Inspirational Guidance
Written in Chinese by Upasika Sui He
Translated into English by Dr. Yutang Lin
Causal Origination: Last September due to enthusiastic assistance from some Dharma friends there arose in me the thought of establishing a website to present Chinese works of my merciful Guru Dr. Lin so as to serve Buddhists who know only Chinese. Since the website we had had at that time contained much teaching and I did not know of how to design a website, hence my merciful Guru encouraged me to concentrate well on Dharma practices and to undertake only Dharma services that I was capable of. Since there was a Dharma friend who volunteered to undertake the design and construction of such a website, I did not follow my merciful Guru's advice, but instead rushed ahead with the project. Unexpectedly, not long after the title page was accomplished, all helps ceased due to sudden changes in causations. Eventually it continued only with the effort of myself, a novice to such undertaking. Due to my lack of experiences, during the course of web-construction I repeatedly burdened my Guardian Master with the work of reviewing the contents of my immature and constantly changing web-pages. Maybe it was due to my sincere aspiration I had had several blessing dreams, and during my web-construction there were some inspirational events. Therefore, even though faced with setbacks my spirit was uplifted and I could endure and sustain my efforts all the way. Now I carefully record below three events that were rather extraordinary to commemorate Buddha's grace, and to repay the kindness of Dharma protectors.
The First One: As I recall now when an outline of the contents of the website was accomplished, I carefully tested every juncture several times until I was sure that all were regular and there was no problem to visit it on-line. Then I thought that the next day I would surely be able to present it to my Guardian Master for verification of the contents. That day happened to be a day when I had computer lessons in the morning, so after the session I stayed in the classroom to do the final testing before I sent out the email. Unexpectedly when I was testing the contents of Guru Chen's website a message appeared saying that it could not be found. I was very dumbfounded, why did the whole content become blank? Then I carefully gathered all original materials again, and rebuilt the web-page again. Thus I worked several times. As soon as it was uploaded, it showed a blank page, and eventually even the message that it could not be found appeared. So I could not help but to seek help from a professional computer specialist, teacher Hong, and asked him to check every juncture of my work to see if they were without errors. After he had carefully checked and verified that each and every juncture was without errors, I thought that this time the result of uploading should be fine. Unexpectedly, after uploading there still appeared a blank page. He was very surprised at this situation, and said that it was impossible for such a situation to have arisen. I asked him to check each and every juncture again, and still he could not find any mistake. In the end there was nothing that he could do about this. So I had to delete this file and remake a new one that was exactly the same. Since I had already tested many times without appearance of the contents of the web-page (I cannot recall now which article was used as the content of this page, except that it was not a work by my Merciful Guru), and then due to several remakes of the web-page even the layout of that article was lost, only then did I realize that, could it mean that I need to replace the content of this web-page? So I began to contemplate again on what content to use would be appropriate. I gathered many articles that were on hand, and eventually a thought flashed across my mind: the content of Guru Chen's website should use works of his heart son. Unexpectedly, very soon after this thought arose I found the three works that are currently posted there: Supplication to Root-Guru Chen, Supplication to Guru Chen for His Speedy Return, and Praise to the Dharma Life of Guru Chen. After I had incorporated the new contents into the web-page, upon testing, on the monitor screen the web-page that could not appear immediately appeared fully as if coming alive.
The Second One: To figure out which logo to use in the classification toolbar was exhausting; over several dozens had been tried, and eventually as a token of repaying the initiation of a Dharma friend I chose the Vajra Wisdom and Compassion Seal. Nevertheless, the whole layout seemed to lack something. Since I was rather exhausted I did not pay any more attention to this point until one night in a dream I saw the Vacuous Self in Dharmadhatu Seal, one of the many Dharma seals of my Guardian Master, appeared in the first column of the classification toolbar, and then I woke up. I reported it to my Guardian Master for instructions, and he told me to incorporate this seal into the toolbar exactly as in the dream. Since the first column was already taken by another seal, to save myself the trouble of making more changes, while I reported the dream to my Guardian Master I simply changed the order and placed the new seal in the last column instead. Later while adding the new logo I still did it my way by placing the Vacuous Self seal into the final column. Unexpectedly, after it was thus accomplished when I viewed the web-page on-line I felt dazzled by a sense of upside-down and discord that arose from the monitor screen. Hence, I could not help but to remove that web-page. Then I rearranged the toolbar in accordance with the dream instruction to place the Vacuous Self seal in the first column, and also rearranged the order of the other items, and then placed the Vajra Wisdom and Compassion seal in the final column. After completion when I tested it on-line, as I remember then, I was moved to tearful eyes by the presence of a harmonious, unified and simple yet elegant image, and a feeling of incomparable joy naturally arose. Then I comprehended that, there need be first the realization of Vacuous Self, and then it will be possible to achieve Vajra mind and Wisdom and Compassion activities. This kind of inspirational guidance indeed made impressions deep into one's mind as if carved onto bones.
The Third One: One special characteristic of this Chinese website is to present my Guardian Master's precious teachings in his daily replies to questions raised by disciples or Dharma friends. What impressed me deeply was the event that, there was one article containing his teachings on some secret Tantric matter, and the web-page appeared normally when I was testing it in my computer, but when I uploaded it to the website the file could not be opened. Since I would not give it up I kept trying to upload it again and again, finally the whole website ceased to function, and my computer also went broke. Later I reported to my Guardian Master that the file could not be uploaded and asked him to bless the computer to function smoothly. My Guardian Master indicated that this could mean that the Dharma protectors would not allow us to upload this article, so he instructed me to remove this file and save it separately. Unexpectedly, as soon as I removed this file from the website, all functions restored to normal. I indeed cannot rationally understand such phenomena. Even for computer professionals, unless they had experienced such phenomena themselves, they could not believe in such occurrences. Based on their experiences in website construction such events were simply impossible to have occurred, and had never occurred, and yet such events happened repeatedly during the course of a website construction born of pure Bodhicitta.
Website construction was full of twists and turns,
Thus a practitioner's dedication was put to trial.
Born of pure intention and then endeavored straight,
Many inspirational guidance constantly received.
Epilog
Due to limitations in my abilities the construction of this website still allows space of improvement. During the course of this novice's construction the possibility of smooth progress was especially due to my Merciful Guardian Master's attentive instructions despite his busy schedules, for this I am grateful, and to suggestions made by my elder Vajra Dharma brother Stanley, and to blessings from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and guidance from Dharma protectors so that the Chinese website may function smoothly. May all who had the opportunity to visit this website also receive blessings from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and help from Dharma protectors so as to diligently apply efforts on the right path and attain enlightenment soon!
Written in Chinese on July 25, 2005
Residence in Accord with Harmony
Taipei, Taiwan
Translated into English on May 11, 2006
A Study for the Cultivation of Harmony
El Cerrito, California
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