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金輪憶舊 ()
REMINISCING ABOUT GOLD WHEEL MONASTERY

                    胡果相 資料提供 INFORMATION PROVIDED BY HELEN WOO
編輯部參考《金輪聖寺成立廿十週年紀念》整理
                                                             COMPILED BY STAFF EDITOR (VENERABLE MASER HUA'S DHARMA PROPAGATION
IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA)
                                         沙彌尼親弘英譯 ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY SHRAMANERIKA CHIN HUNG

那次正式皈依儀式雖在麥桑尼克大禮堂完成了,但陸續仍有人在胡家皈依。其間還有一段小插曲,比丘恒實師於2001年2月4日星期日晚間,在萬佛城大殿講法時也提過。他講的那位能「看得見」的女士,大夥兒都不認識她。這位女士從事電影業,或許真有些來歷,知道附近有善知識來臨,便和朋友找上了胡家,請上人在電影業上助她一臂之力。她進來後,有人告訴上人說她「看得見」東西,上人伸手讓她看;她看到上人手上有很多眼睛,看到上人有很多光,又看見許許多多眾生,最後竟哭了起來!上人說她看得不錯;她還跟大夥兒合照留念了,真是不可思議! 

以後上人每月來洛杉磯講法,並待上四、五天,以胡家為道場,很有耐心地為信眾解答問題,教導佛學及修行,對弟子們失禮之處無不包容。據當時在場的居士們說,「現在想起 來,當時我們的表現真讓人羞愧。」  

後來人漸漸多了,半年後大家覺得該有個正式的場所,以便上人弘法,於是看中一處幼稚園,座落在北漢亭頓街。果相把家裏唱戲的桌子搬來權當佛桌,自家的木雕佛像也請來了,成為金輪寺第一尊佛像。果相說:「當時不懂規矩,上道場就像是參加宴會一樣,除了拜佛打坐,還帶吃的來聚餐,談天說笑十分熱鬧。」  

為了每月為數不小的開銷,有人提議收會費,有人建議開班授課收學費,於是「風水課」、「命理課」等等都閉起來了弄得不倫不類,還請了 「客座教授」!上人仍然每月來,從不正面說什麼,但開示講偈,教佛理,讓大家理解道理後能自己改變 。果相回憶說:上人知道我們這些人事業有成,教育水平較高,自負也高,只能運用權巧方便法,讓我們自己認識錯誤,自動改正。」

漸漸地大家懂了道理,上人的要求也隨之提高,開示時明告, 「道場是修道的地方,不是交際場所,不能世俗化...... 。」上人不僅要求大家在佛殿時嚴肅認真,即使在廚房工作,也要念佛,不可任意說笑;若有人在廚房講閒話,那一天上人便不吃飯,有時來三天就三天不吃飯,來四天就四天不吃飯。上人說, 「我不懂得教化人,德行不夠,是我的過失。」大家心生慚愧而自動改過,就這樣子道場也慢慢地上了軌道了。

那時果相患風濕,但一進金山寺佛殿,就覺得身體發熱,就好了。起先她不信,特地進進出出試了好幾次,可是每次一到隔壁齋堂休息,就覺得不舒服,再進佛殿就又好了。真不知該怎麼解釋!

1976年冬,漢亭頓街金輪寺正式 成立時,上人特書門聯:
布施持戒忍辱因精進
禪那般若誓願果菩提  

次年1977年2月19日佛堂落成,可容50人。同年5月7日,比丘恒實發心由金輪寺三步一拜至聖城,由沙彌恒朝發心護法,十分轟動,這是繼比丘恒具、恒由之後在西方第二次的三步一拜。經過八百哩路程,兩年十個月,拜到萬佛城後仍繼續在城內拜。早在1973年10月16日,為祈求世界和平,比丘恒具發心由舊金山金山禪寺,三步一拜至華盛頓州的大理石山,由比丘恒由護法,全程超過一千哩, 1974年7月20日完成,為西方首創之舉。

恒實師、恒朝師三步一拜全程費時三年九個月,先是由金輪寺的護法,每日開車供應飲食、日用品,還陪同在後拜一段路程,親身體會辛苦,修行佛法,大約一年多後,過了中途點才由北加州的護法接替。  

經居士們多次請求,1978年上人開始派遣弟子輪流來寺住持,並命名金輪,取其「法輪常轉」之意。金輪寺和萬佛城同一年成立,上人曾說,「『金輪』象徵無堅不催,恒轉向前,也代表著正法,能降服天魔,制諸外道。對修行人來說,它是千魔不退,萬難不屈的堅固心。」所以上人要金輪寺的人注意「金輪」的意義,它是生生世世不退菩提心來成佛。

待續  

 


Although the official ceremony for taking refuge concluded at the Masonic Hall, people thereafter also took refuge at the Woos' over time. There was a little interlude there too. Bhikshu Heng Sure had mentioned this during the City of Ten Thousand Buddha's Sunday lecture on February 4, 2001. As mentioned, no one knew of [a visitor,] a woman who could "see." This woman was in the entertainment business, but perhaps she really did have some history to her. She knew that a good teacher had arrived so she came to the Woos'. She asked the Venerable Master to give her a hand in her career. When she came, someone told the Venerable Master that she could "see" things. The Venerable Master took out his hand to let her see and she saw there were lots of eyes in the Venerable Master's palm. She also saw that the Venerable Master was incredibly bright and that there were lots of beings around. She ended up sobbing! The Venerable Master said that what she saw was right. She even took pictures with everyone. It was really inconceivable!  

Later on the Venerable Master came to Los Angeles to speak Dharma every month. He would stay for four or five days each time. The Woos' house served as a temple. He patiently answered questions from the audience and taught them about Buddhism and cultivation. He tolerated every possible mishap and impoliteness on the part of his disciples. According to the laity present at the time, "Now that we think back on it, our behavior then was truly embarrassing and shameful."

After half a year, the number of participants increased gradually, everyone felt that they ought to have an official place for the Venerable Master to speak Dharma. So they located a kindergarten at North Huntington Drive. Guo Hsiang loaned her table from home that she used for opera to the temple so that it could be used as an altar. She also brought over from home her wooden Buddha statue; it became Gold Wheel Monastery's first Buddha statue. Guo Hsiang said, "I really didn't know the rules at the time. I went to the temple as if attending a party. Besides bowing and meditating, we also brought food for potluck. We had a good time chatting and laughing."

Because the monthly expenses were considerable, some people suggested that they collect membership fees. Some recommended charging fees for classes that they could start. Hence, classes on geomancy and fortune-telling began. It was a mess and hardly dignified. Guest lecturers were invited too! The Venerable Master still came every month, but he never said anything directly. He still gave talks and wrote verses to teach Buddhism so that everyone would change themselves after they understood the principles. Guo Hsiang recalls, "The Venerable Master knew that the people in this group were successful in their careers, had a relatively high level of education, and considered themselves highly. So he could only use expedients to help us recognize our own faults and change of our own initiative."

Eventually everyone came to understand the principles; hence the Venerable Master's demands increased too. He said so clearly during a talk: "The Wayplace is a place for cultivation, not a place for socializing. You cannot turn it into something worldly...." Not only did the Venerable Master request that everyone be serious and earnest in the Buddha Hall, but even when working in the kitchen they must be mindful of the Buddha and not talk and laugh as they please. If anyone chitchatted in the kitchen that day, the Venerable Master would not eat that day. Sometimes he was here for three days and wouldn't eat for three days; sometimes he was here for four days and fasted for four days. The Master would say, "I don't know how to teach people. It's my fault because I lack virtue." Everyone would feel ashamed and change his or her faults. This is how the temple gradually fell into place.  

At that time Guo Hsiang had arthritis, but every time she entered the the Gold Mountain Monastery Buddha Hall, she would feel her body warm up, and feel much better. She didn't believe it at first, but she purposely left and returned several times to experiment and every time she went to rest in the dining hall next door, she would become uncomfortable. Again, she would feel better as soon as she entered the Buddha Hall. She really didn't know how to explain it!

In the winter of 1976, Gold Mountain Monastery at Huntington Drive was officially established, so the Venerable Master wrote a couplet especially to be posted by the entrance:

Giving; precepts, patience and vigor are the causes.
Dhyana, Prajna, vows and Bodhi are the fruition.

The following year, on February 19,1977, the Buddha Hall with space for fifty people was completed. On May 7th of the same year, Bhikshu Heng Sure made the resolve to bow once every three steps from Gold Wheel Monastery to the City. Shramanera Heng Chau volunteered to act as his protector. It was quite an event because it was the second time that a three-steps and one-bow pilgrimage was to take place in the West (the first was by Bhikshus Heng Ju and Heng Yo). After travelling this way for 800 miles over the course of two years and ten months, they continued to bow once reaching the City. As early as October 16, 1973, Bhikshu Heng Ju had completed a three-steps and one bow pilgrimage from the San Francisco Gold Mountain Monastery to Washington State's Marblemount. The entire trip covered over one thousand miles and was completed on July 20, 1974. Bhikshu Heng Yo acted as the protector for this unprecedented event in the West.

The three-steps and one-bow trip that lasted two years and nine months for Dharma Masters Heng Sure and Heng Chau was initially protected by disciples of Gold Wheel Monastery. They would drive food, drinks and necessities to them and bow behind them for a ways just to personally experience the hardship and cultivate the Buddhadharma. It was approximately a year and more later, when they had passed the midpoint of the trip, that the protectors in northern California took over. After numerous requests by the laity, in 1978 the Venerable Master began having disciples take turns to manage this monastery and named it Gold Wheel, meaning that the Wheel of Dharma is to turn constantly. Gold Wheel Monastery and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas were established the same year. The Master said, "Gold Wheel symbolizes [a wheel] that cannot be destroyed by anything and always moves forward. It also represents the proper Dharma that can subdue heavenly demons and those of externalist persuasions. For cultivators, the Gold Wheel symbolizes the solid resolve for the Way: not retreating if confronted by a thousand demons, undaunted by the myriad hardships."

The Venerable Master hoped that everyone associated with Gold Wheel Monastery to pay attention to the meaning of the Gold Wheel: in life after life not retreating from the resolve for Bodhi until they realize Buddhahood.             

 ~ To be continued

 

 

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