(Follow this link to see the May 2020 Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.)
When I was a novice of maybe two years, there was a time when one of the senior monks was having a very difficult time and he was causing a great deal of turbulence and difficulty in the monastery. We were having a meeting of the community to discuss what was happening and I asked Rev. Master Jiyu to explain something that she said. She basically ignored my question and asked me if I could handle the Three Pure Precepts. I thought about it and said I didn’t know and she replied that when I did, we could talk about the question.
In retrospect, my asking her this question was a bit cheeky since, to a moderate degree, novices were to be seen and not heard at that time and I am grateful that she Continue reading →