Chapter 1 - Living By The Lake

We have finally moved away from the city of Seattle and made our new home at the city of Redmond, right by Lake Sammamish.

We have finally come together with Lake Sammamish. In this book, I am going to write about the charms of the lake. These chapters belong to the lake.

The first time I laid my eyes on the lake, I was awed by its bright beauty. Standing on a sloping path, overlooking the wide and deep of the lake, without a shadow on its gently rippling surface, I felt like I had entered under the sunlight into the heart of the lake; enveloped by its pure, clear light, I was performing the ablution and bowing.

In my eyes, Lake Sammamish is a Holy Lake. The light of the lake is the energy of pure spirit. The clean lake water seems to speak of the deep meaning of itself. This lake, with its spirit, its imagination, its profound eyes, its breathing, is indestructible. It has a thought that unites itself completely with the universe.

Living by the lake, I feel very happy. I can see the lake every day. Strolling on the park lanes next to the lake, under the shadows of the pointed leaves, or under the gentle Washington sunlight, the lake has become our daily playmate. Our conversation always drifts back to the lake.

The home temple of Ling Xian (means 'spirit immortal') True-Buddha School is right here by the lake. I am hopeful that every single person who grows up here will turn out to be a great sage, and everyone will be a dharma prince of the True Buddha School. Nurtured by the light of the lake, every sage here will be blessed with dignified conduct; every sage will be a towering giant; every one will be pure in heart and everyone will be gentle and sincerely devout.

I am fond of the lake and I know the energy of the lake will brew within the heart of the children here. As the Chinese proverb says, Land endowed with superior energy produces people of superior quality.

I have travelled all over the world, and all over America in search of a piece of land where the energy is the highest, the best, and I have found it here in Lake Sammamish.

It has an embrace of mountains around it and it has a body of water shaped like the moon. Its curvature and the gentility of its water are just perfect and totally refined.

I know its wisdom is boundless.

Its will is strong.

Its ideal is lofty.

It has the disposition of a hermit.

In the main temple of Ling Xian True-Buddha School by the lake, Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master has achieved true prajna wisdom and always lives in the light of eternal life.

The Master wishes his students to stay away from sloth, greed, and conceit, and learn from Lake Sammamish, to be vigorous, peaceful, simple and honest. Presently, there are eighty thousand students¹ with refuge in him, and in the future the number will multiply to hundreds of thousands. This is because Master, Lake, and Buddha are one and inseparable.

With Lake Sammamish here, I have found everything deeply satisfying. I am very happy. This seed of happiness will spread to the heart of everyone. It is so serene here that I could look for the inspiration of life in the ripplings of the lake, I could meditate under the big pine trees, and I could swim in the lake and cleanse myself with its light. Be it early dawn, or noon, or evening, or star-studded night, we could all discover the beauty of the lake and its carefree quality.

Who says the lake harbours no secrets?

The movement of the lake is Mudra, beauty that is boundless.

The flowing sound of the lake is Mantra, a sanskrit psalm being sung.

The spirit of the lake is Visualization, that of the highest supreme.

Here, by the lakeside, many many sages will be born. As long as they encounter Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, and then receive baptism from the lake, they will gradu-ally find the origin of wisdom, and all the secrets in Tantra. Whether he is one who is concerned mainly with money, scholarship, or meanness, by seeing the purity of the lake, and understanding its serenity, his knowledge will increase, his thought will change and his insight into Tantra will deepen. His Self-Nature will be enlightened and turned into Buddha-Nature.

Lake Sammamish teaches us:

To endure all sufferings,

To leave all worldly desires to attain Purity,

To go from the dharma teaching for the welfare of sentient beings in this world to transcendent cultivation.

In the future, in this holy territory, the lakeside main temple of True-Buddha School will send off illuminations that will last for centuries. These illuminations will carry sentient beings to the far shore.

(Written by Master Sheng-Yen Lu at True Buddha Tantric Quarter, Redmond, Washingston, Summer 1985).

Sheng-Yen Lu

17102 NE 40-th Ct.

Redmond, Washington 98052

U.S.A.

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