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Venerable Ren Da, a contemporary ascetic monk performing three-step-one-prostration to Wutai Mountain
2016-07-02 13-00-45 来源: 作者: 点击:次
当今潜修苦行僧 三步一拜朝五台 ——山东正觉寺仁达师父修行点滴记 ◎妙融原文刊于《香港佛教》第541期 Venerable Ren Da, a contemporary ascetic monk performing three-step-one-prostration to Wutai Mountain – by Miao Rong (Note: The original article in Chinese was published in the 541st issue of the Journal “Buddhism in Hong Kong” (香港佛教). This translated article is an edited and abridged version of the original article.)
图1:《香港佛教》第541期 Photo 1: The 541st issue of the Journal “Buddhism in Hong Kong”
On the 15th day of the 2nd Chinese lunar month in 2005, I, together with three friends from Shenzhen, made my 4th visit to the Zhenjue Temple (The Temple of Right Awakening), a famous thousand-year old historical temple under re-construction in Boshan, Shandong Province. We were there for the sole purpose of sending off a 64 years-old monk, Ven. Ren Da, who would formally start his 800km three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage to Wutai Mountain a few days later. As his devout followers, it was our duty and obligation to send him off and join him for a short distance in the pilgrimage journey.
I have great esteem and gratitude towards Ven. Ren Da over the past one year during which I learned Buddha-Dharma from him and joined him in the re-construction work of the temple. Recollecting my memories, one day in the 1st Lunar month in 2004, a Dharma friend told me that there was a monk who only ate once a day, wrote sutras using his own blood as ink. My friend asked whether I was keen to meet up with this monk or not?
I was astonished and out of curiosity, I went to meet up with the monk. During our conversation, I came to know that he was the superintendant of Zhengjue Temple. When I briefed Ven. Ren Da about my practice in Buddhism, Ven. Ren Da reprimanded me sternly and told me right in my face that I should not treat Buddha-Dharma as just an ordinary knowledge. He added that Buddha-Dharma can be realized; wisdom and enlightenment can be attained through our own cultivation. Despite being reprimanded, I was glad to note that he was a person with dignity and great personality. Since then, I had an unbreakable relationship with Venerable as well as Zhengjue Temple.
At 8 p.m. on the 7th day of the 2nd Lunar month in 2004, when the taxi driver dropped me and all my baggage in front of a building with plank doors and told me that it was Zhengjue Temple, I was at a complete loss and asked myself: “Can this be a temple?” Just there and then, Ven. Ren Da and a few local lay Buddhists came out and warmheartedly ushered me into the guest room (a shabby shed made of asbestos sheets). The weather then was chilly and Ven. Ren Da was very kind and asked me to sit in front of the earthen stove to keep myself warm and served me with a bowl of hot seaweed noodle soup. I was later brought to a simple three-storey hostel which could accommodate two to three hundred people at one time. Upon entering a room, I had a home-coming feeling and I was hoping that all my worries, anxieties and sufferings would all be gone after a 10-day stay in the temple.
When I was taking my sweet and leisure time to admire the beautiful scenery around the temple, I discovered that I was rather out of tune with the others because while I was relaxing, the Sangha members and lay Buddhists there were very busy soon after their meals, morning and evening prayers.
I discovered that the temple needs a huge fund for its re-construction. The total construction cost is estimated to be RMB 200 million. To my astonishment, the temple’s fund was less than RMB 3,000 when the re-construction work was first initiated in 2002 by a few local devotees. Now it had pumped in more than RMB 6 million. The money was raised with great difficulty. A significant part of it was raised from the copying of sutras, using the blood of Ven. Ren Da as ink. In order to save costs, many minor construction works were done by the monks and volunteers themselves.
仁炟法师在工棚办公室设计建筑图纸 Ven. Ren Da was working on the temple construction plan in the office
At that time, the main building of Bodhisattva Kishitigarbha (Earth-store Bodhisattva) Hall was completed and scaffoldings were erected for the painting work to be carried out. Everyone was busy, some were passing planks, some were pushing small carts loaded with materials, some were on the ladder receiving steel rods while Ven. Ren Da was standing at a place which was several ten meters high raising the scaffoldings. Ven. Ren Da was already 63 years-old then. Had he not become a monk, he would be a retired high-ranking government officer enjoying a relaxed life. Seeing this, tears filled my eyes. I climbed up to lend a hand to Ven. Ren Da but the height sent shivers through my spine. Venerable kindly told me to go down the ladder to do other things. My whole body was aching just after a half day’s work in the morning. I was wondering what type of spirit and strength were supporting the 63 years-old monk who had been doing this type of hard work for the last three years.
Everyday there were lay Buddhists making a bee line to Zhengjue Temple to seek help from Ven. Ren Da. Some came with the hope that Ven. Ren Da could get rid of their mental defilement, some came with the hope that Ven. Ren Da could explain the abstruse verses in the sutra and some came with the hope that he would give them empowered Great Compassion Mantra water to cure certain sicknesses. Ven. Ren Da never turned down anyone who came to seek help from him and tried to give a satisfactory answer to every question asked.
Despite all these touching stories, the knot in my own heart could not be untied. I related my situation to Ven. Ren Da. He told me that during the time of the Cultural Revolution, he was a fresh graduate, but he was repatriated to his home village to carry manure and worked as an odd job laborer. When the Cultural Revolution ended, he worked as a technician in a small factory and rose slowly to become a senior engineer with the ranking of a professor. He said he always treated all those upheavals with gratefulness. He said life was short and we should not waste our life just because of personal grudges.
Out of respect and curiosity, I collected some personal information about Ven. Ren Da before and after he became a monk. He was born in a Buddhist family in 1942 in Ping Quan county of Hebei Province. He graduated from the Light Industry Institute of Tianjin and was a professor level senior engineer and a national food scientist. He published more than 30 theses in the country as well as overseas which were included in the “World Records of Famous Personalities” and “World Records of Chinese Elites”.
As a devout lay Buddhist then, he had a deep affinity with Bodhisattva Kishitigarbha (Earth-store Bodhisattva) who saved his life. In order to repay his gratitude to Earth-store Bodhisattva, he made three vows: 1.To become a monk in order to propagate the Buddha-Dharma 2.To reprint the Bodhisattva Kishitigarbha (Earth-store Bodhisattva) sutra and other sutras; and 3.To make a 800 km pilgrimage to Wutai Mountain by performing three-step-one-prostration.
Ven. Ren Da was ordained as a monk under Master Neng Xing (能行和尚) of Fa Yuan Temple in Beijing in 1997 and became a full-fledged monk in the year 2000. Ven. Ren Da had vowed to become a monk who observed strictly the precepts.
I was pondering why Ven. Ren Da chose this arduous project of temple re-construction and not to stay at a temple for Dharma cultivation, life would be very much easier for him then. One day, I raised this question with Ven. Ren Da, he just laughed and said: “I am a foolish guy with guts!” He sighed and continued: “Shandong is a province with a population of more than 80 million but relatively speaking, Buddhism is not that popular here. This is a fact which saddens many Buddhists in the country. Reconstructing the Zhengjue Temple would bring many benefits to various quarters. Since I had accepted the requests of the local lay Buddhists to build the temple here, I must do my best to accomplish the task no matter how difficult it is.”
能行长老为地藏殿开光法会主法 Thera Neng Xing was presiding over the opening ceremony for shrine of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha
Touching on the objective and blueprint of the temple, Ven. Ren Da said they are clearly written in the couplet at the entrance door of the temple. The upper couplet reads: Promoting the Three Yanas (Paths) simultaneously, without differentiating inside and outside, looking up to revere a holy scene. The lower couplet reads: Propagate teachings of the 10 Traditions, without differentiating between you and me, joining hands and marching towards the wonderful Buddha-Dharma.
In order to achieve the objective, the old venerable monk did many extremely difficult tasks. He even extracted blood from his own body to use as ink to write more than 30 sutras, including the Diamond Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Heart Sutra and the Sutra of Bodhisattva Kishitigarbha as well as several thousand sheets of the six-word mantra “Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum”. His great vows and earth-shaking actions are just beyond imagination.
I was deeply moved by the respect shown by Ven. Ren Da towards his teacher, Master Neng Xing, a highly distinguished monk who is also an executive committee member of the Buddhist Association of China, superintendant of Fa Yuan Temple in Beijing and the Chief Abbot of five other temples in China.
仁炟法师主持法会 Ven. Ren Da was presiding over the Dharma function
Due to the purity and sincerity of devotees of Zhengjue Temple, many auspicious phenomena were sighted around the temple. Lay Buddhists from all over the country who came to join the three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage, for a short stay or take part in Dharma cultivation at the temple saw lotuses and Buddha images appearing in the sky, and Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guan Yin Bodhisattva) and Bodhisattva Maitreya dispensing lights in the sky. Miracles were reported among lay Buddhists who worked as volunteers or took part in Dharma assemblies. Some who suffered from terminal illness were recuperating; some found their tumor of the size of an egg disappeared; headache for the past 30 years cured without any medication; hindrances against Dharma cultivation reduced; wisdom and happiness increased and many others.
My 10-day stay at Zhengjue temple soon ended. Bidding farewell to Ven. Ren Da, he said this to me:”Believe in your own ability. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be with you, as long as you are doing something good for the people and the country, go ahead, don’t wait and waste your time.”
After returning from Zhengjue Temple, I discovered that I have changed a lot in terms of my attitude towards life, view point and characters. I have become wiser, more courageous, confident, optimistic, assiduous and willing to contribute and feel happy always. In 2004, I visited the temple two more times.
2005年3月,建设中的博山正觉寺 Boshan Zhengjue Temple was under construction in March 2005
Although Zhengjue Temple is progressing well at present, it is still far from its target, especially in term of manpower and finance. In order to invoke the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the early completion of the temple project and to fulfill his vow which he made before he became a monk, Ven. Ren Da started his three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage of more than 800 km on the 21st day of the 2nd lunar month, 2005. Venerable wished that all sentient beings would benefit from the pilgrimage; world peace, national prosperity, harmony in society would prevail.
Dear followers of the Dharma, construction of the temple is not only an important matter to devotees of Zhengjue Temple but a mission and obligation of all parties who care about the development of Buddhism. It needs the contribution and participation of each and every Buddhist. Once completed, the temple will be able to produce more and better qualified Sangha members.
Standing on this piece of land and looking at my compassionate, wise and fearless teacher, with full gratitude and respect, I pray and wish that safety, smooth sailing and success are with all those who take part in the three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage.