Because I have been out of touch a while, it is just starting to soak in...the implications of Grandmaster Lu being gone. I mean...I can't picture the TBS without him...like a tree with no roots. What is going to happen to TBS now? Have any of you noticed any changes in the local temples and students?
I suppose you have already all gone through this. Maybe you can tell me how you view it. In the 'old days' at least there was always the occasional visit by him to look forward to...either him coming to the local chapter or us going to Seattle or another temple for a special ceremony. Now, new students will never see him?
Although this is not unexpected because he had been saying this would happen for years, it is still unsettling and unprecedented. It is as if President Bush got up one day and said "You know what. I don't want to be president anymore. I think I will go back to Texas today and be a cowboy."
I'm ok with it. I just wonder about so many things. What keeps some students from just going to Tahiti and finding him?
I am thinking about asking does he need a roommate. :)
But I am thinking that this may be the most profound Dharma teaching of all! I mean it's no big deal for someone to give something up if they never had it in the first place. He could now be doing anything he wants. He is a very wealthy man. In fact, all he would need to do is say the word and people would send him millions more by next week. He had all the options. That's what makes it amazing. He could be living like a king....heck....like a god, if he wanted. Yet he has come full circle and gone back to his pre-TBS days.
And what would it be like now to meet him? What would I say? What would he say? How would I act? He always said, "Don't make a fuss or do anything special." Of course, for the most part everyone disregarded that and made a big fuss and did all sorts of special things anyway. :) Is there ever going to come a time, and would we let it, that Master Sheng-yen Lu could come to a TBS temple and sit in the floor in the back, as just one of the practitioners?
I believe that this is not really a retirement....it is a retreat.
I believe that he is redefining himself and will come back one day in a different role. Maybe, like a good farmer, he has planted the seeds and now is just waiting to see what will sprout. Or, like Johnny Appleseed, maybe he has just planted the seeds for the future benefit of all, and then moved on. All I know for sure is that this story is not ended by any means. It is the never ending story and this is just one chapter. But hey, boys and girls, we are players in this drama....we're part of the original troupe. Next time around, we'll put on different masks, have a good laugh and have another go at perfecting our craft.
I suppose you have already all gone through this. Maybe you can tell me how you view it. In the 'old days' at least there was always the occasional visit by him to look forward to...either him coming to the local chapter or us going to Seattle or another temple for a special ceremony. Now, new students will never see him?
Although this is not unexpected because he had been saying this would happen for years, it is still unsettling and unprecedented. It is as if President Bush got up one day and said "You know what. I don't want to be president anymore. I think I will go back to Texas today and be a cowboy."
I'm ok with it. I just wonder about so many things. What keeps some students from just going to Tahiti and finding him?
I am thinking about asking does he need a roommate. :)
But I am thinking that this may be the most profound Dharma teaching of all! I mean it's no big deal for someone to give something up if they never had it in the first place. He could now be doing anything he wants. He is a very wealthy man. In fact, all he would need to do is say the word and people would send him millions more by next week. He had all the options. That's what makes it amazing. He could be living like a king....heck....like a god, if he wanted. Yet he has come full circle and gone back to his pre-TBS days.
And what would it be like now to meet him? What would I say? What would he say? How would I act? He always said, "Don't make a fuss or do anything special." Of course, for the most part everyone disregarded that and made a big fuss and did all sorts of special things anyway. :) Is there ever going to come a time, and would we let it, that Master Sheng-yen Lu could come to a TBS temple and sit in the floor in the back, as just one of the practitioners?
I believe that this is not really a retirement....it is a retreat.
I believe that he is redefining himself and will come back one day in a different role. Maybe, like a good farmer, he has planted the seeds and now is just waiting to see what will sprout. Or, like Johnny Appleseed, maybe he has just planted the seeds for the future benefit of all, and then moved on. All I know for sure is that this story is not ended by any means. It is the never ending story and this is just one chapter. But hey, boys and girls, we are players in this drama....we're part of the original troupe. Next time around, we'll put on different masks, have a good laugh and have another go at perfecting our craft.