為冤親債主眾祈禱
黃百肋博士英著
林鈺堂上師指導下
弟子王浩居士中譯
序言：
大約三個月前，我請示林鈺堂博士是否可以為我的冤親債主做一次火供。他應允並
表示將於二○○五年四月三日舉行綠度母火供。火供之後，林博士要我寫下與這次火供有關的經歷，以利益其他行者。
為何提請這次火供
這個想法並非出於偶然。大約兩年前，在一次已經被記錄下來，且被公佈在陳上師
網站上的頗瓦項下的經歷之後（譯註一），我發心為我的祖先求做一次火供，林博
士即慈悲應允舉行阿彌陀佛火供。我準備了一份含有五百多位直系祖先的名單，而
且提及許多我不知名的祖先，同時也列出很多祖先的兄弟姐妹和子女的名字，總共
超過一千三百個人名。為使祖先皆獲解脫而去尋查的經歷，以及火供當時體驗到的
徵兆，證實了這件實修的重要性。我相信請求那次火供是我一生中做過的最重要的
事情之一。在我少年時和成年後，我同父母和祖先間的業緣經常困擾我。二十八年
前， 陳瑜伽士教導我，無條件地愛我們的父母的重要性，之後我嘗試按他的勸告
去做，改變我的舉止，因而獲益良多。然而，直到二○○三年二月，在為我的祖先
舉行彌陀火供後，我才感到與他們的關係是全然平和的。
幾個月以前，我注意到我的心時常沉湎於回憶過去，特別是在有些已無法挽回的事
情上。這個事實加上為祖先做火供的經歷，終於有一天達至閾限，促成我為冤親債
主提請這次火供。這並非易事，因為此類想法素所未聞。但一經提起，林博士就熱情地回應了此事；他在第一候選時間，即二○○五年四月三日，安排了綠度母火供，
並指示我開始制訂冤親債主名單。
準備冤親債主名單
在提請火供後的幾天裡，我在夢中見到一些老關係，不然他們已多年不曾出現在我
的記憶中。例如，某位教授和他的夫人，都已久別人世，進到我的夢裡。當我細檢
這層關係時，很顯然地他和他的夫人曾經格外厚待於我，給了我我的第一份工作，並獻出他們真誠的友誼，所以我虧欠很多。在另一個夢裡，我看到一位十幾歲時的
朋友，我同他之後就再沒見面；我從未認為我和那位友人的關係是很牢固的，但這
個夢明示並非如此。
在一層來講，沒能體會那些真正關照過我的人令我感到悲哀。深一層來講，這些夢
好像是那些人在央求我記得在火供名單中加入他們。林博士肯定了這個解釋，開示
說：「眾生，特別是那些亡者，深切渴望這種機會！」
因為唯恐很快會忘記這些夢，我即刻開始寫下這份名單。所以，最初的一週左右，
我已經寫了一兩頁以往的關係。但不久進程緩慢下來。不再有夢，也較少有記憶在
心中出現。我未再努力：想說還有很多時間，我僅僅試著時而回憶此事。在名單中加入一些名字時，我很快開始發覺要決定誰是我們的冤親債主是多麼的複雜。我曾在三塊不同的大陸生活，活躍於至少三種非常不同的語言和文化環境裡。我記憶裡的一大部分看來已經褪色了。當我試圖記起曾工作過的公司裡同事的名字，或者同學及其他朋友的名字時，顯然很多人的名字再也記不得了；在很多情況下即使聽到這個名字我也認不出來了。我相信有很多人我已不記得曾經遇到過。
我理解了，實際上我們正輪迴於此生之中。由于大陸、語言和文化環境的變遷，以及老化，太多事情我已經全然忘記。這幫我懂得為什麼這是正常的—宿生所發生的事情都沒了記憶—可是過去生裡的那些冤親債主卻的確存在。幾年前，我偶遇一些私人日記，是大約三十七年前我用德文寫的。讀我的那些老筆跡的感覺是離奇的：它看起來不像出自我手，而是出自當時當地的某個典型學生之手。我發現很難想像我會以那種方式思維和寫作。我與這個作者沒有任何牽連！然而那個寫下這些行字，在當時還不是一個佛教徒的青年，跌跌撞撞於人生中，所製造的種種業債，我大概已全然忘記了，或許在死亡的那一刻會憶起。
常聽說在死亡之際我們一生的經歷，詳詳細細的在一瞬間，會如電影一樣在心眼前閃過。有臨終意外的還陽者披露了這種經歷。前共和黨參議員和總統候選人鮑勃‧杜爾，在戰爭中曾受過近乎致命傷，於二○○五年四月十日，在「新聞界有約」電視專訪中講述了下面的經歷。
訪問者：「之後一個月，這就是您寫的發生在六十年前的這一週：『我感到刺痛，像什麼東西炙熱且極為強力地撞進右肩後的背上。…在我的腦有時間體會所發生的事情以前，身體已做出反應。當迫擊炮彈炸下，爆炸的彈片，機關鎗掃射—到底是什麼，我永遠無從知悉—撕裂了我的身體，我蜷縮，稍微被抬離地面，在空中扭曲，臉朝下掉落在塵埃裡。許久我都不知道自己是活著還是死了。我感覺嘴裡的土有過於嘗到其味。…接著恐懼襲來—脖子以下完全沒有知覺了。我當時不知道這個情形，但不論擊中我的是何物，它已將我的肩膀撕開，鎖骨同右臂截斷，撞進脊椎骨，並傷及脊髓。』時在一九四五年四月十四日，意大利北部913高地。您還能憶起此景猶如昨天嗎？」
杜爾先生：「是的。我記得我的—我想他們稱為瀕死經驗。你的一生就猶如…在你面前漂浮而過。我想到我的小狗。我想到我的父母。我想到我的兄弟、姐妹、羅素、堪薩斯。所有那些事情就從你面前一閃而過。」
泥古萊‧高密友(Nikolai Gulmiyov)，一位偉大的俄國共產主義詩人，在列寧的命令下被槍斃處死。他在一篇題為「工人」的驚人詩作中，預言其自身的死法，而暗示了這種經驗。他一定聽說過瀕死經驗，因為他曾在第一次世界大戰時加入戰鬥。
大限到時，我會準備好面對所有今生已忽視而未能報償的關係了嗎？
一些體會
隨著火供日子的臨近，我遵從林博士的建議反覆地持念綠度母咒。在火供前的最後幾天，我想起更多的關係，以致名單增至五打印頁。有些新想起的關係如果被漏列我會感到遺憾。
我不再被這份任務的艱鉅所震懾。轉而漸漸領會，要界定誰是我的冤親債主是不可能的。這份名單永遠也寫不完！我們無法了知我們所有的冤親債主。而且，我不久即發現在無盡的業緣之鏈上，「一事導致另一事」。當然在個人的一生中有些人是特別重要；因此那是做這次火供的一個好理由。但我怎能滿足於只記下那些看起來極其重要的名字卻忽略了那麼多其他人？總之，我體驗到這個非常重要的事實，那就是我們大家息息相關，你不能把任何一位排除在外。
當我在火供前最後一天加入更多名字時，我忽然意識到，我不能遺漏那些對社會有貢獻的人，比如大科學家、政府和文化界的領導者，保衛國家的軍人，當然還包括那些使我們生活得更美好的賢哲和宗教領袖。但是我怎麼可能草擬出一份名錄來包括，例如，所有那些使我們今日的社會得以共享而曾遺饋恩澤的偉大科學家們？因此我在名單裡加入對所有這些恩人的一般性提及。
教宗約翰‧保羅二世在火供前一天去世，我意識到他誠然是我的一位恩人，所以我將他作為我的一位冤親債主而列其名入名單。
火供前一天，我橫越一條繁華的馬路，走在行人專用道上；一側車道上的車全遵循加州法律的規定完全停下來，以禮讓我的行人優先權。因而我安心地走著，並為那些司機的良好舉止感到高興。正當此時，另一側車道上的一輛車從我面前疾馳而過，甚至沒有試著減速。他顯然違反了限速法律和在指定橫越區行人優先的法律。出於憤怒的反應，我喃喃默語，用髒話罵這個開車的人，而他極可能沒覺察到這些。當有人毫無顧忌地危及到我的人身安全時，我慣於如此反應。當我在智利的聖地亞哥長大時養成這個壞習慣，那裡開車的人脾氣很壞並且習於互相咒罵。在某些罕有的情況下發怒一下的作為是可能避免事故的。但在這次則是於事無補，欠缺正理，只是為了報復而作的。我已經如此做過數百次，認為它是無害的，甚至是稀奇的一種文化習俗。但此次某種新的事情在我的心裡發生了。我立即意識到我剛製造了又一個冤親債主—即使他不知道我的詛咒！這樣我想起了在我一生中必定有數百位開車者被我這樣詛咒過。我忽然獲得這樣的認識便是這個火供的又一個利益。
我用一個「包羅一切」的段落作為這份名單的結尾：包括所有那些被我遺忘提及的冤親債主。一想到有很多像那位開車者的情況，和更糟的侵犯，我為我對冤親債主的冒犯寫下一份求寬恕的請求，我同時為任何無法正確寫出他們的名字，或甚至遺忘他們，的過失而致歉。
總之，我們的冤親債主名單是永無止境的：每一個肉被我們吃，或奶被我們喝的動物，對我們來講都是一個冤親債主。還有馱過我們和祖先的馬，那些無條件愛我們的狗，以及那些為延長我們壽命來改進藥品和醫療程序而參與試驗的白鼠和猴子。還有那些為保衛我們國家已經犧牲和正在為此獻身的軍人。以及那些冒著生命危險維持城市秩序的男女警察—如果沒有他們，我們恐怕很快就會成為強盜和流氓的犧牲者。還有那些曾經照顧過我們的醫生以及他們的師長，等等、等等。你思考得越多，就會越清楚了解，我們永遠無法還清業債，而債主的名單永無終結。
我們的宿業債務人又如何？
在此提及當我準備這份名單時一個令我困惑的問題。當我最初提請這個火供時，林博士的措辭是「一次為你的宿業債權人及債務人所做的火供」。但是當我準備這份名單時，我僅能想到債權人，也就是我欠的債，而不曾想到任何人是我的債務人。在火供前最後一天，我的結論是，我無以判定在宿業上任何人對我是否有所虧欠。因此，在剛提及的「包羅一切」這段我只寫下「連同所有的宿業債務人，如果有的話。」
自那次火供以來已有一週，而有關宿業債務人這點我獲得了新的理解。無疑地，我們在此生中至少做過一些善事，因為每個人都愛過別人，或者救過一些昆蟲的命。很可能在某個地方有某個人把我們認為是他的債主。但這就使那個人成為我們的債務人嗎？我斷定，就一個佛教行者而言，認為他或她有債務人是不純正的。如果我們抱持那樣的想法，我們就使自己失去自在。我們變成像一個囤積欠條，亦即宣告某人欠我們某物的一紙空文，的守財奴。《金剛經》以很多不同的句子告訴我們這一點，例如：
善男子、善女人發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心者，當生如是心：「我應滅度一切眾生；滅度一切眾生已，而無有一眾生實滅度者」。（詳見《金剛經‧究竟無我分第十七》，林鈺堂博士英譯，鏈接）。
或者下列的：
菩薩亦如是；若作是言：「我當滅度無量眾生」，即不名「菩薩」。（詳見《金剛經‧究竟無我分第十七》後面部分，A. F. 普瑞斯英譯）。（譯註二）
這樣，這次火供幫助我更深入理解了上述教法的真諦。
火供時和火供後的經歷
我帶了一份特別的供品參加火供：一盆美麗的白杜鵑花。它有同等份量和尺度的兩枝互相盤繞在一起。這棵樹真是完美無缺！儘管它由兩枝緊密交織的樹幹支撐，但是外觀看起來渾然一體。無數美麗的白花和綠葉交相映襯成自然而完美的布置。為這次火供而發現這棵樹讓我覺得很吉祥。花象徵著道，所以這個供奉可看做是祈求將我們一生在道上所有的業障和升沉加以昇華！當我將這棵樹供入火壇時，一支厚厚的、長長的白色煙柱垂直噴向天空，持續了很長一段時間。見此情景，我感到非常開心！
現在已過了許多天。當我偶而憶及某個冤親債主時，我不再為我所曾經作的感到遺憾，而是感覺安和。並且有時我對自己說：「我很高興擁有那些冤親債主，因為由于這種關係我纔能夠將這次火供的功德作為給他們的獻禮。」
雖然我在天主教家庭長大，我從沒覺得與教宗有任何特殊關聯。但是此次，如上所述，他在火供前一天的辭世讓我意識到他是我的一位冤親債主，因此我在呈給綠度母—諸佛的神秘母親—的名單中寫入他的名字。四月七日日偏食後，教宗的葬禮於四月八日星期五舉行。那晚我在夢裡遇到了教宗約翰‧保羅二世；由于羅馬的白天相對加州還是晚上，所以做夢的時候，葬禮可能仍在進行當中。這個夢非常清晰而且持續了好一會兒。我們面對面坐得很近，如同兩個朋友在一起促膝而談。他的微笑非常溫馨友善，如同一位摯友。我告訴他一些我這一生最美好的經歷，他則極為同情地傾聽，偶爾問我一個問題以使會話延續。他穿著他通常的服裝，白色的教宗聖袍。他的臉非常可愛，充滿健康與活力—如同大約二十六年前當他剛就職時的樣子。
願所有的眾生都能夠經由為他們的冤親債主祈禱而從宿業的牽纏中解脫出來！
經由林博士校正
二○○五年四月十一日
寫於 加州山景城
林鈺堂博士跋：
感謝百肋，作為一個佛法實修的題目，如此詳實的介紹了與之相關的他的整個學習過程。我相信這篇文章會幫助很多行者。
上文引用的《金剛經》兩處，原本取自他處，但那些版本有些問題。我指出來後百肋更換為現在的引文。如果參照漢文經本，第二段引文仍不甚準確。
二○○五年四月十一日
養和齋 於加州
譯註一：詳見 林鈺堂上師詩作《求渡祖先》，已公佈在 陳上師網站上供眾，在義務超渡修頗瓦法鏈接下。
譯註二：《金剛經》兩處經文皆依據 林鈺堂上師標點之漢文經本。
Praying for Our Karmic Creditors
Dr. Juan Bulnes
Preface
About 3 months ago, I asked Dr. Yutang Lin whether he could
perform a Puja for my karmic creditors. He agreed and said he would perform
the Puja to Green Tara on April 3, 2005. After performing it, Dr. Lin asked
me to write down my experiences related to this Puja, for the benefit of other
practitioners.
Why I Requested this Puja
The idea did not happen overnight. About two years ago, after an experience
that has been written down and is available in Yogi Chen’s website under
the topic of Powa, I felt the motivation to request
a Puja for my ancestors, and Dr. Lin kindly agreed to perform such
a Puja to Amitabha Buddha. I prepared a list with the names of more than
500 direct ancestors, and included by reference many others whose names
I do not know, and I also listed many siblings and children of the ancestors,
for a total of more than 1300 names. The experience of researching my ancestors
with the motivation to help all of them attain liberation, and the signs
experienced at the time of the performance, confirmed the importance of
this practice. I believe requesting that Puja was one of the most important
things I have done in my life. My karmic relationship with my parents and
ancestors had often been confused during my youth and adulthood. More than
28 years ago, Yogi Chen instructed me on the importance to love our parents
unconditionally, and I sought to do as he advised, changed my behavior,
and got many benefits for doing so. However, it is only after the performance
of the Amitabha Puja for my ancestors in February 2003, that I have felt
completely at peace in my relationship with them.
Several months ago I noticed my mind was often dwelling on memories of
the past, especially on various things that I would do differently if I
could. This fact, coupled with the experience of the Puja for ancestors,
one day reached the threshold of causing me to request this Puja for my
karmic creditors. It was not an easy thing to do, because I had never heard
of such an idea. But Dr. Lin responded enthusiastically from the first
mention of it; he scheduled a Puja to Green Tara at the first available
date, which was April 3, 2005, and instructed me to start creating a list
of my karmic creditors.
Preparing the List of Karmic Creditors
For several days after making the request for this Puja, I saw in my
dreams some relationships of long ago, people that otherwise had not come
into my memories for many years. For example, a certain professor and his
wife, both long deceased, came into my dreams. When I examined the relationship,
it is clear that he and his wife had treated me extraordinarily well, giving
me my first job and offering me their sincere friendship, so I owe him
a great deal. In another dream I saw a friend of my teen years that I have
not seen ever again; I never thought that my connection with that friend
had been very strong, but the dream clearly said otherwise.
On one level, I felt the sadness of failing to appreciate people who
really cared for me. On a deeper level, it was as if these persons are
asking me to remember them in this Puja. Dr. Lin confirmed this interpretation,
saying: "Beings, especially those deceased, are desperate for this
kind of opportunity!"
I promptly started writing the list for fear that I would soon forget
about these dreams. So, in the first week or so, I had written between
1 and 2 pages of former relationships. But soon the progress slowed down.
No more dreams, less memories coming to my mind. I did not try hard: thinking
there was still plenty of time, I simply sought to remember the matter
from time to time. While adding some names to the list, I soon began to
see how complicated it is to determine who are our karmic creditors. I
have lived in three different continents, being active in at least three
very different linguistic and cultural environments. A large part of my
memories seem to have faded away. When I try to remember the names of colleagues
in companies I have worked for, or the names of fellow students, and those
of other friends, it is clear there are many persons whose names I no longer
remember; in many cases even if I hear the name I would not recognize it.
I am sure there are many persons that I do not recall ever having met.
I understood as a practical matter that we transmigrate even in this lifetime.
There is so much I have completely forgotten due to changing continent,
language and cultural environment, and also by aging. That helps me understand
why it is normal that I’d have no memory whatsoever of events in my previous
lives–and yet, those karmic creditors of previous lives are surely there!
A couple of years ago, I came across some personal diary that I had written
in German about 37 years ago. The experience of reading that old writings
of mine was uncanny: it seemed written not by me, but by some typical student
of that place and time. I found it hard to conceive that I would have been
thinking and writing in that manner. I had no connection with the writer!
But the young man who wrote those lines, who was not a Buddhist in those
days, blundered through life, creating various kinds of karmic debts that
I may never remember, or perhaps will remember at the time of death.
I have often heard that at the time of death our whole life experience
passes like a movie in front of our inner eye, in great detail, in a split
second. People who have come alive of a nearly mortal accident report this
experience. Bob Dole, former Republican Senator and presidential candidate
who was almost mortally wounded during the war, told the following in a
TV interview on “Meet the Press” on April 10, 2005.
Interviewer: "A month later this is what you wrote happened 60 years
ago this very week: "I felt a sting as something hot, something terribly
powerful crashed into my upper back behind my right shoulder. ... My body
responded before my brain had time to process what was happening. As the
mortar round, exploding shell, machine gun blast--whatever it was, I'll
never know--ripped into my body, I recoiled, lifted off the ground a bit,
twisted in the air and fell face down in the dirt. For a long moment, I
didn't know if I was dead or alive. I sensed the dirt in my mouth more
than I tasted it. ... Then the horror hit me--I can't feel anything below
my neck! I didn't know it at the time, but whatever it was that hit me
had ripped apart my shoulder, breaking my collarbone and my right arm,
smashing down into my vertebrae, and damaging my spinal cord." April
14th, 1945, Hill 913, northern Italy. You remember it like yesterday?"
Mr. Dole: "Oh, yeah. I remember my--I think what they call a near-death
experience. Your life kind of just... floats in front of you. I thought
about my little dog. I thought about my parents. I thought about my brother,
my sisters, Russell, Kansas. All those things just sort of flash by you."
Nikolai Gulmiyov, a great Russian Communist poet who was executed by
firing squad on order of Lenin, alludes to this experience, foretelling
the manner of his death, in an amazing poem titled "The Worker".
He must have heard of this experience, for he fought in World War I.
When my time comes, will I be ready to face all the neglected relationships
that I have failed to repay in this lifetime?
Some Realizations
As the date of the Puja approached, I repeated the mantra of Green Tara
as advised by Dr. Lin. In the last few days before the Puja, I remembered
more relationships and the list of names grew to 5 typewritten pages. Some
of the newly remembered relationships were such that I would have felt
sorry if I had missed them!
I was no longer overwhelmed by the difficulty of the task. Instead, I
experienced a growing understanding that it is impossible to draw anywhere
a boundary that defines who are my karmic creditors. There can never be
an end to the list! We do not know who all of our creditors are. Moreover,
I soon found that "one thing leads to another," in an endless
chain of karmic connections. Of course some are particularly important
in the life of a person; and that is a good reason for doing this Puja.
But how could I be satisfied with naming just those that seem most important
while leaving out so many others? In summary, I experienced the very important
fact that we are all connected and you cannot leave anyone out.
While adding some more names the last day before the Puja, I suddenly
realized I cannot leave out the benefactors of our society, such as the
great scientists, leaders in government and culture, military personnel
who defend our nation, and of course the philosophers and the religious
leaders who help us live better lives. But how could I possibly draw a
list, for example, of all the great scientists that have bequeathed us
the merits that we enjoy today as a society? So I added to the list a generic
mention of all these benefactors.
Pope John Paul II died the day before the Puja, and I realized that he
is indeed one of my benefactors, so I listed him by name as one of my karmic
creditors.
The day before the Puja I was crossing a busy street, walking on a designated
pedestrian crossing; the cars on one lane had properly come to a full stop
to yield my right of way, as mandated by California law. Thus I was walking
confidently, while feeling pleased with the good behavior of these drivers,
when suddenly on the other lane a car passed at high speed in front of
me and did not even try to slow down. He was clearly violating the speed
law and the law that mandates yielding to pedestrians on the designated
crossing. In a reaction of anger, I mumbled, mutedly, a profanity towards
the driver, who most likely remained unaware of it. I am prone to such
reaction when someone endangers my physical integrity by sheer recklessness.
I picked up this bad habit when growing up in Santiago, Chile, where drivers
are ill-tempered and routinely curse each other. In some rare occasions
a display of anger can be useful to stop an accident. But in this case
it was useless, gratuitous, something done for the sake of "getting
even." I have done such acts hundreds of times, considering it harmless,
even quaint, as a kind of cultural ritual. But this time something new
happened in my mind! I instantly realized that I had just created one more
karmic creditor–even if he did not know of my swearing! Thus I remembered
that there must be hundreds of drivers that I have similarly cursed in
my life. That I suddenly had this realization is one more benefit of this
Puja.
I ended the list with a "catch all" paragraph: to include all
those karmic creditors that I have forgotten to name. Thinking of so many
cases like that driver, and worse offenses, I wrote down a request of forgiveness
for my transgressions against my karmic creditors, and I also apologized
for any failures to write their names properly or even to remember them.
In conclusion, the list of our karmic creditors is endless: every animal
whose meat we have eaten, or whose milk we have drunk, is a karmic creditor
to us. So are the horses that have carried us and our forefathers, and
the dogs that have loved us unconditionally, and the hamsters and monkeys
that have participated in the experiments to develop the medical drugs
and procedures that prolong our lives. So are the soldiers who have died
defending our nation and those who are sacrificing for it now. So are the
policemen and policewomen who risk their lives to keep order in our cities–for
without them, we would rather soon become victims of robbers and hooligans.
So are the doctors who have cared for us, and those who taught them, and
so on and so forth. The more you think of it, the clearer it becomes that
we can never repay our debts, and that the list of creditors never ends.
What about Our Karmic Debtors?
I address here a question that perplexed me when I was preparing the list.
When I first requested the Puja, Dr. Lin used the words "a Puja for
your karmic creditors and debtors." But as I prepared the list, I
could only think of creditors, i.e., of debts I owe, and never thought
of anyone as my debtor. By the last day before the Puja, I had concluded
that it was not for me to say whether some person owes me something in
the karmic sense. Therefore, in the "catch all" paragraph I just
mentioned, I simply wrote "and karmic debtors if any."
A week has passed since the Puja, and I have gained a new understanding
about this point of karmic debtors. It is certain that we have done at
least some good deeds in our lives, because every human being has loved
someone, or saved the live of some insect. Most likely there is someone
somewhere who thinks of us as their creditor. But does that make that person
our debtor? I have concluded that it is unwholesome for a Buddhist practitioner
to think that he or she has any karmic debtors. If we entertain that thought,
we make ourselves un-free; we become like a miser hoarding IOUs (abbreviation
for "I owe you"), i.e., worthless pieces of paper declaring that
someone owes something to us. The Diamond Sutra (Prajnaparamita Sutra)
tells us so in many different phrases, such as:
"A good man or good woman, that has raised aspiration toward the
unsurpassable right and full enlightenment, should raise such an intention:
'I should rescue all sentient beings through cessation of sufferings; after
all sentient beings have been rescued through cessation of sufferings there
is not even one sentient being that, in reality, has been rescued through
cessation of sufferings." (From section 17 of the Sutra. Translated
from the Chinese by Dr. Yutang Lin, available at efiles/b052.html).
Or the following:
" If a Bodhisattva announces: I will liberate all living creatures,
he is not rightly called a Bodhisattva. " (Further down in section
17. Translation by A. F. Price).
Thus this Puja has helped me to better understand the truth of these teachings.
Experiences during and after the Puja
I brought to the Puja a special offering: a pot of beautiful white
azaleas. It had two intertwined trunks of equal strength and size, braided
around each other. The plant was as perfect as it can be! Although it was
supported by the pair of closely interwoven trunks, the foliage appeared
like just of one tree. The numerous beautiful white flowers intermingled
with the green leaves in a perfect natural arrangement. I felt it was very
auspicious that I found this tree for this Puja. The flowers symbolize
the path, so this offering may be thought of as requesting the sublimation
of all the karmic hindrances and vicissitudes we have encountered in our
path through life! When I offered this tree into the fire altar, a thick,
long column of white smoke shot up to the sky, rising continually straight
up for a long while. I felt very happy to see this!
Now several days have passed. When I happen to remember any of my karmic
creditors, I no longer feel regret for anything I have done. Instead, I
sense peace. And sometimes I say to myself: "I am glad that I had
all those creditors, because thanks to that kind of connection I was able
to give them the gift of the merits of this Puja."
Even though I was raised Catholic, I never felt any special connection
to the Pope. But this time, as I mentioned above, his death the day before
the Puja brought me the realization that he is one of my creditors, and
thus I named him in the list offered to Green Tara, the mystical mother
of all Buddhas. The Pope’s funeral was celebrated on Friday, April 8, after
a partial solar eclipse on April 7. That night I met the Pope John Paul
II in a dream; the funeral may still have been going on at the time of
the dream, for it was day in Rome while still night in California. The
dream was very vivid and went on for a good while. I saw this face and
head, very close to mine, like two friends sitting next to each other,
just the two of us in intimate conversation. His smile was very warm and
welcoming, like a best friend. I was telling him about some of the best
experiences in my life, and he listened with great sympathy, occasionally
asking a question in order to further the conversation. He was wearing
his usual dress, the white papal robe. His face was very lovely, full of
health and vitality–the way he looked when he became Pope about twenty-six
years ago.
May all sentient beings be released from their karmic entanglements by
praying for their karmic creditors!
Written on April 11, 2005
Revision with help from Dr. Lin
Mountain View, California
Dr. Lin's comments:
Thanks to Juan for telling in such details his whole learning process
in connection with this topic as a Dharma practice. I believe that this
article will help many practitioners.
The two quotes from the Diamond Sutra he listed above were originally
taken from other sources, and there was some problem in those versions.
So I pointed them out and then Juan changed the quotes to the present ones.
The second one remains not exactly as the Chinese version would have it.
April 11, 2005
El Cerrito, California
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