One Thousand Eyes
Illuminate, and
One Thousand Hands
Gather In.
This is how Bodhisattvas
Give their blessings.

"When you go out of the monastery no matter whether you are walking or riding in a vehicle, at all times and places, you should recite the name of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva. In this way no matter what situations you encounter you will turn unlucky states to good fortune. Difficulties will go your way.

What's more you should always do morning and evening recitation. And remember the Four Stations of Mindfulness at all times. I never go sight-seeing no matter where I travel. Did you pack any medicine? What kinds of medicine are you bringing?"

We bowed our departing respects to the Ven. Abbot, and keeping in mind the kind and compassionate final Dharma-instructions from the Elder Master, the Fifth Asian-rim Dharma Propagation Delegation from the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association set off for Asia. Led by Chairperson Bhikshu Heng Sure, and Vice-chairman Bhikshu Heng Ru, the members of the delegation included Heng Lai, Heng Sywe, Heng Gung, Heng Jang, Kai Sying, Bhikshunis Heng Jin and Shramanerika Heng Yin. The delegation included lay-persons Chang Fu-lin and Chuang Bo-nan, who completed the entire journey with the group, as well as a group of Dharma-protecting laity.

The sound of the Proper Dharma rang forth and the delegation set out on the long road to the East.

On February 2, 1992, the group left San Francisco, and on April 3 returned to the USA. During this lengthy, two-month tour abroad, we journeyed through Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, a total of five countries in all. We passed ample time in vehicles of all kinds, which provided a new experience in cultivation for the delegates. The weather of Asian countries, the shifting environments, the squalling sounds of the cities, the roar of the crowds, the colorful tapestry of the world is in every way different from the calm, tranquil, life-style of cultivation inside the walls of the monastic community. This too, can be considered a real-life challenge to cultivation, because,

"Buddha-dharma exists in the world, and we must not seek it apart from the world. If we look for Bodhi away from this world, then we are searching for horns on a rabbit."

Each new stop, each new place, even the next minute is an excellent chance to cultivate the Way. The next situation that confronts you will bring another test, and another state. No wonder the ancients had a saying,

"You learn more by traveling ten thousand miles than by reading ten thousand books."

Most of the delegates approached the unknown dangers and the challenges that faced them with an attitude of caution and respect, especially since this was the first time that the Ven. Abbot was not personally directing the delegations' footsteps. Even the Chairperson of the delegation, who is rich in experiences abroad propagating Dharma, also approached the situation as if walking on thin ice, and as if bent under a heavy burden. No matter whether we were getting into a car or out of a car, leaving an airplane, descending from a boat, or sharing a meal on the road, we kept the holy name of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva on our lips at all times without exception. It was hard to avoid occasional bouts of travel discomfort, so the box of patent medicines that the Ven. Master bestowed on us at the start of the trip was already completely emptied by mid-trip.

Despite this condition, from start to finish, there seemed to be an invisible protection, a shield of some sort, and a helpful and benevolent energy surrounding us at all times. In the process of a Dharma-propagating tour, it's hard to avoid a certain amount of hassles and difficulties, as well as things not going your way, but each time such events arose, they were solved and regulated smoothly, without conflict. This mysterious and special draught of invigorating strength gave us all a sense of security and well-being, and it comforted uneasy feelings and relaxed tense muscles. To our surprise, every member of the delegation spontaneously reported the same experience.

Liberated, free of disasters, and truly happy!
The Foremost Shurangama King is unequaled in the world.
It banishes misfortune and bestows peace and joy,
Great Indeed! are the magic words of the True Gatha!

We passed through Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia with their many capitals and towns, and no matter whether it was a ceremony or a lecture program, wherever our delegation went, die banquet of Dharma was sublime, and the crowds were over-flowing. We came to Taiwan and were met by the teachers and students from the Proper Dharma Buddhist Studies Academy and in the cities of San Chung, Dou Liou, and Gausyung, we convened a "Great Compassion Dharma Assembly for Protecting the Nation, for Eradicating Disasters, and for Bringing Longevity"

We recited the Shurangama Mantra, the Great Compassion Mantra, and bowed the Great Compassion Repentance. We transferred the merit to Taiwan with the hope that society could be pacified, that her citizens could be peaceful and happy.

Taiwan is a jeweled island, and it is also a land blessed by Buddhism. Every time the Ven. Abbot's delegations arrive in Taiwan, we are requested to transmit the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts, as well as transmitting the "Precepts for the Deceased." After the ten days of activities were over, on February 27 Bhikshu Heng Lai, as scheduled, returned first to the USA.

In Taiwan Bhikshus Heng Liang and Heng Li joined our group. Along came a lay-woman Gwo Ju, who resolved to join our group as a Dharma Protector for the entire duration of the tour. Bhikshuni Heng Gwei also came along for the Hong Kong portion of the trip, to help with the Cantonese translation. The Dharma Propagation Delegation had an opportunity to investigate the teachings of the Buddha with a group of young college students at the Hong Kong Chinese University.

We also did not forget our Elders, as we went to a Senior Citizens' Home to exhort them to recite the Buddha's name and cultivate the Pure Land Dharma-method. We watched their wrinkled faces, full of the marks of cares and years, break into fresh smiles and delighted expressions of faith and acceptance, as if they had found at last a place of reliable refuge in this life.

In the Town Halls of Sha Tin and Tun Men, and the Performing Arts Academy of Hong Kong we used expedient means to introduce the teachings of the Buddha to our Dharma-friends in Hong Kong. We met a surprisingly good response for Hong Kong, quite a few people who wanted to study the Dharma. Hong Kong is the heaven on earth of material affluence and vibrates with the pursuit of pleasure. The regrettable aspect is that there are so few opportunities in Hong Kong to practice the Dharma.

After lecturing the Dharma at night, by day we lead devotees in bowing and reciting at the Buddhist Lecture Hall. On Feb. 21, a portion of our group traveled to Lan Tau Island to the "Magic Mountain Monastery" which the Ven. Abbot built by hand over thirty years ago. Tsz Hsing Sz, "Flourishing Kindness Monastery" was constructed tile by tile and brick by brick by the Ven. Abbot, who carried hundred pound bags of concrete every day, up the hour-long trek over the twisting mountain path to the monastery. On the mountain peak, between two large boulders, crouched a ferocious dragon, sculpted by hand by the Ven. Abbot himself. The ancient Chan Meditation benches and the decaying old Buddha-house at T'sz Sying Sz testified to the age of the premises, and it made everyone reflect on the difficult, ascetic life-style of the pure cultivators of the past.

Those who see them immediately feel respect;
And everyone gives them admiration.
The way bees crave good honey,
The way thirsty people crave Sweet Dew.

Having stopped in verdant, flourishing Taiwan, and tiny, uptight Hong Kong, we came to Indonesia, and immediately it seemed as if someone had turned the clock back to an earlier century. Indonesia is not in fact, a Buddhist country, so we were prohibited from giving public lectures, and had to be satisfied with a question and answer dialogue format. Even so, Indonesia still hosts many young people who want to study Buddhism, especially in a place in Jakarta called the "Gwan Yin Hall". As soon as their leader heard we were in town, he drove right over and insisted that our Sangha find time to come and address his group.

He said, "Indonesia has no Buddhadharma to speak of, and there are no real Mahayana monks, and no Buddhist sutras either." His plea was so earnest and moving that our only choice was to split our delegation into two groups, which we were, at first, unwilling to do. We agreed that one team would cover the earlier scheduled lecture, and the other team would attend the gathering at his temple.

But when we arrived at Gwan Yin Hall, we all were unprepared to see over four hundred bright and polished boys and girls, youngsters between the ages of fifteen to twenty, all standing in neat rows, waiting to start their evening ceremonies!

A noteworthy point: none of them could speak Chinese, but they were still willing to struggle with the unfamiliar romanized pinyin Chinese sounds of the ceremony books in order to sing their chants and praises and recite the Great Compassion Mantra. The Indonesian Government has made it a policy to eliminate all Chinese language in broadcasting or publishing, so that Chinese of the younger generation can speak only Indonesian and English. Most adults over fifty can still force out a bit of Chinese for conversational purposes. Obviously there are no Chinese language sutras available in this country to read or to study, and even less are there any texts to recite or memorize.

The unforgettable part of that evening recitation was the sense of courage and dedication, "accomplishing difficult tasks by struggling against the odds." On one hand it is regrettable that Indonesia lacks the Triple Jewel's presence, on the other hand these children have extremely deep good roots to be able to assemble together and to cultivate in this pure place, and to meet the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and to see the Sangha.

Only now did I actually experience the power of the Ven. Abbot's vow to translate the sutras into the languages of the world. It is clear now why it carries such emphasis: if we want to take across our friends in Indonesia, the only way we can do it is by producing real Sutras in languages that they can read; sutras in English and Indonesian. What a pity that our delegation brought so few non-Chinese titles! The saying

"The monks are many and the porridge is insufficient",

describes the situation accurately. Indonesia is poor in Buddhism at present, but it can still develop in the future. In fact, Borobudur, the eighth century Buddhist cultural relic, is located in Indonesia, and it has become a major tourist attraction. If we want to know the future of Buddhism in Indonesia, we need only look at the sincerity and enthusiasm of the faithful who came to our lectures, and we get a pretty good idea of the Proper Dharma's chance for resurgence and popularity in that land.

With supreme, unstained wisdom,
With boundless, discriminating eloquence,
They proclaim such profound, wondrous phrases,
That the Foremost Meaning
Responds with each listener.

Singapore is a progressive, beautiful country, and deserves the name "the Flower Garden City of Asia." On March 1, the Dharma Propagation Delegation arrived at this tidy, clean town. The high standard of living and the quality of material affluence did not, however, satisfy the needs of people who crave true principles to live by. We lectured four days at the City Hall, and the twelve hundred seat conference center was jammed full to bursting. After the audience listened intently to every word of the talks, they responded with enthusiastic questions and challenges to the Dharma that they heard. We were pleased that Buddhism could meet such a stimulating response in a place like this.

To all the Lions Among Men in the Three Periods of Time,
And throughout all Ten Directions,
With purified body, mouth, and mind,
I bow to them all everywhere, Without exception.

The Ven. Abbot came to Malaysia three times before, to propagate the Dharma, once in 1978, once in 1983, and once in 1989. So the sound of the Proper Dharma was requested by disciples in Muar, Melaka, Penang, Bukit Mertajam, and other places. They wanted us to introduce the cultivation method of the Six Guidelines to the people in each town, and the basic five precepts cultivated by lay-people, as well as the other methods of the Proper Dharma. Every place our team went, the Ven. Abbot had been there before, and had planted down seeds. Even where Shr Fu had not been, the local disciples' respect for him, and their view of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was still profoundly deferential.

Malaysia was our last stop on the tour. We would stay here for fully half of the trip to Asia. After we arrived, we toured the entire country turning the Dharma-Wheel from North to South, in a non-stop, whirlwind tour. Finally we reached Kuala Lumpur, and the International Youth Center at Cheras. We began an epoch-making event immediately: a transplanted version of the largest Dharma Assembly on the CTTB calendar, the annual Ten Thousand Buddhas' Repentance, this time shared with our Dharma comrades in Malaysia.

The person in charge of the event, Mr. Go Gah Keng has been a disciple of the Ven. Abbot's for a long time. Every year he has brought a pilgrimage delegation to the CITB for the purpose of bowing the Ten Thousand Buddhas' Repentance. Thus he is acutely aware of the difficulty his Malaysian friends face when they consider crossing the wide ocean to attend the event in distant America. Some people may never get a second chance in a lifetime. Others, even if they saved their strength of a lifetime, could never make the journey or realize their wish to attend.

But since there were so many Buddhist disciples who longed night and day to travel to the CTTB to take part in this repentance, Mr. Goh made the great resolve to create this special Dharma on behalf of all the Buddhists in Malaysia. So the invitation for the Delegation to come to Malaysia to convene the Great Repentance was the major reason for this trip to far-away Southeast Asia. The event was also the longest single Buddhist ceremony ever held in the history of Malaysia. Furthermore, to hold such an adorned and august gathering in the stronghold of Islam is quite unique.

At three p.m. on March 11, the solemn opening ceremonies began. Several Theravadin Buddhist Elders came to preside over the opening, as well as Ven. Bak Ywan, from the Mahayana tradition, as well as Dharma Masters Rev. B. Saranakara, Wen Tung, Wen Jyan, and others, who cooperated to raise the curtain on the Great Repentance. The climax of the opening was the lighting of ten "eternal lamps" which symbolized the transmission of the light, and the constant continuation of the Buddha's wisdom-lamp.

During the twenty-one days of the Assembly, the participants bowed to eleven thousand and one hundred Buddhas' names, which amounted to approximately five hundred bows a day. Every day of the gathering four to five hundred disciples took part. These people made a great resolve, setting aside their jobs, their careers, and their families to come bow to the Buddhas. Not only did those who bowed make a great resolve, but the volunteer workers who made the event run smoothly put down their other duties as early as one month before the Repentance, so as to concentrate on preparing this gathering. During the entire three weeks of the ceremony, each nuni-team on the organizing committee performed their tasks with a spirit of harmony. Only then could the Dharma Assembly proceed as smoothly as it did.

On the final days, over one thousand folks joined in the bowing to the Buddha's names. At each day's end, at the transference hour, several people in the hall would be weeping copious tears. The power of the group's concentration was truly remarkable!

Although the time schedule during the Repentance was tightly arranged, Dana-hosting lay-persons banded together in groups for the chance to make formal meal offerings to the Sangha. They also signed up to participate in the "Supreme Meal Offering Requesting Dharma." In order to enact this ritual, the preparation committee gathered the four requisite Dharma Treasures: a white whisk, a tin staff, a "ru yi" scepter, and an alms bowl. The "Supreme Vegetarian Meal Offering Requesting Dharma" is rarely performed these days. It requires that the Dana-hosting lay-person makes a large offering, and he asks the presiding Dharma Master to speak a specially prepared Dharma lecture, according to ancient traditions.

This time, in order not to take up the precious time of the Assembly, and at the same time to grant the wishes of the participants, the committee skillfully enfolded the wishes of ten Dana-hosts into five separate Supreme Vegetarian Offerings, thus gaining the best of all possible arrangements.

By day we bowed the repentance, and by night we lectured on the Buddha-dharma. The method was to first lecture for an hour on the Final Teaching Sutra Bequeathed By the Buddha. Then for the remaining time, we delivered expedient talks on Buddhism, followed by questions and answers with the audience. After twenty-one days of this procedure, the monks and nuns on the podium and the audience in the hall became fast Dharma-friends and fellow cultivators. We did morning, noon, and evening recitation together, we ate vegetarian food together in the same canteen, we bowed together to the same Buddhas, and we listened to the same Dharma-talks at night.

Since the delegation had already come from a rapid tour of four countries, we had every right to feel as tired and fatigued as we did. But seeing how the gathered Repentance Assembly had put down all their extraneous conditions to attend this event, and how they refused to miss even one hour of the scheduled activities, each member of the tour followed suit, and "gave up their individual interests to do the Buddha's work." We led the group in bowing the repentance, prepared the evening ceremony recitation and lecture materials, and did not slack off the slightest bit.

Only after the repentance had begun in earnest did the delegation find out that, the planning committee without informing us, had given consent for lectures to the Buddhist groups in Klang, Kedah, Taiping, and Genting, among others. Since we did not know of these plans, there was no time to inform the Government bureau that issues permission for such lectures.

Foreign lecturers must receive prior approval from the Malaysian Government, or else their scheduled events can be shut down on the spot. Since the various organizing committees had already issued their advertisements with our names and the dates of the far-flung lectures, there was no way to cancel the events. The only solution to the problem, much against our policy of maintaining group solidarity at all times, was to deputize two or three of the Malaysian members of the delegation, who were pernutted by their citizenship to speak at any time, to represent the whole group and the CTTB.

On March 22, which was Gwan Yin Bodhisattva's anniversary, we held a Liberating Life Ceremony, as well as transmitting the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts. Since the twenty-ninth of the month was also a holiday, we transmitted the "Precepts For the Deceased." All those disciples requested tablets to commemorate their ancestors, or to repay the kindness of their parents. Then they stood in for them to receive the Bodhisattva Precepts, hoping that the merit and virtue of the Precepts would insure a wholesome rebirth for their kin or clansman. Those who aspired to help their ancestors leave suffering and attain bliss numbered six hundred and sixty.

On April 4 the Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance was finished, and on that afternoon at three o'clock we held the Great Meng Shan Ceremony for Feeding the Ghosts. We invited Dharma Master Wen Tung to preside over the ceremony. His fame as a weinou, or master of ceremonies, is highly respected throughout Malaysia. The Assembly transferred the merit and virtue of the entire event to all living beings in the three evil destinies and the six paths of rebirth.

Just as the opening notes of the ceremony rang out, heaven and earth changed colors, and a furious thunder-storm blew up, as if it intended to turn the mountains into oceans. And just at the moment when the Meng Mountain Ceremony was winding up to its most stately, proper-Dharma conclusion, the Dragons of Heaven dropped buckets of Sweet Dew on the earth, and washed clean the filth and defilement of the world, leaving all in its wake pure and refreshed.

The vapors of fire and heat instantly became cool and fresh, and we knew that the merit and virtue of the twenty-one day Ten Thousand Buddhas' Jeweled Repentance was full and complete. All living beings obtained the perfection of Paramita, and in all ways, completed the Buddha-dharmas.

After morning ceremony the following day, all the laity went their separate ways, with promises to meet again someday soon. The delegation paid their departing respects to a number of senior monks, and then honored the request of the Singapore Youth Lodge Dharma Propagation Group for a final farewell lecture. As it turned out, there was a sudden storm of sweet dew that evening too, which provoked the awed admiration of all present. They told us that before the delegation arrived the weather had been unseasonably hot, and it hadn't rained in over two months. Was the rainstorm a coincidence, or were the Gods and Dragons protecting the Dharma?

On April third we took off for America and called an end to this life style full of Dharma bliss. We returned to the tranquillity and purity of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Each of us in our minds experienced an unprecedented recognition of the Bodhi-resolve, and we made an unequaled advance toward the Buddha-Way. We vowed in the future to take ourselves across, and to take others across. May all living beings accomplish perfect wisdom, and all reach Buddha-hood together!