Master Sheng Yen Passed Away (聖嚴師父走了)

Master Sheng Yen (聖嚴師父) passed away at Taipei Time 4pm on 02/03/2009 at Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山)…

I only saw the Master in person twice: As I took Buddhism as refuges (皈依) on 01/21/2007 and as I went to my first 7 Day Meditation Retreat (禪七) in the late January 2007. The Master was already pretty fragile back then, but he still came to those events to encourage people to be good Buddhists and help others. Shortly after then, his diabetes weakened him so much that he could no longer attend most events. Even though I only had 2 brief encounters with the Master, he impressed me with his warmth and kindness like a Maha Bodhisattva (大菩薩). Without him, I doubted that Chan/Zen (禪) would be so commonly practiced in Taiwan today. Without him, I would’ve wasted a lot more time to find what Chan really is and the proper way of practice it. And I doubt that my experience is unique.

A month ago, when the Master was sent to the emergency room and my friend Rita forwarded me email to pray for the Master’s health, I asked Teacher Chen (陳老師) if he would get better. She replied in great sympathy that his situation was not good and probably wouldn’t be able to make it through this year. But even with Teacher Chen’s warning, I didn’t expect that the day would come this soon…

Lots and lots and lots of people all over the world will miss the Master!

P.S. Master Sheng Yen (1930-2009) in a way was Venerable Yin Shun’s (印順導師 1905-2005) student, especially on diligently carrying out the Humanistic Buddhism (人間佛教).

The Power of Intention (念力的力量)

When I was finally back from Dharma Drum Mountain’s 7 Days of Silent Illumination Meditation Retreat (法鼓山默照禪七), everyone asked me how it went. Well… Maybe because I didn’t know how to relax, or I had too much expectation without realizing it, or I caught a cold and lacked of sleep and it was getting incredibly chilly… Anyway, all I knew was that this was the hardest and most exhausting retreat for me, quite opposite from how a lot of other people felt. I didn’t have much to say about my meditation, but I did get to see the power of my intentions and would like to share it with you. And, nope, I hadn’t read those famous books in this field, such as “The Secret“, “The Intention Experiment“, and many books in this field.

和花與果祺法師

Back in February 2008 and at the end of my second 7 Day Meditation Retreat at DDM, I remembered thinking in my head: “I like my first retreat Room 305 more… far from the meditation hall with less traffic and less noise…  Also, it would be nice to have No. 6 bed (the one right next to window), so I would have more room and wouldn’t get too hot from my sleeping bag. And, please, I’m sick of doing dishes! Couldn’t I go clean the women’s bathrooms instead?” Obviously I wasn’t terribly happy with my last experience.

During the two meditations under Teacher Hong Chi-sung (洪啟嵩老師) in the States, I desperately would like a room of non-snoring ladies to get some good night sleep.

Those were just my little wishes. I knew in theory that I shouldn’t be effected by them, since the purpose of meditation was to train my mind not being effected by my environment. But in reality I was only a beginner and would need as much help as I could to have a mediocre meditation experience.

和花與常賡法師

So as I arrived at the registration desk at DDM and picked up my name tag, I was astonished to find out that I indeed got Room 305’s No. 6 bed! Wow! Could this be possible? And somehow 4 people didn’t show up, so our room actually had the lowest occupancy and magically no one snored in our room. (On the very last day, I learned that other rooms wasn’t this quite as ours; one of them was even like what I had experienced in NY. Poor girls…)

About a couple of hours later as the master assigned everyone’s task, I did get to clean THAT women’s bathroom! And because I was the team lead, I could decide what to do and assign tasks. (I did get to use the bathrooms we cleaned a lot during this retreat and pretty happy with what we’d done. )

This was all quite incredible already, but, wait, there was more. On the fifth day, the cold I caught from others during the retreat got worse. My sore throat at the end of each meditation session got so bad that I was unable to focus on the proper method. After a couple of sessions, I started thinking, “Damn, I wished that I had prepared some Eight Immortals Fruit (八仙果) or some throat candies!” I really didn’t expect that I would catch a cold, so I didn’t prepare anything in case that happened.

淑娟, Amanda, 淑玲

After dinner, my bathroom cleaning partner, 楊淑娟, and I got called to the office. We didn’t know that we both got called; we thought that something bad happened at home and got very nervous for the bad news. It turned out that a nun asked us to change a couple of things at our bathroom cleaning and nothing else. What a big relief! On the way back we chat a little about that we wished they could deliver the news less gravely to give us the wrong impression. (Yes, we weren’t supposed to talk during the 7 days, but assigning tasks was one of the few exceptions and now this. )

Then out of nowhere, she asked me, “Is your throat hurting?”

I was surprised and answered, “Yup, but how do you know?”

She handed me half a small package of Eight Immortals Fruit and told me, “Keep it. I got another package of it.”

my roommates ?? and 淑玲

I was speechless! The timing was impeccable! If we didn’t get called to the office, I wouldn’t have gotten it. If my bathroom cleaning partner was someone else, then this wouldn’t happen. And the timing was curious. It was just a series of “coincidences” that made this incident unbelievable.

Not until the last day before hanging out with a few other girls and chatted about my incredible experience, I found that everyone actually had a few of their own as well. (My bathroom cleaning partner actually made a wish to clean bathrooms as well.) So what did this mean? Everyone had the power of intention! But then how come not everyone’s intention got fulfilled?

佩薰

I learned this from Reborn Class I (睿朋心靈基因改造班): From Thinking (心想) to Happening (事成), there were 3 requirements that had to be fulfilled first:

1. One had to clear one’s bad karma/obstacles.
2. One had to focus on what one wanted and could not have a backup plan.
3. One had to work hard towards the goal.

Of course, the goal had to be a positive one. Hopefully this tip helps!

7 Days of Silent Illumination (默照禪七)

I’m leaving for the 7 Day Meditation Retreat at Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山) shortly. Different from all the previous meditation retreats that I’ve been to, this one focuses on the so called “Silent Illumination” (默照) methods. What is it? Well, I’ll find out!

The Sutra of My Heart (送你一首渡河的歌)

from left to right: Chen Li-an (陳履安), 施寄青, and Hong Chi-sung (洪啟嵩老師).

(To be continued…)

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Teacher Hong Chi-sung’s (洪啟嵩) new book, “The Sutra of My Heart” (“送你一首渡河的歌“), translated the famous “Heart Sutra” (“心經“) as follows:

This sutra is the hear of great wisdom which transcends everything. (觀自在菩薩，)
The freeness-of-vision Bodhisattva enlightens all and saw through the five skandhas which were empty, (行深般若波羅蜜多時，)
while living the complete transcendental wisdom. (照見五蘊皆空，)
And, so, was beyond suffering. (度一切苦厄。)
Listen. Sariputra! (舍利子!)
Substance is not different from emptiness; (色不異空，)
emptiness is not different from substance. (空不異色，)
And substance is the same as emptiness; (色即是空，)
emptiness is the same as substance. (空即是色。)
Feeling, thinking, willing, awareness, (受想行識，)
are also like this: empty. (亦復如是。)
Listen. Sariputra! (舍利子!)
All are empty; (是諸法空相，)
non-beginning, non-ending, (不生不滅，)
non-impurity, non-purity, (不垢不淨，)
non-increasing, non-decreasing, (不增不減。)
So, in emptiness, there is no substance, (是故空中無色，)
feeling, thinking, willing, or awareness. (無受想行識，)
There are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or awareness. (無眼耳鼻舌身意，)
There is no substance, sound, smell, taste, feeling of touching, or thought. (無色身香味觸法，)
There is no realm for the sense of eyes or other senses, (無眼界，)
nor even a realm of awareness. (乃至無意識界，)
There is no unawareness, (無無明，)
nor cessation of unawareness. (亦無無明盡，)
Also no senility or death; (乃至無老死，)
no cessation of senility or of death. (亦無老死盡，)
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no cessation of suffering path. (無苦集滅道，)
There is no wisdom and no achievement. (無智亦無得，)
Because there is no achievement. (以無所得故。)
Bodhisattva, (菩提薩埵，)
transcending perfect wisdom, (依般若波羅蜜多故，)
is not mind-clouded; (心無罣礙，)
Mind unclouded, (無罣礙故，)
is liberated from existence and fears; (無有恐怖，)
free of confusion, (遠離顛倒夢想，)
attains complete, high Nirvana. (究竟涅槃。)
All Buddhas, past, present and future, (三世諸佛，)
transcend perfect wisdom and are supremely, (依般若波羅蜜多故，)
completely and perfectly enlightened. (得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，)
So Prajñāpāramitā, (故知般若波羅蜜多是大神咒，)
the insight of emptiness, (是大明咒，)
is the great holy verse, the wisdom of enlightenment, (是無上咒，)
unequalled and incomparable, (是無等等咒，)
It eliminates suffering. (能除一切苦，)
This is true and not false. (真實不虛，)
So, we speak aloud (故說般若波羅多咒，)
and recite the Prajñāpāramitā: (即說咒曰：)
Gate Gate (Gone, gone, gone beyond.) (「揭諦，揭諦，)
Pāra-gate (All things to the other shore.) (波羅揭諦，)
Pāra-saṃgate (Gone completely beyond all, to the other shore.) (波羅僧揭諦，)
Bodhi Svāhā (Enlightening wisdom. All perfect.) (菩提薩婆訶。」)

7 Day Meditation Retreat in Cupertino (洪啟嵩老師2008加州禪七)

For more information, please check here. Also, click here to see the video clips from last year.

欲知詳情的朋友們, 請點這裡。另外, 請點這裡來觀看去年的加州禪七錄影。

Jennifer’s 19 Day Meditation Retreat (Jennifer 的禪十九)

The happy days had to come to an end and Jennifer had to go back to Taiwan today (by plane, not by cable car, of course)…

Jennifer and I had been talking about what this trip meant for her. Among all things considered and against what Gerry would like to believe, she didn’t come here for sightseeing even though she had never been to the Bay Area. She was in desperate need of a change of environment to allow her to think of what had happened in the past and what she should do in the future. We even joked that this trip was her “19 Days Meditation Retreat” (禪十九), because what we had done everyday was just meditating, hiking, eating, plum/apricot picking, Chi Kung practicing, messaging, drawing, bird watching, reading, blogging, …, and etc. Millions of little things that we were quite fond of but nothing to write home about her San Francisco (舊金山) experience.

So, as you could imagine, neither of us was too enthusiastic about going into Downtown Berkeley and SF and doing your usual tourist stuff. (That reminded me that I still haven’t written those blog entries… Ouch…) In fact, the 3 days we spent on those touristy places were the worst 3 days of her stay, no only because I was one big lousy tour guide, but also because our bodies were 2 giant magnets busily absorbing the crowd’s negative energy. (This was too hard to explain to the Western audience, especially the ones treat the science as a religion, so I would just gracefully shut up here). Gosh, were us in pain! We knew that Gerry and all meant well for pushing me to show Jennifer the Bay Area, but we should’ve had known better and resisted their good intentions. At the end of our third trip, Jennifer even pleaded not to go do anymore sightseeing. Nope, Gerry, I did not make this up!

But putting those painful but photogenic sightseeing trips aside, it was indeed her “19 Days Meditation Retreat“. When she showed up at San Francisco International Airport, loads of worries and fear and distrust sitting solidly on her slim shoulders. Her physical suitcase might weighted just 21.5kg (my books weighted 7.5kg already ), but her invisible one could’ve crushed the whole airport! Shortly after her appearance, I suddenly got very sick as if I caught a heavy cold from nowhere for a whole week; this weird phenomenon took a huge load of her, and finally allowed her to have the desperately needed energy to sort things out and be able to relax again. (Again, this was too hard to explain. We only knew what was going on after talking to Teacher Chen, but Jennifer had already known all along that I did not have a cold even though David and I had thought otherwise.)

During the 19 days, both Jennifer and I noticed how much she had transformed during her short stay. Now she was optimistic about her future and had the courage and wisdom to face the challenges in her life. She still had some burden that she held onto dearly and had to deal with on her own, but now it could be fit neatly in an invisible carry-on luggage. If she continued trusting herself and helping others, I believed that eventually she would be able to dissolve that unneeded luggage. And, violà, attaining the enlightenment!

紐約禪十心得報告

這次在紐約莊嚴寺
(大覺寺主辦, 在莊嚴寺舉行),
跟洪啟嵩老師打禪十, 收穫很多;
短短十天,
真的比自己在家修好幾年要來得有效.
姿勢正確, 放鬆有比較得力,
真的就比較容易進入狀況,
尾椎坐再久也不會痛 (當然腿痛得不得了).
有些老修行的真是不得了!
入定的有好幾位,
甚至有一兩位似乎開悟了,
還有好幾位新手真是嚇嚇叫 （例如婉玲姑娘）,
第一次打坐就入淺定了!

有好幾位老參強力推薦我們新手, 跟緊洪老師,
因為他和他的一位跟他20幾年的助手徒弟龔老師
(她將近50歲, 可是看起來就像個20出頭的大學生,
完全沒縐紋或眼袋, 非常驚人!)
講解的非常仔細.
在做老師的妙定功之後,
身體能放鬆, 放下, 放空 (我只了解放鬆…),
龔老師也天天糾正我們打坐的姿勢,
所以呼吸能順暢舒服,
而且洪老師在小參時,
會一針見血的點出我們的問題所在.
老參們發現他們在洪老師底下打禪比在別的地方有更大的進步.

十天真的說長太長, 說短太短.
(打到後面幾天, 大家都打糊塗了,
有兩位偷偷問我今天是禮拜幾 )
記得第六天早上,
我還覺得打十天禪真是太長了,
結果之後終於見到一點進步,
到第九天夜裏,
我驚覺第二天就得下山了,
而在大後悔沒好好用功,
浪費了前五天時間!

龔老師告訴我,
他們十一月份會在聖荷西打禪七,
到時候我又可以再磨練自己的功夫了!

莊嚴寺女眾寮房是蠻簡陋的,
可能老參們比較不會像年輕人那麼ㄍㄧㄥ,
打坐時放屁打嗝的彼彼皆是 (我也打了許多嗝).
半夜女眾打呼功力驚人,
甚至有人打整晚像新春開市的長鞭炮,
所以我除了最後一天,
大部份時間根本就沒睡好,
通常早上的打坐及經行是在昏沈及妄念中渡過.

中午用洪老師的所謂睡夢禪法
(一直到最後一天才發覺搞錯方法了,
睡夢禪法不是拿來睡覺用的 ),
補個小眠,
所以唯一坐得尚可的只有下午第一枝香.
即使如此,
這樣的進展已經比我自己在家練要大太多了.

吃的是普通啦!
除了一個早上以外, 我通常都是在餓肚子中.
真的很奇怪! (可是好像沒減肥耶…)
除了最後兩天的晚飯看到大鍋飯的糊麵條看到反胃,
而草草吃一些以外,
其他時候我其實吃得很多!
洪老師說慢步經行其實很耗體力, 雖然表面上看起來很容易.
經行時入定的人特多, 還有一兩位像開悟了似的!
我自己除了腳底痛以外 (平常走這麼一點路根本不痛不癢),
則是完全沒感覺,
我看我的心真是太散太浮了,
老師說的 “覺而不受” 是聽見了,
可是卻搞不懂那是什麼意思, 或是該如果去做.

沒有義工們的護持和德恩法師, 修直法師, 和其他法師們的努力擔待,
這次禪十根本不可能發生.
人真的要很感恩! :O
這次交了好些朋友, 如果沒意外,
應該以後有緣會再碰到.

現在好像對所謂 “當下”,
有一點點感覺了.
明明是昨天,
甚至幾個小時前發生的事,
感覺上卻覺得很遙遠,
雖然還依稀記得當初的感覺,
可是很明白那已經是過去了,
也不會太留戀,
彷彿是已經 “放下” 了,
所以能比較專心在當下做的事.
可能我開始對老師說的 “覺而不受” 有一滴滴的心得,
雖然真要用上功夫還要好一段時間.

以上是我參加這次大覺寺禪十的心得報告.

P.S. When I have time, I’ll try to translate my 10 Day Meditation Retreat experience into English. No idea when that’ll be though. It’s already past and I already moved on.