How Buddhism Changed My Life! The Moon Reflected in a Thousand Rivers Stories of Master Hsuan Hua by his disciples How Buddhism Changed My Life! Buddhist Text Translation Society Dharma Realm Buddhist University Dharma Realm Buddhist Association Buddhist Text Translation Society 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010-4504 The Moon Reflected in a Thousand Rivers Stories of Master Hsuan Hua told by his disciples V. 1 How Buddhism Changed My Life! V. 2 Everything is a Test V. 3 Patience is Priceless V. 4 Relentless Compassion V. 5 Wisdom and Expedients V. 6 Try Your Best Series: ISBN 0-88139-490-4 Published by: Buddhist Text Translation Society Dharma Realm Buddhist University Dharma Realm Buddhist Association http://www.drba.org http://www.bttsonline.org How Buddhism Changed My Life - Vol. 1 Published by: Buddhist Text Translation Society 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010-4504 @ 2003 Buddhist Text Translation Society Dharma Realm Buddhist Association Dharma Realm Buddhist University Printed in Taiwan First Edition 2003 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data How my entire life was changed! / Compiled by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.— 1st ed. p. cm. — (Master Hsèuan Hua. Teaching and transforming ; vol.1) ISBN 0-88139-487-4 1. Hsèuan Hua, 1908- I. Buddhist Text Translation Society. II. Series. BQ962.S767 H68 2003 294.3’92’092—dc21 2002012675 CONTENTS A Magnificent Living Example of the Dharma ..............i Everything He Did Was To Benefit Others .............ii And Never For Himself Editorial Note .............iv Biographical Sketch of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua .............vi Life with the Master .............1 A Teaching by the Venerable Master .............5 Try Your Best! .............8 How Does the Master Cross Over Westerners? .............16 The Bodhisattva’s Compassion .............19 Distant Memories from the Buddhist Lecture Hall .............21 I Don’t Have The Slightest Speck of Desire .............34 Commemorative Essay .............37 Remembrance And Gratitude .............46 The Venerable Master As I Knew Him .............50 A Camphor Tree Waits 1989 Years To Take Refuge .............52 The Good and Wise Advisor’s Teachings for Me .............56 How My Entire Life Was Changed .............65 The Master’s Literary Works Convey the Truth .............73 What Did the Venerable Master Teach Us? .............76 A Firsthand Experience with Fire-breathing Dogs ...............81 In Memoriam With Deepest Respect ...............85 My Wish is to Take on the Suffering of Living Beings ...............89 Black Lines on White Paper ..............91 The Master’s Gift To Us ..............98 Bringing Forth The Resolve For The Unsurpassed Way ............106 Investigating Chan And Seeing The Buddha ............110 The Venerable Master’s Gift From The Heart ............115 “Cut Off Desire!” ............120 APPENDIX: Discussion of Ven. Master Hsuan Hua’s Contributions to Buddhism ............124 The Master’s Instructions Upon Taking Refuge ............156 The Eighteen Great Vows ............158 Dharma Realm Buddhist Association ............160 Buddhist Text Translation Publications ............162 PREFPREFPREFAAACECECE::: AAA MAGNIFICENT LIVINGLIVINGLIVING EXAMPLEEXAMPLEEXAMPLE OFOFOF THETHETHE DHARMADHARMADHARMA —I just want to express the gratitude from the Western side of Buddhism to the Great Master, who inspired us all and gave us so much during his lifetime. It’s a great gift from the Asian continent to the Western world, these venerable sages that choose to live and share their wisdom with us in the Western world. I think this kind of gift and great compassion is something beyond compare. It is what you might call “foreign aid at its very best.” I will always remember and treasure this. Also, in reflecting on the body of the great Master this morning, I had a marvelous insight into the way he would say he was always living like a dead man anyway. The truth, the pure Dharma, that which is real and true, was never born and never dies. Even though the Great Master, in terms of conventions of our language and our perceptual range, is such that we see Venerable Master Hua as having died and passed away, what we really loved and respected is still present with us, and that is the True Dharma that he was always pointing to and of which he was a magnificent living example. I just want to say again what gratitude we all feel—here in America and Europe—for the great gifts that the Venerable Master gave to us. i EEEVERVERVERYYYTHINGTHINGTHING HEHEHE DIDDIDDID WWWASASAS TTTOOO BENEFITBENEFITBENEFIT OOOTHERSTHERSTHERS ANDANDAND NEVERNEVERNEVER FORFORFOR HIMSELFHIMSELFHIMSELF —In retrospect, the vigor, depth and breadth of the Master’s efforts in teaching in the West are nothing short of incredible. In his early days of teaching Westerners, he often had little or no help. He cooked, taught them to cook, sat with them in meditation and taught them to sit, entertained them with Buddhist stories, and taught them the rudiments of Buddhadharma and Buddhist courtesy and ceremony. He gave lessons in Chinese and in Chinese calligraphy, and taught the fundamentals of the pure Buddhist lifestyle. Much of the Master’s most important teaching took place outside of his formal Dharma lectures. For the Master, every situation was an opportunity for teaching, and he paid little attention to whether the recipients of instruction were formal disciples. For him every worldly encounter, whether with disciples or politicians or realtors, was an opportunity to help people become aware of their faults and change them and to develop their inherent wisdom. The Master was open, direct, and totally honest with everyone in every situation. He treated everyone equally, from the President of the United States to little children. Everything he did was to benefit others and never for himself. ii EVERYTHING HE DID WAS TO BENEFIT OTHERS AND NEVER FOR HIMSELF —Perhaps most valuable to me is that the Master gave ultimate meaning to my life. He showed me every day in his every single action that the wonderful world of the Buddha-dharma portrayed in the Sutras is not fantasy, fairy tale or intellectual abstraction. He showed me that it is real and alive, and even more importantly, a possibility and practical ideal for our own lives. I remember him saying that we should explain the Sutras as if we ourselves had spoken them, to make them our own and not distance ourselves from them. Clearly that is the example that he expressed through his own life. iii EDITEDITEDITORIALORIALORIAL NONONOTETETE::: The Youth Good Wealth contemplated and reflected upon the instructions of his Good and Wise Advisor: He was like the great sea, which receives the rains from the great clouds without satiation. He had the following thought: The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like a spring sun in that it produces and makes grow the roots and sprouts of all good Dharmas; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like a full moon, in that it refreshes and cools everything it shines on; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like a snow mountain in summer, in that it can dispel the heat and thirst of all beasts; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like the sun on a fragrant pool, in that it can open the lotus flower of the mind of all goodness; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like a great jeweled continent, in that the various Dharma jewels fill his heart; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like the Jambu tree, in that it amasses the flowers and fruits of all blessings and wisdom; iv EDITORIAL NOTE: The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like a great dragon king, in that he playfully roams with ease and comfort in empty space; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like Mt. Sumeru, in that limitless wholesome dharmas of the Heaven of the Thirty-three are situated in its midst; The Good and Wise Advisor’s teaching is like Lord Shakra, who is circumambulated by his multitudes and assemblies, in that none can overshadow him, and who can subdue bizarre cults and hosts of Asura armies. In this way he reflected — the Avatamsaka Sutra More than 3000 years ago, when Confucius taught, by far the most outstanding aspect of his teaching was his policy of accepting anyone who wanted to learn, regardless of their status in society. That is why, despite the turmoil of the times, 3000 disciples studied with him. In these contemporary times, not only did the Venerable Master Hua teach anyone who wanted to learn, he taught each individual using methods appropriate to him or her, and never renounced a single living being. Despite the chaos that now prevails, hundreds of thousands drew near the Master to learn from him. In this book there are some accounts of things that happened as the Master teaching his disciples. v BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHSKETCHSKETCH OFOFOF THETHETHE VENERABLE MASTERMASTERMASTER HSUANHSUANHSUAN HUAHUAHUA The Venerable Master, a native of Shuangcheng County of Jilin Province, was born on the sixteenth day of the third lunar month in the year of Wu. Wu at the beginning of the century. His family surname was Bai and his name was Yushu. He was also called Yuxi. His father, Bai Fuhai, was diligent and thrifty in managing the household. His mother, whose maiden name was Hu, ate only vegetarian food and recited the Buddha’s name every day throughout her life. When she was pregnant with the Master, she prayed to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The night before his birth, in a dream she saw Amitabha Buddha emitting brilliant light. Following that the Master was born. As a child, the Master followed his mother’s example and ate only vegetarian food and recited the Buddha’s name. The Master was quiet and untalkative by nature, but he had a righteous and heroic spirit.