Miss Jia- hui Guo came from Taiwan. She grew up in a devout Buddhist family. After graduating from college, she worked for a while at the Health Department of Taiwan. [Editor's Note: Miss Guo graduated from National Taiwan University majoring in Public Health.] For someone who has always enjoyed a good challenge, she discovered that the ever-advancing technology of computers suited her well. To expand her horizons and enrich her work experience, she switched to an occupation that involved working on computers. In fact, she became completely absorbed in her work, loving it and never growing weary of it. However, her mother [Mrs. Guo-Yue Chang, featured in the previous issue's "Bodhi Stand"] saw that besides her work performance, her daughter was most interested in her rise in rank. She was worried that she would be lost in the rat race.

In September 1990, the Venerable Master returned to Taiwan to host the "Assembly for All Citizens to Recite the Buddha's Name." There her entire family took refuge with the Venerable Master and she was given the Dharma name Guo-Hui (Fruit of Wisdom). For more than a decade, she participated and volunteered in Dharma assemblies, but felt that she was always driven by greed, anger, and delusion. She rarely tried to resolve problems using the Buddhist way of compassion and wisdom. She never thought that in September 2000, she would set everything aside and start from scratch when she came to live at Gold Sage Monastery in San Jose, California. She has been working on publications and experiencing the life of a cultivator who balances practice with understanding.

Miss Guo says, "It's not easy to live in a monastery. Not only is the schedule completely different than what I was used to, but I had to make a big adjustment in my attitude toward work. In the past, I would evaluate the importance of people and things based on position or income. I established my personal worth in society based on all the information I had collected and the education I had received. I realize now that such an attitude merely hinders one on the spiritual path. In all we do, we must practice virtue and evaluate worth in terms of our inherent nature." Thus, she tries to honestly face her habits and flaws, and courageously change them.

When she was a child, her father encouraged her to study. He said, "Study hard, because no one can take away knowledge that is yours." However, Miss Guo discovered that besides knowledge, there is something else that other people cannot take away, and that is virtue. The Venerable Master has told us, "Cultivators do not see the faults of others, but only their strengths. This develops virtue in terms of our speech. If your speech is not virtuous, no one will believe you no matter what you say. Conversely, if you create blessings and virtue with your body, mouth and mind, people will respect you at first sight."

Lao-zi says, "Studying involves daily accumulation; the Tao involves daily loss." Presently, she is learning to take a loss. Only those who are willing to take the short end of the stick are qualified to train and test their minds and character, to nurture their virtue, to practice the Six Guiding Principles of the Ciry of Ten Thousand Buddhas--no contention, no greed, no seeking, no selfishness, no pursuit of personal benefit, and no lying--and to become honest cultivators who emphasize both practice and understanding.