OBITUARY
Master John David Hughes passes away
Melbourne - Sabbe Sankhara Anicca (All conditions are impermanent). Master John D. Hughes passed away on Saturday 29 November 2003 at 5:50pm EST at the Angliss Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Master John D. Hughes was with his wife Anita Hughes and persons who love him.
Buddha Dhamma Chanting has been occurring, throughout the day beginning about 12:00pm.
Many Venerable Monks and students of Master John D. Hughes chanted blessings for three hours following his death.
Master John D. Hughes was the Founder, Abbot and Resident Teacher of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. It is a Regional Centre of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, an Associated Institution of the World Buddhist University and a member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.
Master John D. Hughes was a former Vice-President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists and the recipient of the Visuddhananda Peace Award 1999.
Master John D. Hughes taught over 1 million students in 14 countries during this lifetime.
Master John D. Hughes was a great man who dedicated his life to the Buddha-Dhamma and his passing away is a loss to the Buddha Sasana. Master John D. Hughes' high spirit of propagating the Dhamma will live on in our hearts. Let the Dhamma be the guide in times of grief. May the Lord Buddha bless everyone with peace!
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammasambuddhassa
Master John David Hughes
Born 9 September 1930 - Deceased 29 November 2003
Funeral Celebration Ceremony
Saturday 6 December 2003
11.00 am Dana Lunch offering to Venerable Sangha and blessings
12.00 MD Bell Puja
12.05 pm Family Offering
Offering of flowers, 6 vegetarian dishes, 1 large bowl of rice, fruit and incense
12.10 pm Sutra recitation to John Hughes by Master Ru Sun
12.40 pm Dhamma talk to John Hughes by Master Ru Sun
12.45 pm Offering of incense and recitations by guests, family, students and friends
2.00 pm Departure of funeral party to The Necropolis, Princes Highway, Springvale, Victoria, Australia
3.00 pm to 3.30 pm Cremation Ceremony at the Necropolis, Princess Highway, Springvale
TRIBUTE TO MASTER JOHN DAVID HUGHES
The most important thing for John fundamentally has been to show teachable beings the way out of suffering, to help them to understand the way out of suffering and to provide the materiality to do it.
Australia - John David Hughes was a fourth generation Australian and was born on 9 September 1930 in Mentone, which is located by the beach near Melbourne in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia. John’s father’s father was rich. He had 28 employees and his sons worked for him. Keith Albert Hughes, John’s father, was also rich, but in 1930, the business collapsed in the Great Depression. Then his father was unemployed. But John’s parents as well as other family members provided him with everything he needed and his childhood was a very happy one. John was the only child and on Sundays up to 18 family members used to come for dinner, presenting a strong sense of family. He was a very bright and unusual boy.
John was the resident Buddha Dhamma Teacher and Founder of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. He built this temple to provide persons in Australia the opportunity to make merit, so that they can learn and practice Buddha Dhamma. John chose a suitable location for the temple in the quiet hills of the Yarra Ranges. He established a heavenly Chan garden surrounding the Buddhist Centre and has built a multilingual Buddhist reference library, the John D. Hughes Collection, in the temple, which he wanted to last for at least 500 years. On 9 September 2000, John's 70th birthday, the 70th Buddha relic arrived for this year. Over 300 Buddha relics including three hair relics are now stored in the Centre. The lemma John chose for the organisation is 'Lifetimes of Learning'.
The most important thing for John fundamentally has been to show teachable beings that there is a way out of suffering in according to the teachings of Lord Buddha, to help them to understand the way out of suffering and to provide the materiality to do it.
John saw himself in a process of becoming, not as a static entity, but with the intention of making the causes to become a Buddhist monk, under the future Buddha. He trained himself every day to this aim in a very focused and coherent way following his life plan.
People that really make a difference in the world in many countries, including about 8000 Buddhist monks, bodhisattvas, business leaders and politicians, have shaped John's life. Some of them he has personally met. Atisha, one of the great beings, whom John met in a past life 1000 years ago, still inspires him today.
John had a Diploma of Applied Chemistry from Swinburne College of Technology, a Trained Technical Teacher's Certificate from the Education Department of Victoria, he has studied Arts and Education at Deakin University, was awarded a Graduate Diploma in Adult and Industrial Education from Deakin University and studied Mathematics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. For many years he taught science in Victorian Technical Schools and was Committee Member and later Chairman of the Boronia Teacher Education Centre.
John was the Founder and Secretary of Australian Manufacturers Patents, Industrial Designs, Trademark & Copyright Association (AMPICTA). The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd is a foundation member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria. Also, John owned a company trading as WINNERS GAIN GROUND, which provides commercial training packages.
Many nicknames were given to John over the years, but the one that really seems to stick is 'Spike'. It comes from the days when John enjoyed playing Jazz cornet and a popular band at the time had the name ‘Spike’. John has always liked music and reading a lot.
John D. Hughes was elected as Vice-President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) in November 1998. On the 25th of January 2000 John was awarded with the Visuddhananda Peace Award (in Memory of His Holiness the Late 24th Mahasanghanayaka Visuddhananda Mahathero) from Bangladesh. The Venerable Shilalankar Mahathero, the Sangharaj of the Supreme Sangha Council of Bangladesh describes John in a letter to his 65th birthday as “one of the apostles of our New World Buddhist order in Australia, and one of the pioneers of Buddhism in the Australia - New Zealand region”.
John was one of the World's few living Chan Masters and has been painting Chan images for more than four decades. He founded the Chan Academy at the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., where the 'Way of the Brush' was taught by him. The classic Chinese Ch'an painting method has many meanings; it is a Buddhist meditation practice. Chan, also known as Zen, is like Prajna Paramita. For John personally, he painted for long life practice and also as a way of thanking the Dragon King for helping him. The paintings are profoundly beautiful. John said that it is interesting in Australian nationalism to have an Australian painter that will be remembered for a long time for painting classic Chan in Australia.
John traveled regularly to national and international Buddhist conferences and Buddhist organisations and has helped many beings in Australia and Overseas with his wisdom and compassion. He has visited and taught students in 14 different countries around the world, which come from various cultural, social and economic backgrounds. In the future, John wanted to establish a branch of a Buddhist university.
Science was fundamentally the basic discipline John was trained in, and his hobby was the building of a private Geological Museum, which is again tied to the Dragon King. For over three decades John collected precious stones and rare fossils from all over the world and he planned to create an on-line Geological Museum on the internet as e-education, and wanted to inspire persons to become geologists. On the 9th September 2000 John launched UMLAUT, the 'Upwey Museum Library All Uniting Think Tank'. He decided to publish the UMLAUT notes on the internet.
Over the last 11 years John was editor of the Buddha Dhyana Dana review, the flagship journal of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd and he was also editor in the previous 11 years when the journal was called the BDCU Newsletter. This publication is distributed to 40 countries and is available on John's specialised websites. John established seven truly beautiful Dhamma websites, they are a treasure, and he planned to build more multimedia sites. Also, John planned to build some low-tech sites, because many people have slow computers, such as with a 386 processor. He published ongoing teaching materials on his websites. John used this virtual form instead of the traditional ideal face to face scenario to teach those students, who are not in the position to travel to the Centre.
By using the new information technology he has enabled many more beings to meet and learn the Buddha Dhamma. John was also Executive Producer of 'The Buddhist Hour' radio show, which is broadcasted every Sunday from the local Knox FM 87.6 & 88.0 radio station, and he was planning to broadcast the show digitally via the Internet in the future. In addition, John was going to publish a number of books. The first one is nearly ready and it is called The Library You Are Looking For. John operated at both the micro and the macro level.
His knowledges were vast and he was full of loving kindness, always ready to lend a helping hand, and to show people the way out of suffering. John was practical and was often delegating tasks to others; he has had many people helping him. John D. Hughes was a very inspirational person who has helped and will continue to help many beings.
May Master John be blessed with a good rebirth.