| Pu
Ming Temple |
 |
| (Translated by Stephen Tang) |
|
Pu Ming Temple is about
one hundred meters [330 ft] away from the Abode of Still Thoughts
in Hualien. A stone statue of the Earth Treasury Bodhisattva is
revered in this temple. During the Japanese occupation [1895-1945],
the statue was located outdoors under an old red cedar tree directly
behind the current temple. In 1962, a devout local resident, Mr.
Hsu Tsung-min, could no longer bear to see the bodhisattva exposed
to the weather year after year. So he vowed to build this small
temple, which is only about 360 square feet in size.
That autumn, Master Cheng Yen arrived in Hualien
on the very day that Pu Ming Temple was completed. The Master
was amazed when she saw the temple. The interior and the surroundings
looked exactly the same as a temple she had seen in a dream eight
years earlier, when she was praying to the Buddha and bodhisattvas
to restore her mother's health. Because of this obvious karmic
relationship, the Master and her disciples asked to be accommodated
here. Later, when everything was ready, Master Cheng Yen and her
disciples founded in this temple the Buddhist Overcoming Hardship
Tzu Chi Merit Association [the forerunner of today's foundation]
on the twenty-fourth day of the third lunar month in 1966.
The life of the Master and her disciples was
very difficult at that time. Once they could only spend fifty
cents on salt-marinated bean curd to eat for a whole week. The
four nuns had only two straw mats to sleep on. They lived in the
temple for almost eight years, until the Abode of Still Thoughts
was completed. Because of this relationship, Pu Ming Temple is
an important stop for Tzu Chi visitors today.
