THE WINDOW

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

Days and weeks passed. One morning, the nurse found the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

The other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. All he could see is a blank wall. The man asked the nurse how his deceased roommate could describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”

 There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.

Thanks for your Visitation

This past Sunday we received a visit from our Buddhist sponsors, usually Shirley and Danny, founding members, come together but now Danny is sick and staying home for a while. Venerable Xian Zhong has been coming with Shirley lately. So they come and bring us books, malas, incense. They have been doing it for many years. Many of us are like children in a way and come to the service to get some beads, colorful papers with Tibetan writing, fragrant incense. There was a time when this used to bother me, ‘how dare they’ I used to think, but now I see it differently. Perhaps while they are with us they may hear something that makes an impression in their minds, have some influence and help them suffer a little less. There is lot sadness within these walls, a lot of pain but you don’t see it much because it is covered with many layers of anger, hatred, violence; you know, hardcore maximum security lever IV shit- means ass masks, and it is true, it is dangerous in here.

Some visitors have told me that they can feel the bad vibrations before entering the prison grounds. I don’t know about that, I have been here for 23 years and all this is just normal to me. To this rarified environment our Buddhist sponsors come, they are calm, soft spoken, so full of love and kindness. They are a Chinese couple in their fifties, they are fragile and light but you can sense their inner strength. A will strong enough to bring them to dangerous places with the only purpose of teaching us how to suffer less, to show us the path that leads to the end of pain. We truly don’t deserve their kindness. We have done harm, taken life, steal, cheat, and abuse, hurt people. All of us at one point let greed, hatred and ignorance be the predominant forces in our life. But yet here they come, every month, year after year so full of love- they truly care for us. I consider them as family. I have had the fortune of receiving their kindness for more than 14 years.

I think they are retired now and dedicate most of their time to the building of their organization, ‘The international Bodhisattva Sangha’. I don’t know how they did it and I can only imagine that it took a lot of work, time, effort and dedication to reach a true milestone in the structuring and betterment of their organization. Since last year and surely thanks to the support of many kind, and compassionate people, Danny and Shirley were able to bring a monastic from Taiwan to aid in their tireless work. Venerable Xian Zhong is a young Indian monk whose knowledge, deportment and maturity are well beyond his years. It is a joy to listen to his Dharma talks, meditation instructions, and the stories of his training in the monasteries of Nepal and Taiwan. So much wisdom accumulated in so few years, but then again who knows how many life times he has dedicated to the cultivation of the path. He has impeccable deportment, a peaceful smile, kind eyes, the humbleness of his way has motivated me to make the vow that I too would want to be a renouncing in a future life. I want to go where he is going, to the end of suffering, the peace and clarity of Nirvana.

I have many flaws: ill will, destructive desires, and selfishness are often in the forefront of my untrained mind and are the motivation for my actions. But not as much as before, now I consciously try not to do harm, try to let go of pride, personal interests. I wish I could be kinder, more compassionate, have more patience, and be more tolerant. But I feel that these traits should come spontaneously and not be the product of a mind wishing to make merits to improve its own karma, in order to ‘gain’ something. I don’t feel it is right to smile when I don’t feel as smiling, or patiently listen to the non-sense of some deluded dude that thinks himself enlightened. I can not muster the bravery to forgive if someone offends me, disrespect me. Although I intellectually know that the self does not exist in the way I think it does, this knowledge does not stop me from giving raise to anger and resentment. Perhaps I am less likely to act upon it, return the hurt, demand respect. Still, my mind creates images of revenge, where the offending part is taken care of, and sadly sometimes these images become reality. But I am a little more sedated now, older, more aware of my flaws and wish to correct them.

Thanks to these wonderful people many of us are aware and wish to amend our defects, overcome our shortcomings. Thanks to these wonderful people many of us have realized that there is a better life to be lived. Thanks to them now I know that the nebulous notion of a life free from suffering actually exists, and it can be reached, and for that I am grateful beyond words.

Anyway dear Prima, all these lines were just a tangent from what I set out to write you about: In his Dharma talk, last Sunday, Venerable Xian Zhong brought up the subject of Haiti, the tragedy that is happening there now. He said that we should not think of ourselves as separate. He asked us to imagine ourselves having dinner with our family and then, in the blink of an eye all our family is gone, everyone dead. He asked us to skip a couple of meals and see how hunger feels like, how thirst feels like. These is no separation between us an them. Their suffering is our suffering, we are all alike, having the same feelings and we all wish to be happy. He asked us to direct our Metta-Karuna meditation to them, wishing deeply for their well being, for the ceasing of their pain, touching them gently, may you be well my brother, may your suffering be over soon. While I listened to these words I realize something that is difficult to put in to words, I realized that somehow us and them are arbitrary words that not describe reality the way it is, that somehow their suffering is my suffering, their tears were mine, mine is their pain, that there is sort of a common sentiency among all of us. That in a mysterious way I will not ever be at peace, that I can not truly be happy as long as there is one that suffers.

I don’t know if this makes sense, but at that moment it felt very clear and reasonable. As when one understand a rule of algebra or something and goes, “Ha, that’s it!” it made an impression strong enough to cause me to write this letter. From all people, perhaps you may understand.
May you be well dear Prima, may you be happy.

Request for Your Visitation

Dear Shirley Tam,

I hope this letter finds you well.

It’s doubtful you would remember me, but we met briefly when you and Master Zhong came to Centinela Facility C to lead a teaching service on October 10, 2010. One of the points Master Zhong spoke about was that those of us present should be seeds in spreading the Dharma when we are transferred to other facilities or institutions. I have since been transferred and am now being held at the Kern Valley State Prison on Facility B.

I have only recently arrived here, but to my understanding, Buddhist services are not held nor been established on this facility. I would like to change that and have begun the process to the extent that I am able (Such as request to the Chaplain.)

As with Centinela, the process would be greatly assisted by outside volunteers. I assume it is similar to Centinela’s – contacting this institution’s community partnership Manager in approving volunteers. Any assistance in this area would be appreciated.

This is a more secure facility than Centinela, and so there may be more restrictions. At the least, though, I am hoping to find mentoring by correspondence, or just a pen-pal that I can discuss the practice with.

Beyond our one meeting and a few conversations with Norris Haynes (inmate at Centinela), I know very little of your organization and I look forward to changing that.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Cordially,

Alex Valentine

About Me

Hello, my name is Shirley Tam and I am the secretary of the International Bodhisattva Sangha (IBS), which is a 501(c) 3 non-profit religious organization. My primary area of focus at present within the organization is the state prison visitation program. I was born in Mainland China and went to Hong Kong at the age of 5, where I finished my high school education at Queen Elizabeth High School. After working with the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited for nine years, I immigrated to the United States (a.k.a. the land of opportunities) with my husband and three children in October of 1977. We settled down in San Diego, California in January 1978 after spending two months in San Francisco. I was employed by Pacific Bell in October 1978 and retired in June 2002.

I have been a Buddhist ever since I was a kid. I was greatly influenced and inspired by my father who had practiced Tibetan Buddhism for most of his life. I have great faith in the teachings of the Buddha’s such as being kind and compassionate to all sentient beings and trying our best to help and to avoid doing harm to others. When I left Hong Kong for the United States, the one and only one request by my father had deeply embedded in my mind. He requested that I spread Buddhism in the United States. Even though at that moment I had no idea what will happen with my new life in a foreign country with three small children, I promised my father immediately without any hesitation. I told myself that I will fulfill his only request regardless of how difficult it might turn out to be.

According to the Buddha, “The seed will germinate when the right conditions arrive.” During the time my youngest son Raymond (who is a Buddhist and has also participated in the prison visitation program) was in junior high school, he befriended a fellow schoolmate from Taiwan who also happened to be a devout Buddhist. His name was Shun Chuang, who later became better known as Venerable Huei Guang (the founder of IBS) in the Buddhist community. It was through my son that I had the good fortune to have become very well acquainted with Ven. Huei Guang. Ven. Huei Guang and Raymond went to the same high school and graduated from UCSD together. During their school years, Ven. Huei Guang was very close to our family and spent lots of time at my home. He was the one who started me on the path to studying Buddhism with fervor and diligence.

As a Buddhist practitioner, I started doing some voluntary work such as cleaning state parks, visiting senior retirement homes, collecting old eyeglasses for third world countries and clothing and stationery for the children in Tijuana, taking students to field trips, visiting children museums, drawing maps for school, serving lunches and dinners for the homeless at St. Vincent DePaul, and visiting hospitals and prisons. After I retired from Pacific Bell, I decided to do something more meaningful in my life by performing deeds in hopes of making a notable contribution to society. Thus I joined my husband Danny (CFO of IBS), who has been active in the prison visitation program for the last 15 years.

Prior to officially becoming a volunteer chaplain, I had visited the prison on several occasions to help the inmates take the Refuge and the Five Percepts. Over the years, I have been corresponding with some of the inmates. The prison that we visit most frequently is the Calipatria State Prison. There is a story behind the prison visitation program. It was actually originated by Ven. Huei Guang. When he was a student at UCSD, he taught a Buddhism class at a temple and one of his students happened to be a DJ at a local radio station. After Ven. Huei Guang became ordained in Taiwan to become a monk and upon his return to the United States, that student conducted an interview with him on air. Some of the discussions included the path by which he cultivated his Buddhahood and what led to his final decision to join the monastic. During the interview, some of the inmates at the Calipatria State Prison were listening to the program. After the interview, the inmates wrote to the temple and expressed a desire to learn more about Buddhism. That is how the whole prison visitation program began in 1995, which has been henceforth spearheaded by Danny.


Subsequent to the inmates receiving guidance and teachings to cultivate their Buddha nature, the Sangha has been growing rapidly ever since. Particularly after the transfers and relocations of some of the inmates, the dharma began to spread to other prisons where the inmates were able to disseminate what they have learned. Our visitation program began to expand at a remarkable rate. In addition to teaching Buddhism at the Calipatria State Prison, we also visited other relatively nearby prisons such as the Pleasant Valley State Prison and the Chuckawalla State Prison.


Due to the expansion of the prison program, IBS decided to provide the inmates with more and better teachings in order to help them with their reformation endeavors. IBS invited Ven. Xian Zhong, who is Ven. Huei Guang’s very first disciple, from India to teach yoga and meditation in addition to Buddhism. Ven. Xian Zhong had learned and practiced yoga plus meditation at Nepal and India for over ten years. Ever since his arrival in October 2007, he wasted no time and started to teach in the prison programs beginning in January of 2008. Ven. Xian Zhong had held several two-day meditation retreats in the different prisons which turned out to be very successful. It was prominently recognized by the warden, correction officers, chaplains and the inmates. It was an unprecedented first meditation retreat program ever approved by the warden in the state of California to run for two days consecutively. It required quite a lot of arrangements and coordination on the part of the prison system due to the huge turnout and considering that the retreat had extended well into the evening. Besides teaching in the prison programs, Ven. Xian Zhong also teaches yoga and meditation classes at different locations in San Diego, California. Furthermore, he provides Dharma lectures, performing chanting ceremonies, and conducting house blessings. He regularly visits cancer patients and the senior citizens to help them learn more about Buddhism.


Ven. Huei Guang, our President and Abbot of IBS, mainly stays at our main temple in Taiwan. He is frequently preoccupied with teaching at the temples in Mainland China and Taiwan. He visits the United States annually to meet with the members and to give ceremonies for the Refuge and the Five Percepts for the inmates. He also gives Dharma lectures and organizes fund-raising events for the prison visitation programs.
The future implementation plans for IBS are categorized in the following scopes:


1. RETREAT PROGRAM
2. STUDY AND LECTURE
3. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
4. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
5. MONASTIC TRAINING PROGRAM
6. SPONSORSHIP
7. COUNSELING
8. PUBLIC SERVICES




On a related note to the prison program, the excerpt below is an article written recently by Senator Jim Webb which provides some dismal statistics on the state of the prison system.


WHY WE MUST FIX THE PRISON SYSTEM


“America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a nation of disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness.


Today, one out of every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. The United States has by far the world’s highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world’s reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. For the State of California alone, it had spent almost $10 billion on corrections for the year of 2008.”




A final thought …

When we think only of sincerely helping all others,

we will find that we receive all that we wish for.
Please join IBS to make the prison visitation program a successful one.
Everyone in this world does deserve a second chance.