I discovered Ocean Sky Chan Monastery through a flyer on free meditation class, distributed at the Tai Bun coffee shop, which is just around the corner. Emphasis is on the word “free, no expenses.” I thought that since it was free, I might as well see how a monastery taught meditation.
At first, I really felt like a stranger here, because I am neither a Buddhist nor Filipino Chinese, and because I could not understand their language. Perhaps beginners do feel insecure, or afraid to open up. It was only the Dharma Masters Jianqiang, Jianyin, Jianjun, and of course Abbess Jianshu, with their smiling faces and the ever helpful receptionists on duty like Lolita, Grace and Ben who made life easy for me.
This was the first time I attended a formal class in meditation. Just imagine doing it inside a Buddhist monastery! All along, my idea of a monastery was an enclosed compound with hundreds of priests and nuns. But then, in Ocean Sky, we only have four.
I also joined the Mandarin Class every Sunday. That way, I could understand what the others are talking about in Chinese. But mind you, I was a poor Mandarin student. I was just learning to read the Chinese pinyin and to count.
My three months here at Ocean Sky is one experience I cannot forget. It has changed my life. The lectures on Buddhism have rekindled the aspect of our relationship with our fellowmen and our standards of morality.
Christianity’s Golden rule—do not do unto others, what you do not want others to do unto you—really reminds me of the Four Tenets of Chung Tai: “ To our elders be respectful; To our juniors be kind; With all humanity be harmonious; In all endeavors be true.” The Five Precepts are also similar to Christianity’s Ten Commandments.
The Four Noble Truths about suffering and how to eradicate suffering with the Eightfold Path are topics which really needed more understanding. More so, when we encountered the Buddhist concepts of emptiness, dependent origination, no-self, causality, karma: good karma and bad karma, reincarnation, etc., the more I needed serious thinking. Sutras say:
If you want to know what you have done in the past, just look at what is happening in this life. If you want to know what will happen in the future, just look at what is being done in this life.
I never knew this free meditation class would lead me to more serious thinking about life. It rekindles in me the thirst for knowledge and more information. My new found activity has led me to keep borrowing books from the monastery’s library and keep surfing the net for things I cannot understand. I still have to a lot more to learn. Last, but not the least, I have turned vegetarian. I am now changing my life style, thanks to our Abbess and other Dharma Masters, and to Ocean Sky Chan Monastery.