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《菩提鏡》

 

BODHI MIRROR

敬老懷少─恆泉師
RESPECTING THE ELDERLY AND CHERISHING THE YOUTH–Bhikshuni Heng Quan

  


出家三十年的恆泉師,天生對孩子有一股愛心,所以當她還是孩童時,左鄰右舍的大人總好托她照顧孩子,家裡已儼然是個托兒所。出家後,更將佛陀教義帶到幼兒教育中,創辦培生幼稚園,二十年中,規模雖不大,她仍盡其所能地學習並照顧到每個孩子的身心,其教育範圍包括幼兒的家庭,許多家庭因此健康和諧,孩子們也在學校家庭的合作下,有了良好的人格基礎。

她一生沒有進過正規學校,卻能順利通過幼教師資的考試,也寫得一手好字。緣起是她師公發現十八歲就出家的她不識字,因此說:「出家不可以不認識字,不可以沒有文化,沒有文化,不能自利利人。」遂一筆一畫教她讀書寫字;其時,寫壞的多,寫好的少。有一次惱羞成怒,當著師公的面,將字紙撕爛,又用腳踩後而去。第二天,發現師公將她撕爛的紙重新拼湊補貼完整,又和顏悅色地告訴她,那一筆寫得好,是書法家的手筆。

 有感於師公的教誨,她自此不僅改過自新,更將這種教育態度運用於幼兒教育。她不但秉著一顆真心教育孩子,其所帶領的圓通精舍念佛會,更是老人們心中往生西方樂世界的依靠。 

從一九八八年上人回臺弘法,請上人救其腫瘤後,至今上人已又救過她幾次命了。於上人的盛德與救命之恩,她銘記在心,是故今生視以為師,從其再受大戒,並盡其所能幫助上人屬下的道場及其弟子。受恩不忘報,且又將感恩的心,擴及周匝的人身上,這或許是何以恆泉師這一生能夠遇到兩位恩師的原因吧!

Master Heng Quan, a Buddhist nun for thirty years, has a natural love for children. When she was still a child, the neighboring adults would bring their children to her and ask her to babysit for them when they went out. So her house already seemed like a kindergarten. After she left the home-life, she brought the principles of Buddhism into education. Although the Peisheng (Nurturing Life) Kindergarten she founded is not a big one, for twenty years it has been doing its best to take good care of each child's body and mind. The scope of its education extends to the students' families. Many families have become wholesome and harmonious, and the cooperative efforts of the school and parents have provided children with a good basis for developing virtuous characters.

Though Master Heng Quan never received any formal education, she easily passed the test to become a kindergarten teacher, and her handwriting is also admirable. The reason for the latter is that when her grand-master found out that Master Heng Quan, who had left the homelife at the age of eighteen, was illiterate, he said to her, "A left-home person must not be illiterate and uncultured. Without culture, you can neither benefit yourself nor others." So he started to teach Master Heng Quan to read and write, stroke by stroke. At that time, most of the calligraphic characters she wrote were poor; she seldom produced a good character. One time, Master Heng Quan became so frustrated that she tore up the rice paper, threw it to the ground, stomped on it in front of her grand-master, and then left in anger. The next day, she found that her grand-master had pasted together the torn pieces of paper. In a kind and amiable manner, he told her which strokes were good ones, which were those of a calligrapher. Moved by her grand-master's teaching, she not only changed from that day on, she has also applied this attitude of teaching in educating children. She teaches children with a true heart. In the Buddhist Recitation Association of the Perfect Penetration Abode which she leads, she is a support and refuge for the seniors who hope to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

In 1988, when the Master went to Taiwan to propagate the Dharma, she requested the Master to save her life, as she was suffering from a tumor. Since then, the Master has saved her life several more times. Bearing in mind the Venerable Master's great virtue and his saving of her life, she received the complete precepts and bowed to him as her teacher. She has also been trying her best to help the Master's Way-places and his disciples. Perhaps it is because she never forgets to repay the favors she has received and because she expands the scope of her gratitude to include the people around her that Master Heng Quan has been able to encounter these two kind teachers in her life.

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