133/Master's Wonders/A Nun's Wish Comes True

It is our greatest honor and blessing to be able to follow Master to practice spiritually. I am sure that every Quan Yin practitioner shares the same feeling. Recently we witnessed yet another event that demonstrated how subtle and wonderful the arrangements made through Master's infinite power really are.

Before this Lunar New Year, some fellow initiates living on a nearby mountain invited me to spend the holiday with them. I did not accept the invitation at the time, but for no apparent reason, went to the mountain on Chinese New Year's Eve anyway. I could not understand why I did so, but there I was, and I accepted it. I spent a week meditating with fellow initiates, and all of us felt blissful and blessed by Master's unfathomable power. In the serenity of our meditation, we saw no inkling that a miracle was about to take place.

Early one morning, a brother suggested visiting a large temple nearby. We rode our bicycles to the temple, but since it was the Lunar New Year holiday, the gates were closed and the temple was not open to the public. After we knocked for a long time, however, the door was finally answered by a young nun, who showed us the way in and left. We then went to the main courtyard, where there were some giant pine trees. Basking in the warm spring sun, we sensed the tranquility that seemed to permeate the entire courtyard, and began to meditate on some stone steps. But to our surprise, the blessing power was so strong that, as soon as we closed our eyes, we did not want to open them again.

After finishing our meditation, we strolled through the courtyard. Soon we saw a kitchen and walked in to see how vegetarian food was prepared there. An old laywoman, who had come for a pilgrimage and was helping in the kitchen, greeted us and asked about our spiritual path. The young nun who had answered the door listened to our conversation while preparing food. When we mentioned that we practiced the "Zen" of Bodhidharma, the first Zen Patriarch, the nun became visibly surprised, and suddenly hot tears welled up in her eyes. Holding her palms together, she told us that she had been searching for a "wordless sutra" for years.

Then some other nuns entered the kitchen, cutting short our conversation. I told the young nun who was cooking, "If you are interested, we will be in the grand hall," and we went back to the main courtyard to meditate. The young nun came and joined us after she had finished her kitchen duties. We gave her Master's picture but refrained from telling her Master's name because we were wary of breaking the temple rules. We told her that if she had any questions, she could ask Master. If she was keen to know who Master was, she could ask her inner Master. During our conversation, some people had urged her to have dinner with them, but she courteously refused several times because of her desire to learn the Supreme Method. Eventually, however, she was asked out. We thus understood that hurdles stood in her spiritual way, so we went inside to the grand hall to meditate and pray to Master to help her. After a short while, the nun came back and begged us to teach her the "wordless sutra." We told her honestly that we could not do that without Master's permission, and she nearly burst into tears. Then, with no other alternative, she earnestly asked for Master's phone number.