Professor Shiau T N’s Lecturing at the Youth Class of FGS South Island
On 5th December2020, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island held its 6th Lecture for its Youth College and was honoured to have Professor Shiau Ting Nung as their lecturer. Professor Shiau is the Honorary Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. The topic of the lecture was “It is a Blessing to be able to Contribute”. The lecture was attended by 15 people, consisted of Youth Class students, members of Young Adult Division (YAD) and members of Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island.
In his lecture, Professor Shiau told the class that Buddhist scriptures have many educational functions. He elaborated on this by citing Ksitigarbha Sutra where there are sections written on "Giving", such as, filial piety, offerings, and giving (generosity), as well as causal relationships. It was stated in the scripture that the rewards of this life are the accumulated good karmas of the past lives. When the present day rewards are exhausted, they will be gone and cannot be recovered. So it is necessary to make use of the rewards diligently. Making offering is not confined solely to giving money. Chanting Sutra and helping a dying man by chanting Sutra are other forms of offering. Once you understand causal relationship, you will refrain from creating bad karma but instead help more people. Professor Shiau claimed that whenever he encounters a problem in life, he will pray for the blessings of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva to help solve the problem. Because of his sincerity, most often the problem will be solved.
To illustrate his views, Professor Shiau narrated his own and his family's experiences:
During his lifetime, Professor Shiau’s father worked as a cook and used to slaughter a lot of lives for his cooking. After studying the Dharma, Professor Shiau learned that by the killings, his father had accumulated a lot of bad karma and had many aggrieved enemies from the other realm. When his father passed away, Professor Shiau’s wife, who had practiced Buddhism for many years, led his family in chanting the Ksitigarbha Sutra, dedicating the merits so generated to his father. At the same time, Professor Shiau made a vow there and then to go vegetarian, intending to transfer the merits so earned to his father. After that, Professor Shiau felt that his father was happy with his actions and thanked him for that.
Professor Shiau once spent an hour teaching her illiterate mother to pronounce the holy name of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, but to no avail. He was upset and sad over this and started to pray to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva seeking his help. After a while, miraculously his mother was able to pronounce the holy name of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva correctly.
At the Full Moon Celebration of his eldest son, Professor Shiau treated his friends and relatives to a dinner. At that time, he had no knowledge of Buddhism and served non-vegetarian dishes to the people. After the dinner was over, his infant son kept vomiting. Realising his mistake in the choice of the dishes, Professor Shiau was very sad and sincerely repented for his mistake. He vowed not only to become a vegetarian himself, but also to persuade others to practise vegetarianism.
At the time just before the birth of his youngest son, Professor Shiau’s baby was found to have his umbilical cord wrapping around his neck, and the fetus position was abnormal. Under such stressful circumstances, Professor Shiau’s wife started to recite Avalokitesvara Boddhisatva’s Universal Gate sutra to pray for the blessings of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Within half an hour after that, his wife was able to smoothly deliver the baby without any untoward incident. When she was pregnant with her youngest son, Professor Shiau’s wife made it a point to recite a volume of Ksitigarbha Sutra every day. Later, this son of her grew up to be a strong and healthy young man with outstanding academic and career performances.
Based on his personal experience over the years, Professor Shiau told the class that there will be gains if you make a serious effort. He also urged the class to be diligent and sincere in reciting the Sutra. Professor Shiau insists on reciting at least once the Ksitigarbha Sutra and other scripture every day. Whether driving or walking, he will chant the holy name of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, dedicating the merits to all beings around. By so doing, not only will he be protected by the Heavenly beings, but he will also be helped by the beings from the ghost realm. Therefore, to be able to give is a blessing.
The students were very moved by Professor Shiau’s lecturing and their confidence in the study of Buddhism was greatly increased. They very much cherished the opportunity to participate in this lecture and actively asked questions and interacted with Professor Shiau. Although student Joanne did not have a full understanding of Chinese terminology, nevertheless she still full involved herself with the lecture. Joanne felt that the lecture had benefited her a lot and she was greatly inspired by it. Some students felt that the merits of the Ksitigarbha Sutra were incredible and one student even made a vow to arrange time to recite Ksitigarbha Sutra once a day and to transfer the merits so arising to his father.