Bowing Journals | Top | << Back | Next >> | End
Part II
On Sunday Afternoon, Heng Ch’au told me the Story of his encounter with the students. He said, “I gave some thought to my answers and there was much more I could have said. But that was not the time or place to go into depth. I would explain the principles of compassion and cause and effect. These two principles really expanded my own mind from my former materialist and divisive political views. My thinking used to be really narrow. It was purely intellectual. The materialist view is one-dimensional, it divides the world it’s based on fighting. Either side of the coin, capitalism or communism, is a dead end. There’s no heart there. People are not as simple as mouths and bellies and greed for wealth. We are, by nature, spiritual beings.
“That’s what lead me to change my mind. I looked into my own heart and realized that there was more inside than concern for my own benefit. How could I assume that that’s all there is in others? Buddhism is based on kindness, compassion, joy and giving. It includes everyone, no one is excluded. Great compassion is grand and magnimous; great division is petty and full of hatred. And, everyone has the Buddha nature.”
What does our teacher say about class? He says:
All beings are my family, All the universe is my body. Empty space is my school, The universe is my name. Kindness, compassion, joy and Giving are my functions.
“After you hear this truth, who could ever be satisfied with class struggle and washing others’ dirty clothes?” Heng Ch’au asked.
”I understand now how cause and effect determines the world we live in. If we waste our blessings and don’t cultivate merit and virtue, then even if we have wealth, we can lose it in this lifetime. If you do nothing but exhaust your blessings and follow greed, then in the next life you will certainly come up shirt. On the other hand, people are sunk in poverty this life because in the past they stole, wasted resources were stingy and dishonest. This is what’s really going on beneath the surface of the materialistic world.
“It’s not difficult to see beyond the purely political view of the intellectual, “ said Heng Ch’au. “It’s got no heart to it. Within it there is a really arrogant and superior attitude towards people. The basic assumptions are that poor people are worse off than rich folks and won’t be happy until they have what the wealthy have and want. If you see the world that way, then that’s how it is: a blend of greed and guilt. If the Third World does not want what we have, then how does it makes us feel about our excess? Are two cars and a color T.V. and living the good life really our righteous share?
“In Asia I heard many people, particularly older people, say that as their countries ‘modernized’ and people moved closer to big cities, they all got more nervous as life got less simple. There was no time to enjoy life anymore. All people knew about was chasing the buck, desires grew and then simple things, simple thoughts no longer satisfies people. Families began to break down, headaches and problems increased as soon as First World culture was imported.
What’s more, the Buddhadharma faces squarely the big matter of birth and death and it’s suffering. Poor people embrace the Dharma because they see the emptiness of the life and the universality of suffering up close. They aren’t cushioned from it the way the ‘better half’ is,” said Heng Ch’au.
“The turning point in the encounter with the students came when I explained the actual practices of the members of SABA. Up to that point the interviewers assumed that we were just students, too, wearing funny clothes and playing the same political game. They assumed that we ate the same food, listened to the same music, danced to the same rhythms. When they heard about the bitter practices of SABA’s “Dharma-revolutionaries” the conversation quickly became very real. Great compassion is such a wonderful heart. As soon as you include all beings instead of dividing them up, discrimination and hatred just shrivel up,“ Heng Ch’au said. “Like the Master told us in L.A., once you grasp any of the fundamental Buddhist principles, the there’s no one you can’t win over in debate. Who can refuse to stand inside the peace and happiness of the Baddha’s light? The Buddhadharma is truly the highest of all teachings. It is ‘without sophistry,’ it ‘goes beyond words and thoughts’. It’s inconceivable!
Disciple Kuo Chen
(Heng Sure)
bows in respect