By Chiu-Nan Lai

Home of Manjushri in China

For nearly 2,000 years the teachings of Shakymuni Buddha flourished in China, considered to be the Land of Manjushri, Buddha of Wisdom. Some emperors in Chinese history were actually emanations of Manjushri. Shakymuni Buddha de­scribed the Mountain with five peaks (Wu Tai Shan in Chinese) in the land northeast of India as the place where Manjushri will continue to teach the Dharma. Since the time when two Indian pandits first identified the place to the emperor of Han dynasty 1,900 years ago, pilgrims have come to Wu Tai Shan from all over China, Japan, Korea, India, Mongolia, and Tibet. Under the patronage of the various emperors, Wu Tai Shan experi­enced three major cycles of buildings of monasteries. During the peak in the Tang dynasty there were more than 300 monasteries. Today there are forty monasteries and one nun­nery with four to six hundred monks and nuns. Throughout the centuries there have been recorded manifestations of Manjushri in the area. As recently as 1979 a photo was taken of a luminous cloud by a Chinese military personnel, which when developed clearly showed a figure of Manjushri.

This photo with Manjushri in the clouds was first shown to me by His Holiness the Dalai Lama last year. That sparked an interest in me to visit Wu Tai Shan. Finally this June I arrived in Wu Tai Shan after an overnight train journey from Beijing and two hours of bus ride. Nestled in the heart of the five peaks is the town of Tai-Hwai and the cluster of monasteries built on the hill which reminded the Indian pandits of Vultures Peak almost 2,000 years ago. The major landmark is a huge white stupa containing Shakymuni Budhha’s relic sent by King Ashoka from India. My surprise was finding the hill to be so much like the mountain on which His Holiness’ palace and Namgyal monastery are located, only that it is half the height. I stayed the next two weeks at the most ancient monastery at the foothill of the mountain and paid my respect to most of the forty monasteries in the area and holy sites. The architectural styles vary from the simple “zen look” of Tang dynasty to the more palacial Ming and Ching dynasties. The place where the Sixth Dalai Lama did a retreat in a cave up in the mountain is now enshrined and appropriately called “Chenrezig Cave.”

In 1984 at the Chenrezig Cave, people first noticed the eyes of the second face from the top of the eleven-faced, thousand-armed Chenrezig started to roll. The next day smoke came out of the nose. By the third day bus loads of people were coming up from the nearby cities to witness the phenomena. For fear of people getting hurt trying to squeeze into the small gompa, the authorities closed off the area and announced: “It is only a rumor.”

Near the big white stupa is a smaller one containing Manjushri’s hair and called “hair stupa”. Many centuries ago at a major religious event one poor woman with two boys and a dog came. She had no money to offer except her hair. At meal time she asked to be served first because she had other business to attend to. The attending monk gave her three servings. She asked one more serving for her dog. The monk complied with slight irritation. She then asked an extra portion for the “one she is carrying inside.” At which point the monk lost his composure and lectured her about being too greedy. In front of thousands attending the event, she leaped into the sky and transformed into Manjushri. The two boys became the two attendants and the dog became a lion. Manjushri then gave a teaching on equanimity and compassion. The hair left by the woman is now in the stupa. In the Ming dynasty during reconstruction of the stupa, the hair was found to be golden in color.

I personally found the area to be very pure in energy and the clouds luminous and most interesting. I also thrived on drink­ing the water from the Prajñaparamita Spring to increase my wisdom. The nomads know the water and grass of Wu Tai Shan to be very healing for the animals. Closed off during the winter, the tourist season goes from May to September, the best months being June, July and August. To reach Wu Tai Shan one can fly to Tai Yuan, the capitol of Shan Xi province then take a six to seven hour bus journey to Wu Tai Shan. From Beijing one can take a train to Tai Yuan but get off at the Wu Tai Shan station. An evening train leaves at 9 p.m. and arrives at the station 4:45 in the morning. A day train leaves at 6 a.m. and arrives at 3:30 in the afternoon. From the station it takes another two hours of bus ride to Wu Tai Shan. There are a variety of hotels in the area to suit various needs. For pilgrims they can stay at the First Guesthouse next to the largest monastery where Panchen Lama stayed when he came in the past.

A Chat With a Great Meditator

In April this year a group of Singapore students attending EEC3 visited Gen Lamrimpa, a meditator who has been living in the mountains near Dharamsala for the last 20 years, aside from a two-year stay with the Dharma Friendship Foun­dation in Seattle.

Q. Please tell us what you do each day.

A. I get up at 5:00 and do prayers until 9:00, then I have breakfast. After breakfast I do more meditation until 12:00, then I have lunch. Between 2:00 and 3:00 I see visitors. If no one comes I do more meditation. When people do come, it is usually to ask Dharma questions. At 4:00 I go to get water, or just take a walk and relax. At 5:00 I listen to the news – there’s a program in Tibetan from Delhi. Then I have dinner, and again meditate until midnight. I sleep about 4-5 hours a night. In the past, for about 16 years, I did not eat in the evening, but then I became ill, so I began to eat dinner.

Q. How do you have the energy to keep going like this every day?

A. In 1970 I attended teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama during which he said that it was good to practice Dharma and that if you wish to improve, you must practice every day, every month, every year. By practicing continually you will see improvement. It’s OK if you wish to live a lay life, do lay activities, but if you decide to practice Dharma, you should do it well. After I heard these teachings I decided to really commit myself to Dharma practice.

When I first came to this place there were 20 or 30 mediators. I thought that it would be a difficult life but I decided to try. The first two or three years were very difficult because I had no experience in practicing, and it was not easy to get food and other necessities. But after five years I began to have experi­ences, and I became very happy.

Q. Could you give some advice for people who have to work and have only two or three hours a day to practice? How can we make the best use of this time – meditating, studying, or reciting prayers?

A. In the morning it’s good to spend an hour reciting prayers and meditating. During the day you can study, and then at night again do meditation. This would be very good. The most important thing is to practice hearing, reflection and medita­tion. Drontonpa said: “When I meditate I also listen and reflect; when I reflect I also listen and meditate; when I listen I also reflect and meditate.”

What does it mean to meditate? It is to look at one’s situation and think: “I want to be happy; the reason I’m not happy is because my mind is under the control of the three poisons: greed, hatred and ignorance. The way to overcome suffering and its cause is to practice Dharma.”

The root of all suffering is ignorance. In general, when one is ignorant, one doesn’t understand things. One feels uncom­fortable and has doubts. Ignorance is a mind, and its antidote is wisdom. There are different levels of ignorance and different levels of wisdom that eliminate ignorance.

However, the main cause of all suffering is the self-cherishing mind and the antidote to that is cherishing others.

Q. There are many different objects one could use to develop concentration. Which do you recommend?

A. There are different objects according to one’s mind – for example, if one has strong anger one can use love as the object for developing concentration. But the best objects are buddha-figures such as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, Tara or Chenrezig. This is because when one develops a clear visualization of these, not only does one develop concentration, but one also accumu­lates merit and blocks the negative mind and the creation of negative karma. Then at the time of death one will be able to see the Buddha. If you use a buddha-figure for the development of concentration, it’s important to keep it always the same size, shape, color, etc.

It’s good to do breathing meditation at the beginning in order to calm the mind. Be aware of the entire movement of the breath – down into the abdomen, and all the way out of the body.

Gen-la’s answers were translated by Ven. Antonio, and recorded and edited by Ven. Sangye Kandro.