House of Gold

By Living Buddha Lian-Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu
Translated by Cheng Yew Chung. Edited by TBN

A well-known Chinese proverb reads, `A book holds a house of gold.`

It reminds me of the places where I once stayed: I was born on a chicken farm located in Hou Hu in Chiayi City. I grew up in Kaohsiung and studied at Da Tong Elementary, Kaohsiung Municipal Second Junior High, and Kaohsiung Vocational High. I stayed in living quarters (which have since been torn down) at Kaohsiung Electric Company situated in Da Gang Pu district. My university years were spent at the Survey College of the Combined Service Force (since renamed the Chung Cheng Institute of Technology).

I later moved to Taichung and lived in He Zuo Xin Cun (Cooperative New Housing Estate), then moved to Li Xin Road, then to Jing Wu Road, followed by Hsin Yi Community, Le Qun Mansion, and finally to Jing Wu Villa (having moved at least seven times!).

Finally, on the 16th of June in 1982, at age thirty-eight, I immigrated to Seattle in Washington State in the United States. I first stayed in the city of Ballard, then moved to the True Buddha Tantric Quarter in Redmond, then moved again to a place near Phantom Lake, and then later built the Rainbow Villa, and eventually moved into my South Mountain Place. (I moved five times while living in Washington State.)

And now, I am living a life of retreat in a faraway place known as Leaf Lake.

I once said, I spent nineteen years in Kaohsiung, another nineteen years in Taichung, and another nineteen years in Seattle, Washington.

How long will I stay in Leaf Lake? Any answer?

Where is my house of gold? Is it a straw hut? A mud hut? Or perhaps my little house of retreat?

Today, I lead a solitary life in loneliness. It appears that I have more wrinkles on my face, and my eyesight is not as clear. I have a lot more white hair and I`ve experienced some hearing loss. My injured leg hurts. Isn`t this old age pathetic where everything seems so miserable?

Yet, I am blessed! I now know exactly what a house of gold is. The many houses of gold on earth are nothing but fabrications of our illusionary thoughts. The true house of gold resides in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, where it sits on ground paved with golden sand.

Where I live is free from gossip and idle chatter. I chant the Buddha`s epithet and mantra diligently, cultivating my practice with one mind. Self-realised, I am virtuous, just, and free.

Ha! Once you`re enlightened, you shall find the house of gold everywhere.