When I started volunteering for IBS, I
thought, as a volunteer, I would be helping IBS with the inmates’ Dharma
education program. My first
project was to type letters from Marco into Word documents. I was very touched by Marco’s letters
as he was describing his learning progress in Dharma, which was actually very
similar to my own journey in learning Dharma. He said it took him about 20 years to finally really
understand the Dharma teaching. I
thought about it and I realized that it also took me about 20 years to finally
have some understanding of Dharma as well. His body has been locked up in a prison for more than 20
years and myself have locked up my mind for many years. It really proves true that all sentient
beings possess the same Buddha nature.
Although the Buddha nature is in everyone, it is not obvious nor does it
manifest because it is covered up by various thoughts and defilements, which
are blocking our Buddha nature. I
realized at that time that no matter who we are and where we are, we are all
equal in terms of traveling down the journey of our lives. There may be twists and turns in our
journey and it is really up to us what kind of attitude we want to take and
which route we want to take in our journey.
Later on, Venerable Xian Zhong gave me a
project to type up the “Liturgy for Refuge and Five Precepts”. While I was working on the project, I
felt like I was taking a refresher of the Three Refuge and the Five Precepts. I took my Three Refuge and Five
Precepts almost 20 years ago and I knew very little about Buddhism at that
time. Therefore, when I took
my three refuge and five precepts, I was simply repeating after my Dharma
Master so it didn’t really register in my mind. After practicing Dharma teaching for many years, I had very different
feeling about the three refuge and the five precepts when I was typing them
recently. I feel that I understand
them so much better now and I have learned how to become a good disciple of the
Buddha.
Venerable Xiang Zhong had mentioned to the inmates
that the life in the prison is very similar to the life in a monastery. You live with a group of people in the
same place and the daily life follows certain routines, etc. The inmates live a life very similar to
the Buddhist monks in a sense. It
can also be viewed as the inmates are practicing Buddhism in the “iron temple”
supported by the tax payers. Their
bodies may not be free to go to places they want to go, but their minds are as
free as anyone else’s. They can
attend the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss just like anyone else. If I lock up my mind and my heart, I
would have no more freedom than the inmates.
The projects have taught me way more than I
expected. I thought I would be
contributing to IBS as a volunteer but I actually learned much more than I
contributed. When we help others,
we actually benefit ourselves from helping others. It’s not just one way, but both sides benefit from it.
Amituofo!
Jing Chao _()_
