Chapter 28 - My Affinity With Lakes

When I was in Taiwan, in order to view a lake, I had to drive from Grass Village to South Throw, then from South Throw to North Hill Hollow, and from North Hill Hollow to Water Mile, and from there to the Sun-Moon Lake.

Sun-Moon Lake is the place where many events in my life had taken place.

At the Hsuan-tsang Temple by the lake, I had taken refuge in Venerable Buddhist Master Tao-An. At the evening banquet held at Han-Bi Restaurant, Venerable Master Tao-An had momentarily held my hands in his, tightly and inseparably.

The spot where Kung Ming Temple now stands at the side of Sun Moon Lake was located by me, and I had inspected the geomancy in the area before the temple was built.

I had also inspected the geomancy of the largest temple there, the Wen Wu Temple.

The Fung-shui for the larger restaurants by the lakeside had also been analyzed by me. Even the world famous Bright Lake Dam Project bore my footprints. During the foggy days at Sun Moon Lake, I rowed a boat there from island to island, looking for the most scenic town.

This was the affinity between Sun Moon Lake and me. One encounter in life can be the beginning of ten thousand other primary and secondary events. When I was in Taiwan, I often had the chance to visit Sun Moon Lake, to look at the shimmering water under the sun, the shrouded lake under the evening sky, and the unceasing flow of tourists. In those days, I also had my photo taken at the Light Splendor Island at Sun Moon Lake.

Below Hsuan-tsang Temple was an old, dilapidated temple where I also left my foot-prints when I paid homage to the Buddhas.

I had also contemplated the wonderful idea of participating in the Early Dawn Swim-ming Club at Sun Moon Lake, to taste what it was like to swim in the lake during the early winter mornings.

One of my readers once wrote to me, wondering why Sun Moon Lake, such a beautiful place, could have become a favorite spot for people to commit suicide. I replied: A beautiful place has an eternal life and there is really no separation between life and death. Today, I am far away from Sun Moon Lake and all of its sceneries are gone from my view. I know, however, that in this world everything is always changing. Flowers bloom and wither; people laugh and cry, come together and go separate ways. This world has always been impermanent, like air bubbles, as illusory as dreams. Sun Moon Lake may still be Sun Moon Lake, but the people from before are gone. The existing Sun Moon Lake is separated from me by a vast physical distance, but the Sun Moon Lake of the past seems to be even further away.

Today, I am without Sun Moon Lake, but I embrace Lake Sammamish. They are two completely different lakes, with different personalities, but they share some things in common, such as mountains, water, boats.

Before, at Sun Moon Lake, I looked for a town with good Fung-shui.

Now, at Lake Sammamish, I quietly contemplate the questions in life. Casting no further thought on the suffenngs of birth, aging, sickness, and death, I have found Truth in Lake Sammamish. At the lakeside pier in Idylwood Park, I sit in the lotus posture. I face the lake and the lake faces me. My heart is as clear as the lake water and I am fully awakened.

I have found one thing, at Lake Sammamish: Self. In this world, many people have lost their Selves and cannot find them, but I have indeed found my Self. This is the Self that has awakened to the Original Nature and transcends life and death.

In the past, at Sun Moon Lake, amid the lake waves and sceneries, were my sighs, my moments of melancholies, and the countless sentiments I have felt. There were also daughters and good times of drinking and socializing. But all these have been thoroughly cleansed away in a subtle manner.

Now, in fact, life is but tens of millions of dots of memories strung together. Just cut this string of memories with a pair of scissors and they all will be dispersed at random.

At Lake Sammamish I have achieved complete understanding. I can transcend and enter continuously into the Holy Territory. I understand the Ultimate Reality and Truth behind all phenomena. Rising up step by step, all Gods are I, and I am all Gods. The most benevolent, the most beautiful and the Ultimate Truth all appear in front of me. Before Lake Sammamish, I was possibly not aware but, after Lake Sammamish, I have become omniscient. This life, I have not spent in vain. I know I have not spent this life in vain.

Days at the lakeside are filled with richness and wholeness.

Days at the lakeside are filled with vigor.

Days at the lakeside are filled with boundless treasure.

While meditating, I raised my head to look at the night sky and saw a great star, the same great star that was seen by Buddha Shakyamuni. Thus I truly understood births and deaths and reincarnations, and I also understood all about life. Sheng-Yen Lu has also become the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master. All the foolishness of the past has perished.

I will tell my students: if, one day, no one can see me, please do not look for me, because I will have gone away from everything. I am really without a home, here only to deliver the sentient beings! Sheng-Yen Lu is just a name symbolizing the illusory.

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