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Tuesday, May 24
Dear Shih Fu,
We are just about to pass through Beverly Hills. We are making slow but steady progress.
Although we could not be with the Master on Buddha’s birthday, Heng Chau and I wish to bow nine times to the Master on this occasion and to be mindful again of how grateful we are to have met the proper Dharma here in the West.
Thanks to the Master’s great compassion we have this chance to use our effort to bring good medicine to this ailing land; our lives have a useful purpose and a positive direction to travel. This is a priceless treasure!
As we bow we recite the repentance verse and hope to take on to ourselves and then purge out via the repentance, some of the negative energy and hateful vibes that we encounter as we crawl from block to block. When we are sincere, the results are immediately visible--anger disappears from faces--the tension dissolves from street-corner groups that gather to stare at us, and even the heat in the air seems to cool slightly. If we are false thinking or have any anger or fear in our own minds, then nothing happens as we bow into a crowded area or worse, the tension builds up and people get hot or uptight, anger and fear from the crowd. The pressure makes a rare chance to cultivate.
The Dharma Protectors make it possible and the pressure makes it real, good, hard work. There is a lot of magic on this trip and the Master’s presence is always close by.
Wednesday, May 25
This experience is rich in learning, tests, and exposure to all kinds of people and situations. Heng Chau and I talk about the states we encounter and apply the principles we have learned to solve our problems. Each time we trace a problem back to a flaw in our own perception of reality, to a hang-up, an affliction, or an attachment, we know we have found the source of the problem and then the state almost immediately resolves itself.
The mindfulness of a cultivator is not easy to maintain all the time--especially these three: patience with all states, compassion for all beings, even the demons who come to provoke us, and also a sense of shame--keeping my faults and short-comings in front of me at all times, in all places.
When these three mindfulness stations are before my mind, a kind of vajra resolve takes over and people look right past me and see the Avatamsaka and the Triple Jewel. This is what I’m working for and I have to make it clean and pure like this all the time. It’s time to learn how to behave properly as a Bhikshu. This trip will be not wasted!
Disciple Heng Sure
Bows in Respect