Spiritual Interlude

When returning to the Bamboo Grove to collect my luggage after the Three-day retreat had concluded, fellow initiates coincidentally met Master at the basketball court driving children around in Her mini-car. Fellow practitioners happily waved to Her or put their palms together in salutation.

After Master had left, I reflected carefully and noticed that She had just answered our greeting in an unusual way: Master held Her palms upright in front of the bridge of Her nose, with Her index fingers pointing straight at Her wisdom eye. Great living enlightened masters always using their actions to teach and remind us on our spiritual path.

I used to give up things that I was doing when faced with the slightest difficulty, even when they were already half done. Sometimes I'd change my mind and deviate from my principles, consequently much more effort was required to complete the job. Recently, a task of planting trees gave me a new realization.

Once, a few of us cooperated to plant some trees in the garden to provide more greenery and shade to our environment. A fellow sister suggested planting a huge Norwegian Fir right in front of my doorway. Though there were many small and large trees left over from the previous delivery, there were no fir trees.

To have a tree so huge and heavy carried over such a long distance was really too troublesome! Also, there were some concrete stairs underneath the earth at the location proposed by the sister. According to my usual self-limiting and sluggish habit, I would definitely have chosen any tree that was available, and put up with the convenient substitute. Besides, to cope with the limitation of the environment, I would have definitely avoided that concrete spot. However we could not have shade in the garden if things were done that way.

The fellow sister suggested I use a power drill to break up the concrete. She had worked in coordination with Master many times planting trees in various places, and they sometimes used a power drill to bore holes in the ground so that creepers could be planted to beautify the bare walls. Things which were obstructions to me didn't seem to exist in her eyes at all. Later, I realized that it was very easy to break open the concrete; it was definitely not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Now that the trees are planted, the Norwegian Fir happens to be my favorite. Whenever I watch it from a distance, standing beautifully upright and tall, and spreading out its lovely branches, I am always reminded to breakthrough the delusions and hindrances in my daily life and on my spiritual path!

I love looking into the mirror so much. Although there is nothing outstanding about the image that I see in the mirror, I still love to look into it. Suddenly when I was forty years old, without any warning, black spots crept onto my face, and wrinkles carved rivers and streams there too. To make it worse, the enlarged pores looked like big mouths laughing at me. I began to feel helpless and depressed. I repeatedly consoled myself that most probably there is something wrong with the mirror and said to myself, "I shall buy a new one!"

Two years after my initiation, a miracle occurred. It is the same old mirror, but the image I see in it is one with delicate eyelashes, compassionate eyes, and a bright and peaceful face. I laugh each time I look into the mirror, so you can imagine how happy I am.

Apart from helping people get enlightenment and liberation in one life, the Quan Yin Method from Master is also the most fantastic and precious method of beautifying oneself!