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The last thing I remembered in the operating room was the nurse putting an anesthetic mask over my face. The next thing I saw was the Venerable Master standing in the operating room. He was standing in a different plane. His appearance was certainly awesome and magnanimous.
“Shr Fu, how did you know about this operation?” I asked him, because I don’t remember telling him about it. I had the notion that the operating room in a maternity hospital was an
“unclean place.” “Shr Fu, isn’t this place unclean for you to be around?” The Venerable Master just brushed this silly notion of mine aside with his arms. The operation commenced then. I realized how frantic the surgeon was as he seemed to cut deeper and deeper without finding a solution. This made me feel that life is in a delicate balance when you are there lying on the operating table looking at a surgeon who appears to be
“lost in the woods.” The Venerable Master was showing me that surgical operations are the result of one’s karma and that karmic obstacles can obstruct a surgeon in performing even a seemingly simple and minor operation. It was only with the Venerable Master’s intervention that the surgeon was able to proceed smoothly. The Venerable Master directed the whole operation. During the difficult part of the operation, the Venerable Master helped me recite the Great Compassion Mantra, the names of Guanyin Bodhisattva, Medicine Master Buddha, and the Venerable Master.
The Venerable Master’s appearance was very awesome and magnanimous, and he appeared to be holding the whole world together with his unselfish and tireless efforts. Even though he appeared to be disappointed that people were not listening and following his Dharma instructions, he nevertheless continued to tirelessly and compassionately
“take living beings across.” The Venerable Master said,
“Everything there is to know has been said and recorded in my books.” The point is that people do not believe or only
“half-believe,” or simply chose to ignore his instructional talks. This scenario is similar to Shakyamuni Buddha trying to convince living beings to detach themselves from playing in the
“burning house,” as narrated in the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. Our attachments to this
“burning house” have made us ignore the advice of Shakyamuni Buddha. This is the very reason we are born as humans and we will continue to be reborn in the six realms of suffering until such time as we see through this attachment to the
“burning house” and listen to and follow the instructions of the Buddha.
The Venerable Master said that everything is cause and effect. He has explained about causes and effects. The Venerable Master asked me to inform the whole world about the reality of cause and effect and to learn from his books. The Venerable Master says in his books that karma will not be off by a hair’s breadth and karmic retribution is unbiased and cannot be brought out. The Venerable Master was teaching cause and effect and great compassion when he said,
Truly recognize one’s faults,
Do not talk about others’ faults.
Others’ faults are my own.
To be one with all living beings is truly Great Compassion.
When the anesthetic began to fade my reaction was to tell the whole world that we are face to face with a Great Bodhisattva and yet do not recognize him. What occurred during this operation was conveyed to the Venerable Master in person. The Master just compassionately smiled.
The least we can do is to protect and uphold the Venerable Master’s Six Great Principles and his instructional talks, especially on cause and effect, and to hold them dearly in our daily lives. Only then will we be able to deserve the Venerable Master’s compassionate smile. As we read this article, we can be assured that his Dharma Body continues to compassionately save all living beings. Just as he helped me so during the operation, should we want to assist him?
He pacifies all living beings of the ten directions,
All that he does is true and actual.
He always has a pure mind an does not use wrong speech,
And is constantly aided and protected by all Buddhas.
He is completely mindful of everything in the past,
He totally differentiates everything in the future;
Universally he enters the worlds of the ten directions,
In order to rescue living beings and effect their escape.
Chapter on The Merit and Virtue from First Bringing Forth the Mind, the
Flower Adornment Sutra
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