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Report of a 800-km pilgrimage to Wutai Mountain by performing three-step-one-prostration(II)
2016-07-02 22-51-52 来源: 作者: 点击:次
仁炟师父 朝礼五台 行程千里 三步一拜(下) Report of a 800-km pilgrimage to Wutai Mountain (五台山) by performing three-step-one-prostration (II) – By Chen Shi Fa and Miao Rong 3 June 2005 (Note: The original article in Chinese was published in the journal “Buddhism in Hong Kong” (香港佛教) issues No. 543. This translated article is an edited version of the original article.)
《香港佛教》杂志第543期 Issues No. 543 of journal “Buddhism in Hong Kong” (香港佛教)
Whenever Ven. Ren Da took a rest at roadside after performing three-step-one-prostration for some distance, he would take the opportunity to advise the youths who gathered around him to work hard, to brace for difficulties, have filial piety to parents, to respect teachers and have high esteem for morals so that when they grow up later, they will become useful people with moral value.
In the afternoon of 24 April 2005, when the three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage team was about ten Chinese miles (5 km) away from Ning County, Bro. Li Zhaofeng saw three teenage youths carrying mud stained plastic bags with a few fish inside. Bro. Li asked what were they going to do with the fish? They said they wanted to feed the dogs at home. Bro. Li explained to them the law of cause and effect and why we should protect living beings. The youths immediately released the fish back into the river after listening to the explanation by Li Zhaofeng. Ven. Ren Da came to know about the matter and commended Bro. Li for his initiative. Ven. Ren Da asked the teenage youths about their studies and told them about the sutra of Bodhisattva Kishitigarbha (Earth Store Bodhisattva) that one would get a short life if one were to kill living creatures wantonly. Since they were still so young, they should practise good deeds so that they could contribute to the nation and people in the future. Ven. Ren Da gave each of them a talisman as souvenir. The three teenage youths were too happy to receive the talisman as souvenir and prostrated to Ven. Ren Da as a show of respect.
仁炟法师对路边抓鱼的少年爱护生灵、因果报应的道理 Ven. Ren Da explained the law of cause and effect and why we should protect living beings to kids who were catching fish
In general, most of the people who saw the three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage team would be deeply touched by the spirit and determination of Ven. Ren Da. But there are some who snarled at it. On April 21, when Ven. Ren Da was about to reach the town of Ling Yi, he was ridiculed by a woman who described his action as crazy. Such scenario was quite common along the way and the attendant followers were quite annoyed about it. Ven. Ren Da would always calmly advise them not to be so and said it was due to the changes in history and culture that many people have wrong concept on Buddhism and some did not even know about the basic teachings of Buddhism. We Buddhists should not be upset, but instead we should lead by example, cultivate diligently and shoulder the responsibility to propagate the Buddha-dharma.
One evening, Ven. Ren Da and his attendant followers arrived at a certain location in Hebei Province. They were preparing to set up tents at an open compound so that they could put up a night at the place. They were chased away by the locals and had to change places 3 times. (Writer’s note: Ven. Ren Da and his attendant followers did not disclose the exact venues they were rejected so as to prevent others from ridiculing the locals for making such mistake. Such was their magnanimous attitude!) They were at a loss then and wandered in the dark to find a place to sleep and at last they found a small open space near a wheat field to put up their tents. “Let’s sleep here under the bright moon.”
途中小憩 Venerable took a short rest on the way
They were later told that the place was once prevalent with Falun Gong (a non-Buddhist sect) and the locals were ignorant about Buddhism. Ven. Ren Da advised, “We should not be angry with them. Instead we should be thankful to them because they have made our faith in Buddhism even stronger. In fact, the locals are very pitiful and ignorant. We should spread the right Dharma to them so that they can become true believers and practitioners of Buddhism. “
When Ven. Ren Da and his group camped outside the southern wall of Zibo Sauce factory during the first night of the three-step-one-prostration, a grey haired old lay Buddhist together with his family members prostrated to Ven. Ren Da in front of the public. Ven. Ren Da warmly asked the old man to sit beside him and asked about his health and welfare. He came again in the early morning the following day and expressed his deep remorse for the insults and mistakes he made towards Zhengjue Temple and Ven. Ren Da in the past three years. He only realized his mistakes after watching what Ven. Ren Da had been doing during the past three years, enduring all the hardships for the re-construction of Zhengjue Temple. This proved the old Chinese saying “A horse’s real power will only be known if the journey is long”. He repented the bad deeds he did in the past to Ven. Ren Da.
叩拜在崎岖的山路上 Prostration on the rough mountain track
April 19 was the 21st day of the three-step-one-prostration pilgrimage, secretary Xie of Anshang Village where the Zhengjue Temple is situated and a few others drove all the way for 100 km to visit Ven. Ren Da and told Ven. Ren Da that that old lay Buddhist had passed away suddenly a few days ago. Ven. Ren Da sighed and said life is impermanent, we should possess wisdom and practise according to the Buddha’s teachings and be diligent!
4. Guided and protected by Bodhisattvas
As the wise saying goes, “Man can only plan; the success or otherwise depends on Buddha.” The ascetic practice by Ven. Ren Da and his group of followers was in fact guided and protected by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and there have been quite a number of miracles along the way.
Ven. Ren Da, who was already 64 years old then, was quite exhausted during the first few days of the pilgrimage and had to take a short rest at the roadside after 40 to 50 prostrations and could only cover six to seven Chinese miles a day. At this pace, it would take him at least one year to complete the journey. Many followers were quite worried that Ven. Ren Da would not make it. But to the surprise of many, Ven. Ren Da’s energy suddenly surged and could prostrate more than 200 times continuously and covered two to three Chinese miles each time. The resting period was shorter subsequently and Ven. Ren Da and his followers could cover more than twenty Chinese miles (10 km) a day. It’s a miracle as if the power came from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
炽热的大地 The blazing ground
The month of May in particular, the weather was extraordinary hot and the temperature on the road surface was more than 50 degree centigrade. Despite the toxic fumes from the scorching road, Ven. Ren Da insisted to perform three-step-one-prostration for more than ten hours a day. The strong burning and choking toxic gases emitted from the surface of the tarred road under the scorching sun caused the face of Ven. Ren Da swollen. Many people were worried that Ven. Ren Da would fall sick because of that. Ven. Ren Da chanted the holy name of the Buddha and mantra to pray for their empowerment so that he would complete the journey smoothly. Ven. Rend Da always consoled us that he would be fine.
Many people might not be able to experience the miracles happened to Ven. Ren Da but a series of other miracles happened along the way were witnessed by all.
April 7 was the 9th day of the pilgrimage, Ven. Ren Da and his attendants were camping at Haosheng Town which was between Zouping Town and Zhou Village in Shandong Province, with an equal distance of about 17 Chinese miles. It was very strange that there was heavy rain during the night in the whole Shandong Province including Zibo City, Zhou Village, Zouping Town, but there was not a drop of rain at Haosheng Town where the prostration team was camping.
On April 18, the weather forecast said that there would be heavy rain at Ling Yi during the day, however, the rain only came in the night after Ven. Ren Da had performed three-step-one-prostration for 16 Chinese miles, past Ling Yi and reached Duoshiqiao town. It’s the blessing and protection from Bodhisattvas.
On the night of 24 April, they were camping at the compound of the primary school at Dali Village in Ling district of Shandong Province. The next day, the sky was overcast with sign of imminent thunder storm. Bro. Yang Guo was hesitant to start the three-step-one prostration pilgrimage. Ven. Ren Da insisted that they should start the prostration journey so as not to cause any inconvenience to the students attending school that morning. No sooner than the prostration journey commenced, dark clouds hovering over the sky were blown away. People around the area who witnessed the phenomenon were surprised by such miracle.
朝山途中 祥瑞频频 Auspicious sign occurred on the way of mount pilgrimage
On May 22, Ven. Ren Da and his attendants prostrated and entered Gaocheng in Hebei Province, a place noted for auspicious phenomena. Several lay Buddhists from Jin Zhou who followed the prostration journey the whole day saw six pillar-like colourful lights radiating from the sun. Everyone was so joyful after the prostration journey that day.
5. Respecting the teacher and his teachings
Ven. Ren Da and his group were well-received and welcomed by local lay Buddhists and followers whenever they go.
On May 7, Geng Chuanjun and his wife, Liu Fenglian got up as early as 4am to prepare lunch for Ven. Ren Da and drove all the way from Zhouping district, Shandong Province which is more than 300 km away to Hengshui in Hebei Province to send lunch for Ven. Ren Da. Not only that, they also offered robes and donations to Ven. Ren Da. Before this, they offered lunch to Ven. Ren Da for fourteen days continuously. As stated in the sutra, one would accumulate limitless merits by offering food to monk for just one day! Their good deed had influenced many local lay Buddhists to follow suit by offering food and clothing to Ven. Ren Da. One day, about 10 lay Buddhists simultaneously offered lunch to Ven. Ren Da and everyone had wanted Ven. Ren Da to take the food they offered. Ven. Ren Da wanted to make everyone happy, out of compassion he took a bit of food from each dish offered by the devotees.
The prostration journey also caught the attention of the press media. When Ven. Ren Da and his group were taking a rest opposite the Statistics Department at Hengshui town on May 7, reporters from Hengshui Daily interviewed Ven. Ren Da and asked about his background, some questions about Buddhism, why he became a monk and why he wanted to perform three-step-one-prostration to Wutaishan. The masses in Hengshui town was very warm hearted, not only they offered food and water to Ven. Ren Da spontaneously, some were very eager to receive talisman from Ven. Ren Da and treated it like treasure.
拜经河北省衡水市,接受《衡水日报》记者的采访 The interview of Hengshui Daily when prostrating Hengshui city, Hebei Province
In the early morning of May 19, several people came to accompany Ven. Ren Da to start off the prostration journey and in the afternoon, the locals provided their courtyard for Ven. Ren Da and his attendants to take a rest. A lot of people who knew about the prostration journey came to prostrate to Ven. Ren Da and get advice from him.
After crossing Hengshui and passing Xinji and upon entering into Jinzhou, more and more people came to support the noble cause of Ven. Ren Da. The weather of May 20 was fine, Ven. Ren Da prostrated for about 10 km that day. People came in groups and batches to accompany the prostration pilgrimage, some on bicycles and some in cars. Many people prostrated to Ven. Ren Da along the way. There was a Bro. Zhou from Xinji who took a day leave to join the prostration journey. Bro Liu Bujian brought along his whole family in a car just to offer lunch to Ven. Ren Da. It’s a touching scene. At night, a Bro. Jia from Jinzhou offered a room to let Ven. Ren Da and his group to put up the night, but Ven. Ren Da insisted to abide by his vow and slept in the cart.
In the afternoon of May 21, Ven. Ren Da gave a Dharma talk to a group of more than 20 lay Buddhists after repeated requests from them. Some came at 9 p.m. to pay homage to Venerable.
On May 23, when Ven. Ren Da reached the outskirt of eastern Gaocheng, more than 20 lay Buddhists from Jinzhou, Gaocheng and other places joined in. The scene was spectacular. The prostration pilgrimage was in an orderly manner with the holy name of the Buddha chanted along the way. At the request of the locals, Venerable gave a Dharma talk in the afternoon and answered their questions.
In the morning of May 30, Ven. Ren and his group reached the north gate of Zhengding town. A group of about 40 lay Buddhists in their Buddhist uniform, some with flowers in their hands, 6 people carrying Buddhist streamers in front and one with an incense tray leading the way to welcome the Ven. Ren Da and his group.
河北省正定的居士们手捧献花迎接仁炟法师 Lay Buddhists of Zhengding in Hebei Province welcomed Ven. Ren Da with flowers
The prostration pilgrimage was posted on the internet and was linked by other bigger servers and received good responses from different quarters.
It’s the hard work of Bro. Geng Chuanjin who posted all the latest news of the prostration pilgrimage onto the website of Zhengjue Temple after receiving messages from the hand phone of Bro. Yang Guo who followed Venerable from day 1 until now. A reader on the net, Bro. Liaofan praised Bro. Geng Chuanjin for his good work and sound understanding of Dharma.
Bro. Geng Chuanjin in his reply was very humble. He said, “We should be grateful to Ven. Ren Da who practices what he preaches. I am lucky enough to be here and learn from Venerable. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism are the three major traditional cultural systems of China which have complemented each other almost perfectly over the past centuries. Recently, Buddhism has surpassed Confucianism. Buddhism will be more and more respected by people throughout the world. My understanding is that among Chinese, regardless whether they are Buddhists or not, Amitabha Buddha, Guan Yin Pusa (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) and the law of retribution are well-known. Verbally, they may say that they are not Buddhists, but when the conditions are right, the faith in Buddhism buried deep inside their hearts will emerge. “
Bro. Geng Chuanjin continued, “After chatting with the onlookers of the three-step-one-prostration, I could clearly feel that when they have substantiated the true meaning of three-step-one-prostration, they would begin to ponder carefully. When they have understood the spiritual side of the prostration, naturally they would be moved and praised the act. For instance, in Ling Yi, an old man rather emotionally came to the cart of the prostration team, pointed at the four words “Believe with Fullest Sincerity” painted on the side of the cart and told people around him ‘This is most true. This is the way to save the world.” So, we can see that everyone has Buddha nature. If there is sufficient stimulation, miracles will appear. Ven. Ren Da is our best model.”
6. Deep Bond between Teacher and Students
The three attendant followers who accompanied Ven. Ren Da to perform the three-step-one-prostration come from different places in the country and the age difference is quite big. They do not know one another before this and have different characters. Therefore, minor misunderstandings and frictions along the way were unavoidable. Bro. Li Zhaofeng, a 60 years-old retiree, led a comfortable and easy life before joining the pilgrimage. Bro. Yang Guo is a university graduate who worked as a manager in Shenzhen. Although Yang has strong organizational skill, he liked to order the elder Li Zhaofeng to do this and that. Obviously, Bro Li Zhaofeng was not quite happy about it. Sizing up the situation, Ven. Ren Da assigned work separately to his three attendant followers. Li Jun was assigned as the attendant who would take care of Ven. Ren Da along the way. Yang Guo would be responsible for moving the three-wheeled cart, logistics, arrangement of accommodation, purchase of foodstuff and cooking. Li Zhaofeng would assist Yang Guo whenever the need arose.
Venerable talked to Bro. Yang and pointed out to him that self-righteousness and arrogance are obstacles to cultivation. Although Bro. Li Zhaofeng has his share of bad habits, essentially he is a good guy. Venerable told Li the importance of unity and mutual respect. Since then, the two attendant followers got along well.
师徒四人在黄河北岸合影留念 A photo taken on the north shore of the Yellow River
Ven. Ren Da’s strength improved substantially after crossing the Yellow River. He could perform three-step-one-prostration more than 20 Chinese miles (10 km) a day continuously for ten days. Yang Guo was peddling the three-wheeled cart while Li Jun and Li Zhaofeng were following on foot. Bro Li Zhaofeng felt the strain as his leg was giving him trouble. He was losing weight and becoming thinner and Ven. Ren Da was quite concerned about him. He reminded both Yang Guo and Li Jun to look after the elder Li Zhaofeng and he wanted to see to it that all the four people who started the pilgrimage from Zhengjue Temple would complete it to Wutaishan together. Ven. Ren Da wanted Li Zhaofeng to drink the milk offered to him by lay Buddhists and as a result of which, Li Zhaofeng’s health improved.
During the first few nights of the prostration pilgrimage, Ven. Ren Da and his group just camped at roadside but it was too noisy to get any sleep due to passing vehicles and they had no choice but to shift further in away from the road. Many people were deeply touched by the action of Ven. Ren Da and volunteered to offer room for them to sleep. However, Ven. Ren Da insisted to abide by his vows made earlier that he would not enter any lay Buddhist’s house or bedroom and let his three attendant followers to sleep in the bedroom and he chose to sleep in the three-wheeled cart outside the house.
7. A Shared Prayer and Common Wish
During the nights, you may be enjoying your sumptuous dinner with your family members or friends, or relaxing in the sofa watching television or listening to soft music, or you may be having a cup of tea with your friends and so on… When you are enjoying all these comforts, are you aware that there’s a 64 years old prominent scientist who is famed both locally and abroad, having a blissful family and should be enjoying his retirement life but abandoned everything during the peak of his career and chose to become a monk? Now, he is performing an arduous three-step-one-prostration to Wutaishan, one of the famous Buddhist sites. Everyday in the wee hours before the sun rises when everyone was still asleep, he will start his new journey to perform the three-step-one-prostration from the point where he stopped the previous night. He could tolerate what ordinary people could not tolerate and do what the ordinary people could not do. Aren’t you moved and touched by his ascetic practice?
二百多位信众随仁炟法师叩拜五台山大螺顶 Two hundred disciples followed Ven. Ren Da in the prostration to Daluo Peak of Mount Wutai
The objective of Ven. Ren Da to perform the three-step-one-prostration was to pray for world peace, national prosperity, tranquility in society, political tolerance and harmony, avoidance of disasters and that genuine Buddha-dharma shall stay in this world forever to benefit sentient beings. Therefore, all of us are beneficiaries of his noble act. It is a pity that not all of us have the opportunity to accompany him in the pilgrimage, but at least we should give our moral support. In recent days, together with our fellow practitioners, we have vowed to practice what Ven. Ren Da taught us, to cultivate diligently, observe the precepts, be more tolerant and transfer our merits to all beings.
Let’s hope that the example set by Ven. Ren Da will spur us to be more diligent in our Dharma cultivation so that we can gain enlightenment sooner, repay our gratitude to the Buddha and our teacher. All the merits accumulated by us should be transferred to Ven. Ren Da and his group. Let us wish them success in their prostration pilgrimage to Wutaishan. And let’s wish that the re-construction of Zhengjue Temple be completed soon so that the propagation of Buddhism will take place more smoothly and the temple will produce qualified monks and nuns in greater number.
仁炟法师朝山圆满,在目的地五台山大螺顶与信众们合影 Photo shoot with disciples in the destination of pilgrimage, Daluo Peak of Mount Wutai