Our Teacher’s Guiding Light
Fall, 1977
We never in this wide wide world
Would have ever found the way,
But for our teacher’s guiding light
Turning nighttime into day,
Turning nighttime into day.
He has given us his life and light,
He has given soul and breath
So that we may cultivate the Way
And transcend birth and death,
And transcend birth and death.
He has made a vow for living beings
So we all can go before,
That he would not go to Buddhahood
Till we reach the other shore,
Till we reach the other shore.
Like a Vajra Mountain, pure and clear,
With wisdom like the sea,
His body is the Dharma Realm,
He is comfortable and free,
He is comfortable and free.
We never in this wide, wide world
Would have ever found the way,
But for our teacher’s guiding light
Turning nighttime into day,
Turning nighttime into day.
Man of the Way
Spring, 1978
He can fly, he can fly
Like the clouds in the sky,
He can fly...
He put everything down
Like a rock upon the ground,
Put it down...
He can let it all pass
Like the wind in the grass,
Let it pass...
Cuz everything’s OK,
Said the man of the Way,
Everything’s OK ....
Gone
June, 1995
Out of this world
And into the sun,
Away from the many,
And one with the one…
For us he was human
In our time and place;
In splendid perfection
Is revealed his real face.
Neither coming nor going
In the Dharma so right
A ray of the Buddha’s
Own infinite light
He who came not
Seems to us to have gone.
Amitabha, Amitabha,
Amitabha lives on.
Amitabha, Amitabha,
Amitabha lives on.
We disciples are deeply grieved because he’s no longer here. We may be feeling bereft, like Dharma orphans. But when we finish our sadness we can take heart, because this magnificent man whom we all (dare I say) adored has left each of us with a vast inheritance. I am speaking of the treasures of the Bodhisattva Way, repeating the Sacred Names, taking and keeping Precepts, holding Mantras, learning the Sutras, and all the other principles and Dharma Doors he taught.
Knowing him turned our life-paths from downward spirals to upward ones; put our minds right-side-up; gave us profound peace and secure in the face of mortality. Time and again we saw him heal broken hearts and give hope and courage. He urged us on into a bright, infinite future, to share the wisdom of the Buddha-nature’s inherent bliss with other creatures of the Dharma Realm. It’s our good fortune to carry out his will. And this and more are ours, if we believe and continue on the Way.
Janice Vickers Storss (Gwo Jin)
July 1995
Each of the sufferings exerts pressure, and all attack together,
Accumulating is feelings which beckon, each unlike the other.
Only through extinction can the ultimate joy be attained.
Therefore, this is the way that should be practiced
to awaken to the emptiness of dharmas.
Through three turnings of the Four Truths the Dharma-wheel revolves,
Seven shares in enlightenment, the eightfold upright Path,
intention, mindfulness, and diligence.
One day connect right through and ripen the fruit of sagehood;
Partial truth with residue is just a conjured city.
From the Venerable Master Hua’s Verses without a Stand for the
Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
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