Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her ... - Khamkoo

86 ThePreciousScrollofIncenseMountain,Part1
But if one is a true disciple of the Gate of Emptiness,
One will sacrifice this illusory body for the Dharma.
If the emperor should burn this convent to the ground,
It is its preordained fate, and due to a karmic cause.
Birth is followed by death, completion by destruction,
And rise is followed by fall, whatever you may do.
Let the emperor burn it to the ground if he wants,
Eventually we all must pass through the gate of death.’’
When the abbess heard this, all the color drained from her face, and
she said to the princess: ‘‘Your views do not accord with heavenly
principle! You are not going to tell me that for Your Highness’s
sake we all will be implicated and have to share your sufferings? I
have served as abbess for over thirty years and never has even the
slightest speck of disaster entered the gate of this convent! Your
Highness and your father the emperor may be angry with each
other, but what does that have to do with our convent?’’ When the
princess heard this, she said with a smile: ‘‘The monastic community
has six harmonies and five virtues. 71 Such is the behavior according
to the Way of monks and nuns. But, my dear nun, your wisdom
is narrow and your insight is shallow. Your body may have left
the family, but your heart is not dyed in the Way. You do not yet
know that among the sages of ancient times there were those who
donated their body to feed a tiger, that there were those who cut
off a slice of their flesh to feed an eagle, that there were those who
set flame to their body like a torch, that there were those who donated
their head and eyes, their marrow and brains, their arms and
legs and hand and feet, and that there were those who donated their
body just to obtain half a gātha! All those who donated their body
and heart achieved the unsurpassable Way. You cherish your body
and nourish your life, so you have not yet done away with your
cravings and attachments. If you practice cultivation in this way, it
cannot yet be called achieving the Way. It is the original practice of
monastics to be able to inflict suffering on oneself in order to benefit
others. But to benefit oneself and inflict suffering on others is not
the way of the Buddha’s disciples. Now you are already quite flurried
and flustered even before he has come here to burn down the
convent. Come to think of it, you really don’t have a heart that
penetrates the Way!’’ When the abbess heard her say these words,
she again and again heaved a heavy sigh: ‘‘Too bad! Disaster strikes
without warning—may Heaven have mercy on us!’’ She then as-