The Story of Zen Master Wu Jue Miao Tian

- translated by Ronald

Zen Master Wu Jue Miao Tian was born to a family of four brothers and no sisters in 1934 in Pingdung, the South end of Taiwan. The Master enjoyed a happy and worriless childhood like other kids until he was 10, in 1944 during World War II. During the war time, the bombing from the air and the destruction of houses were seen widely, and people were running for their life. What makes the situations on the Master worse is that his mother passed away later in the same year (1944). The whole family suddenly lost their mother and fell into an even more difficult situation. This is the first time ever that the Master underwent adversities and witnessed sufferings in this world.

The bombing destroyed not only the land, but also frightened the gentle heart of the Master. Looking up at the jet planes in the air, the Master could not figure out the purpose of the cold-blooded war. Would people kill each other just for satisfying their own greed, fury, infatuation, arrogance and suspicion? Is the only purpose of arming and killing to gain more for one self? Having witnessed all the tragedy, the Master as a child felt deeply sad for people's ignorance.

The Master gradually realized that the ultimate cause of the war was due to the greed for power, an intention of taking revenge, or generally speaking, an unwholesome mind. The cause of this undereducated mind is due to the long-time overemphasis on knowledge acquirement compared to spiritual education in the traditional education system. If instead the education system can shift more to spiritual cultivation, and all countries can work together on this, then all human being will be gradually free from war and live happier. So is there some kind of wisdom that has the power of guiding people to the destination? Thinking of this, the Master started looking for the wisdom, which not until later did he realize is the wisdom of Zen.

At the age of 40, the Master began his quest for the wisdom and the truth. All religions and sects ranging from Taoism to Buddhism, he was willing to participate. All religious scriptures ranging from the Sutras to the Bible he was willing to study. But the only conclusion he made based on the experience he had with each religious group was superstition and confusion. For example, the Master felt that the contemporary Buddhism was filled with only rituals. In other words, the true teachings of Buddha from 2,500 years ago were replaced by ideology and practices of traditions. As the wisdom dies out and the right path blanketed, the true Inner Self of ours has no way to recover its original life force. A true spiritual cultivation should center on "practice of wisdom," the Master pondered, and all the other religious rituals are secondary.

During his quest, a concept about spiritual practices given by a teacher has greatly influenced the Master. The teacher said, "If you meditate with your mind, study Sutras with your logic, chant mantras as a routine or ritual, then you will never go beyond the state of human being and see the truth, since these are all human practices, not Inner Self practices." The Master was suddenly awakened, realizing what matters is our Inner Self. The Master gave an analogy, "People live in a house, and it is the people instead of the house that is essential. Likewise, our Inner Self stays within our human body, and it is the Inner Self that is everlasting instead of the mortal body. Therefore, all religious practices with no realization of the existence of the Inner Self will never lead you to the truth." This teacher is in fact the 84^th patriarch of the Zen School, Master Jing Zai, of whom the Master later became a disciple to practice the true teachings of Zen.

After eight years of Zen practice with Master Jing Jai, the Master temporarily left his job and family, went to the mountains and practiced Sitting Zen in a cave. During this period, the Master concentrated only on seeking the truth. He ate very little, basically just water and sometimes fruits. Yet he felt very energetic and calm. He was thinking "If all we need to live a life is as little as water, why do we always crave for that much money?" Besides, he realized that the first crucial step toward spiritual liberation is purification. By practicing purification, one will have a healthy, balanced body and mind, completely free from sickness and mental disturbances. In addition, since one is calm and balanced in a state of purification, one will gain wisdom and eventually realize and witness the truth. One will also become more compassionate, not only for the human being but also for all the sentient beings in the world. Purification is so important that it becomes the first among all of four essential practices of the Master's teachings, namely, "purification, realization, consummation, and enlightenment."

After achieving the state of enlightenment, the Master would like to share supreme teachings with people that are willing to learn, like what the Shakyamuni Buddha did after being enlightened. The Master started by teaching Zen in various occasions. Gradually, people benefited from his teachings and thus more and more people began to participate. In 1988 the Master started an organization called Spiritual Communion Zen Foundation of Culture and Education, to give people balanced education and life based on Zen. Meanwhile, many Zen clubs were started in universities, high schools, companies and jails in order to bring happiness to the whole society. In 1999 the education-oriented foundation was renamed Taiwan Zen Buddhist Association (TZBA), which marked the beginning of spiritual practice of Zen. As a religious organization, TZBA aims to eliminate all the superstition and erroneous concepts about Buddhism and spiritual practice, and introduce the orthodox Zen teachings to the society. Its short term goal is to bring to the community the right methodology with which people will benefit in all aspects. Its ultimate goal is to make world peace a reality.

The Master cares about the society, country and its people. He also takes chance to give advises on governmental policies from Zen perspective, because he understands that an altruistic, well-made policy or decision will benefit all the people of the country. To make good decisions, in the Master's opinion, a leader or politician should have not only professional knowledge but also compassion and wisdom, which can be cultivated through Zen practice. Therefore, he started another organization called World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF) to foster future elites in political, industrial and religious communities. Its goal is to cultivate wisdom and compassion in all participants through Zen, and at the same time to equip them with all the specialties required to become a leader in their area through training classes. Though taking a different path, WLEF has the same goal as TZBA, that is, world peace. This is the great expectation the enlightened Master Wu Jue Miao Tian has for the world.