It was a rainy day. Deng picked me up from my home. We
drove directly to the Dharma Drum Mountain, a temple,
Wan Li, in the north of Taiwan. We attended the memorial
service, covering the coffin, giving last respects to the chan
master, Sheng Yen, a Buddhist spiritual leader in Taiwan.
Roaring and trembling, the countless waves were
continuously pushing against the seashore in the dark in
the north of island. It took two and half hours to get there.
A big rock sign with Fa Gu Shan appeared in front of us.
Big travel buses had already parked along the hillside.
We climbed and walked through the security gate. The
chanting song, in a slow and low voice
which was recorded by the master when he was young,
floated around the whole mountain valley. It was still
raining. Before arriving to the monastery, Deng found
a faucet to wash his hands. Several volunteers in their
yellow uniforms had just finished their cleaning job and
went back to the temple.
People made two lines, following the guide who held a
sign to the different hall. We were lead to the Guan Yin
hall. The memorial film started to play and introduced
the master’s whole life. Silent and respectful, everybody
lowered his head to pray. Hundreds from the world
swarmed into the monastery.
Master Sheng Yen’s last words read: “Unlimited in the sky
and unlimited my wish " 虛空無盡 我願無窮”, big and clear,
with characters were written on the wall. Wiping his tears,
Deng lowered his head for a while. On the video, the
master’s smile as usual, talked to his followers, and said,
“Today we get together here, but I don’t know how many
of you will attend my funeral.”
The first floor of the big hall had already been occupied
by monks and guests. Watching the coffin covering
ceremony on the screen at the Guan Yin Hall, we all
knelt down. After worshiping, we went to the top of
the temple, where there was a pool full of stones. The
building was surrounded by the mountains as though
it was sitting in a tai shi chair. The volunteers handed
us warm buns with red beans inside and cups of warm
water. Several contribution lists for a Buddhist college
fund or the food donation, post on the wall. I packed
some money, not much but with my true blessing, in
a red envelope and gave it to the lady at the counter.
The master made a request to his disciples not to hold
a funeral event but a solemn Dharma Ceremony. As a
spiritual environmentalist, Chan Master Sheng Yen
successfully made a wish to be carried out.
His cremation ashes were planted in bags under the
ground and buried in the moral garden, the Dharma
Drum Mountain.
As an erudite scholar, Master Sheng Yen had
published over one hundred books. The founder of
the Dharma Drum Mountain, he had always been able
to find a way forward when there seemed no way out.
He died on Feb3th, 2009, at age eighty-years-old.
I have always thought of his compassionate smile
since he has passed away. It was so cool to read
his poem:
Busy with nothing, growing old.
Emptiness within, weeping, laughing.
Intrinsically, there is no "self"
Life and death, all thus cast aside.
無事忙中老 空裡有哭笑 本來沒有我 生死皆可拋
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