Interview with the founder and owner of the Garchen Dharma Institute, a private meditation center in the hills above Taipei
Look at the rainbow. Our master whenever he gives a speech a rainbow follows. Every time, every time. But the rainbow has two meanings. Rainbow is not real. You cannot grab it. You cannot touch it. It’s not real, but you can see it. So it can give us a sign that everything is not real. Everything is impermanent. And our master also says that the world is not beautiful or not, it depends on your mind. The rainbow reminds us that.
Usually we have so many thoughts, so it’s not easy to think about breath. When you focus on your breath you can feel very calm, gradually your stress will decrease decrease decrease. Here in your breath there are no eyes, no ears, so you will not feel “this is good, this is not good.” It is through your eyes and ears that you can distinguish good and bad, I like this, I don’t like this. When you meditate you let none of the affects you.
The most important thing in Dharma is love and compassion. When you generate love and compassion, that feeling is so good! You always hear so many complains, everywhere. But in here, everyone’s word is love and compassion. How to benefit the people. How to give a hand to others.
Our spiritual master tells us to record mantras so that we can listen to them ourselves...when you’re chanting, your mind is calm, you generate love and compassion. And when you chant other people can feel your love and compassion. He says to record the chanting so that when I die, you die, people can still hear your love and compassion and benefit. For generations. He always say that.
Can you tell me about these tea and water offerings?
Buddhas don’t need the cup of tea. They don’t need water. Of course.
Because they have no body?
Of course. This is just spiritual. But why do we need these? Because when we offer these, it clears our mind, and it allows us to make a wish. We wish the water -- water means clean -- water can wash the dirty, can clean so many things. So when we’re offering water, a cup of tea, we wish purity, we wish -- how to say -- we imagine the water can clean all over the world, no matter how dirty, no matter how bad the environment is, the water will clean it. This is a way to generate love and kindness. We also wish the water can purify and cure our mind. So we do this every day to remind us, every morning, that we need to help people, that we need to do our best to help the world. And we need to wash our minds, to clean our minds, to purify our minds. Like this. This is the water. (Holds up a cup of water.)
So you offer water everyday?
Yes, every day we clean and refresh the water. We change the water. And we think of the world. The world is full of so many sad things. And we hope the water can clean the world. No matter how much suffering there is among the people, the water also can wash their minds, so that they can have hope and they can have light.
In Buddhism, everything is meaningful. Everything is meaningful. And food also. Of course the bodhisattvas don’t need food. When we offer the food, it is representative. We think of all sentient beings, and we hope that all sentient beings can have food to satisfy. Not just real food, but other forms of sustenance too. We hope that they can have spiritual activity to nourish them. But of course everyone needs real food first. When we offer food to the bodhisattvas we hope that one day we can have the ability, the merit, to offer food to all sentient beings all over the world. We are generating love and kindness. We want to spread our love more broadly.
Everything is practice. Everything. Like incense. Why incense? Because incense has no boundaries. Incense can transcend everything. Incense is like this. Wherever your mind goes, incense can go there. It is not material, it is immaterial. So every day, all over the world people are suffering. Bodies suffering, spirits suffering. So when you think of them, and you light incense -- incense also can purify. Incense means purify. So wherever your mind goes, the incense can go there. So when you think of the world suffering and light incense, the incense can go there.
Like the water?
Water is different. Water is cleaning. Incense is purifying. Water can wash things that are not good. Purify though means to purify your mind. Why we meditate? We meditate also so we can purify our mind. Water means to wash something bad. Maybe if you’re guilty or something, you can wash it.
So every action is a practice. But you really have to understand the meaning of the practice. Otherwise it’s not Dharma. If you just offer food for your own merit, that’s not Dharma. Dharma is learning how to give a hand to others, to give love and kindness to others. When you want nothing for yourself. When you think of others. That moment is emptiness.
How can you enter the emptiness state? When you always think of yourself, when you think “I want,” that moment is attachment. That moment is suffering. But when you think of others, that moment is emptiness. When you think of others, that is the cause of happiness. When you think of yourself, that is the cause of suffering. The Buddha always talks of emptiness. Kong xing. Emptiness state.
You were talking about suffering. Can you talk about fasting? Does it relate to suffering?
We have two views for fasting. When you’re fasting, you will feel two things. One thing is that you’ll really feel hungry. When you really feel hungry, that is a practice. Why is it a practice? Why is hunger a practice? It means that you can feel other people. Many people are hungry in the world. So many people hungry. So you can feel the suffering of hungry. You experience the suffering of hunger so that you will really really want to help others who are hungry.
My spiritual master always says that when you’re about to go to sleep, you should think of the suffering people. When you open your eyes in the morning, you think of people suffering. When you think of people suffering, you will not feel yourself. You will forget about yourself and you will think of others.
How long do you fast for usually?
Depends. Depends. Maybe one day no meals no waters, maybe dinners. Because people all over the world, it’s not just no food they have no water either. You will satisfy your own life! Sometimes you may think, “Oh, this is not good, my life is not good.” But when you fast you realize everything is so precious.
And what is the other side of fasting?
The other side of fasting is that you meditate. Deep, deep in meditation, you don’t need food. Food will make you feel heavy. You don’t want the food, you don’t need the food. You are not so light with food.
In the Buddha’s learning, the most important thing is not from the book. It is experience. Dharma learning, really, really, is experience.
So have you ever gotten to the place when you’re meditating where you don’t need food or water?
I just went on a 9-day group retreat. And after those 9 days, I felt very stable. I don’t need much food. I just need very simple food. I still cannot get to that stage though of deep, deep meditation. Maybe you need 3 year retreat to get there.
Does the fasting correlate with certain days? Cycles of the moon?
If you can follow the cycles of the moon, of course that is very good. But now people are in offices, have different schedules, so they cannot follow the moon.
Can you tell me about the body in Buddhism?
The body is not real. Incarnation means rebirth. Well, actually I’m thinking of a different. The mind is… I forgot. Of course the body is not real.
What does that mean?
I thought about this as a child. The hand is me. But if we cut the hand and put it over there, is that me or no? What am I? This eye belongs to me but if I cut it and put it over there, it disappears. And one day we all will become ash. One day. The body is not real. But the mind is real. Because no matter what is happening with your body, maybe your body is a human being, maybe an animal, a dog, the mind is always there. It is never born, it never dies. It will never become ash. The table will become ash. Table is not a table. Table is a tree which became a table. Tree is not a tree, tree is a seed. Everything is changing. Everything is impermanent.
The Buddha’s body is not real. The body is just incarnation. Rebirth. Different form. When you are reborn you have a different body. Maybe snake, maybe dog. The mind never changes.
Our natural status is emptiness. Emptiness is nature. Everything comes from emptiness. Space is emptiness. Space is not real. Like nature. When you meditate and get into the emptiness state, status, you will not distinguish you, I , I don’t like you, I like you, when you say something happy I feel good, when you say something sad I feel not good, I feel suffering, when I face difficulty I feel sad, when everything is smooth I feel very happy. But in Dharma nothing is permanent. When everything is good, it is not permanent. And life is very short. Every minute is changeable. Every second changes. You cannot grab! You cannot grab what is present, future, past. When you say present it’s already not the present. Emptiness is like space. Nothing can hang in there.
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Why did you start this place?
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Before when I studied in Dharma Drum I always had a dream. I had a dream where I could not find my way back home. I had this dream while I was sleeping again and again. I understood my home was there. But I was always lost. And in my mind I always felt that I had not found my Master. I also studied with the Tzu Chi. I still feel lost. Until I met with my Gulu, my “root master.” At that moment I knew he was my Master. The first time I met with him .. of course there’s a story. My parents made me meet with him. But when I met with him we had lunch and I went home at 1:30 in the afternoon. That day I did not feel well. Sick. So I went to sleep because I felt weak. And I dreamt of him. And he was sitting on my crown. On top of my head. And I never know what it meant, him sitting here. When I wake up 2:30, I feel very surprised. I asked my sister, I told her I dreamt of your master. He sat on my head, my crown! And then I read in the Sutras that when you find your root master he’ll sit on your crown. But I had never read that before. Then the second night, I dreamt in my study room that he gave me a white beautiful scarf, very long, he gave me this. And so I knew I had go to back to see my Master. He’d just given a Dharma talk. So I only met with him 5 minutes. And he said, You need to read this book. So I went, I read the book. And I start to cry. Every word I start to cry. Every word touch me. Written by a great master, 500 years ago. Words of the master written down by his people. So I cry. And very very hopeful, I feel. After I finish I Skype the Master and say ‘I feel so good, every word, what do I read next?’ And the Master says ‘No, no other book. You need to read this book again.’ So I read it again and again for 3 years. Every time I ask for a new book, he says, Only this book. Read it and write down your feelings. So in three years I only read the book -- no practice, no Center, just the book. After three years, he gives me a new book. And then he said, You need to set up a Center to benefit the people.
And I have a new dream. Again and again and again. I dream that in the sky there’s a rainbow. And people ask me how to get to Enlightenment and I say, Follow the rainbow. In the last dream the rainbow was very big, right in front of me.
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Then I tell my Master it’s impossible, I can’t start a Center. I don’t know enough about Vajrayana Buddhism. The Master says I don’t need to know the things of Vajrayana, so many people will help you. So I set this place up in 2013. It was impossible but here it is.
