The Inspiring Death
The Distinguished Master Richang had passed away already when I wrote the previous post a week ago thinking he was merely "not well". When we gathered and prayed for his recovery, the day was the "first seventh day" after he closed his eyes. Nobody knew (normally), but himself. In fact, he had prepared everything for some time already by then, apparently knowing when exactly the date would come. (Yes, we believe after a long time, a really long time, of spiritual practising, one could know/control even the time of death. No magic, but a revelation of the capability of the heart, which used to be blinded by mundane phenomena or even our own mind.)
He had been planning all the details discreetly, just because he did not want to cause any trouble to anybody or the group as a whole (with about some 20,000 members in Taipei who would have rushed to his death bed sending all kinds of consolation if only one single ear heard the news). So, at the age of 73, just a few days before he let out his last breath, he left the developing Educational District in Taiwan he had been constructing for years, and went to an unknown place in Mainland with two disciples.
We knew only within this week how many he had been doing even lying there suffering from illness... those profound teachings through his acts- how he constantly thought for the others' good even when dying, and how he obtained the true happiness through that, even in the torture of the physique. (We were told how he helped the two young disciples to "practise" moving his body from the bed to a trolley in the previous evening, without letting them know what they were actually doing, and another time reminded them about the meaning of "impermanence" through daily experiences, and many others.)
I am proud of the group after all, for the reaction which is far from emotional or sentimental, though we still cannot hold our tears whenever the tune of praising masters rises. We have been discussing intensely what the last "lesson" of Master could mean to us in different levels and how we could improve ourselves through the experience, keeping in mind it's his teaching, or the dharma, that is important to us, rather than a bodily presence. Well, we do expect to witness the moment of his return, in another "form". And it's my wish now to have longer life, and an true altruistic life, for this desired reunion.
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