INTRODUCING THE EMINENT UPASIKA TANG FOON PAI
In July 1972, the elder Upasika Tang Foon Fai 
visited
Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery to pay her respects to the Venerable Abbot,
Tripitaka Master Hua. The eighty-one year old Upasika Tang, a long time
protector of the Dharma, wept with joy when she saw the Master; many years had
passed since she had been received by him in Hong Kong.
At that time in Hong Kong she had been a close friend of the grandmother of a young but very good disciple of the Venerable Master. The eight-year-old lad, good as he was, was crippled with cerebrospinal meningitis. He had no mother, and lived with his grandmother during the time he had the disease. Worried about her grandson's health and confused about what to do, she took him to see the Master who told her that if her grandson left the home life he would be cured and completely free from the threat of the disease.
The grandmother, greatly relieved, agreed and told the Master that she would allow him to leave the home life as soon as he was well. In a very short time the disease had disappeared.
 |
After he recovered, the grandson saw the Master on several occasions. From the moment he first saw the Master, he did not want to leave his side, and on each successive visit he returned home with great reluctance. He was an extremely intelligent child, and the Master told his grandmother that the boy should be near him, for his conditions were such that he would be of great help to the Master. Although the boy had recovered, his grandmother was very attached to him, and her aversion to parting with him prevented his being close to the Master. After a while his illness returned, and within a month of its onset, he died. |
Upasika Tang remembered this incident clearly, for it had inspired her with great faith for the Buddhadharma. She sincerely wished to see the Master, upon her recent arrival in the United States, pay her respects and be close to one of great Way-virtue. She visited Gold Mountain with her daughter and grandchildren who are Canadian citizens. Because of her deep sincerity, Upasika Tang was received by the Master, and was extremely happy.
--By Bhiksu Heng Kuan
Read more about the Indian Patriarch Kumarajiva in the next installment of the Dharma Blossom Sutra, which tells the story of this Sutra’s translator, the great sage and patriarch who was so influential in transmitting Buddhism to China. See Issue No. 29.