Chapter 1 - A Wondrous Encounter

It was a day six years ago, in 1969, when my mother decided to go to worship at a nearby temple. I was still a Christian. Normally I would not have accompanied her, but that particular morning, I had had a very strange dream. I dreamt that I was climbing up a very tall mountain, and at the peak was a very ancient temple to which I was drawn involuntarily. The strange thing was, I was not the least bit afraid, and I felt as if I were returning to a familiar old home. Inside the temple were many sculptures of gods; some of them looked benevolent with downcast eyes while others had the ferocious looks of Dharma Protectors. Quietly I tiptoed into the main hall and found myself face to face with an old Taoist priest. The old priest joined his palms and spoke to me, "You've finally arrived. I have been waiting for you for a long time." "We are not even acquainted with each other, how could we have an appointment?"

"Not acquainted? You might have travelled all over the four seas and lived through three different religions, but we meet every five hundred years. Even if you were to fall into the nether world or the realm of hells, and had become a wicked ghost, I still could recognize your original face!"

"Taoist priest, what do you mean by that?"

"If I don't knock on your head, you won't remember."

The Taoist priest raised a duster and hit my head with it. I gave out a cry and woke up in a cold sweat. I usually did not remember my dreams, but this one was so vivid. That day was Sunday, and mother had planned to visit the temple. Surprisingly, although I was a Christian, I decided to go along. Of course, I was only going there to have some fun. I would not be lighting incense, let alone bowing to the images of Buddhas and deities enshrined in the temple. I was just going to do some sightseeing around the temple. At that time, I found it ludicrous that people would bow and prostrate to the Buddhas, especially those important looking men clad in suits, whose apparent devotion of kneeling and prostration just made me laugh.

Smaller in size than the average temple, the Jade Emperor Temple had a Buddhist monk, the Rev. Shih Hui Ling, as its abbot. There were many Bodhisattva images in the temple. Most were unfamiliar to me. As it happened, there was some kind of festive celebration that day, and many people were around. Inside the temple, it was crowded, and the strong incense smoke was getting to me, so I went out and stood in the temple hallway. At that moment, I noticed, amid the crowds in the temple, an old woman dressed in a royal blue robe. She was in her fifties and was kneeling in front of the statues. It appeared that she was conversing with the deities and was also answering questions posed to her by the people beside her. After a while, she suddenly stood up and called out loudly,

"Who is Sheng-yen Lu? Who among you is Sheng-yen Lu?"

I was standing outside the door of the temple, but I could hear her clearly and so could my mother. Mother went up to her and asked, "What do you want from Sheng-yen Lu?"

"It is not I, but the Bodhisattvas who want to find him. Ask him to come over here soon. They have a message for him."

So I walked up to the old woman. She had a very unusual face. With one eye tilted upward, the other tilted downward, and a slightly misaligned mouth, she looked extremely ugly. Someone in the surrounding crowd explained that her upwardly tilted eye was to see the Heavens (gods) and the downwardly tilted eye was to see the Earth below (ghosts). Baffled, I stood facing her.

"Are you Sheng-yen Lu?"

"That is right. What can I help you with?"

She knelt in front of the statues and started whispering in murmurs to the Bodhisattvas. Then she turned her head to ask me, "Are you a Christian?"

"Yes."

"Are you working at the XXX unit?"

"Yes."

"You have graduated from college, correct?"

"Yes."

"The dream of guidance you had this morning, do you understand it?" I was stunned by the last question. How could this old woman kneeling in front of me know about the dream I had this morning? I had not told anyone about it, not even my mother. My visit to the temple had been completely spontaneous. What an inconceivable thing! She then continued to ask me some more questions, to which my answers were invariably "yes" or "right." In any case, all she had described fitted me completely.

"The Bodhisattvas hope that you can stand up and do some good work for them, spreading the Tao and dispersing the delusions, propagating the spirit of Buddhism, and promoting good while suppressing evil. People's minds today are extremely corrupt. Some wicked people have deliberately put on the coats of the Buddhas and gods to engage in affairs that harm others. Under the guise of psychic counseling, these people take financial and sexual advantages of their fellow beings. They use smooth talk and heresy to spread the fallacies. The righteous Dharmas are sinking while the devious teachings are rising. From now on, you will have a very great responsibility. The Bodhisattvas know that you have a kind heart and that your behavior is proper; therefore they want to entrust you with their mission."

"But I don't know anything!"

"You don't know anything yet, but, if you kneel down , you will learn. I am not lying to you. Come, kneel down next to me and join your palms."

I emulated her and knelt down in front of the Bodhisattvas' statues, with my palms joined. By now, many people were crowding around us. Even the abbot, Rev. Shih Hui Ling, and my mother were standing behind me. I closed my eyes, and the most amazing thing happened. I saw a beam of light in front of me, and out of the light, three lotus-enthroned deities appeared. Their golden bodies emitted a resplendent rainbow This absolutely was not a dream, as I could see clearly in broad daylight. The deity in the middle spoke, "Turn your mind to the Buddha." The two deities on each side said, respectively, "Turn your mind to the Dharma," and "Turn your mind to Kindness." Afterwards they faded away, and a banner of red cloth with the two glittering gold Chinese characters for "Loyalty and Righteousness" descended from above. In my ears a voice from somewhere announced,

"The Jade Emperor has especially bestowed upon you the motto of Loyalty and Righteousness. They are the principles by which you should guide your life. Before any action, ask yourself if you have any misgiving in carrying it out. By becoming your own master, you can obtain eternal life and the Tao, and you will coexist with Heaven and Earth."

I clearly saw with my own eyes the golden writings on the red cloth.

"You saw it?" the old woman asked.

"I saw and I heard. But, how is it possible?" "Under the heavens, there are many things beyond one's wildest imagination. So, today, you have finally seen and heard. Gradually you will get to know the other strange and wonderful worlds in the Universe, and you will no longer be an ordinary person. You will see what others cannot see, hear what others cannot hear, and feel what others cannot feel." The blue robed woman continued, "The gods will teach you gradually."

Inside that temple, I could hardly believe what had happened to me, but the facts have made the truth irrefutable.

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