Nanhua Monastery
Upon
reaching Nanhua Monastery, I bowed to Venerable Master Yun, feeling
like an infant seeing his mother again, like a wandering son who
returns home. After so many years of yearning admiration, I was finally
able to fulfill my wish. When I first arrived, I was assigned to serve
as verger in the Patriarch Hall. When Dharma Master Zhican came to
visit, he and I found that we shared the same views on cultivation, and
he recommended me to the Venerable Master Yun as a capable person and
worthy vessel of Dharma. The Venerable Master Yun then summoned me to
the Abbot's quarters and asked me to be Superintendent of the Vinaya
Academy. I refused. He urged me three times. I said, "Your student has
come ten thousand miles to meet the Good Knowing Advisor and in order
to end birth and death. If the Venerable Master can guarantee that I
will be able to end birth and death, then I wouldn't refuse your orders
even if you told me to jump into a cauldron of boiling water, walk on
fire, or give up my body and bones."
The Venerable Master
Yun replied, "One ends one's own birth and death, just as one eats
one's own food to fill oneself. If I were to say that I guaranteed that
you will end birth and death, I'd be cheating you. I don't do that sort
of thing. In cultivation, one should concentrate on inner skill and
outer accomplishment. By cultivating both blessings and wisdom one will
succeed. One should not be an independent Arhat, looking after only his
own good. One should practice the Bodhisattva way for the good of all,
support the monastery, and be of service to everyone. In that way, one
may perfect blessings and wisdom and quite naturally end birth and
death." I again refused. The Venerable Master Yun said, "You came all
the way from northeast China to meet me. If you are not going to obey
my instructions, why did you bother to come at all?" I then accepted
the position.
I carefully observed the words and actions of
the Venerable Master Yun and found them to be quite ordinary. What set
him apart from ordinary people was his ability to set an example for
others with his own practice and his willingness to take suffering and
hard work upon himself.
| Almsbowl
given after ordination (given to the Venerable Master after he received
the precepts a second time, for additional benefit, from the Elder
Master Hsu Yun.) |
During the spring
precept-transmission, when the morning boards were struck, I heard with
my own ears the roar of a tiger at first nearby and then off in the
distance. My Dharma friends told me, "That is the tiger who took refuge
with the Venerable Master Yun and became his disciple. It lives in a
cave behind the mountain and always comes out to protect the monastery
during the precept ceremonies.
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