Repentance Begets Peace and Bliss; Repentance Begets Serenity and Clarity (Issue 282)

I remember many years back; a group of senior lay disciples came to visit the City of Dharma Realm. Seeing their deportment, we monastics felt ashamed. Their deportment was perfect and their countenance extremely adorned — eyes contemplatively gazing down their nose, leading to the mouth. They donned the precept sash over the black robe. They did not move or talk at random. Why were they this way? The Venerable Master had been very strict with them. When in the bodhimanda, they were not allowed to carry on a normal conversation loudly, let alone gossiping. Otherwise, the Venerable Master would scold them. When we accompanied the Venerable Master on his return trip to Hong Kong, everyone was absolutely silent. You could hear a pin drop on the floor. The Venerable Master quipped, “What are you all doing? I’m not a ghost! Why are you so afraid of me?” Having undergone the Venerable Master’s rigorous training, none of them dared to fidget.

Recently, on November 5th of this year, I participated in the 3rd year of Honoring Elders Day festivities in Hong Kong. Afterwards, the City of Dharma Realm (CDR) conducted our annual Honoring Elders Day. One day before the festivity at CDR, three guests showed up — a senior lay woman accompanied by her son and daughter-in-law. Actually, she came with her son and daughter-in-law to the US for a visit. Of course, they visited the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. While there they learned that Dharma Master Heng Jiao and myself were at CDR, and they made a special trip to see me. How thoughtful of them!

Everybody creates his/her own life and charts his/her own destiny. This senior lay woman’s son and daughter-in-law were both very filial to her. It is commonplace to have a filial son; but it’s very hard to have a daughter-in-law who is just as filial. Why is that? She told me that there’s recitation of Earth Store Sutra every Wednesday at the Buddhist Lecture Hall. She said, “Most of the senior disciples have either passed away or grown too old to move around. Very few people show up. There’s only a handful coming every Wednesday. Since I can still walk, I make sure I attend the dharma assembly every Wednesday. But my son and daughter-in-law won’t let me go because they worry for my safety. Nonetheless, I have to go. I told them, ‘How can we not support and protect the Venerable Master’s bodhimanda? As long as I can walk, I will certainly go.” Her son conceded to her wishes, saying, “Then you should take a taxi.” If she were to take the bus, she would need to climb up and down more than a hundred steps of stairs. That’s why her son wanted her to take the taxi. But she refused, “I have to pay more than a hundred dollars for each taxi ride from home to the Buddhist Lecture Hall. I’d rather offer the hundred some dollars to the temple. The temple needs donations too.” That’s how considerate these senior disciples are.

Another lay person told me a similar story. After the Venerable Master left Hong Kong for the United States, only one senior bhikshuni was left in charge of the temple. Life was hard at that time, and the bodhimanda was often short of supplies. Someone would say, “Dharma Master, we’re short of this and we ran out of that.” The Dharma Master would say, “Don’t tell me. Tell Wei Tuo Bodhisattva.” When the standing bell broke, everyone chipped in to buy a new one. It was always like that. Those senior disciples had unwavering faith and confidence in the Venerable Master, and they were extremely filial, even when they were in their eighties. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful? When I have a chance, I will talk about past episodes of the Venerable Master’s earlier days to both the monastic and the lay disciples.