Born in 1944, Venerable Master Xiao Pingshi (蕭平實) was raised in a farming family in central Taiwan. Seeking answers to the truth of human existence, he became a committed Buddhist disciple and practitioner in his forties and in 1990, attained awakening to the True Mind via Chan contemplation and the aid of an incredible Dharma-door called “signless Buddha-mindfulness.”
In 1997, Master Xiao established the Buddhist True Enlightenment Practitioners Association in order to offer different levels of Dharma classes to practitioners. Presently, the Association’s practice centers have reached all major cities of Taiwan, and beyond to Hong Kong and the United States. Since the founding of the Association, Master Xiao has been giving weekly lecture on important Buddhist scriptures, such as the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Sūtra on Upāsaka Precepts, the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, the Diamond Sūtra, the Reality Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, and so forth.
To elucidate the Buddha Dharma and its stages of cultivation for all interested learners, Master Xiao has also published more than a hundred books on a wide range of Buddhist subjects. These include the combined cultivation of Chan and Pure Land, the realization of the Path to Liberation expounded in the Āgamas, the analysis of the profound Middle-Way teachings and the exegesis of key Consciousness-Only scriptures. All of his books emphasize the points that Buddhism is a path of personal realization and that realization can only come through a continual process of listening to, contemplating, and actual practice of the Buddha Dharma.