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一首「是日已過，命亦隨減；如少水魚，斯有何樂？當勤精進，如救頭然，但念無常，慎勿放逸。」普賢菩薩警眾偈，喚醒長時依存三代親友多數篤信一貫道家族中的恆江師。有感人生在塵蒙，恰似盆中蟲，終日行遶遶，不離其盆中。誠如古德有云：「不求當來善，唯知造惡因；五逆十惡輩，三毒以為親。唉！愚癡徒辛苦，終日枉用心。」於是，在一九九一年帶領妻兒皈依宣公上人為師。不多時，有悟既是常念「自皈依佛，當願眾生發無上心。」當觀「願斷惡修善，誓度一切有情。」決意去世資財，辭親割愛。一九九四年從宣公上人圓頂出「枷」為一沙門。並派至長堤聖寺，協助照顧小沙彌。
出家後謹記師訓：「師父領進門，修行在個人。自己生死自己了，誰也替代不了誰。」砥礪自勉。同時遵奉師父紹隆佛種，光大正法教育大願，對師父抱病之垂示：「勉勵沙彌們要專心修行。多背經，勤打坐。息滅貪瞋癡，勤修戒定慧，才能開智慧之門。」殷勤教誨，不敢造次。一面照顧小沙彌生活起居，一面還參與師父上人所講大乘經典淺釋之錄音謄稿工作。
一九九六年夏，回萬佛聖城男校執教。身兼數職，任勞任怨。恆江師謙稱自己才疏學淺，唯有努力精進老實敬業，才好藉事練心，早日破魔愛網，斷外道之見縛。他飽受以盲引盲長為地獄人之苦。如今醒了昏瞶，立誓以佛心為己心，效師之志，為天下蒼生指明坦蕩大道──續佛慧命為出「枷」是途。 |
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Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Verse of Exhortation goes, This day is already done. Our lives are that much less. We're like fish in an evaporating pond. What joy is there in this? We should be diligent and vigorous, as if our own heads were at stake. Only be mindful of impermanence and be careful not to be lax.
This verse awakened Heng Jiang Shr, whose family for three generations had mostly followed the Yiguandao religion. Living in the mundane world, he felt like a bug wandering aimlessly in a basin without being able to leave it. As an ancient verse says,
Not knowing enough to seek for a good future, We only know how to create evil causes. We take the five rebellious acts and the ten evils as our peers, And the three poisons as our relatives. Alas! How stupid we are to toil in vain, Indulging in idle thoughts all day long.
In 1991 he led his wife and children to take refuge with the Venerable Master Hua. Not long afterwards, he awakened to the meaning of the line, "Taking refuge with the Buddha, I vow that living beings will bring forth the unsurpassed Bodhi mind," and has constantly pondered it ever since. Thinking that he should "vow to cut off evil and cultivate good, and resolve to save all sentient beings," he made up his mind to renounce his worldly wealth and bid farewell to his family. He cast off the fetters of worldly life and became a monk under the Venerable Master Hua in 1994. Afterwards he was sent to Long Beach Monastery to help take care of a group of young novice monks.
After leaving home, he has urged himself on with the Master's instruction: "The teacher takes you in the door, but you yourself have to cultivate. You must end your own birth and death. No one else can do it for you." He also honors the Master's great vow of perpetuating Buddhism and promoting education based upon the Proper Dharma." He is especially careful not to disobey the fervent instructions the Master gave when he was ill: "Encourage the young novices to concentrate on cultivation; recite Sutras often; meditate diligently; put an end to greed, hatred, and stupidity; and diligently practice precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. Only by doing so can they open the door to wisdom." While teaching and taking care of the novices, Heng Jiang Shr also worked on transcribing the Master's explanations of Mahayana Sutras.
In the summer of 1996, he returned to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to teach at the Boys' School. He has various responsibilities and works hard without complaint. He humbly says that he has few talents and shallow knowledge, and that all he can do is work honestly and vigorously to tame his mind, break through the demonic net of love, and sever the bonds of incorrect views. Having suffered for "being a blind man misled by the blind," he has now awakened from his delusion and resolved to take the Buddhas' will as his own, to follow the Master's vows, and to point out a level and broad path to all beings: Casting off the fetters of worldly life is the only way to perpetuate the wisdom of the Buddhas. |
