Part 1 of this article can be found here
Having pushed me into the dark and dim meeting room the young novice did not enter but waited outside the now closed door. The government officials all turned to look at this stranger who had so suddenly arrived in their presence. They did not look pleased and even less so as I began immediately to pay my respects to the elderly Abbot by making the triple prostration before him. Their shiny grey suits moved like the scales on a giant fish as they readjusted their posture to face each other across the long table. Perhaps they thought that ignoring the intruder would make him go away. The Abbot however moved quickly toward me and grasping my joined hands lifted me from the floor where I was kneeling. His hands felt thin and very old yet firm and strong. He said nothing but looked straight into my eyes and smiled a most beautiful smile filled with loving-kindness. It is no exaggeration to say that his radiant smile lit up the room. He called for the novice to enter the room and to act as translator. The old monks eyes never left mine as though he were looking within and not being taken up with external appearances. His voice was soft, gentle and at the same time strong. He asked me where I had come from. I apologised for the intrusion into the meeting and he turned slightly toward the men at the table and told me it was of no consequence. The officials continued to stare across the table at each other. When I told him I had come from Australia he nodded and then said he did not know that there were disciples of the Buddha in Australia but that he was very happy to hear of this.
I asked him a little of his story and was bold enough to ask him what had become of him during the days of the red guard and Cultural Revolution. Smiling he continued to hold my hands in his and answered that he had been sent to a farm for some years after the monastery had been closed. When I asked him what kind of farm, he beamed, laughed very gently, almost imperceptibly and answered, “A rock farm”. The thought that this gentle man had been forced to do hard labour breaking rocks used for road construction for years filled me with sadness. When I suggested this must have been terrible he simply smiled and said “Stone by stone, little by little you can make a great path for yourself and many beings.” There was not a trace of bitterness in his words but rather I heard an echo of the Buddha’s own words about the path to complete freedom of heart and mind.
He let go of my hands and apologised that he must now return to the meeting. The novice guided me out of the room and once outside told me that the Abbot had said I needed to visit the Southern Peak. Here I found another surprise awaited me. My meeting with this remarkable monk has stayed in my heart and mind all these years later. His presence, warmth and gentle wisdom found a grateful place within my heart and mind.
With much metta, Bhante Tejadhammo
