Master Renze

Master Renze, also known as Pema Sherab.

1969　Born in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, into a family of physicians. Perceptive from an early age, he showed a keen interest in the natural sciences.

1987　Entered the Department of Physics at Shandong University. As a student he read widely in Western psychology and philosophy, then turned to the Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist classics, beginning a deep inquiry into the nature of mind and life.

1990　Began practising meditation, grounding his intellectual search in inner contemplation and direct practice.

1994　In early 1994, aged 25, he was ordained at Nanputuo Temple in Xiamen under Chan Master Huitong, senior monk of Zhenru Temple on Yunju Mountain, Jiangxi. In October he received full ordination at Zhenru Temple, with Abbot Yicheng as ordination preceptor. In December he became a student of Master Yuanyin, practising the Heart-Centre Dharma, and spent three years in seated meditation at the Chan hall of Xuefeng Temple in Fujian.

1997–2003　Years of seclusion, mountain dwelling and retreat, devoted wholly to meditative practice.

Summer 2003　At the sincere request of lay practitioners, he emerged from retreat and began teaching the Dharma.

2006　At the invitation of practitioners he settled in Beijing and founded the Yiming Pure Land Practice and Bodhi Centre, teaching systematically and guiding monastic and lay students through progressive study and practice. During these years in Beijing, through an introduction by Dharma Master Renlian, he came to study with and rely upon Mr Xu Zhenlu, who had himself supported and studied under Master Yuanyin.

Teaching and community　He places particular importance on training monastics and on systematic Buddhist education, emphasising that the Dharma be lived in daily life and sustained practice. His teachings have reached practitioners of all ages and backgrounds; his students have established practice centres and online communities in China and abroad. Lotus Wisdom Centre carries on this spirit, guiding practitioners to generate Bodhicitta and cultivate the path to liberation.

Chan Buddhism

Studied under Chan Master Huitong, inheriting the Chan tradition of combining work with meditation and pointing directly to the nature of mind.

Heart-Centre Dharma

Became a student of Master Yuanyin, and later studied with and relied upon Mr Xu Zhenlu, deepening his practice of this method uniting Chan and Vajrayana.

Tibetan Buddhism

Studied with the Nyingma teacher Sherab Orgyen, who bestowed the name Pema Sherab, and with the Jonang teacher Sangye Orgyen, receiving the Kalachakra transmission.

Drawing together the wisdom of Chinese and Tibetan traditions, these experiences laid a firm foundation for his systematic teaching and his ability to guide each student according to their needs.

Master Renze emphasises a coherent, practical and progressive path, grounded in the Three Principal Aspects: renunciation, Bodhicitta and the wisdom realising emptiness.

His teaching integrates listening, contemplation and meditation, encouraging practitioners to move beyond intellectual understanding through sustained inner observation, changes in conduct and consistent practice.

Drawing on scriptures and commentaries, he also engages with modern science, philosophy and traditional Chinese culture to make the Dharma accessible to people from diverse backgrounds, responding to each practitioner's needs and stage of development.