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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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name. In addition, he formed many Pure L<strong>and</strong> societies<br />

for <strong>Buddhist</strong> laymen. This was his <strong>Buddhist</strong> practice.<br />

On the other h<strong>and</strong>, he worshipped the gods of China.<br />

One of these, a Taoist deity, is called "Xu Xun Zhen<br />

Ren" <strong>and</strong> is always depicted as looking intently<br />

downwards.<br />

Mr. Chen sat up straight, clasped his h<strong>and</strong>s in his<br />

lap, bent his head down, <strong>and</strong> knit his brows. "He is<br />

like this," he said.<br />

When this god was a human being, he performed many<br />

good deeds, but died before his old mother. Instantly<br />

achieving a heavenly state as a result of his goodness,<br />

he quickly directed his gaze down to earth to see how<br />

the elderly lady fared. He is thus beloved of many<br />

people who worship him to avert disease <strong>and</strong> so on.<br />

On one occasion, many village people had gathered to<br />

worship this god for a number of days. At the close of<br />

the ceremonies, the god's image was to be returned to<br />

the temple. Before this was done, my friend made his<br />

final prostrations, <strong>and</strong> while he was doing them, he died<br />

peacefully. He had no disease, it seems, <strong>and</strong> the<br />

villagers concluded that the god had taken him to<br />

heaven. Of course, this is not a good result for a<br />

<strong>Buddhist</strong>, but I give it here as an example of great<br />

devotion to the gods.<br />

622

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