December 2008 Issue No.
One Hundred Sixty-Two
2008 BLIA Conference Keynote Speech: Bodhisattva and Volunteer (II)
(Continue form last issue)
1) A Bodhisattva is a volunteer for sentient
beings, while a volunteer is a bodhisattva for the
world
As said in a sutra, “If you wish to become a dragon or
elephant[i] of Buddhism, you must first learn to serve sentient
beings like the horse and ox.” This is a demonstration of a
bodhisattva’s kind heart and compassionate vows. Therefore, a
so-called bodhisattva is one who is willing to benefit sentient
beings and aspires to initiate the bodhicitta that vows to “reach
upwards for buddhahood, and backtrack to deliver sentient
beings” as a result of becoming awakened to the truths of
suffering, emptiness and impermanence. Whether monastic or
lay, noble or poor, anyone who fits the above criteria can be
called a bodhisattva. On the other hand, once a person has
vowed to develop the bodhicitta and is willing to
practice the bodhisattva path, he or she will
certainly be willing to serve others and be a
volunteer for all sentient beings.
The Four Great Bodhisattvas of Buddhism
all served sentient beings as volunteers. For
example, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva traced the
sounds of cries, relieved the distressed and let
them become fearless; thus he was the most
compassionate volunteer of all. Manjusri
Bodhisattva inspired sentient beings’ minds with
wisdom; thus he was the wisest volunteer of all.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vowed to “never attain
Buddhahood until all beings are freed from hell,”
and “to delay the attainment of enlightenment until all sentient
beings are delivered;” thus he was the volunteer with the
greatest aspiration. Samantabadhra Bodhisattva realized his ten
vows based on sentient beings, as a cultivation practice for all;
thus he was the volunteer with the greatest ascetic practice.
Other than the above, many Buddhist masters also
dedicated their lives to the continuance of the Buddha’s
wisdom and propagation of Dharma. For example, Nagarjuna
wrote several sastras and commentaries to propagate
Mahayana Buddhism; Aryadeva refuted false views and
revealed the righteous Dharma; Asanga changed his brother
who like him, transferred from the small vehicle to the greater
vehicle; Vasubandhu conquered the heretics with his writings
in place of a sword; and Asvagosha voiced the truth with his
Master Venerable Hsing Yun
poems and songs. Their selfless devotion to volunteering to
deliver sentient beings also brought a ray of hope into this
world, and dispelled its darkness.
The Buddha’s disciples such as Sariputra,
Maudgalyayana and Purna volunteered their wisdom,
supernatural power and eloquence to help the Buddha expound
his teachings. Aniruddha was not afraid of the harsh weathers
and traveled to places to resolve disputes and arbitrated
between monastics. Bhiksu Tuo-piao received and attended to
traveling monastics for decades, and attained an illuminating
finger as a result of his volunteer works.
If one takes a look at the Buddhist texts, one will find
that many Ch’an Masters had vowed to devote all their
lifetimes to serving sentient beings. For example, Ch’an
Master Wei-shan Ling-yu vowed to be reborn as a bull so that
he can help people pull their carts; Chao-chou
vowed to be reborn in hell so that he can save
sentient beings from it. Some also dedicated their
whole life to labor and ascetic practice without
any regret. Ch’an Master Xue-feng served as head
of rice cooking under his master Dong-shan;
Ch’an Master Xiao-cong served as head of lights
and candles under his master Yun-ju; Ch’an
Master Ji-shan served as head of firewood under
his master Tou-zi; Ch’an Master Yi-huai served as
head of latrine cleaning under his master Cui-
feng; Master Dao-yuan served in the kitchen of
Tian Tong Temple for sixty years, and even laid
out mushrooms underneath the scorching sun to
dry them. Such spirits of “wishing only for the liberation of
sentient beings, not for the comfort and happiness of oneself”
is a perfect demonstration of a volunteering bodhisattva.
Throughout the many generations of Buddhists, many
monastics widely practiced benevolent actions and made
tremendous contributions to social welfare. Be it building
bridges and paving roads, planting trees and afforestation,
digging wells, setting up pavilions that served tea, protecting
and freeing life, providing medical treatment to the poor,
emergency relief aids, building temples and offering shelters,
establishing orphanages and senior’s homes, setting up
hospitals, giving charity, setting up free schools, or teaching
the proper and true faith, they have done countless good deeds
to benefit their community.
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They had unshakeable belief in
the fact that the significance of
working lies in broadening
one’s horizons, serving people,
and even bringing the value of
life to a higher plain. Therefore,
what else can be better than
volunteering one’s work and
labor?
Not only were bodhisattvas and
monastics happy to be
volunteers for sentient beings,
many rulers and kings also did
the same throughout the course
of Buddhist history.
Magadha’s Asoka III set up medical storages at all
four gates of the city for his people and monastics. Everyday,
he would make offerings of one thousand units of money to
the construction of stupas and statues, one thousand to senior
bhiksus, ten thousand to the monastic community, and ten
thousand for purchasing medical supplies. He also planted
trees on the sides of the roads and dug wells to enable
travelers a place to recover from the hot weather. As the ruler
of a nation, King Asoka served his people as a volunteer and
enabled them a steady and peaceful life, also allowing his
nation to prosper.
!!! The Father of Japanese Buddhism, Prince Shotoku
encouraged his people to have faith in the Triple Gem. In
Osaka’s Shitennoji constructed by him, he included courts
such as the Hiden-in, Kyoden-in, Ryobyo-in, and Seyaku-in
to provide free medical consultation, shelter and relief aids to
the poor and needy.
Emperor Liang from the Chinese Southern and
Northern dynasty was a pious Buddhist. Not only did he
study Buddhism intensively and observed the Bodhisattva
Precepts, he even served at Tong Tai Temple on three separate
occasions despite his noble position as an emperor. Thus he
was given the title, “a bodhisattva emperor.” From this, we
can see that just as long as one possesses the bodhisattva
spirit and is willing to serve others, one can be named a
bodhisattva king, or even a bodhisattva minister, bodhisattva
doctor, or bodhisattva teacher. Volunteer firefighters and
police are also manifestations of the bodhisattva.
I used to urge that “everyone be a police,” so that
they can help the police to keep order in a society overflowing
with chaos and problems. The best way for a nation or society
to improve is for everyone to be a police. A police is like a
guardian who also shows the bodhisattva spirit. Therefore,
not only are compassion and initiative required to practice the
bodhisattva path, one also needs to do so with activeness and
bravery.
The BLIA is an organization that strives to realize the
bodhisattva path and practice the Buddha’s way. Ever since
its establishment, not only have our members volunteered
their services at the temples by helping out in the kitchen,
answering telephone calls, receiving guests, directing traffic,
sweeping and cleaning up, doing paperwork, computer
editing, poster design, and publicity and liaising, they have
also volunteered themselves in social service across different
social strata.
Recently, the kind deeds of the BLIA have been
regularly reported by the media; for example, the “Loving
Mums” who help school children cross the road were much
appreciated by the parents; the volunteers at hospitals who
help patients register themselves have assisted countless
elders; the “Friendship and Love Service Team” went to
remote areas to provide free medical consultation and spared
many families from pressures of having to pay for medical
treatment; and the Humanistic Buddhist Reading Association
has spread the fragrance of reading to many families.
Other activities such as tree-planting, the Seven
Admonitions Campaign, Carnival for Special Students, Paper
Recycling Activities, and visits to prisons and drug
rehabilitation centers have all been actively promoted by
BLIA members and volunteers.
In particular, the demeanor, manner, speech, sacrifice
and contribution demonstrated by BLIA members during their
volunteer activities have won much recognition. For example,
members of BLIA, Los Angeles received a special request to
be the traffic directing volunteers at a United Nations
gathering that was held in Los Angeles; many government
organizations also made requests to BLIA, Chunghwa to
recommend female members to help out at their events as
volunteers.
In my opinion, regardless of the type and importance
of the event, just as long as it is of benefit to the public,
BLIA has the obligation to volunteer themselves. It is also
BLIA members’ mission to be volunteers who act like a
thread that links all types of good causes and conditions
together, and offer their part in establishing a Humanistic
pureland.
In general, to be a volunteer signifies the dedication
of one’s life; it is the offering of one’s strength, time and
goodwill. Therefore, a volunteer is a bodhisattva practitioner
who integrates both understanding and practice of the
Dharma. When confronted with a life of suffering, emptiness
and impermanence, people normally pray to buddhas and
bodhisattvas to bless them in times of hardship and
hopelessness. The truth is, Buddhism’s volunteers are like the
thousand-hand-and-thousand-eye bodhisattva who serves on
behalf of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Therefore, there are
surely no words that fully match the praise of a bodhisattva to
say “a bodhisattva is a volunteer for sentient beings, while a
volunteer is a bodhisattva for the world.”
 Buddha’s Light Newsletter
YAD THANKSGIVING POTLUCK
!" Orlando YAD hosted their annual
Thanksgiving Potluck on Sunday, November 23,
2008. The purpose of this event was to give
thanks for what we have and to spend quality time
with all members of the Temple. Venerable Chueh
Fan and Venerable Chueh Yan also attended the
festivities. Everyone brought delicious vegetarian
food which included baked pasta with spinach,
cheesy potato casserole, fried rice, stir-fry, lentil
THANKSGIVING POTLUCK
Emily Liu
soup, cookies, brownies, bananas and homemade
pastries. Games were played after dinner.
Venerable Chueh Fan joined in on a friendly game
of Pictionary. There were many laughs throughout
the whole night and memories were created. It
was a successful event which brought YAD,
BLIA members, and other volunteers of the
temple closer together.
 Buddha’s Light Newsletter
UCF STUDENT VISITED TO GUANG MING TEMPLE
On October 25th, 2008, University of Central Florida
Professor Connie Jordan took her students to visit Guang
Ming Temple. In the main shrine, Venerable Chueh-Fan
introduced the Fo Guang Shan explained its four main
objectives:
* To propagate Buddhist teachings through cultural
activities
* To foster talent through education
* To benefit society through charitable programs
* To purify human hearts and minds through Buddhist
practice
Professor Jordan and her students had many questions.
They were especially curious about the life of the Buddha,
the different Buddha statues, and the idea of reincarnation. Venerable Chueh-Fan patiently answered each
question for the students and the professor. She also gave each of them a souvenir - a crystal imprint of
Master Hsing-Yun's calligraphy. Since the calligraphy was in Chinese, the students inquired about the
meaning, which Venerable Chueh-Fan explained was "Be Free of Mind and Body" Finally, a volunteer took
the class for a tour around the temple and explained the functions of the Water Tea House, Meditation Hall,
and Memorial Columbarium. At the end of the day, many students expressed an interest in Buddhism and
said they would like to come back to learn more.

THANKSGIVING HOT POT

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, Guang Ming
Temple held a special holiday "hot-pot" feast on Thanksgiving
day. Unlike the traditional Thanksgiving feast, there was no
turkey or meat of any kind, just a scrumptious variety of
vegetarian treats including vegetables, mushrooms, noodles
and tofu all cooked together on the table in a boiling pot. Hot-
pot is also known as "Chinese fondue," and it is, as of yet, a
somewhat unknown culinary delight in the United States. This
form of Chinese cooking claims a history of more than 1,000
years dating back to the Tang dynasty. Traditionally, hot-pot
symbolizes peace and gathering, and is only held on special
occasions such as Chinese New Year or a family reunion. In
the spirit of Thanksgiving, Guang Ming Temple invited the
temple volunteers for a special dinner in order to "give thanks"
to them for all of their hard work. The dinner was vegetarian
because we believe that compassion to animals is a key part of
Buddhist practice, and although the Thanksgiving dinner was
without turkey, the warmth of atmosphere did not suffer one
bit.
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 Buddha’s Light Newsletter
!uest
"olum#
Hello, my name is Jeff Steward, and Donald,
our tireless editor, asked me to write a guest column
for our newsletter. I'd like to write an eight-part
series about one of my favorite topics: the Eight
Schools of Chinese Buddhism and how we can apply
their teachings to our daily lives. In this first
installment, I will discuss the Chan school of Chinese
Buddhism, but first let me briefly discuss the Eight
Schools.The Tang dynasty is often called the golden
age of Chinese history, and this is certainly true for
Chinese Buddhist history. During the Tang dynasty,
Buddhism flourished in China and eight
philosophical schools, each emphasizing a different
aspect of the Buddha's teachings, were established.
These schools are all complimentary to one another,
and it is possible to gain insight and wisdom from
each one of them. Fo Guang Shan teaches
Humanistic Buddhism, which was described by
Master Hsing Yun, one of the fathers of Humanistic
Buddhism, as an "amalgam of all Eight Schools."
That said, most masters recommend that you pick
one approach and stick with it. A good metaphor is
getting a college degree: you choose a major and
focus most heavily on that area, but you also get a
broad education from many different areas in order to
expand your horizons. In the same way, it is best to
take one approach for your daily practice but learn as
much as you can about the different areas as well.
Chan Buddhism is also known as Zen
Buddhism. The word "chán," with a rising tone, is a
Chinese word that was chosen to phonetically
represent
# the Sanskrit term "Dhyana" meaning
meditation. Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the
Chinese word, and much of what the West knows
about Chan comes from Japan. I find it amusing that
when we talk about "Zen" in English, we are
emulating a Japanese word that emulates a Chinese
word that emulates a Sanskrit word! This is made
even more amusing because one of the core concepts
in Chan is that words themselves cannot express true
wisdom. In Chan, one must seek to penetrate
through the mind of duality - that is, the mind that
discriminates into opposing qualities like night and
day - and see the truth that is independent of
language, words or thought. To see this truth is the
first step to enlightenment.
As you read this last sentence, you might be
thinking that if language and words cannot express
this truth, what good could this article hope to
achieve? Indeed, talking in a normal way about
Chan is difficult if not impossible. In fact, I believe
that the two main approaches to this problem are
what define the two main sects of Chan: the Línjì (臨
済, Japanese: Rinzai) and the Cáodòng (曹洞,
Japanese: S!t!) sects. Traditionally, the Linji sect
focused on the use of G!ng-àn (公案, Japanese:
koan) which are short phrases or stories that a
practitioner can use to see beyond the ordinary way
of thinking, while the Caodong sect focuses on Zuò
Chán (坐禅, Japanese: zazen), which is "just sitting."
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 Buddha’s Light Newsletter
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Some well-known examples of gong-ans used
by the Linji sect are "what is the sound of one-hand
clapping?" and "If a tree falls in a forest, does it make
a sound?" Traditionally, these gong-ans are given to
students when their masters think they have reached a
certain level. The students are then instructed to take
this question and meditate upon it until they have
some sort of insight, which the student then brings
back to their master to share. Based on this, the
master can gauge the student's level of enlightenment
and, if necessary, give a small push in the right
direction. Many of the questions defy a rational
explanation, and a rational approach based on
language and dualistic thought often ends up leading
in a circle. This is not to say that rational thought is to
be abandoned - in fact, Gong-ans are designed to
methodically take the practitioner to the limit of
rational thought and encourage a sudden
enlightenment into the true nature of reality. This is
an ingenious system - through the use of these Gong-
ans, the master is able to leverage all of his or her
wisdom in order to help the student quickly reach
realization.
On the other hand, the Caodong sect takes an
entirely different approach. Its core philosophy is
"only mind your meditation" or, more simply, "just
sit." In this approach, one just sits, and when the
mind wanders, one brings it back to the practice of
sitting. In practice this is much more difficult than it
sounds, so often a technique of focusing on the
breathing is used to give the mind something to focus
on. This seemingly simple approach is actually
incredibly expansive. Just as at first glance the sky
seems empty - like nothing, really - in fact the sky
actually fills the heavens. There is no star, no matter
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陳氏兄弟 黃光維/黃光寧
how bright, that is not embraced by the night sky, and
no thundercloud, no matter how dark, that the sky
does not accept. To be like the sky - without judging
and without impeding - is the core practice of
Caodong.
So Chan is about looking beyond the mind of
duality in order to see your own true nature. What
both Linji and Caodong point to is that your most
wonderful, bright and clear true nature has in fact
been your ordinary mind all along - that of simply
waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to
work or school, and doing all of the other tasks you do
during the day. Normally when we do these activities
we are filled with other thoughts and distractions.
When we wake up in the morning, we groan and want
to stay in our warm and cozy beds. When we eat
breakfast, we are thinking about a show that we saw
on TV last night, or what we will say to our friend
today, or any of a million other thoughts. Chan is
about actually doing all these things without doing
anything else. When you wake up in the morning,
just wake up. When you eat breakfast, just eat
breakfast. Focus on doing whatever it is you are doing
at the moment and don't let your mind bounce in a
million different directions like a rubber ball in a
small room. In this way, you can actually enjoy the
food you are eating. You can actually feel the
sleepiness in your body wonderfully drifting away.
You can actually breathe, just breathe, and experience
how magical this is. This, then, is the core teaching
we can take from Chan in our daily lives - just do
whatever it is that you are doing. According to Chan,
this itself is enlightenment. What a beautiful take on
life!
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Ni Hao Inc.
Luong Quoc Luu
Xue Yin Lin
Piyun T. Lin
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Raymond J blondi/Tina Y. Fann
 Buddha’s Light Newsletter
English Dharma Lecture in Geneva
On November 16th, Chair of Department of Life and
Death Studies of Nanhua University, Venerable Hui Kai held
English lecture "Life and Death in Buddhism" at FGS Geneva
Conference Center. There were translation in French and
Chinese simultaneously. More than seventy Swiss attended.
Venerable Hui Kai participated in XXIII International
Conference on Pastoral Care in the Treatment of Sick Children
from November 13th to 15th in Vatican and invited to lecture in
FGS Geneva Conference Center. Venerable Hui Kai introduced
oriental and western philosophy and religion's view on life and
death, transform in life and analysis of consciousness, karma
and depend origin, reincarnation and reborn, and dying to open the veil of life and death.

Multi-faith Music Concert

On November 8th, Musica Scara, Latin Choir of St. John the
Beloved and Chung Tian Temple jointly held Multifaith Music Concert
at Chung Tian Temple. The activity is planed by chairman of Musica
Scara, Jack H. Y. Ho, and Sylvie Shaw of School of History, Philosophy
Religion and Classics of University of Queensland, with theme of
"Chanting for Peace". Representatives of Catholic, Christian, and
Orthodox Church were invited to participate. It enhance the
understanding of multifaith music through interchange of multifaith
music. Abbess, Venerable Chue Shan hosted purifying ceremony and
prayer to open the activity. Chairman of Musica Scara, Jack H. Y. Ho
made purification with incense burner to introduce Christian ceremony service. Host, Tracey Chin of BLIA
Chungtian introduced the origin of Multifaith Music Concert and chanting of Fo Guang Shan Monastery. Venerable
Chue Shan welcomed the representatives to participate in the music seminar, introducing praising to Buddha, verses,
and mantra with Buddhist chanting. Mr. Ho introduced history of hymn, music score, and intonation with hymn and
prayer. There were a series of religion music and chanting, demonstration ceremony, and light offering. Everyone
learned to sing chanting and hymn of the religions, enhancing interchange, understanding, and spiritual interchange.

Computer Training for the Poor

On November 15th, Computer Training Camp for the Poor held Completion
Ceremony. Twenty four participants and their families participated. To
assist the poor who had no ability to receive good education, Nan Hua
Temple held computer training camp for two months for them to learn a
skill for making a better living. Venerable Yi Chun stated the importance
of computer in recent age. The participants came from diversified
religions. Monastic hope the participants could learn basic of Buddhism
and principal of mutual assistance. Before the end of ceremony, the
participants sincerely showed gratitude to teachers and Nan Hua Temple.
#
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