Dear Venerable Master Huei Guang, Date: 5-13-2013
It was auspicious that it rained during the Buddha’s Vasak retreat. This is a rare event in Southern California, as is the opportunity to ordain into the Buddha’s Sangh as a lay disciple. It was truly a great honor to be given the Triple Gem of the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts of the Buddhist laity by one as compassionate and wise as yourself. You are a true Bodhisattva, There are so very few in the world who would direct their attention to us who serve prison sentences. We languish in our own self created misery, unmindful, deluded, full of craving and wrong thought, until we are visited by you, by Venerable Xian Zhong and by everyone from International Bodhisattva Sangha (IBS) who bring the light, the wisdom, and the hope of the Buddha to us. I am forever grateful. I am reminded of a verse from the Dharmapada.
“Even from within a heap of rubbish, dumped and discarded by the highway’s side-there, a lotus may take root and arise gladdening the mind with its sweet perfume. Thus, from among the discarded of men, the masses in darkness, mentally blind, does one of surpassing wisdom arise, who hears the Rightly Self-Awakened One.” (Dh. 58-59)
我誠諾竭盡所能遵隨佛祖的教悔在您的指引和教導下成長，阿彌陀佛！！
Sincerely,
Barnett
