Story World

Missing a Chance
to Follow a Living Master


By Wild Grass (originally in Chinese)

When Master first began teaching in Formosa, there was no formal meditation center; so when people requested a lecture, Master would go to the venue with Her few monastic and lay disciples, who would return to their residences after the lecture.

In May of 1987, Master was invited to deliver a three-day series of lectures at a temple in Tainan. The brilliant and fascinating talks received a great response from capacity audiences that burst into rounds of applause each time Master spoke, and many requested initiation into the Quan Yin Method.

After the Tainan lecture series, Master and Her entourage drove back to northern Formosa. As they were driving through Sinying, their battery ran out and their car had to be towed to a garage. While everyone waited by the roadside for the repairs to be done, playing a hammered dulcimer and chanting Buddhist hymns, several workers came up and said they wanted to learn the chanting. Master then gave them the musical notes and sang them one by one. Then, assuming that Master possessed psychic powers, someone suddenly asked a serious question: "What's the number?" His colleagues quickly burst into laughter, but Master and Her disciples did not understand the question. Then the man added, "Master, what's the winning number of the All Happy Lottery* this week?"

*The "All Happy Lottery" was an illegal gambling activity popular in Formosa over a decade ago.

Master's Elaborate Planning