to him? One time in winter, when my husband and I were still in charge of the Dharma centre at that time, we held a hugh ceremony for the freeing of birds at sea. I particularly remembered this because that day was exceptionally cold. So when they were freed, some of the birds just could not fly and dropped into the sea, and got drowned. When Guru Lau saw that, he immediately asked to stop the whole thing. Then he went over to the owner of the ship and asked him to go speedily to the other shore which was quite far away. The owner then asked for a big tip for it; and without any hesitation, Guru Lau fetched out his own purse and gave the money to the owner, and insisted not to accept back any money from the centre.
After returning home, I saw Guru Lau knelt down in front of his shrine and confessed to the Buddhas and Dharmapalas. There were tears in his eyes, and I could sense his sincere sorrow and regret of the whole event. After that, he told us: "I have heard that hunters are trying hard to get the birds and sell them to us for money; and then when we have freed the birds, they will try to catch them again in order to make more money. So from now on, when you want to free living beings, do not buy any more birds, buy marine animals instead. This time it was my fault, not yours; and I have prayed for all the people working for this. I have also prayed for the birds that have been drowned today. So you two be rest assured that all the faults and karmic debts will come to me alone, and I will be fully responsible for it!" Because of the inexperience of the two of us, we had made a very big mistake, and yet Guru Lau was so compassionate by taking up the burden upon himself for us. Such is the temperament and forgiveness of a real practitioner that we should be ashamed of ourselves!
As far as I know, everyday after his own practice, Guru Lau would say prayers to the Buddhas wishing for the wisdom and merit, health and longevity for all his students, and then he will dedicate all his merits to them. On top of that, he would particularly say out the names of those students whom he thought have contributed to the Dharma activities, and the list was usually very long. His care and protection for his students was well beyond words.
Before Guru Lau went back to Taiwan around mid-1996, he mentioned: "Later there will be a graduating examination." I was rather puzzled as to what kind of things will we be examined on: whether it will be the teachings of the scriptures, or the practices that were being taught? Will we, Hong Kong disciples, be examined first, or whether the Taiwan Dharma brothers will be examined first? We just could not guess the mind of a wise man. The day when Guru Lau went into the hospital, it was the same time when all of his disciples are entering into the examination hall. The examination of one's heart, of one's mind and of one's determination. So many questions to be answered, one after another, like waves in an ocean. The duration is so long that the examination is still on! I would hope to knee down at the floor and ask for Guru Lau's forgiveness of my poor results.
Some disciples have doubts as to why Guru Lau started to build this, and to build that, and when these are not yet finished, Guru Lau was gone leaving behind many things for them to complete. But they do not understand that there is no ending to Dharma activities, for the will to "Continue with the wisdom-life of Buddhas, and to further ignite Buddhas' heart-light" will require one's Bodhicitta and responsibility to continue on life after life, for as long as there are sentient beings to be saved, there will be Dharma activities to be continued. Does it mean that we need Guru Lau to carry us through all these things? Why we cannot try to walk by ourselves? This is exactly the reason why Guru Lau had to test us, his students!
Then, there are those who questioned why Guru Lau was ill for so long in hospital. They simply cannot understand what Buddhism is all about. First of all, there is the Law of Karma - the law of cause and effect. So even Lord Buddha himself had his headache for three days. Ordinary people do not understand karma, and so they are rather ignorant of this law. Furthermore, the sickness of a great practitioner (such as the great Saint Milarepa in the old days, and such great master as the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa of contemporary time) cannot be compared to that of an ordinary person, simply because there are differences in terms of cause and conditions. So one should not be judgemental about this!
There are other disicples who are perplexed by the lineage problem of Guru Lau and asked why had not Guru Lau made it clearer before he left? The secret meaning of a wise man is hard to ..CONTINUE ..