Wednesday, May 7, 2008

1988 - Sealed my fate with Dao at Louguan (5)

10 years later in Oct. 1998, I went to Louguan again to visit the old lady's grave and prayed for her. When i got back to Xian, I stayed in aunt Wu's home, she told me another facet of this incident.

The old lady who died 10 years ealier was called Ms. Qiao. She was from Beijian and had been attending Master Wang's class since the very first event in 1985. She was a good friend of aunt Wu. Aunt Qiao had cardiac problem and her pacemaker had already stopped working two years before the Louguan seminar.

Master Wang cared very much about aunt Qiao and he had told her before, "Why don't we collect some money together to pay for a new pacemaker." But aunt Qiao was very stubborn, she asked Master Wang, "What if i don't change it?" "You won't live more than three years if you don't get a new one." Master Wang said. But aunt Qiao still insisted on not getting one. Master Wang told her then, "If you don't get a new one, I will spent the next three Mid-Autumn festival with you." In the end, Master Wang spent the Mid-Autumn festivals of 86, 87 at aunt Qiao's home. In October 1988, aunt Qiao was in the hospital, when she heard that Master Wang would be teaching in Louguan, she insisted on going and no one could change her mind. When Master Wang saw her, he knew there would be problem and asked her to go back to the hospital immediately. But aunt Qiao insisted, "I am not going back there no matter what you say. If I die, i will die here." Afterward she registered as a taoist practitioner with the Loguan Temple. Before the mid-autmen festival in 1988, aunt Qiao passed away in Louguan, perhaps she chose louguan because she thought that was the best place to depart.

Aunt Wu was involved in helping us from the moment not long after aunt Qiao had collapsed to finally when we carried her to the morgue. She saw that when i carried aunt Qiao on my back, there were dirty substances flowing out of aunt Qiao's mouth and onto my neck. She heard about what other people said about me and she was quite worried even though she didn't know me at that time. She went to seek out Master Wang, "Master Wang, I beg you to do me a favor. There is a fresh college graduate who had helped alot in Ms. Qiao's incident. He is a good person, he shouldn't befallen into any diaster. Please can you protect him?"

Master Wang didn't say anything at that time, but from a serie of events that happened afterward, I can see that Master Wang had done a lot for me behind my back. He has helped me, influenced me and taught me to become who I am today.

1 comment:

David Parker said...

You are very fortunate to have fund a mentor.
But as is always in these situations, the teacher chooses the student.