My main contribution at Cham Shan Temple is to lead the “Prayer/Chanting Service” Group. This service is intended to help people who either have just passed away or are in palliative care, and have requested a prayer/chanting service to help them on their final journey. The prayer and chanting often help to ease the pain and suffering, not only of the sick or newly departed in guiding them to the Pure Land, but also of their families, in helping them obtain peace of mind.

The link to the Prayer/Chanting Service is dependent on one's karma and previously gained merits. There is a Buddhist saying: “In a thousand lifetimes it is rare to meet someone expounding the Buddhadharma. It is even harder in tens of thousands of kalpa to experience this unfathomable teaching.” I lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution when I was three or four years old, and then moved to Hong Kong with my family. We went from being very wealthy to very poor overnight, without even a roof over our heads. Years later through the Buddhist teachings I realized that all things including life were impermanent, and understood more about what and why things happened in my early childhood. When I was 17 years old, I had the good fortune of reading the publication, Song of Awakening (醒世歌) by Venerable Han Shan of the Ming Dynasty (明朝憨山法師). I was overwhelmed by it, as this was my first experience with the profound teachings of Buddhism. It touched me so deeply that it became the guiding light in my daily life.

I got married and raised a family in my early twenties. One day when I picked up my child from school, I met a fellow parent who introduced me to volunteer work at a Chinese temple. This was the first time I had ever set foot in a temple. Later through another fellow Buddhist I met Venerable Bao Deng (寶燈法師) at the Cham Shan Temple in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, and she became my mentor. In 1980, I took Refuge in the Triple Gems under her guidance. She taught me the fundamentals and practices of Buddhism, and encouraged me to recite often the Lotus Sutra (妙法蓮花經) and The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (觀世音菩薩普門品). For evening service, I recited the Amitabha Sutra (阿彌陀經), trained my mind to enter through the words of the sutra into the realms of the Pure Land, as well as to have pure thoughts only during recitation. I joined Venerable Bao Deng in many Buddhist festivals and activities, both as a participant and as a volunteer, which enriched my knowledge of Buddhism and the etiquettes of its services.

As my children grew up and entered universities, I was able to resume my volunteer service by joining the Hong Kong Prayer Service Group. Due to the environmental conditions in Hong Kong, it was very hard to perform Palliative Care Prayer Service. We could only go to the funeral homes and perform services such as Thrice Yearning and Chanting Services (三時繫念), Food Bestowal after Mengshan (放大蒙山) etc. I did this for many years, and this experience enables me to lead the Prayer/Chanting Service at Cham Shan Temple.

(Recorded by WM Chong

Translated by the Editing Committee)