The Bodhi Stand Presents

Upasika Yuan Kuo Ni

      Yuan Kuo Ni lives in Hong Kong and first learned about the Venerable Master Hua when one of her servants gave her his biography to read. She was moved by the virtue and compassion she found revealed in his life story and wished to take refuge with the Master. So in 1952, Kuo Ni became a disciple. But it wasn't until 1968 that she began to recite the Vajra Sutra the Amitabha Sutra, the Earth Store Sutra, and the Great Compassion Mantra as on-going practices.

      A household with 9 children has kept Kuo Ni busy, but in 1967, she attended part of an Amitabha Session at Western Bliss Gardens, and kept having repeated dreams of the Venerable Abbot, who was then in America. Bhikshuni Kuo Li advised Kuo Ni to come more often to the temple in Hong Kong and bow to the Buddhas. As Kuo Ni did so, she began to realize that a life devoted primarily to enjoyment--restaurants, plays, parties, etc.--would not form a very firm foundation for the future. There-after, she became more intent on her cultivation and tried to find time each day to bow to the Buddhas and recite the Sutras. Devotion for its own sake brings responses in many ways, however, and Kuo Ni found that other parts of her life went more smoothly when she attended to her faith. Business transactions went unusually well, two of her children became disciples, and in general, the small problems of daily life seemed to work themselves out easily.

      Now Kuo Ni has come to participate in the life of cultivation at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas for a limited period. Finding everyone at the City to be very vigorous in their daily worship and practice, Kuo Ni hopes to be able to come back and stay at the City, where the "air is fresh."