Sunday, August 07, 2005

Heng Shu the "Nun"

The Lotus Sutra say:

"All the 3 realms (of desire, form & formlessness) are houses on fire;
One who does not leave the burning houses quickly will be destroyed along with them."

Heng Shu (shown above) is a famous or perhaps infamous celebrity Buddhist Nun in Taiwan, who also happens to be the sister of veteran entertainers Zhang Fei (Fei Ge) and Fei Yuqing. What is so famous about her? Not much, except that she watches porn movies, play mahjong, rear dogs, eat meat, join online chats, do aerobics, yachting and play golf etc.. the list goes on. In other words, she does not look or behave like a nun at all, except for the shaven head and prayer beads.

Many people wonder why she behave the way she does; most criticize her for being at best, a sideshow or at worst, a heretic of the religion. She herself believes she is practicing what is known as the worldly Dhamma - meaning whatever she does is for the purpose of realizing the Truth. Although we all understand that the truth is omnipresent in all things, but unfortunately there are also many heretical teachers and religious con-men who abuse people's faith in a similar fashion, for their own selfish purposes. So how can we know who are the real Bodhisattvas and who are just servants of Mara (the evil one), out to destroy the Buddha's teachings?

The answer lies with only one thing - the analytical power of Panna. Real Bodhisattvas may utilize countless skillful means, even those that are against the basic percepts, to teach sentient beings the absolute truth. However, in the end they would still lead them to the Dhamma. For servants of Mara, they just pretend to use similar means, but when people are hooked to certain negative actions, they will leave them to face the consequences of their own actions themselves. Only one who has seen the Buddha-nature and attained enlightenment can use the appropriate skillful means. If a monk or any practitioner who is unenlightened tries to imitate, he or she will surely end up at the gates of hell for gravely misleading oneself and others.
All being said, it is up the the individual to decide what to make of Heng Shu. Her non-religious activites seem to serve no real purpose other than for her own amusement. If indeed all these reports are true, Heng Shu will be one of many deviant monks and nuns waiting in queue to enter Hell soon!

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