THE MASTER─A PERSONAL FRIEND

On June 26, 1977, I took refuge with Shr Fu at the Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco. It was a formal act of acceptance of a life way I had found to be a closest agreement with my own yearnings after many years of deep study of Mahayana Buddhism. Shortly after that ceremony, I had a personal interview with Shr Fu and took the Five Precepts. For several years I was given the privilege of frequently joining with the Sangha at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas when I was in the Bay Area, including several months while I was on sabbatical leave from New York University.

During the years of my studies of Buddhism, my interest had focused on Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, and the research, teaching, and practice of a method of healing I developed─Therapeutic Touch─became and continues to be, my major postdoctoral focus. In discussion with Shr Fu and a Bhikhshuni, it was decided that I study the Forty-two Hands and Eyes as the theme of my sabbatical work. Shr Fu gave me permission to view and contemplate the remarkable paintings that he had done, and the Bhikshuni tutored me in the mantras and the mudras and explained the analogies.

During this time I was privileged to join in the daily activities of the Sangha, and it was then that I began to appreciate the depth of Shr Fu’s teachings, the profound compassion of his guidance, and the delightful humor that he liberally interspersed throughout his lectures. These amusing comments were frequently followed by his assurance, “Everything’s okay!” as he joined in the laughter too. However, we knew even as we laughed, that the point he had made was not trivial and that we would be well advised to remember it, meditate on it, and make it our own.

Indeed, as I look back upon those years, I realize that the most valuable gift that Shr Fu gave me was the opportunity to make that time of deep learning my own. It was Shr Fu’s great compassion that taught me compassion, his insight and wisdom that helped me to recognize my dharma, and his beguiling sense of humor that helped me to declare my humility. I am very grateful for the refuge I found under his tutelage. I know I shall remember his counsel “...to cultivate as if Kuan Yin were a personal friend,” for he was a model of this “personal friend.”

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