Edwin Decenteceo (傳仁), Advisor

Edwin Decenteceo is a professor of clinical psychology in the University of the Philippines (UP). In the course of his work, he has done a lot of readings and observations on the newest technique of using mindfulness to calm the mind in behavioral therapy. In 2009, through his student Dr. Jane Lu Xia, another advisor of Ocean Sky, Prof. Edwin invited former Abbess Master Jianyong to conduct a session on Zen meditation for his class in UP.

As an offshoot to that short Dharma lecture in UP, Edwin came to attend classes in the monastery. Soon after he came back from the Chan-7 retreat in Chung Tai in 2010, he turned vegetarian. Edwin said: “My becoming vegetarian is not about food. I just appreciate this idea of respect for life and wanted
to understand it more.” During his second Chan-7 retreat in 2011, what inspired him most were the Dharma words that “Taking the Five Precepts doesn’t make you any different from someone who belongs to one of the major religions. What makes the Buddhist different is the attainment of the Bodhi mind.” He realized that “I have to increase my resolve to achieve my True Mind.”

Edwin is also a teacher of voice. Once a week, he comes to the monastery to give voice lessons to the Shifus to improve their chanting. He said: “I am really grateful to the Shifus for all lessons that I’ve learned here in Ocean Sky. Buddhism has come to me at the right time. I guess when the student is ready, the right teacher will come.”

In the 2012 sutra class, Edwin studied the Surangama Sutra with Master Jianshu. It was quite a revelation to him, both in the contents of the sutra, and in the way it was taught and pre- sented by the Abbess. He shares this real- ization: “I was struck by the fact that the
Abbess is teaching us from her very own personal understanding of the Sutra. Now I can see that all the former Abbesses also taught from their own understanding of topics such as Zen, karma, the Six Paramitas and so forth. I have now learned a very important lesson: that each one of us must come to our own understanding of Buddhism.” From the classes and retreats, he expresses: “I now see the wisdom of what Buddha had said: Depend on the teaching, not on men; depend on the meaning, not on the words; trust wisdom rather than consciousness; study texts containing complete rather than partial revelation.”

Edwin keeps coming to Ocean Sky because he wants to learn Buddhism from the true practitioners of Zen. He said, “I want to learn Buddhism from the Shifus.” He now knows that the Buddha Dharma should be practiced. He said: “When I prostrate, I do it with a mind of utmost respect towards the Buddha, his teachings, and the Shifus.”

In the past, Edwin knew about other religions only because of circumstances. But for Buddhism, he says: "I am actively embracing it because this is for me."

As an educator, Edwin brings his students to be exposed to the more profound type of wisdom at Ocean Sky. According to him: “I shall continue to invite people to the monastery. Ocean Sky is performing an important function in the Philippines. People should expose themselves to Buddhism and experience what it has to offer.”