of admiration. The statue on the left side of the main entrance of the Two Saints Church is Saint Jacques; on the right is Saint Christophe. Interestingly, the Jacobin faction, which was at the center of the storm of the French Revolution, was named after their habit of gathering at a Saint Jacques monastery in Paris.

The Catholic kindred spirit with whom Venerable Master Xuan Hua associated throughout his life was Cardinal Yu Bin. He praised these worthy disciples and descendants of Jesus for devoting themselves to the religion even unto sacrificing their lives without hesitation. He praised the teachings they propagated as being close to the people and down-to-earth; and the church schools, hospitals, charities, and so on that they established became their most powerful auxiliary means for guiding the faithful.

However, over the past century, the current state of Catholicism and Christianity in Europe and America brings a sigh of regret. Under the impact of modern secularization and rapid technological advancement, even France, historically the heartland of Catholicism, faces an irreversible decline in believers and a negative growth of clergy. Seeing this current situation, should we as Buddhists feel a chilling sympathy for our neighbor’s loss, or should we applaud—thinking their vacancy makes room for the development of Buddhism?

The Venerable Master had four great vows throughout his life: the Sangha, translation of scriptures, education, and interreligious exchange. Since we have entered the heart of Catholicism and rented their church this time, shouldn’t we consider having a fellowship or a small forum with them? This was a “false thought” that arose in my mind while bowing in repentance. If expanded, we could even invite Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) to participate in the future, co-hosting academic or cultural activities with local Catholic groups, cultural institutions, and academic universities. In this way, wouldn’t DRBA’s Dharma propagation in France rise to the next level?