Chapter 16 - Taking Refuge And The Bodhisattva Vows

In Buddhism, the Buddha, Dharma, and Spiritual Community are referred to as the Triple Jewels. To take refuge in the Triple Jewels and to make offerings to them are the basic privileges and responsibilities of a Buddhist. The purpose of practicing Buddhism is to attain Buddhahood, and the first step in that process is to take refuge. Under the guidance of the Spirit Master, I went to the Taichung Buddhist Lotus Society to take refuge in the eminent Buddhist Master, Rev. Yin Shun. My refuge name is Hui Yen, which was selected by Mr. Li Ping Nan. My mother also took refuge in the Triple Jewels on the same day, and she was given the refuge name of Hui Yun. By that time, I had already set up a small shrine in my home. The main Taoist deity enshrined at my altar was the Jade Pond Golden Mother, and the main Buddhist deities were Buddha Shakyamuni and Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. I also had other Buddha and Bodhisattva statues enshrined at my altar, including Kuan Yin. Twice a day, in the morning and at night, my mother and I would light incense and make tea offerings at the altar. On the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, as well as on special days known as the Kuan Yin Vegetarian Days, we would perform prostrations and chant sutras. Dharma Master Shan Tz'u, the abbot of Compassion Sound Temple, and Dharma Master Shang Lin, a Buddhist nun at Compassion Light Temple, taught us how to chant the sutras and mantras. Rev. Yin Shun, my refuge teacher, belongs to the Pure Land Sect which emphasizes the chanting of Buddha's name as a way of cultivation, and they hold in high esteem the three classics of the Pure Land School: Amitabha Sutra, the Mahasthama Bodhisattva Universal Chanting Chapter, and the Rebirth Shastra. My mother and I had a wonderful time learning the repentance liturgies and mantras. As if we had learned them before in our previous lifetimes. it took us no time all this time around to memorize and chant the most difficult mantras. If it normally took someone a month to learn one, it only took us a week to learn it. If it normally took someone a week to learn it, mother and I would learn it in a day.

The sixty-first year of the Republic of China (1972) was the two hundred and twentieth anniversary of the construction of the Pi Shan Temple in Nantou, Taiwan. On April 17th, the abbot of Pi Shan Temple, Rev. Ju Hsueh, conducted a Thousand Buddhas Precepts Convention to transmit the Bodhisattva Vows. He engaged many eminent monks from Taiwan, as well as from overseas, to preside over the convention. I know that precepts are the foundation upon which compassion and the extinction of one's own wickedness are built, and that they are also the seeds to the transcendental realm of the sages. If one accepts and follows the holy precepts and is determined in finding the Truth for the sake of transcending birth and death, one will definitely reach the realm of the Bodhisattvas. Therefore, I gladly went to receive the vows.

During the period of the convention, I learned much from the teachings given by the various Buddhist masters. The elderly Rev. Master Hui San, who was acting as the Preceptor Monk, explained to us the different roles of the three presiding monks. "The role of the Precept Monk is to transmit to you the precepts while the role of the Karma Monk is to teach you how to perform repentance rituals. The Teacher Monk is to teach you the conduct required in carrying out the precepts. Since all of you are here to receive the Boddhisattva Vows, you must first generate the Bodhicitta which is the desire to bring Enlightenment to other sentient beings. The goal of a Bodhisattva is to liberate oneself as well as other beings. This is in contrast to the goal of an Arhat in Hinayana Buddhism who only works towards the liberation of oneself. To help others is to practice the Six Paramitas [charity, precepts, vigor, endurance, meditation, and wisdom]."

Dharma Master Hsian Tun, who was acting as the Karma Monk, gave us this teaching. "All of you present should be aware of the kinds of transgressions we have committed since time immemorial. The three kinds of unwholesome deeds committed by the mind are: greed, which will cause a person to fall into the hungry ghost realm; malice, which will cause a person to fall into the realm of hells; and stupidity and ignorance, which will cause a person who can't tell right from wrong to suffer from one's own actions and fall into the realm of animals. The three kinds of unwholesome deeds committed by the body are killing, theft, and sexual misconduct, any of which will result in conditions wherein the Buddha's words cannot be heard. The four kinds of unwholesome deeds committed through speech are evil talk, double talk, lies, and flirtatious talk. One should correct these ten unwholesome acts and turn them into the ten wholesome acts.

"The sutra says, 'Repentance should come from one's mind, as the mind is the source of transgressions. When the mind is transmuted into emptiness, then all transgressions will also turn into emptiness. True repentance occurs when both the mind and transgressions are transmuted into emptiness.' Therefore, the hall where one receives the vows of precepts is also known as the hall of repentance. Your physical body comes from your parents, while your future Buddha Body or Bodhisattva Body comes from the teacher who transmits the precepts to you. After receiving the Bodhisattva Vows, one should practice letting go of all worldly affairs, concentrate the mind on the Buddhas, and do repentance. The practice of the precepts will lead one to succeed in attaining Buddhahood."

In his discourse to us, the elderly Rev. Dharma Master Chileh Kuang who was acting as the Teacher Monk said, "The so-called three thousand major dignified behaviors and eighty thousand minor activities are all covered under the umbrella of walking, standing, sitting, and sleeping. One should walk with the wind and stand as a pine tree. When sitting down, keep the upper body slender and the lower body wide so that there is a majestic, stable equipoise. When one sleeps, one should lie on one's right side, with the spine rounded like a bow; this is the Auspicious Sleeping Posture."

After attending the teachings, I made fourteen great vows.

They were:

1) I shall constantly be mindful of the Buddhas, seek sages, and learn from them

2) I shall not become attached to people of evil knowledge

3) I shall not break the precepts even if my life is at stake

4) I shall often study the Mahayana sutras and treatises and contemplate their deeper meanings

5) I shall constantly be mindful of and have confidence in the Bodhicitta

6) I shall lend help to any suffering beings whom I come across

7) I shall make offerings to the Triple Jewels according to my ability

8) I shall show filial obedience to my parents and respect to my teachers

9) I shall give up slothfulness and cultivate diligence

10) I shall conquer the mind which gives rise to all kinds of worldly troubles

11) I shall deliver the countless sentient beings

12) I shall transcend the endless afflictions

13) I shall learn the infinitely many pathways

14) I shall realize the supreme Buddha Way

After I finished making the fourteen vows, the three teachers knelt in front of the shrine and read out aloud,

"Respectfully we would like to inform all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in all the worlds of the infinite ten directions that there is now a Bodhisattva by the name of Sheng-yen Lu, who is present at the Pi Shan Temple in Nantou City, Nan Tou County, Taiwan, and who declares three times his desire to receive the Bodhisattva Vows. We are his witnesses and may all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, sages, and all beings in all places and times show mercy and bear witness to this occasion!"

While the three teachers were reading the above article, I heard earthquakes, thunderous sounds in the sky that sounded like lions' roars. I turned to look at the other people present, but they were unperturbed as if they heard nothing. After the thunderous sounds and earthshaking quieted down, a melodious voice sang,

"As bright as the sun and moon, like the shining pearls, the precepts have been the guiding lights, leading multitudes of Bodhisattvas as numerous as dust particles to reach Enlightenment. When one receives the Buddha's precepts, one immediately enters into the realm of the Buddhas and become equivalent to the Great Awakened Ones."

I also witnessed the rite wherein the Dharma masters performed the transmission of the precepts for the beings in the spirit plane. The purpose of this ritual was to afford people who have just taken the Bodhisattva Vows the opportunity to show appreciation to parents and families from their previous lifetimes. The ceremony was similar to the one for living people. It took place in the evening and, after the Dharma masters and the three monks were seated, there was an invitation for the souls to enter into the shrine. Representatives, holding plaques with names of the departed souls, knelt down and announced in unison that they were asking in the place of the departed souls to receive the Bodhisattva Vows. The Precept Monk rang the bell and gave a discourse to the souls.

"All souls present, listen carefully to what is written in the Brahmajala-sutra: If one receives the Buddha Precepts after understanding the teachings of the Dharma masters, whether one is a king, a prince, a high official, a monk, a nun, a being from the eighteen heavens in the Realm of Form, or from the heavens in the Realm of Desire, an ordinary citizen, a eunuch, a lustful person, a slave, a being from the eight classes of supernatural beings, a Dharma protector, or a human who has come from the realm of animals, one shall be called the Great Pure One because the Buddha's teachings are all compassionate and embracing, lending aids to all beings in the three realms..."

During the transmission of the Bodhisattva Vows for beings in the spirit plane, I tuned into my psychic vision and saw in front of me the Pi Shan Temple completely transformed into a vast ocean. High waves, one after another, were rolling in, and out of each wave a group of strange looking spirit beings emerged. Their unusual shapes were totally unfamiliar to me. Wave after wave, the beings rushed up to the steps of the temple and joined their palms in respect for the Buddha and Bodhisattva images and the three monks inside the temple.

Among the astral beings were some without heads or limbs, while some had three heads and six arms. After I watched for a while, the scene no longer seemed so unusual, and I tuned back into my ordinary waking state of consciousness. When I reopened my eyes, the ocean was gone and replaced by two rows of tables covered with offerings. The monks and nuns were chanting to the accompaniment of musical instruments.

A minor incident of note also took place during the convention. Among the people who received the Bodhisattva Vows was a Mr. Chou Hsin Yi, who was fifty-one years old and had come from the Chiangsu Province on the mainland. He was a student of the Dharma Master Nan T'ing and had the refuge name of Kuan Jen. In our chats, he mentioned that he had some business he would like to attend to in Malaysia, but it had been quite some time since his application for a visa, and he had not yet heard a reply. I smiled and asked him, "Would you like me to do a divination for you and see what is in store?" "You can do divination?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Let's give it a try." I took him to a shrine nearby that honored martyrs. After picking up twelve small pieces of rock, I blew three breaths of air into them while silently reciting Mr. Chou's name, date and time of birth. Then, I tossed the rocks up in the air and let them fall freely onto the ground. The rocks fell into a pattern in which five of them stayed relatively close to each other while the remaining seven were scattered apart.

Then I asked Mr. Chou to pick up one of the pieces to show me. He bent down and picked up one that had a corner missing. I interpreted the result for him, "You are in luck. You will be able to make your trip in July." "The purpose of my trip to Malaysia is to visit the Dharma Master Yen P'ei and to be close to him," Mr. Chou explained.

A month after receiving the Bodhisattva Vows, Mr. Chou came to visit me and expressed a desire to be my student. I asked him, "What has happened?"

"Wow! Your prediction was really accurate. I will be going to Malaysia in July. You've got to teach me this divination method!" Chou Hsin Yi spoke excitedly.

So I taught him a practical divination method which he gratefully learned before leaving for Malaysia.

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