I was first invited by one of our family friends, Lolita Lutanco, to join a meditation class in Ocean Sky Chan Monastery in 2004. I was then 20 years old, and wanted very much to study Chinese culture and practices, like kung fu, qigong, wushu and the like. Knowing that there would be monks in the temple, I was very excited to take a glimpse. Upon checking it out, the volunteers of Ocean Sky informed me that they were only offering meditation classes, which was perfectly fine with me since I really wanted to be involved in activities related to Chinese culture.

When I started my first meditation class, I found out that the monks were also teaching Buddhism as part of the curriculum. I was a college student back then, and had a lot of spare time; so I was able to quickly complete the beginners’ class followed by the intermediate class, then the advance class, and finally the sutra classes. I have also decided to repeat the classes once I was done with the levels. I really don’t know what kept me going to study in all those classes repeatedly. All I can say is I am really happy that I have completed them all.

In the process, I learned a lot of Buddhist teachings like the Four Noble Truths, Eight Fold Path, Twelve-fold Causal Chain, Six Paramitas, the Heart Sutra, the Sutra of the Eight Realizations of Great Beings, and the Surangama Sutra. I also understood the true meaning behind the putting up and burning of yellow and red tablets as part of our offerings. There are also many teachings that can help improve the way we think and act in our daily lives, which greatly enhance our personality in order to achieve our goals in life.

One of the basic teachings I can share is the law of causality. The logical equation goes like this: Cause + Condition = Effect. This means that for an effect to occur, it needs both causes and conditions to be present to get what you want. For example, I wanted to study Chinese culture, but there were no schools that taught meditation. So how could I learn then? I had the cause in mind to study, but no condition or no school for me to enroll in. In the end, it took a long time before I was able to study meditation and Buddhism.

I am really thankful for what Ocean Sky has taught me through the years. As a sign of gratitude, I make it to a point to help out in the monastery. Currently, I volunteer as an acolyte and work to make sure things go well during ceremonies. I am also responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the Chan Hall. By helping out in the monastery, I realized that there is actually plenty of work to be done in order to complete a single ceremony. A lot of preparations are needed like putting up the liturgy stands, preparing the censers and the tablet stands, arranging the tablets, arranging the meditation mats and many more things.

In helping out at the monastery, I realized I am applying what I’ve learned from the meditation classes. When working with fellow volunteers, I soon notice other people’s shortcomings. With this, I can cultivate by accepting their faults, and have longer patience. I not only learned tolerance but soon, I became a team player, and worked well together to accomplish everyone’s goal, which is to help the monastery and let more people learn about Buddhism.

Lastly, let me share with you my favorite quotation regarding how one should regard his past, present and future: “If you want to know your past, look at who you are now. If you want to know your future, look at what you are doing now.”

很早以前就聽法師講過菩薩戒的內容。但因怕破戒犯下惡業，所以遲遲不敢去受菩薩戒。直到2008年，因為想成就一位師兄受菩薩戒，兩人遂相約一起在中台禪寺乞受在家菩薩戒。

對傳言而言，能受菩薩戒是很有福報，很隆重的一件事情。誠如經典所言: 「眾生受佛戒，即入諸佛位，位同大覺已，真是諸佛子。」受菩薩戒就在修行道上，種下成佛的正因，生生世世，直至成佛。在菩提道上，謹記三聚淨戒的提醒，時時斷惡修善，廣度眾生，將來就能依仗持戒的清淨功德，永得解脫，契入佛位。

傳言還只是一個初發心的毛道菩薩，還是有許多不圓滿的地方。未受戒前，心中無警惕，常起惡念、作惡事，自己還不自知。現在因為有受戒的提醒，犯了當下即懺悔。漸漸地心越來越清淨，善緣日漸具足，讓我在菩提道上能勇往直前。

我來海天禪寺已經很多年了。初入禪寺住持法師鼓勵我來上禪修班。剛開始只是好奇來上課，並沒有任何希望或期待。

那時的我也遇到了一些苦苦、壞苦的事。我實在不敢相信，更不能接受當時發生的事。在失望和怨恨中，我生了一場大病。

初接觸佛法，我並沒有立刻真正的去思考了解佛法的道理。直到禪修很長一段時間後，才開始對佛法有一點點的概念。在見樞法師指導開示下，進步的比較快。聽聞後會去思考，然後盡量去落實。我慢慢地學會放下並接受事實。逐漸地回復我以前的人生觀，慢慢地開朗與樂觀起來。更進一步對本具的心性也有了一點點了解。

不管是順境或逆境現前，我不會像以前那麼高興或悲傷。我會往自己的內心看，若起了惡念，就盡量把它改成善念。當我看到有人在造惡業，我就會起慈悲心，並提醒我自己不但不要犯同樣的錯，還要提昇我自己。若有逆境出現，讓我起了以牙還牙的念頭，我就會問我自己:「別人下地獄，我是不是也要跟著下地獄?」想到火燒功德林。我就會盡量修習忍辱，少發脾氣。就這樣我心平靜多了。瞋恨也減輕了。人也比較有定力。身體也比以前好多了。我在這十年來所失去的都是短暫的，但慢慢回復的卻是原本的平靜心與歡喜心。

我的法名是傳滿。我這ㄧ生已經擁有滿滿的，只是還不知道。我現在終於契悟到我擁有滿滿的不僅是有形無形、有相無相、有生有滅的虛幻，還擁有這無形無相、無有邊畔、不生不滅的佛性。