Venerable Master and all fellow cultivators, Amitabha!  
Tonight I want to share something with everyone. Yesterday was Cherishing Youth Day, and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had I gradually talked to the students about the Cherishing Youth Day program and the points needing attention. If I say everything all at once, the students can't remember it all, so I divided the matters up according to their importance and spent several days speaking to the students about them. I would always say to them at the end, "When preparing for things at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, everyone should always be ready for some last-minute changes. I am saying it's like this for now, but later on everything could be changed." I would always tell them this every time.

Many children, after studying here for one or two years, are very clear about the way that we do things here. However, on Thursday, there was a teacher who spent a lot of time and effort to train the children in how to welcome the guests. But during Cherishing Youth Day yesterday, the guests started arriving at eight-thirty, and they took up about one-third of the available seats. One of our students started crying miserably there. I didn't know what the matter was, so I hurried over to ask. She said, "My students all arrived, but we are still short of many seats." She was crying and looked very unhappy. So I said that this was not a problem. Just hurry and get more chairs.

According to this girl, she thought that if we set up a hundred and four chairs, then a hundred and four people should come, and not one more; she didn't know what to do once more people came, and started to cry right there, just because there weren't enough seats.

I remember the Venerable Master was always training us to be prepared to face changes in whatever we do, ever since I left home. I especially remember that when I first left home, the Venerable Master said you have to live in the Precept Platform for five years, and go through a training period of five years before receiving the Bhikshuni Precepts. So I remember that there were many plans at that time, called Five-Year Plans-The Shurangama Sutra Five-Year Plan, the Flower Adornment Sutra Five-Year Plan, and the Shramanerika Training Five-Year Plan. All of these Plans were laid out clearly. But about three or four months after our leaving home, there was a big change: half of us had to go north to start a Buddhist Academy, and the Venerable Master didn't tell us how long we would have to stay up north. Later some Dharma sisters went to Canada and Seattle to set up a Buddhist Society and Buddhist Academy. Because the elder Dharma sister had told us so, I thought that we were going to stay about two years up north, until the Buddhist Academy was set up. But unexpectedly, after a few months, a bus came from the CTTB and took us back to the Sagely City to receive the Bhikshuni Precepts. So before the Venerable Master left, he gave us many different lessons, telling us not to have attachments. This is training for all of us as a whole.  

I remember about a month after I had left home, I was teaching in school, and one day I had the chance to speak to the Venerable Master. I said, "Master! Our school isn't set up well. In my mind I know what this type of school is supposed to be like, but the reality is different." I told the Venerable Master this way. I thought the Venerable Master would tell me how to do this and how to do that, but the Venerable Master replied, "It couldn't be set up well in a hundred years."  

Many times when we ask the Venerable Master how to do things, he would not reply, or he would say, "It's good enough if you do your best."    

I recall that a couple of months after I left home, one day a Dharma sister told me, "The Master said we are going to Atlanta to propagate the Dharma." So I started waiting. I waited and waited, I waited for a month and there still wasn't any news. I thought it was canceled. About five or six months later, I went to the office one day and the Venerable Master was talking to someone there, who said, "I'll come to see you next week.” The Venerable Master said, "Oh! Next week I'm going to Atlanta." After overhearing that, I said, "Master, we're going to Atlanta next week?" This was the first surprise. I thought the Venerable Master had canceled the trip, but unexpectedly, we went there a week later.

I recall that the airline tickets were scheduled for us to stay in Atlanta for four days. We arrived in the afternoon, and began speaking Dharma that night. I went with a Bhikshuni and two Bhikshus. During the Dharma talks at night we sat at both sides of the Venerable Master. After the ritual for requesting the Dharma, the Venerable Master looked over at the women's side; I thought he wanted us to speak first. But the Venerable Master took one look at me and asked, "What are you doing here?" "I'm here to speak Dharma!" "You and Heng Chia go to the small room in the back.”  

I did not what he meant. Why did we have to go to the small room in back? All the things that I had prepared did not get used; I just retreated to the small room. The audience did not know what we were doing either; they just saw us stand up and leave.  

~ To be continued