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Clear and Definitive Instructions - Being Aware and I was deeply moved when I read two of
Practicing Bodhicitta Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva’s vow (Chapter 11, Avataṃsaka
Sūtra), which were as below:
Ven. Master Hong Yi’s (弘一大師) colorful life and
his last brushstrokes of calligraphy before he passed ‘When I see an empty bowl,
away ‘Worldly Joys and Sorrows Are Intertwined’ ( I vow that all sentient beings
悲欣交集) were my inspiration to start studying the Will be clean and pure in mind,
Śūraṅgama Sūtra. I am deeply moved by the ‘Four Empty, and without affliction.
Clear and Definitive Instructions on Purity’. We must
renounce sexual lust, killing, stealing, and making false When I see a full bowl,
claims to stop the endless cycles of birth and death. I vow that all sentient beings
These instructions gave a very clear explanation as to Will fully accomplish and perfect
why we are stuck within the twelve links of dependent All wholesome dharmas.’
origination. In fact, our habitual actions play a very
important role. If we can skilfully sow the good seeds Regardless of fame and wealth, everyone is influenced
now by undergoing the Threefold Training of Morality by different causes and conditions, and we can never
(sīla), Concentration (samādhi) and Wisdom (prajñā), be certain whether we are getting an empty or full
then we would have a better future. bowl. Hence, there is no need for jealousy and hatred.
These vows had inspired me to not only practice the
Empty or Full Bowl Does Not Matter - The Journey of Dharma but also to serve the rare disease community,
Choice, Practice and Realization by alleviating their short-term suffering and guiding
them with right view. As a result, under the support
In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Buddha taught that: of patients, physicians and benefactors, I established
the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders in 1999
‘The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, the body, and lobbied for legislative change. We believed in the
And the thinking mind—the sensory organs all— concept that “We can’t take care of our children forever,
Constantly turn and flow in Saṃsāra, but a well-established system can.”
Yet there is no one making them turn.
In 2000, the Taiwan Rare Diseases and Orphan Drug Act
The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, the body, was enacted. Currently, 235 rare disorders are listed
And the thinking mind—the sensory organs all— within the Act, and we are helping 18,700 patients
Are empty and without a nature. to fight for their rights of medical treatment, social
But the false mind discerns them as existent.’ benefits, and education. Through the lesson from the
loss of my beloved son, I wish to help more patients who
The reason that we are perceiving all phenomena as might have the same condition by telling the story and
existent and different is due to the effect of our seeing, raising the awareness of medical professionals.
hearing, sensing, knowing and consciousness. We must
detach our consciousness from our senses, but that Practicing Generosity Without Abiding in Any
does not mean that we are indifferent to the world. We Notion – Validated My Painstaking Journey
see our surroundings as they are without a judgemental
mind. This is similar to ‘realizing the five aggregates are On August 14, 2005, a sudden cardiac failure struck
empty’ from the Heart Sūtra. my 21-year-old son and took his life while he sat at his
reading desk. My beloved child Ping-hsien Wu passed
away on that Sunday morning. It came as a shock