Dharma Realm Buddhist Association

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley

200612 128 Issue 128 Dec. 2006

Gold Sage Monastery

11455 Clayton Road, San Jose, CA 95127 Tel : (408) 923-7243 / Fax: (408) 923-1064

Honor the elderly and respect those with virtue because seniors perfect both blessings and wisdom.

No fighting, no greed, no seeking, no selfishness, no pursuing personal advantage, and no lying.


In Investigating Chan, First Lay the Foundation
If you don't lay a good foundation, your house will not be sturdy; the wind will blow it down and the rain will wash it away.
/ By the Venerable Master Hua

128 2006 12

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley Newsletter Issue 128 Dec. 2006

mong the students of Buddhism, some like to investigate Chan; some like to study the teachings, speak the Dharma, and lecture on the sutras; some like to investigate the precepts; some enjoy cultivating the Secret School; and some like to practice the Pure Land School. No matter which school you like, you must concen-trate single-mindedly and cultivate with diligence. Then you will be able to achieve your goal and realize your hopes. But if your mind isn't concentrated, then no matter what you study, it's the same as not studying. So after investigating Chan for two and a half days, you decide to recite the Buddha's name; after reciting the Buddha's name for half a day, you wish to study the Vinaya (moral code). After studying the Vinaya for a while, you decide to study in the Secret School. Since you keep changing your goal, you cannot concentrate. The reason you cannot concentrate is because you are seeking outside. You have your feet in two boats, and you can't decide whether you want to go north or south on the river. In that way, you end up wasting your whole life. In investigating Chan, you must be vigorous at all times; don't be lazy for a single minute or second. You should investigate until: The mountains disappear and the waters vanish, and you doubt there is a road ahead. Beyond the dark willows and the bright flowers is another village. At that point there is another heaven, another natural paradise. But you must investigate to the utmost point and reach the summit. Then there's a bit of hope, but not much. Although there's a tiny bit of hope, don't hang onto it, because that would be superfluous (adding a head on top of a head). To investigate Chan, you must honestly put in the effort. First of all,

you must practice sitting until your legs are compliant--until they don't hurt or cause any trouble. How can you get your legs to stop hurting? Is there a mantra you can recite to stop the pain? Is there a medicine you can take to keep them from hurting? No. You must endure the pain, and then they will become obedient and stop hurting. If you cannot endure it, and you move your legs and let them rest as soon as they start hurting, your legs will never become obedient because you are spoiling them. Whenever they hurt, you simply placate them as if placating an unhappy child. If the child knows his parents cannot bear to see him suffer, he won't be able to endure any suffering in the future. Your legs are just like a child; if you fear the pain, they will hurt all the time, even when they aren't supposed to hurt. That's because you've spoiled them rotten. You must train your legs and your back to be compliant, so that they won't ache or hurt. When your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and mind are all compliant, so that they don't seek after sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or dharmas; when you are not influenced by the six sense organs and six sense objects, and you can turn your attention inwards, that's true obedience. As it is said, The eyes see forms, but inside there is nothing. The ears hear sounds, but the mind does not know. You constantly reflect within instead of seeking outside, and you always stick to your basic Dharma-door: "Who is mindful of the Buddha?" Holding to what is basic, you "only attain the root, and don't worry about the branchtips." There's no need to worry about unimportant matters; bit by bit, everything will become clear to you. In cultivating the Dharma-door of investigating Chan, you shouldn't try to learn the details of how to investigate

when you haven't learned how to sit in full lotus, or even half lotus. You haven't finished laying the foundation yet! To investigate Chan, you must first lay the foundation. During the first week, you can clear the land. When you want to build a house, you must first make the land level. In the second week, you can drive in the stakes. Driving in the stakes requires some effort--this is where you must cultivate patience and endure the pain, hunger, and cold. You must endure everything, and it takes a lot of strength. It's arduous, but you must travel this path. You have to lay a good foundation and drive in good stakes. Otherwise, your house will not be sturdy; the wind will blow it down and the rain will wash it away. That's the consequence of not driving in the stakes well and not setting a good foundation. In the third week, you can put up the beams, rafters, column bases, and columns. During the fourth week, you can erect the walls, install doors and windows, and put up the ridgepole. That's how a house is constructed, step by step. You can't "dig a well with one thrust of the shovel"; there's no instant accomplishment. This is true not only of investigating Chan, but also of reciting the Buddha's name, studying the teachings, cultivating the Secret School, and practicing the Vinaya--in any of these, you must devote your full attention to the task at hand. Make your mind honest, and don't yearn for what is lofty and distant. Don't run over to join the Secret School just because you hear someone talk about how wonderful it is. We shouldn't get so deluded that we obstinately refuse to see the truth and rigidly hold onto old ways. The facts are right in front of us, but with addled brains, we still chase after what's "secret, secret, secret" until we die for no apparent reason. That's truly secret! Actually, it's not secret, it's confusion; it's totally muddled. 128 2006 12

Buddhists should study true principles. Don't blindly follow others. You should draw near virtuous people and stay away from bad people. Bad people are those who do nothing but cheat others. Virtuous people do not cheat others. People without virtue use all sorts of fraudulent means--that's why they can't preserve their virtue. Only those who don't cheat people can store up the merit and virtue they cultivate over the days and months. That's why their virtue endures. Pay attention to this when you observe people. Don't just judge by appearances and say, "That person looks virtuous; he seems to be a Good and Wise Advisor." You don't have any real way to determine that. You must really get to know him thoroughly before you can make such a statement. In this Dharma-ending Age, we all have the same problem, which is that we like to seek what is lofty and distant. Instead of using our eyes to see, we let our ears do the "seeing" for us. When we hear someone say something is good, we rush over. When we get there, we have no idea of whether it's really good or not, and without realizing it, we get duped. People who confusedly put their faith in wealth and sex and in geomancy are really pathetic! In today's newspaper, there was an article about six children in the Fukien province of China who committed suicide together by jumping into the sea, hoping to become immortals. Why did they do that? They had been misled into believing that people who do evil become ghosts, and

people who do good turn into immortals. And what did "doing good" mean? It meant not being afraid to die. Children in rural areas are quite naive and will believe whatever they hear. Since someone told those six children that good people are not afraid to die and will become immortals after death, they decided to kill themselves as a group and become immortals. They thought, "The Eight Immortals of the past probably committed suicide together. Now we can commit suicide together and become the Six Immortals and escape the cycle of rebirth in the six paths." Then they killed themselves, hoping to become immortals. Well, did they become immortals? I can guarantee that they didn't. Why? They were too confused. People who become immortals are very intelligent. They aren't as foolish as these children, who had no understanding of true principles and couldn't tell right from wrong. How could they all die together and become immortals? If becoming immortal were that easy, everyone should just hurry up and die and become immortal. But that's impossible. How pitiful those foolish villagers are, blindly following this superstitious and deviant theory and leading their children astray. This is very sad. But why were those children so eager and unafraid to die, saying they were going to become immortals? You could say their environment forced them to feel that life wasn't worth living, that it would be better to die than to be living

corpses. So seeking liberation, they all went to their deaths together. The children had written the word "death" over a thousand times in their notebooks. Every day, it was "death, death, death." They thought of death from morning to night. In their ignorance, those boys and girls were seduced by super-stition and lost their true goal and direction. Buddhists should not believe in superstition. You must break through superstition. What is superstition? It is being reckless and confused in your belief. You simply believe anything people say, and you end up all muddled. Being confused in your belief is still not that serious. It's only to be feared that you believe in confusion, that you believe in the confused, upside-down teachings of externalist ways. Some people try to be clever; they don't believe in what is true but instead believe in what is false. This is a case of being confused within confusion. They don't recognize true principles. They take the true to be false, and the false to be true. For example, in the case of the six children, the theory that "death leads to immortality" is actually just a false claim meant to cheat people, but they believed it. If someone had told them they have to cultivate before they can become immortals, they might not have believed that. There are many pathetic people and many woeful situations in the world; we could never finish speaking of them!

If one can sit perfectly still for even a split second, One's merit surpasses that of building pagodas of the seven gems in number like the Ganges' sands.

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley Newsletter Issue 128

Dec. 2006

Help Needed

Layout and cover design help needed for the following English books published by BTTS/DRBA. If you are interested please contact Heng Dzu Shi directly in English through email: hengdzu@gmail.com Thank you. hengdzu@gmail.com 1) The Fifty Skandha-Demons States (453 pages) The final section of the Sutra describes how, in the break-down of the five skandhas of form, feelings, thinking, formations, and consciousness, various states occur. The Buddha teaches us (unasked) that these states will not be harmful if we remain unmoving and are not swayed by them. But the Buddha also lets us know that if we become attached to or arrogant about these experiences when they occur, then demonic states may arise. The text is an invaluable manual for those who practice meditation. 2) Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva (with commentary) (235 pages) This Sutra tells how Earth Store Bodhisattva became known as Foremost in Vows. Also called the Sutra of Filial Piety, this text describes several of the bodhisattvas past lives. It is a clear, practical manual for how to handle the circumstances or life, death, and rebirth. 3) World Peace Gathering (125 pages) A collection of instructional talks on Buddhism commemorating the successful completion of the bowing pilgrimage of Bhikshus Heng Ju and Heng Yo in August 7th 1974. 4) Three Steps, One Bow (153 pages) The daily journals of American Bhikshus Heng Ju and Heng Yo, who during 1973 & 1974 made a pilgrimage for world peace from San Francisco to Marblemount, Washington, bowing once every three steps.

128 2006 12

An Everlasting Gift for the Elders

A Feast of Dharma

2006/10/1
By Dharma Master Heng Yun on Oct. 1, 2006 at GSM / English Translation By Grace Wang

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley Newsletter Issue 128 Dec. 2006

ur annual celebration of Honoring Elders Day has become grander and grander with each passing year. Why is that? Because there are so many elders who really want to participate in the Honoring Elders Day. This year we had a fairly tight schedule preparing for this day. However, within a few weeks, there were more than 260 elders who wanted to come and join us today. Having elders come to the monastery is a wonderful present for all of us. In addition to honoring the elders today, we are also given an opportunity to cultivate blessing and wisdom. Therefore, we really appreciate all of you elders who are with us. Since so many elders came these years, we have been thinking about what is the best gift that we can present them. Because even when you bring all these presents home, they will be worn out one day, for anything with a form and shape wont last forever. Thus, we want to give you some everlasting gifts that you can carry with you life after life. Birth, age, sickness, and death are the stages of life that we all need to face. We hope you can have these presents with you forever, and they wont vanish when this life ends. Where can we find such presents? Buddha told us the answer a long time ago. We can find these everlasting presents by coming to Buddhist Way-places and participating in the Honoring Elders Day. 128 2006 12

Basically, Buddhism is not a religion. It is a teaching of wisdom. What is a teaching of wisdom? It teaches us how to discover our inherent wisdom. The Buddha has realized Buddhahood. Can each one of us realize Buddhahood, too? Yes, for everybody can become a Buddha. But where is the seed of Buddhahood? Its within us. I have a lot of feelings by seeing all of you here today. Why? I feel that elders who live in San Jose truly have many blessings, and I dont need to mention your intelligence and wisdom. Now, you all have experienced the quintessence and the best of life, but your experiences can be even more brilliant and thorough. Hence, we hope everybody can extract his/her precious inherent gift. There are many Dharma doors to cultivate in Buddhism -- the Chan School, the Teaching School, the Secret School, the Vinaya School and the Pure Land School. A very suitable Dharma door for elders is the Pure Land School, which is reciting the Buddhas name. You need money to buy things and to do anything; however, you dont need to spend a penny to recite the Buddhas name. All you need to do is to concentrate on reciting the Buddhas name. Amitabha Buddha has made great vows; whoever recites his name sincerely, Amitabha will guide that person to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Today, this sumptuous feast not only includes a feast of food but also a feast of Dharma, and I hope you can take the feast of Dharma home with you. You can read some Buddhist texts in your spare time. Outside, we have many free Buddhist texts that you can take home. Also, each elder will receive one present that contains some books for you to read as well. I hope you can recite the Buddhas name often, because the Buddhas name will be with you forever. Lastly, I would like to tell you a

story. During Sakyamuni Buddhas lifetime, there was an elder who wanted to become a monk because he had a very difficult life. But, was he able to leave the home-life? He went to where the Buddha was staying, but the Buddha wasnt in that day. The disciples of the Buddha took a look of him and said, You cant be a monk as you lack good roots. As a result, the elder felt really bad. So, what happened? What did he do? He wanted to commit suicide. He went to the seashore and was going to jump into the ocean. At that moment, the Buddha came to him and asked, Why are you taking your own life? The elder replied, Its because I really want to follow the Buddha and leave the home-life; besides, I am old and have no family. Although I want to be a monk, I am not allowed. I want to jump into the ocean because life is meaningless for me. At this time, the Buddha said, Its all right, you can come back with me. I am the Buddha, and you can follow me and leave the home-life. So, the elder became a monk and thereafter quickly attained accomplishment in his cultivation. Consequently, the disciples of the Buddha were all in doubt. They said, When we looked at this elder, he didnt have any good roots in several thousand great kalpas. How can he

attain accomplishment in cultivation? The Buddha then explained, More than eighty thousand great kalpas ago, the elder was a woodcutter in a mountain. One day when he was cutting wood in the mountain, there was a tiger that wanted to bite him. He quickly ran and ran, and finally he climbed up a tree. Unexpectedly, the tiger was very smart; it started to gnaw at the tree. Pretty soon the tree was going to topple over, and the tiger would be able to eat him. Right at this very dangerous moment, he recited Namo Buddha at the top of his voice and the tiger just walked away. However, he merely recited the Buddhas name just this once, and never recited it again for eighty thousand great kalpas. Nevertheless, he had planted a good root eighty thousand great kalpas ago. Therefore, when his good root matured in this life, he was able to become a monk and attain accomplishment while the Buddha is in this world. All elders! Think about this. Arent your good roots deeper than the woodcutters? I think you dont just recite the Buddhas name just once. You have a lot of rare and precious good roots. So, I hope all of you can utilize your good roots to help yourselves and benefit others as well. Finally, I wish you all good health and happy spirit, and be full of the joy of the Dharma.

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley Newsletter Issue 128 Dec. 2006

 Respecting Elders Day At a Glance

/ / Daniel Fang / / Lotus Lee

Core Ngrato

10

128 2006 12

he annual preparation for Respecting Elders Day started in the middle of August, when I received notice from the Dharma Masters. At our first meeting, I noticed that there were more volunteers than before; I believe that they were influenced by the Venerable Masters Dharma teachings and compassionate spirit. Under the cooperation of the Dharma Masters and the volunteers, the preparation proceeded smoothly. It was a beautiful and sunny day on October 1st; it was as if the weather was celebrating Respecting Elders Day too. Many volunteers arrived at Gold Sage Monastery before 8 oclock and started carrying out their duties. The most

laborious jobs were the cooking and the cleaning. The cooking staff had to start preparing the day before, and the cleaning volunteers had to wash dishes non-stop. In order for the elders sitting in the tent to see the programs clearly, Mr. Lee, Trents father, spent more than ten hours installing a projector and a screen to make it possible. In the morning, there were talks from Ms. Tsai, and story sharing from the members of the senior Buddhist studying class from Gold Sage Monastery. They were all well received. During lunch, there were more programs to entertain the elders. They included the recitation of the Heart Sutra, from the children of the Instilling Goodness Sunday Class at

Gold Sage Monastery; there was a senior chorus group that sang their favorite songs; the Liu sisters performed a duet with Chinese musical instruments; Mr. Jeang soloed the Italian song Core Ngrato. Back by popular demand, Mr. Jiang performed two Chinese folk songs with his harmonica; there was also a dance performed by a high school student from Palo Alto. There was a big variety of programs this year, and they were all very special. It was a great entertainment for everyone who attended. Before the day ended and everyone left, the Dharma Master reminded everyone to recite the Buddhas name as much as possible. Namo Amitabha.

During Respecting Elders Day

By / Destynnie Tran (11 years old) / Lotus Lee

y name is Destynnie Tran. I have been going to Gold Sage Monasterys Instilling Goodness Sunday Class for two years. It was my pleasure performing to the elders on Respecting Elders Day. It was fun going up on stage and reciting the Heart Sutra. Seeing the elders happy faces was the best part of all. My favorite part of the day was when we helped pass out the goody bags to the elders. The elders seemed so happy when they left the temple. This has been a great exciting experience to serve on that day, and I will do it again next year.

Pure Sound From Silicon Valley Newsletter Issue 128

Dec. 2006

11


GOLD SAGE MONASTERY ANNOUNCEMENT OF DHARMA ASSEMBLIES
12 / 3 12 / 10

( 9:00 AM~11:00 AM )

Lecture on The Sutra of Golden Light

( 8:15AM~ 4:00 PM )

Dharma Assembly of Buddha Recitation

( 9:00 AM~11:00 AM )

Sunday

12 / 24

Lecture on The Sutra of Golden Light

( 8:00AM~ 3:00 PM )

12 / 31

The Shurangama Dharma Door

Introduction to the Shurangama sutra Morning: Recite The Shurangama Mantra Afternoon: Recite The Shurangama sutra Meditation

Buddhist Events in Dec. 2006

Celebration of Amitabha buddhas Birthday

Date

Place

12/17

1214Gold Sage Monastery will

(CTTB)

arrange bus tour for same-day travel. Please sign up before December 14. Elders Dharma Study Group Dharma Assembly of Buddha Recitation
12 / 2 2:00 PM ~ 4:30 PM 12 / 10 8:15 AM ~ 4:00 PM 1: 00 PM ~2:30 PM

Gold Sage Monastery

Great Compassion Repentance Buddhist Events in Jan. 2007

Date

Place

Celebration of Amitabha buddhas Birthday 1 / 5 8:30 AM ~ 10:30 AM Lecture on The Sutra of Golden Light Dharma Assembly of Buddha Recitation
1/7, 21 9:00 AM~11:00 AM 1 / 14 8:15 AM ~ 4:00 PM 1:00 PM ~2:30 PM

Gold Sage Monastery

Great Compassion Repentance

: www.drba.org ()

www.drbachinese.org () 11455 Clayton Rd., San Jose, CA 95127 / Tel: 408-923-7243