A year ago, a chicken appeared at the Chiayi Center. Several neighborly inquiries revealed that it belonged to the family next-door. We tried to chase it away but all was in vain. It roamed around the Center and occasionally rested on the tree branches. What was more remarkable was that whenever the recordings of Buddhist hymns were played, it would slowly fall into a state of serenity as though in samadhi and doze off. It was this very reason that caused it to fall from a tree on one occasion! Later, it earned the respectable title of "brother Chicken".

We have been intrigued by brother Chicken ever since he joined the Center. We watch the way he struts about without a care in the world. Wheat-based foods are his favorite. He is a food connoisseur for sure. On one occasion, when the kitchen staff had just served up food for everyone to enjoy on a platter that Master once used, brother Chicken immediately recognized the best of the lot and wove his way through the sea of legs to get a share of it. This incident has made him become a popular topic of discussion. Without a doubt, our brother Chicken is highly spiritual indeed.

By Sister Initiate Su Mei-Chen, Chiayi, Formosa

Long ensnared in chicken nests and the realm of beasts,
Sunk in the sea of misery that knows no shores,
By and by it searches for the road on which it came,
And sets foot on the path to the Highest Supreme

As Buddhist hymns serenely reverberate,
It slowly falls asleep in the sea of love,
Joyously tuned to the heavenly Sounds of the dharma,
Its heart flowers into a lotus bloom.

Behold its kin,
Still cackling here and clucking there.
Could any one of them even perceive
Just how carefree and happy it is?

Oh, it's so good to be Home!