Nelson Tan

I grew up as a Catholic. I was 12 years old when I first heard about Buddhism. It was not until my son Ivan graduated from high school and expressed interest in Philosophy as his course in college, that I took studying Buddhism seriously. I started to read about the life of Shakyamuni Buddha. My interest progressed from that point, so my son and I searched for a Buddhist monastery and found Ocean Sky Chan Monastery in San Juan. We joined the beginners’ meditation class in September of 2011. After completing the intermediate meditation class this past January, we became more involved in Ocean Sky’s activities. I was even made coordinator of our class.

My son and I felt a big change in ourselves after finishing both the Beginners’ and Intermediate classes. We gained a greater understanding about the Buddha’s teachings and being compassionate to all sentient beings. We are now more aware and mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions. We are also more able to detect which is ethical, honorable and righteous and discard which is corrupt, immoral, and unfair. The biggest change in our lives is when we understood what true nature is, and how to liberate ourselves from all misapprehensions and delusions by way of the Four Noble Truths. It is really an irrefutable fact that our deluded mind is the main obstacle to our enlightenment. The indispensable Dharma teachings of our Great Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha will put us on the right path towards freeing our minds from suffering and erroneous views.

My advice for new students is to be diligent and study, learn, and apply the teachings of Buddha in their everyday life. Practice meditation daily and focus on the present moment so that you can be awake, mindful and aware of your thoughts, words, and deeds every moment.

In this way, the mind will be pure, and you will do good deeds and have right thoughts, and will eliminate bad karma. I also want to remind them that one of our main duties is to enlighten all sentient beings who deserve all our everlasting compassion, love and affection.

We all possess a mind of a Buddha. Sooner or later we will all reach Buddhahood through diligent practice. We just need to get rid of all the pollution that clouds our mind from reaching perfect enlightenment. But how do we do it? By looking inwards and meditating deeply. And from daily meditation, we can finally control our mind to be still and focused, which is Zen. (TOP)

Raceli Domingo

More than two years into meditation, I have tremendous appreciation for its fruits—in terms of health, sharpness, stillness of mind, and balanced emotions. There were moments when my patience was put to the test, but thankfully I had awareness, so I came out level headed.

From the time I learned and took meditation by heart, I converted all my activities as meditation exercises that sometimes I was amazed how I managed to do more than I expected. My smiles have always been genuine. Through the years I have been like this, regardless of my life’s circumstances. I could always feel that a pure kind of divine joy is being poured into my Being that brings a more serene smile on my lips.

I hope, pray and look forward to experiencing Samadhi, all the days of my life.

Ocean Sky, through the kind invitation of the former Abbess Jianding, also gave me the opportunity to nurture the minds of little children. I am so touched, deeply humbled and so grateful for the opportunity and trust bestowed upon me and my son. I take this task by heart and very seriously, knowing that we are molding the personality and establishing the mindset of a future generation.

Thus, I meticulously prepare the games and lessons assigned to me because I want to give the children the maximum benefit they could get from the Bodhi Star classes. It does not matter if they understood it today or not, what I know is that the Bodhi seeds are planted in their minds and someday, somehow, when the conditions are ripe, these will blossom and bear fruits.

I strongly believe and uphold the values being taught in Ocean Sky, which are founded on the 10 Virtues of the Bodhi Stars—Respect, Compassion, Harmony, Sincerity, Faith, Diligence, Meditation, Wisdom, Thankfulness and Bodhi. If all can honestly and truthfully cultivate these virtues, regardless of age, this world will indeed be a better place to live in.

From the bottom of my heart, I earnestly thank Grand Master Wei Chueh for planting the Bodhi seed in the Philippines, the Abbess and all the Masters of Ocean Sky for the genuine love, devotion, compassion and guidance to enlighten and awaken the laity to take on the Bodhi Path, and most importantly for believing strongly in the Buddha Nature in each one of us. AMITOFO!

(TOP)

Sally Sy 張蓉蓉(傳滿)

When I first stepped into Ocean Sky Chan Monastery many years ago, the first Abbot then convinced me to attend the meditation classes. Out of curiosity, I attended the class without expecting anything in particular.

At that time, I faced many challenges in my life; challenges that came one after the other. Some were just incredibly painful that I could not accept what was happening. I became so disappointed and angry, and eventually, my health gave way and I ended up with a life threatening disease.

Although I have been here for a long time, it took me a while before I actually started to reflect on the teachings of Buddhism and apply them to my life. From Abbess Master Jianshu’s Dharma talks, I have developed a deeper understanding of Buddhism. Now I have learned to let go, accept the flow of events, and face reality. Ever since I learned that everything is conditional, I am no longer emotionally affected by external events. I feel more open-minded, and try to look at things from different perspectives. I am more aware of my “self-nature.”

Besides this, I try to be more aware of cause and effect. I try to be as tolerant as possible—when I see people doing bad deeds and accumulating bad karma, I feel compassion instead of frustration. This reminds me to not only avoid committing the same mistake as them, but to improve myself as much as possible. Whenever I think of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” I ask myself, “Others may go to hell; do I also want to go with them?” Whenever I feel a negative thought about to rise, I try to change it into a positive thought, or at least a neutral one.

As a result of all these, my anger has diminished, and I am more in control of myself. I am happier and more at peace, and my health has improved a lot. I have realized that all the things I have lost, tangible or intangible, are “impermanent.” As a result, I am gradually regaining my original peace and bliss.

My Dharma name is Chuan Man (傳滿). It means fullness; abundance; completeness. I had been man-man (滿滿, full and complete) all my life, but I was not aware of it. Because of my newfound awareness, I have also begun to realize that aside from being “man-man” (full) in the worldly sense; I also possess the inherent Buddha Nature in me.

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。

(TOP)

Steven Cokeng 高榮祥(傳祥)

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.”

(TOP)