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上人，各位法師，各位善知識：
我是周瑞芬，我想大概大家都沒聽過這個名字。如果我說我是恆音師的媽媽，也許有些人知道我是誰了。
今天很高興有這個機會和各位分享我的感恩與喜悅。感恩的是有福報能住在如此清淨的萬佛聖城。喜悅的是萬佛聖城正是做我最想做的事情的最佳環境。
萬佛聖城是個世外桃源，環境是如此的寧靜、祥和、幽美，沒有污染。不論朝哪個方向望去，看到的都是秀麗的山、高大的樹。晴天的時候，天真是藍得出奇，這種藍天空在許多大都市都已經看不到了。雨天的時候，煙雨濛濛，隱隱約約的山與樹，看來真像是一幅畫。在這將近五百英畝的土地上，有各種高大的樹木、許多牢固的建築物，還有許多空曠的原野。我們常常覺得好像是住在公園裡。走到後山，又好像到了旅遊景點，有山又有水。然而，真正使人覺得萬佛聖城是世外桃源的因素是那獨特的、平和的能量。天下大概很難再找到另外一個地方是一年三百六十五天，從不間斷的早課、晚課、上供、拜懺、拜願、打坐，講經等等，加上各種法會，每天都有這麼多人一起在萬佛聖城向宇宙天地傳送如此殊勝的正向能量；又沒有電視、報紙傳送的負面訊息所帶來的負向能量。因此，一走進萬佛聖城立刻可以感覺到這清淨的能量，真是個修行的好地方。
說到我最想做的事，過去十多年來，我常利用業餘時幫助一些病患，包括癌症末期的重病患──幫助找到他們身上病痛的根源，並助他們轉化引起病痛的習性，當習性轉化以後，他們身上的病痛往往減輕或消失了。這些經驗使我親身實證了身心不可分的理論。自古以來，中醫師就知道怒傷肝、喜傷心、怕傷腎、憂傷脾、悲傷肺。身上的病痛往往因長期情緒上或精神上的因素例如恐懼、害怕、怨恨、羞愧、不安、冷漠、悲傷、擔心、不滿、憤怒、妒忌、憂慮、悲觀、不平等等負面的情緒所導致，所以要徹底消除身上的病痛，必須先改變以負面情緒過日子的習性。
我在這些重病患的身上看到些共同的特點，那就是等到被醫生「宣判死刑」時，他們才突然發現一輩子都在「為別人活」，還沒開始「做自己」呢！每天懵懵懂懂、忙忙碌碌的都是為了迎合別人的期望。例如，在台灣認識一群醫生，以社會的眼光來看，他們是很成功的。但他們心裏似乎感覺不到成功的喜悅，因為他們原本很想做的是音樂家，而不是醫生。但父母怕音樂家將來沒飯吃，所以要他們學醫。作了醫生固然賺了很多錢，但因為不是興趣所在，所以覺得很辛苦。有人借酒消愁、有人悶悶不樂，久而久之，身體上出了很多毛病。
當我看多了這種不能做自己，辛苦了一輩子後得了一身病的例子，使我覺得幫助年輕人認清自己的人生道路、發現自己的專長與興趣是一件很重要的、很急迫的工作。現在我有機會每天在女校服務，每天與這些未來的主人翁在一起，真是天賜良機。雖然我現在好像比退休前更忙，但真可以說是忙得不亦樂乎！
每當我見到一個孩子的自尊心、自信心增長了，從畏縮轉化為開朗的時候，我真是由心底感到喜悅。舉一個例子，有一位學生在家裡得不到她所需要的父母的關心，所以常常功課沒做，書包亂得毫無頭緒，常常忘了帶書本來上學，老師們都覺得束手無策，於是我決定去了解她需要什麼樣的協助。每天放學時，我和她談當天的功課，並要她學習每堂課下課時，把功課寫在記事本上。雖然她還無法完全做到，但當她做得好的時候，我一定立刻誇獎她，她會好開心，自尊心、自信心就增長了。在幾個星期裡，已經可以看到她的學習好習慣已慢慢形成。一個學生一旦明白了為什麼好的學習習慣對自己的前途是如此重要時，就會自動自發了。專家的研究結果證明，一個自動自發的人的工作效率與一個命令一個動作的人的工作效率可以相差到五十倍以上，甚至可達天地之別。做自己有興趣的事的人，非但會自動自發，更具創造力，會精益求精。不要說五十倍了，您能想像如果每個人的工作效率提高五倍，會是什麼樣的情景嗎？每個人會多出多少時間來打坐、拜佛呢？
我希望萬佛聖城如此美好的地方能夠接引天下有心追求真理的人，來共同研究、一起修行。不分種族、不分宗教，互相護持、互相觀照。萬佛聖城有上人宏偉的願景與如此優秀的環境，一定有許多人想來。我們也要做好接引的準備，例如，我們可以在網站上更詳細的介紹萬佛聖城的各種法會與活動、服務的機會等等。當有人來詢問時，我們能以歡喜心來接引，很有效率的、系統化的即時回應所有的詢問，使所有的有心人都覺得受到我們的歡迎。如此才能達到事事有人做、人人有事做的情景。多些人才不至於大家都忙得精疲力盡，剝奪了修行的時間。這樣就能與更多的人一起共享這人世間的淨土。
阿彌陀佛。
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The Venerable Master, Dharma Masters, and Good Advisors:
My name is Priscilla Yeh; probably most of you have never heard of such a name. But if I said that I’m Heng Yin Shr’s mom, then maybe a few people would know who I am.
I’m very happy to have this wonderful opportunity to share with you my gratitude and joy. What I’m grateful for is having the blessing of being a resident of this clear and pure Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB). What I’m joyous about is that CTTB is the perfect place for me to do the things I’m most passionate about.
CTTB is a place out of this world; it’s extremely peaceful, harmonious, beautiful and unpolluted. No matter which direction you look, you see beautiful mountains and tall trees. On a clear day, the sky is so blue, and you do not find such blue sky in any big cities anymore due to air pollution. On a rainy day, the silhouette of the mountains and trees against the backdrop of misty sky looks like a beautiful painting. There are a lot of tall trees and well-constructed buildings on these nearly 500 acres of land. Yet there is still plenty of open space. The residents feel as if they were living in a park, while the meadows and streams on the east side of the property attract nature lovers. However, what makes CTTB such a unique place is its extremely peaceful energy. It’s probably hard to find another place with such a full schedule that includes morning ceremony, evening ceremony, meal offering, bowing, repentance, meditation, Sutra lectures, etc. every single day throughout the year, plus all the Dharma events. Imagine how powerful it is when so many people gather everyday to send such tremendous positive energy to every corner of the universe. Furthermore, there is no negative energy brought by the negative news broadcast by TV stations or printed in newspapers. That’s why as soon as we enter CTTB, we can feel this serene and peaceful energy immediately. It is indeed the best place for spiritual cultivation.
Regarding the things I’m most passionate about, for more than ten years, I’ve been working with many people with serious illnesses including people in the final stages of cancer. Together, we tried to discover the emotional roots of their physical illnesses, and tried to remove these roots by changing their habits and some underlying beliefs. The symptoms were usually relieved, and a lot of times totally disappeared after the transformations. From these actual experiences, the mind-body connections have become very clear to me. Way back in ancient times, Chinese medicine doctors already understood that anger hurts the liver system, too much excitement hurts the heart system, fear hurts the kidney system, anxiety hurts the digestive system, and sadness or pessimism hurts the lung system. Most of our physical ailments come from long- term negative emotions such as fear, hatred, shame, guilt, apathy, grief, worry, resentment, anger, jealousy, anxiety, pessimism, feelings of being treated unfairly or victimization. Therefore, in order to heal ourselves, we need to stop living in negative emotions.
There is a common characteristic among these seriously ill people. That is: when their doctors inform them that they are terminally ill, all of a sudden it dawns on them that they have not ‘lived’ yet. They’ve been very busy living up to someone else’s expectations and they are still waiting for the time when they can be themselves. For example, I know several doctors in Taiwan who have been quite successful according to society’s definition of ‘success’. Yet somehow deep down they really do not feel the joy of success, because they were all passionate about music rather than medicine. However, their parents worried about whether they would be able to make a living as musicians, and thus made them study medicine instead. Now they are all well-to-do physicians, but they are not happy. Some of them even resorted to drinking to numb their unhappiness. In time, physical symptoms resulting from prolonged unhappiness began to show up.
After seeing over and over again all the cases where physical illnesses crept up on people who had lived a hard life doing something they were not passionate about, it became very clear to me that helping young people to discover their life paths, what they are good at and passionate about, is a very important and urgent mission. Now I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to work in the girls’ school, interacting with our younger generation everyday. Although I seem to be even busier than before my retirement, I seem to have boundless energy because I’m doing something I’m very passionate about.
Whenever I witness a child’s self-esteem and self-confidence grow, or a child transformed from being withdrawn to being outgoing, I can’t help but feel joy from the bottom of my heart. As an example, a student, lacking the attention she needs from her parents, had a problem getting her homework done everyday. Her book bag was in disarray everyday too. She often forgot to bring to school the books she needed in her classes. All the teachers were really at their wit’s end. I took it upon myself to find out what her problem was. I began to see her everyday after school. We would go over her homework for the day, and I also tried to train her to write down her homework in her Daytimer at the end of each class so that she would not forget. Although she has not remembered to do that every single day, whenever she did remember to do a good job, I would praise her on the spot. She became very happy; you could literally see her self-esteem and self confidence grow right then and there. In a few short weeks, one can see her good learning habits gradually developing. Once the student understood why good learning habits are so important for her own future, she became motivated and took initiative. The author Stephen R. Covey stated in his best-seller
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
The difference between people who exercise initiative and those who don’t is literally the difference between night and day. I’m not talking about a 25 to 50 percent difference in effectiveness; I’m talking about a 5000-plus percent difference, particularly if they are smart, aware, and sensitive to others.
People who are doing what they are passionate about, not only take initiative, they are also creative. The sky’s the limit as to how far they can go. Forget about the 5000-plus percent; could you imagine what it would be like if everyone could increase their effectiveness by 500 percent? How much more time would you have for meditating and bowing?
I sincerely hope that CTTB will welcome everyone who is interested in cultivation and learning the True Dharma to this wonderful Wayplace. Regardless of nationality, race, or religion, we will support and care for one another. With the Venerable Master’s lofty vision and CTTB’s beautiful environment, I’m sure a lot of people would love to come. We must be well organized to receive them. For instance, we could have a more comprehensive website detailing all the Dharma events and other activities, as well as opportunities to serve, etc. Whenever there are inquiries either in person or via website, we must be able to process them in a timely manner, and receive them in a joyous way so that people feel welcome. With such improved organization, hopefully we can match the talents with the needs so that everyone is doing what they love and love what they do. We will be so efficient that no one will need to be spread so thin and feel exhausted all the time. Everyone will have a lot more time to cultivate. In this way we will share this pure land on earth with all cultivators. Amitofo!
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