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今天繼續星期二晚間亞洲之行的報告。
我是跟恆雲師一塊去臺灣的。在1989年至1994年這五年之中，我都住在臺灣。那麼這一次去臺灣，我覺得臺灣比那時污染的情況更嚴重；而且氣氛也不太好。我想這可能跟去年秋天所發生的地震有關。我記得上次我講到恆泉師和她講的一些地震的故事。
當恆泉師來看我們時，她說她覺得還有很多陰魂沒有得到超渡。雖然地震之後已有過很多超渡法會，但是很多人還在夜裡聽到呼喊求救的聲音，所以恆泉師很希望法總能夠派出更多的人到臺灣主持大型超渡法會。
事實上我也感覺到這一次我們所到的地方，大家都很希望法總能在不久的將來，派出大型的訪問團。我也提到每天在拜「梁皇寶懺」時，我們都講法，但是我沒提到每天都有許多信眾站出來講法。他們講得都很好。很明顯的他們對正法都懂得很多。他們都有正知正見，修行也很精進。
我們在臺灣總共停留了十二天，行程結束後我和恆雲師到香港拜訪上人的老弟子，其中恆益師跟上人出家超過四十年了。或者有些人沒去過香港，那兒人口非常密集，建築物很高很擁擠，空間狹窄，但是上人所建立的佛教講堂在市中心快活谷的地方，位在十一樓，可以看到跑馬場，是香港少數幾個景觀視野好的地方。在那上面讓人覺得好像身處雲端，可以遠眺，地方雖小，但很特別。為什麼叫快活谷呢？因為跑馬場周圍都是高樓大廈，所以自然就形成了一個谷。
香港地方小，大家忙著賺錢，很少有人認真學佛法，但是少數虔誠的人就學得很認真，所以我們在那邊時，就有極少數很認真學佛的人來跟我們一塊研究。有一點很奇怪的，是這一次訪問我們亞洲道場時所有的感覺。
比方說在香港和臺灣，室外的空氣很污染，很不乾淨，可是一進入道場裡頭就好像置身在一個不同的地方，那種感覺無法形容。這次去到亞洲我們每一個道場，我都可以感覺到那種熟悉而無法形容的感覺。
在香港期間，我們的道場並沒有特別的法會，所以就按日常功課行事。我們在那期間拜了水懺也誦《地藏經》。有一天去大嶼山的慈興禪寺，也是上人所建立的一個很特別的地方。這座禪寺在一個島上的山裡，就像在深山裡的寺院一樣，雖然佛殿很小，但是那裡的鐘和木魚卻很大很大，敲起木魚和撞鐘的時候，感覺好像在千年古剎裡似的，給人一種特別的感受。
慈興寺是上人親自建造的，當年上人每天坐輪渡過海，自己揹了磚頭及建材去蓋廟。我們去的時候，已經有鋪好的小徑直通慈興寺，但是仍然花了一個半小時才抵達；到時，已是汗流浹背，喘氣不已了。想想上人當年還沒有小徑，身上又有揹著那麼沉重的磚頭和建材，多麼不容易啊！這次我去的時候，有人告訴我當年上人不僅是走上山，還是三步一拜拜上山的。上人那時是每天上山的，所以每天都拜。
我原以為慈興寺一開始就是廟，所以我感覺慈興寺本來就是一座廟。這次去才聽說慈興寺原是一位富家太太的別墅，捐贈給上人，上人把它改建成佛寺。
在那兒的恆益師非常精進，雖然七十多歲了，每天還是爬上爬下。為了歡迎我們，她們特地把小徑打掃了一番，把路上橫生的竹子、雜枝等等，砍得乾乾淨淨。另外一位恆偉師，八十多歲了，也非常精進。
待續
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This is a continuation of a report that I started on Tuesday night concerning a trip through Asia by the DRBA Sangha.
To review a little bit, I traveled with Heng Yun Shi to Taiwan. I had lived there for five years, from 1989 to 1994. When I first arrived there, I felt that it was much more polluted than I remembered. More than that, I felt that the atmosphere was not very good. I figured that it had something to do with the earthquake that happened last fall. I was telling you about Heng Quan Shi and some of the stories that she related about the earthquake. When Heng Quan Shi came to see us, she said she felt there were many souls that had not been crossed over (rescued), but actually there had been quite a few crossing-over ceremonies. Many people could still hear voices of people calling out for help at night. Heng Quan Shi hoped that in the near future a large delegation from DRBA would go to Taiwan and do a big crossing-over ceremony.
In fact, just about everywhere we went, people said they hoped DRBA would send a big delegation in the near future. I also mentioned that every day during the Emperor Liang's Repentance Ceremony we would have Dharma lectures, but I didn't tell you that every day, many of the lay disciples would get up and speak. They all spoke very well. It was very clear that they understand a lot about the proper Dharma. They had proper views, and they're cultivating diligently there.
We stayed there for about twelve days altogether, and then Heng Yun Shi and I went to Hong Kong to visit our elder Dharma sister there, Dharma Master Heng Yi. She left home with Shifu over forty years ago. We also went to see our other Dharma brothers and sisters in Hong Kong. It was also very polluted in Hong Kong.
Now, maybe many of you have never been to Hong Kong. The population there is very dense and the land is very small, so the buildings are all very close together and very tall, very high buildings. You get a feeling of being in a very small place. But the lecture hall in Hong Kong that Shifu founded is a very special place because it's in Happy Valley, which is close to the center of Hong Kong. But it's overlooking a horse racing track, so it's one of the few places in all of Hong Kong where you can have any kind of a view. It's on the eleventh floor, and when you are there you feel almost like your up in the clouds. And you can see a great distance, so it's a very special place in Hong Kong. It's very small, but it's a very nice place. It's a valley because the racing track is surrounded by towering buildings, so it kind of makes a valley.
It's a small place in Hong Kong, and of course all of the people are very busy making money, so there are not very many people who study the Dharma very seriously. But those who study are really sincere. And so the people who came, although they were a small group, were all very sincere about seeking the Proper Dharma.
There's one strange thing, and it was the same thing in Taiwan. When you're outside you feel that the air is not clean, and it's very noisy, and very dirty, and very unpeaceful. But as soon as you walk into the Way- place, suddenly you feel like you're in a different world. And the atmosphere has a flavor that's the same in all of our Way-places, a sort of indescribable state that is familiar wherever you go to our Way-places, no matter which country.
We didn't go there for any particular Dharma assembly, so we followed the schedule. They bowed the Water Repentance, they recited the Earth Store Sutra, and then one day we went to Flourishing Kindness Monastery on Lantao Island, which is a very special temple that Shifu also founded.
Now, this temple is really in the mountains on an island near Hong Kong. When you're there, you really feel like you're in a mountain monastery. It has a very special feeling about it. And the Buddha Hall there is very small, but the bell and the fish are huge and it has a very high ceiling, so when they hit the bell and the fish, it really makes you feel like you're in an ancient temple from thousands of years ago. It's a very special place.
That is the temple that Shifu built. Maybe some of you have read in his biography that he would take the ferry every day across the ocean to this island, and then he would carry on his back the bricks and the materials for building this Buddha Hall.
When we went there, now most of it is a little paved path, so it's much easier for us to walk. But even though it's easier for us to walk it still takes about an hour and a half to get up the mountain, and by the time you get there you're all sweating, tired, and out of breath. So you can just imagine what it must have been like forty years ago when there were no smooth paths and it was more difficult to climb, and besides that, having this heavy pack on your back. But when I went this time I was told that Shifu didn't only walk up the mountain. He did three steps, one bow. He bowed up the mountain every time he went, which was just about every day. So obviously, we very much appreciated this Buddha hall. It's a very, very special place.
Now, I always thought that this place had always been a temple because it feels so much like a temple. But this time I was told that, in fact it started out to be a mansion, a retreat on the countryside for a rich woman. The mansion was offered to Shifu because of his virtue, and then he turned it into a Way-place.
Heng Yi Shi is also a very vigorous cultivator. She says she has no cultivation, but she's in her mid-seventies and all of these years she has been climbing up and down that mountain. And before we came she went out and cleared the path so that we would have an easier way to come. She cut down all of the old bamboo that was growing into the path. And then old Heng Wei Shi, who's in her eighties, cooked us all this huge lunch. So, although they're old, they're still vigorous. Amitofo.
To be continued
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