An Instructional talk by Venerable Master Hua on January 6, 1974, at Gold Mountain Monastery, San Francisco
The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association was established in 1959. Its predecessor was the Sino-American Buddhist Association. Every year since its founding we have conducted Buddha Recitation Sessions and Chan Meditation Sessions. The sessions, however, have passed by without notice, and without fanfare. Rarely do people pay attention to the recitation and meditation sessions going on at Gold Mountain Monastery. This is because we don’t advertise or exploit opportunities. We simply mind our own business and honestly cultivate. When someone finds out about the session and requests permission to join, he or she is certainly welcome! All the same, we absolutely do not beg, solicit offerings, or seek help. We don’t say, “Gold Mountain is holding a Chan session. Several spiritual adepts who have tamed their minds will be attending. If you come make offerings to them, there will be limitless merit and virtue.” We have never done any publicity to promote ourselves in this way.
In China, when a Chan session was held, the donations contributed by the faithful laity during the session were enough to cover the monastery’s operating expenses for an entire year. Sometimes the revenue exceeded a year’s proceeds. During the session, the participants would often take the initiative to make offerings and establish good affinities with the assembly by donating great quantities of rice, noodles, oil, miso, soy sauce, dried foods and so forth.
Now in America, where Buddhism has just begun, we want to reform the bad practices of the past. As the saying goes, “A good beginning is halfway to success.” Because we refuse to employ any tricks to beg, we haven’t created those particular affinities. If we had any schemes for bringing in offerings, it’s likely we could improve on the situation in China and attract even more supplies and money than they did.
Why don’t we solicit offerings? Because our first priority is to genuinely and honestly cultivate the Way and, in doing so, to simply accord with whatever the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have arranged for us. When the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the gods, dragons, and the eightfold pantheon of Dharma-protectors and good spirits see us working hard and walking the Way, they spontaneously respond to our efforts. If we fail to sincerely cultivate, however, and donors still come to make offerings, we should feel deeply ashamed.
It’s said,
If you have not put the three thoughts to rest,
then plain water is hard to swallow.
If you can understand the five contemplations,
then even gold will digest.
If we hang on to thoughts of the past, the present, and the future and don’t put these thoughts to rest, then if a donor offers us even a glass of plain water, we will find it difficult to drink. But if we can understand the principles underlying the five contemplations, then even gold (and this means the most delicious vegetarian delicacies) will be digested without problems. What are the five contemplations?
1. Consider the effort it took to bring this food to where it is eaten.
2. Calculate your own merit and virtue. Are they sufficient for you to accept this offering?
3. Guard your mind against transgressions, of which greed is the major cause.
4. Regard the food as medicine, taken to prevent the body from wasting away.
5. Accept the food only as a means to succeed in your cultivation of the Way.
(To be continued …)