Fourth mistake: Leonora comes out and tells us it’s closer to her house than to Alice Wong’s. Not being on top of it because of false thinking, I say, “OK.” But after she leaves I remember our commitment to Alice. It’s getting sticky. I spend a wasted hour trying to phone Alice. She’s not home. I’m spent from physical exhaustion, can’t find phone numbers, rush hour traffic is honking and hooting. Then a group of boys does a pea-shooter attack. We go to Alice’s house. Just finish reciting the Shurangama Mantra (first 27 lines) 49 times when police drive up. “What do you guys think this is, a park or something?” Hostile. Neighbors gather, there is a big to-do. “Names? Heng? How do you spell ‘San Francisco’? What color is your hair? How would you describe your clothes?” “T’ang dynasty monk's garb.” “How do you spell 'monk'?”

Fifth mistake: I miss the chance to teach Alice about anger and patience because I’m still caught up in a chain reaction set off by one false thought. We drive back to Leonora’s house.

Sixth mistake: I separate from Heng Sure and allow myself to be alone in conversation with Leonora in the secluded laundry room.

We decide to start bowing at 5:00 a.m. to get through the rough area early. Wake up in the morning, and what? It’s raining! Problem solved [Editor’s note: The monks bow in one place when it rains and then pace off their progress when it clears.] What a waste! Lots to learn. Don’t false think. Don’t hold on to it. Be careful of involvement with lay people. They help tremendously; without them we couldn’t make it through L.A. Don’t fear. Don’t be moved by false thoughts. Don’t be alone with women. We should proceed from what we experience, not from other people’s fears. The whole trip is “rough.”

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White Universe

Spoken by Venerable Master Hua at Gold Mountain Monastery
after a Six-syllable Great Bright Mantra Recitation Session in 1972

Ice in the sky,
Snow on the ground,
Numberless tiny bugs die in the cold
Or sleep in hibernation.
In the midst of stillness you should contemplate,
And within movement you should investigate.
When you wrestle with dragons and subdue tigers in continual playful sport,
Ghosts will cry and spirits wail; surrounding transformations are strange.
True and actual meanings
Are cut off from words,
Not thought about or talked about;
You ought to advance with haste.
With the great and small destroyed,
With no inside or out,
Every mote of dust
Is an infinite Dharma realm
Complete, whole, and perfectly fused,
Interpenetrating without obstruction.
With two clenched fists break to pieces the cover of empty space.
In one mouthful swallow the source of seas of Buddhalands.
With great compassion rescue all, sparing no blood or sweat, and never pause to rest.

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