2-8-2011 Tear Drops

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 32 - Tear Drops

Once I visited a friend in a fishing port called Tung-Kang (Eastern Harbour).
My friend also had another guest from Fan-Ch'ung City.
His name was Wen Tung-shan.

When he heard who I was he cried out,
"Ah! My trip is more than worthwhile now that I see you!
I have been to your house but I never got to see you."

"Sorry. I am always out," I murmured.

"I have written to you, but I got no response!"

"I am sorry. I receive dozens of letters every day.
I hardly have time to read them.
I can't respond to most of them. It is a burden to me."

"Mister Lu, look at my eyes!" Wen said, "Do you see anything different?"

I looked closely, then shook my head.
Mr. Wen's eyes were very clear.
Nothing strange.

"Look again," he begged.

I used my psychic eye to take a closer look.
This time I saw a large pond and a flowing river.
I didn't know what it meant, but I told my friend and Mr. Wen what I saw.

Wen was silent a moment, then said, "Very interesting."

Our host smiled and nodded. "What you have seen makes sense," he said.

Mr. Wen then told me that when he was eighteen, one night before he went to bed he suddenly began to cry without apparent reason.
Tears flowed until he was exhausted.
The experience left him puzzled, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

Since then, he found himself crying every night before he slept.
Even after a happy day, he cried before going to sleep.
He began to avoid seeing friends in the evening because of it.

Mr. Wen was forty.
He had been crying for twenty-two years-more than eight thousand times.

"What happens during the day?" I asked.

"Nothing is wrong during the day."

"Have you seen doctors?"

"Yes, all kinds. Even psychiatrists. Nobody knows the reason."

"This is the first I've heard of such a thing," I said honestly.

"Mister Lu, can you help me find the reason?"

"I will," I promised.

I stayed at my friend's house and that evening I asked him to bring incense.
I showered and prepared myself to meditate.
I wrote Mr. Wen's birthrate on yellow rice paper, then burned the birthrate and meditated for guidance.

Soon in the circle of light a funny-looking monk appeared.
He didn't look like a monk, but he dressed like one.
He held chanting beads in his hands and continually recited: "Amitaba Buddha."

I saw him asking for donations from house to house.
Then, happily, the monk would go off to enjoy food and drink.
I saw him go into the temple to ask the resident monk for money.
He said,
"Amitaba Buddha, the great compassionate Bodhisattva, my money was lost because of a pickpocket.
I need to go home. Will you loan me some money?"

He asked for charity money from philanthropists, telling them about nursing homes and hospitals that would be built. But once while he was at this he was recognized as a cheater.

Someone cried out, "Yesterday we saw him in another temple asking for money to go home and today he is here asking for money again. He is a swindler. Don't give him anything!"

"Amitaba Buddha! I am a vegetarian. Look, I even have chanting beads!"
He drew these out quickly as if they would protect him.

"Clearly! He is a swindler!" shouted another.

"Amitaba Buddha! You are mistaking me for someone else!
If I am cheating let my tears never stop!"

After that the light circle became smaller and smaller and I awakened from my meditation.

The second day Mr. Wen asked me if I saw anything.

"Sorry. I didn't see anything."

"I knew you'd never be able to find out."

"You're right," I said.

~~~~~~~~~~~
蓮生活佛 > 師尊文集 > 31_東方的飛氈 > 自動流淚的人
The extract below from original text of this article:-
第二天。溫東山一大早就問我原因何在。
我說：「溫先生，實在對不起，我昨夜禪定，什麼也沒有看見，白茫茫一片，什麼也沒有。」

　　「我就曉得你也會莫名其妙的。」

　　「是的，我莫名其妙。」

This last sentence was left out from the translation shared:
　　**事後，溫東山先生以這禪定的無所見，逢人就嘲笑我：
「盧勝彥的道行是不夠的，我問他，他照樣答不出來，我認為他根本就不通，根本狗屁不通。」
After this incident, Mr Wen Dong Shan based his ridicule of me from failure to sight anything in meditation: Lu Sheng Yan's Dao's practices not enough, I ask him, he also can't answer, I think he actually don't know, actually know nothing.

Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom

Lama Lotuschef

Edited 1 Dec 2016