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Labor Day Weekend
Dear Shih Fu,
Don't' be pleased if gods, dragons and Bodhisattvas come, Don't be angry if demons and externalists come.
Some days it's hard not to feel overjoyed. I feel full of happiness today - I can barely contain it. It's a feeling like the Buddha's birthday, the Maker's birthday, and Ullambana all rolled into one surprise gift - a visit out of empty space by the Venerable Abbot and fourteen Gold Mountain cultivators and friends.
What was the occasion? Just another exercise of the Bodhisattva practice of forgetting oneself for the sake of others. Where else in the world are there people like these who got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove 350 miles south from San Francisco to Santa Barbara to bring lunch and support and encouragement to members of the family on a n extended work leave? Inconceivable! How did they ever find us - half-hidden in the shade off a lonely highway outside Santa Barbara? How did Heng Ch'au and I both know that something special was coming that day? This morning he said, "Let's stay out and visible today." Why did I clear a sitting area under a certain eucalyptus tree hours before they arrived - the same tree we all sat beneath? How did three cars speeding along, dodging tickets and asking the way from passers-by, manage to arrive at the same time - just before lunch hour? Only through the power of goodness could the small miracle we saw today come about. We all witnessed a feat of spiritual engineering, the kind of thing that happens all the time at Gold Mountain.
Seated in the van as usual at lunch time, we had recited the offering praise and had dished out a bowl of rice. Before I could eat the first spoonful I saw Heng Ch'au's eyes pop open and heard his voice squeak, "Shih Fu!" I thought to myself, "Impossible. But wait! You've learned to appreciate the impossible!" "Shih Fu!" he said again. I turned to see the Venerable Abbot, dressed in blazing golden robes, walking through the pools of sunlight to our car.
There they all come walking - three carsful of people aglow with inner light: monks, nuns, novices, and lay people - they looked closer than blood relatives, hard-working, well-comported heroes and heroines of the Way: such a rare and wonderful assembly of people!
We all sat for lunch and listened to stories and instructions. We laughed and shared food and offerings with our Dharma friends, then up and way the assembly went on the long ride back to the city. They just came down to give us light. Wonder of wonders. I felt made of wood-stunned. I wanted to give thanks, to acknowledge the work and the kindness of everyone-I had to let my heart and my eyes speak for me.
Sitting next to the Venerable Abbot is like sitting in a cool, clear pool of liquid light. No thought bothers your head (whose head?). The Great Compassion Mantra seems to recite itself-just as regularly and as normally as your heart beats. Perceptions are clear, sharp, and relaxed. No worries exist, no pressures. Even if I'm being taught or scolded it feels like sweet dew. I'm sure that sitting in the Buddha's Dharma assembly is much like this.
Then, inconceivably, the Master rubbed my head, then rubbed Hend Ch' au's head. I feel energy moving through my center, to my toes and back again. "Is it ripe yet? Is it ripe? Is this melon ripe yet?" he asked, laughing, as he thunked our foreheads with his fingertip. Bowing later that afternoon, as if on air, we looked up to find a mammoth white cloud, the only cloud in a bright blue sky, as big as the Sierra Madres below, moving northwest and shaped exactly, perfectly like a dragon in full flight. Every detail was there: tail, ears, claws, and as the afternoon turned to evening, the dragon moved further north. We felt that he was hovering over the caravan of cultivators on the road back to Gold Mountain.
So there are days when it is difficult not to feel overjoyed, and Labor Day, 1977, will live in our memories as long as the tall eucalyptus stands, the "White Flower Tree" that shaded our lunch along the Flower Garland Highway. To share affinities with cultivators whose lives are dedicated to making others happy with no thought of themselves is truly a life worth living.
Disciple Kuo Chen
(Heng Sure) bows in respect
Dear Shih Fu,
Sunday, while bowing, I had a vision of everyone at Gold Mountain having a chance to do their own bowing once every three steps. Laypeople and left-home people, all got to pursue to the "limits of empty space" our own particular Dharma. Each person's face and presence was glowing and serene. So happy were the faces! No face showed any concerns or doubts, just smooth, genuine, lit-up joy! It was really neat! Each person was different; yet all reflected the same purity and trueness. There was a closeness felt; a big family of Dharma friends shining in each other.
And then on Monday, the very next day, who drives up? The Master and the four-fold Great Assembly! I wanted to hug everybody and give something. A few tears dropped into my noodles as I looked around at all the faces and goodness sharing and shining as we sat under some eucalyptus trees that minutes before were just another stopping place for us.
Bhikshuni Heng Yin stretched up on tiptoes to carve and commemorate the occasion on a huge eucalyptus tree with a Swiss Army knife as a visitor named Malcolm sitting with an untouched plate of food in his lap stared incredulously. Malcolm had brought out a melon to share with two monks in a quiet lunch and then everyone drove up. The Master gestured for him to join in with irresistible and inclusive kindness. I felt a bit like Malcolm: speechless and overwhelmed by the awesome virtue of the Assembly.
As fast as you came, you left. "No big deal," said the master. A huge, mile-long dragon cloud hung in the otherwise totally cloudless sky for hours, and the joy and light you brought to our hearts and work will see us through many bowing miles.
But something more incredible happened. The Master knew the exact section of the Sixth Patriarch's Sutra we had read that very morning. His comments and allusions to it were right on the nose! Not only that, but the Master also knew my deepest thoughts and troubles of the last few days. I hadn't told anyone, not even Heng Sure. "So how did I know?" the Master laughed and asked. And the same for Heng Sure. After everyone left, we were like ten-year olds again, smiling and ready to tackle the Labor Day Highway. "Together we will go to Perfect Enlightenment. I hope so. I hope so." Much peace in the way.
Disciple Kuo Ting
(Heng Ch'au) bows in respect