 我講一講認識上人的經過。我認識上人的因緣是在香港瞻仰虛雲老和尚舍利子。一九五九年虛老圓寂，報紙登出他的舍利子在上人的佛教講堂任人瞻仰。因好奇心所驅，我也去看看怎麼回事。我看來看去也看不到甚麼，因此我對上人的在家弟子說，「不看了，回家去。」她們叫我有時間去拜佛，求甚麼有甚麼的。我敷衍她們，「好的，我有時間再來。」不久，一晚夢見上人問我，「為什麼答應來拜佛又不來？」我覺得奇怪，這個和尚為什麼要我去拜佛，因此我再去佛教講堂看看是怎麼回事。
我按門鈴後有人開門，一見我就說師父找我，還問，「這個女孩子在甚麼地方住？」大家都說不知道。現在我再來了，所以文果蜜的姐姐文果殊叫我皈依上人。那時我才二十四歲，還以為皈依是叫我出家呢！因此我說我還年輕，不出家。果殊解釋說皈依不是出家，是信佛做佛弟子。我說信佛沒有關係，出家就不行，出家剃光頭不美觀。那時有些法師在念《大般若經》，迴向給虛老，共一百多天的法會。
於是我在一九六零年皈依上人，當時名度輪法師。她們又教我給紅包、九頂禮。我問為什麼要叩頭給他呢？她們說上人是佛呀！本是幾千歲，現在化個中年人來度眾生；又告訴我他們每星期日念大悲咒，初一、十五拜藥師懺，就此我與上人結了不解之緣，乃至跟他出家到美國。 |
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Let me talk about how I met the Venerable Master. The circumstances were when I went to admire Elder Monk Hsu Yun's sharira in Hong Kong. Elder Master Hsu Yun had entered the stillness in 1959. Newspapers had announced that his sharira were available for people to see at the Venerable Master's Buddhist Lecture Hall. Curious, I went to see what was going on. I looked and looked and didn't see a thing. I told the Venerable Master's lay disciples, "Forget it, I'm going home." They told me to go and bow to the Buddhas when I had time, and that my prayers would be answered. I placated them by saying, "Sure, I'll come when I have time." Soon, I had a dream in which the Venerable Master asked me, "You prom- ised to come bow to the Buddhas. Why haven't you shown up yet?" I won- dered why this monk would want me to go and bow to the Buddhas. Hence, I went to the Buddhist Lecture Hall to see what was going on again.
When I rang the doorbell, the person who answered the door told me that the Venerable Master was looking for me and had asked, "Where does that girl live?" No one knew. Since I had shown up, Wen Guo Mi's older sister, Wen Guo Shu, told me to take refuge with the Venerable Master. I was only twenty-four, and I thought taking refuge meant becoming a nun! So I said, "I'm still young; I'm not going to become a nun." Guo Shu later explained, "Taking refuge doesn't mean joining the monastic life. It means to become the Buddha's disciple." I said, "It's okay to become the Buddha's disciple, but it's not okay to leave home. It doesn't look good to be bald." There were some Dharma Masters reciting the Mahaprajna Sutra and dedicating the merit to Elder Master Hsu Yun in a Dharma session lasting over 100 days.
Consequently, I took refuge with the Venerable Master in 1960. His name was Dharma Master Du Lun at the time. His disciples taught me to offer money in a red envelope as donation and bow to the Venerable Master nine times. I asked them, "Why should we bow to this monk?" They told me that the Venerable Master is a Buddha. He's actually several thousand years old, but was manifesting as a middle-aged man to save all beings. They told me that they recited the Great Compassion Mantra every Sunday and bowed the Medicine Master Repentance on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month. Even since then, my affinities with the Venerable Master became binding. Indeed, I joined the monastic life under him and came to the United States.
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