All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and all Good Knowing Advisors: Amitabha!

It has not been long since I came from Hong Kong, and I have just finished the Guanyin Dharma Assembly and the Chan Meditation Session along with you. Today I happened to be picked to give a Dharma talk. Since I have not been a monk long enough to share with you any profound insights, I can instead tell you how the Venerable Master instructed me when I first became a novice monk (Shramanera).

I left the home life in Hong Kong, on Feburary 19,1986, which was Guanshiyin Bodhisattva's birthday. Although my head was shaved and I was called a Shramanera (novice), I did not actually received the Shramanera Precepts. One day during lunch, the Venerable Master told me, "You are a Shramanera, so you must respect the Bhikshus. Why? Because if you respect the Bhikshus now, in the future when you become a Bhikhsu, people will respect you too." After I heard these words from the Venerable Master, I remembered them in my heart, but they did not impress me in any particular way. Yet over time, I started to notice that I have a lot of bad habits and faults, such as arrogance. I would have to use the Venerable Master's teachings to remind myself, to help me contemplate how I am still controlled by my bad habits and faults. This helps to prevent me from being rash in handling things or dealing with people.

There is a saying: "The effect corresponds to the cause." The Sutras contain an account of a Bhikshu called "Sea Board," who was sailing across an ocean with a group of Sanghans. While at sea, the boat was wrecked and sunk in a storm. Bhikshu Sea Board managed to cling to a piece of wood and keep himself afloat. Suddenly he caught sight of an elderly Bhikshu who was drowning. He immediately pushed his piece of wood toward this elder, and subsequently drowned himself. After dying, he was reborn into the heavens. As a god, he descended to where the Buddha was speaking the Dharma and listened to his teaching. Before long, he was able to open his Dharma Eye.

According to the Sutras, if one wishes to attain the first Dhyana, one must create merit and virtue by working to help monasteries flourish. If one wishes to attain the second Dhyana, one must create merit and virtue by helping to build monasteries. Likewise, if one wishes to progress on one's path of cultivation, one needs various supporting conditions, and one should be reverent towards all. It is also similar to when we bow the Great Compassion Repentance. This ceremony is the beginning of all blessings.

We bow the Great Compassion Repentance every day- this tells us we ought to be reverent. We recite "Universal Worthy's Conduct and Vows Chapter" every morning. The first vow is to worship and revere all Buddhas. What does this vow mean for the Sangha? We are all disciples of the Buddha and we all should worship and revere all Buddhas. We should also realize that all living beings have the inherent Buddha nature and can become Buddhas. In the future all will become Buddhas. Thus, when we "worship and revere," we ought to include them too. If we have made the resolve to help all living beings, yet continue to act in ways that harm living beings, how can we say that we are being reverent towards all living beings? Being reverent towards all is the sine qua non for all cultivators. In everything we do, we should always be reverent.

I will speak this much tonight. I believe that everybody is more familiar with being reverent than I am. Amitabha.