I got up for the 5:30am porridge breakfast for 2 yuan. Food was served by laymen. The tables were round, the following food was common for breakfast all over China, porridge, pickled cabbage, peanuts, steamed rice buns, fermented tofu, and sometimes fresh stir-fried vegetables. After breakfast I dashed out to the bus stop hoping to ride the first bus down to the wharf at 6:30am. Well, the bus was late and I made it down to the wharf two minutes before the 7:30am departure.
A couple from Fujian named Wu who ran a construction company at ZhouShan also stayed at the same monastery, was there for the porridge breakfast, and was also there at the bus stop. We were all racing to get onto the first boat to LuoJiaShan. Mr. Wu instructed me to get in line to hold our place in line and he would get the tickets. I stood in the boarding line with his wife handing her money for the ticket and she shook her head, with the palm of her hand pushed my hand that held money for them away. She told me that her husband would not allow it and that it would be okay to accept their generosity and hospitality.
By the time we made it onto the boat, it was full, not a single seat was available. Then we were ushered to the VIP room where the VIP seats were where we had our own room for an extra 10 yuan per person. We had no choice and entered. Mrs. Wu sat between us. She was a faithful Buddhist from Fujian who loved reciting the Great Compassion Mantra and lighting incense. I also love the Great Compassion Manta. In fact the first time I heard it, I was still a Sunday church girl who had no idea what it was. I just liked the sound of it and wanted to learn it from memory so I can sing it because I liked it. So I sang it like a song for a month and memorized it that way.
Mrs. Wu was fixated on the TV where it showed the Karaoke version of the Great Compassion Mantra chant. Mr. Wu kept asking curious questions from me. I started to feel dizzy and was growing a large headache. I felt sick like one would on a boat in the gut but mine was in the head. I was also preoccupied with the 10 yuan the service man was suppose to collect. Thoughts ran through my mind hypnotically, “Maybe the service man would forget to collect the money”, “Maybe Mr. Wu will pick up this one too”, etc…… that all these temptations would be okay. When we docked, I saw Mr, Wu discretely passed money to the service man as we exited. I saw that inquired the fact that the service man did not come to collect our money. He told me that it was okay. The “it was okay” rang like a bell in my head, it was the exact same thing that was running across my head.
I slowly got out of the ferry and climbed up the steps. I found myself in a weird state. I could not move my body easily and I found no particular reason why I couldn’t. My chi was blocked, I was heavy all over. My chest was shivering. It alarmed me and I knew something was wrong.
I could not get my mind off the 10 yuan. I knew there was nothing wrong with the Wu’s hospitality. But it was the running thoughts of greed, cheating, getting a bargain that was driving me mad. My body was experiencing a lot of internal distress. Then I realized clearly, this was the 10 yuan poison.
I quickly bowed in front of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and asked for her guidance. I told her I was not greedy for the 10 yuan, I have it in my hand except the couple would not take it from me. I am crystal clear that there is no free lunch and no one gets away with anything karmically. I put the 10 yuan in the donation box for the couple and prayed on their behalf. They don’t have children and would like to have children so I prayed for them. Then like magic, all that lifted from my body like feathers. Just like that it all went away.
How simple, how easy, how effortless without struggle, poof, lifted, gone, just like that. Whatever it was, whoever it was, none of it mattered, it was poisoning me. It doesn’t matter if it was my mind, my thoughts, my beings. It was not the issue of me or mine, where it comes from, where it goes, it does not matter. I didn’t want to dance and tango with it by analyzing it with my college educated intellect; by over analyzing it, labeling it, locking myself in chains by brewing over it and beating myself up with it.
This was my lesson, this was the point of this journey into Putuo, that not everything has to be a struggle in my life. I knew I had learned my lesson and it was time to move on and head for Shanghai instead of staying here for days.
