He traveled to Mt.Cấm, because he had learned that there were many genuine Buddhist masters practicing the Dharma in the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, he felt so happy that he took off his shoes and started to climb up enthusiastically from one rock to another, thinking that the first pagoda he stopped at would be where he would ask to become a monk, even if he might not know its name, nor its abbot. In due course he came to Vạn
Linh Pagoda located high up in the mountain. At that time the Abbot was not inside, but was mainly staying in his own small hut, and only came back after the sutra recital to give instructions if necessary. It was February 2, the Lunar Year of the Buffalo (Đinh Sửu), and there was a bimonthly repentance ritual. When the ritual ended, one resident monk presented the story of the new visitor to the Abbot. Gazing at the young man for a while, the Abbot said, " This is a special young man who in his previous life was a most venerable monk, and who will again become a respected monk in this life. But because of his bad habit of looking at women in the previous life, he has to bear an eyesight blemish in this life." The following day which was also the Mahaparinirvana Day (when the Buddha demised), the young man was allowed to have his hair shaved.
From then on he was asked to help with writing in Chinese in the temple. The Abbot allowed him to live in a small hut in the pagoda yard. He followed monastic schedules, and did all the assigned tasks dutifully and diligently. In fact, he would sometimes be so absorbed in his thoughts about the Dharma that he forgot all about sleeping and eating, and was admonished by the Abbot. The Pagoda had issues of Compassion Journal, which the novice avidly read. He soon vowed that he would dedicate his life to learning Buddhist Dharma. At the end of 1939 he asked for permission to go to Saigon to learn more about Buddhist sutras and vinaya (monastic rules). From Saigon, together with another monk named Thiện Phước, he went to Mt. Thị Vải, hoping to find an appropriate place to build their own hut. The two finally found a fairly good place not far from Tổ Pagoda (Linh Sơn Bửu Thiền nowadays). The young novices borrowed tools from the pagoda, and began to build their own hut. At that time very few people lived in that wild and mountainous area. Soon both of them contracted malaria. They had to abandoned their hut, and sought for help and shelter from some local people. After some days his Dharma friend Thiện Phước passed away, while he had to go back to Saigon and stayed at Tịnh Độ Pagoda, Gò Vấp District. The pagoda was built by the manager of a railroad station. Located behind his house, it had some resident monks. The young novice had to go to hospital to seek treatment, but he did not get any better. He thought to himself, "It is fine if I too have to die like my friend Thiện Phước." He concentrated on copying the Lotus Sutra in Chinese characters, and no longer paid much attention to his health. With the donation of paper and ink from a Buddhist layperson, he completed the work on October 14, and sent it out for binding into a book. That night another Buddhist layperson, Mr. Mười, visited the pagoda and said to him," I know a physician who is very good at treating malaria. Please allow me to take you to him by bike for treatment." As it turned out, that was an itinerant physician who was staying at a local resident's house to help sick people. Following the physician's instructions, he was gradually recovering, but it was not long before he set out for another journey to continue learning the Dharma.
After he got well again, a cousin of his who was a Buddhist nun named Diệu Trí visited him, and mentioned that she had learned some sutras which he should learn, too. At that time the only Buddhist school was the An Nam Buddhist Studies (An Nam
Phật Học) in Báo Quốc Pagoda, Huế. Upon hearing about this, he decided to leave for Huế.
However, in early 1940 he had to go back to Cái
Tàu to complete the paperwork to go to Huế. Under the colonial laws he had to stay there for 5 or 7 months waiting for the authority's permission. Unable to wait any longer, he had to decide to go to Sài Gòn in order to look for ways to get to Huế. He met with a rich patron named Ba Hộ, who was also the owner of the land where Vạn Đức Pagoda (of which he was the Abbot years later) was built. She donated him some money for travel expenses. From Sài Gòn in the South, a French colony, to Huế, an independent central region of Vietnam under the French supervision, he needed a passport. Therefore, he had to split his train journey into several parts. When he got to Phan Thiết around noon, he asked the rickshaw-man to get him to the nearest pagoda. He was taken to Bình Quang Pagoda, where he had lunch. He was so poor that he could not afford a decent robe to wear while accepting the donated meal, even though he wished he would have one to follow the etiquette. After lunch he left for Bình Định Province, because at the Compassion Journal Headquarters, he had met the Most Venerable Abbot of Liên Tôn Pagoda, Bình Định, who was the Deputy-in-Chief of the journal. The Editor-in-Chief then was Most Venerable Bich Liên.
In Bình Định, although he could not meet the Abbot, who was still in the city and would not be back in a few more days, he was allowed to stay at Liên Tôn Pagoda until the Abbot returned, accompanied by his assistant and Sister Diệu Trí. The Abbot asked him to rewrite the Prajna-paramita Sutra, which the former had preached and written about in the journal, so as to have it published. During his stay at the pagoda, along with the nun and the assistant, he could study monastic rules in “Cảnh Sách Chú Thích Ký” taught by the Abbot. Thanks to the help of Sister Diệu Trí, he could read sutras sent from the North, but was advised to go to Huế for formal Buddhist training. After three months he left for Huế, while the nun returned to Sài Gòn. It was August, 1940.
(To be continued)
Source:
Hương
Sen Vạn Đức
