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July 19, 1979
Stewart's Point
Dear Shih Fu,
The Bodhisattva is a great master
at giving. He can give away any
material object whatsoever. His mind
is level and equal, without regrets.
He does not expect a reward. He is
not greedy for reputation (as a
benefactor). He does not seek bene-
fit. He only wants to save all
beings, to benefit all beings, to
gather in all beings.
-- Avatamsaka Sutra
It was exactly five years ago that I was all ready to move out of my Berkeley boarding house and into Gold Mountain Monastery to live as a layman while I finished my degree at the University of California at Berkeley. First, there was a trip to Seattle for the World Peace Gathering. The Peace Gathering marked the end of the Gold Mountain Summer cultivation session for 1974 and was a big success. Bhikshu Heng Lai, who was known as Kuo Hui at the time, and Upasaka Kuo Sun Peterson and I made the trip in Kuo Fa Olson's pickup camper. We rode in the back, sipped cokes, and memorized the Great Compassion Mantra.
On the way home, we stopped in Ukiah to look at a piece of property that was for sale. It was the Mendocino State Hospital, closed by the Reagan Administration and standing vacant. The caretakers showed us around the grounds. It was an awesome place.
I had a feeling about the place. Kuo Fa was positive. Kuo Hui was doubtful, "Too big. How could you ever keep the lawns mowed?" Kuo Sun had a twinkle in his eye. None of us guessed that in two years almost to the day, Kuo Hui and I would receive the Bhikshu Precepts in the gymnasium there. I couldn't have imagined that within five years almost to the day, I would be sitting in a Plymouth station wagon below Stewart's Point on the California Coast after bowing eight hundred miles to this same magical city.
We returned to Gold Mountain Monastery and I went upstairs to wash my hands. There was the Venerable Abbot smiling and kind. I had never spoken to him face to face before.
"Well, how was it?" he asked.
"We saw the hospital, Shih Fu!" I blurted out.
"Oh? What about it?" he said with a grin.
"It's big!" I said.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"Oh, it could be a great Bodhimanda! Just like Nalanda!" I answered breathlessly.
He laughed and said, "Oh, is that so? Good. You think we should buy it then?"
"That would be really wonderful."
Nalanda was the famous and huge monastery and university that pilgrim Hsuan Tsang visited on his journey to India in AD 640. It was the center of the study and practice of the Dharma for centuries. Nalanda is translated as "Giving without Weariness" or "Untiring Benefactor," and that's what the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is all about: a place for selfless giving of goodness and pure light to the entire world. What a wonderful gift!
"We are all here in a dream doing the work of the Buddha." (Master Hua, L.A., 1978) A good dream coming true.
Disciple Kuo Chen
(Heng Sure)
bows in respect