Date: 01/10/2026 01/11/2026
Location: Star River Meditation Center
Teacher: Yunquan Huang
Dharma Talk
Seeking the Buddha’s Gāthā Through Countless Hardships
In former times, there was a cultivator named Shanxin. He was born in an age when the Buddha-Dharma was no longer transmitted in the world, yet he earnestly sought the true and correct Dharma, hoping to find the genuine path to liberation.
One day, a mighty and resonant voice suddenly arose in the sky and spoke to him:
“Shanxin, listen carefully. Sixty hundredlito the east, there is a king named Shanzhu. In his country, the Buddha once appeared in the world, and the Buddha-Dharma spread widely throughout the land. After the Buddha entered Nirvāṇa, however, the Dharma gradually declined, and now throughout the entire country there is not even a single Buddhist monastery. There lives there a poor woman, extremely ugly in appearance, yet she is able to recite half a gāthā spoken by the Buddha. She now wishes to transmit it to others. Go and obtain that half gāthā.”
When these words were finished, the sky again fell silent.
Shanxin did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately set out on the long journey toward the east. He traveled day and night without rest; his legs became swollen, his feet cracked open, and blood seeped through his worn shoes.
One evening at dusk, a series of pitiful cries suddenly arose from ahead. Shanxin ran forward to look and was instantly stunned by the sight before him. Before him lay a vast expanse of mire, stretching beyond the limits of sight, its breadth extending for tens of thousands of li.
Shanxin thought to himself,
“The cries just now were filled with misery; someone must have been swallowed here.”
At this thought, his hair stood on end, and his whole body trembled.
At that moment, a crow flew over Shanxin’s head and landed upon the mire to rest. Yet the instant it touched the surface, it sank down and vanished without a trace.
Shanxin stood there in a daze, his heart filled with despair. He thought,
“It seems I cannot cross this place. If I fail to obtain the Buddha’s gāthā, how can I cause the Buddha-Dharma to flourish?”
Lowering his head, Shanxin looked at his tattered clothing and the bloody, mangled wounds on his feet. Wave after wave of pain spread throughout his body, and he thought,
“Then let me die here today. O Buddha, I relinquish my life for this cause; such a death will be worthy.”
Having formed this thought, he walked straight toward the mire before him.
The moment his foot stepped upon the mire, a miracle occurred. Beneath his feet appeared a pure white, straight, and level road, extending directly toward the east and reaching beyond the limits of sight.
Great joy arose in Shanxin’s heart. In an instant, he forgot all the suffering and affliction he had endured and ran swiftly upon the pure white road. The farther he went, the more his joy increased, and before long he arrived in the country of King Shanzhu and found the ugly woman.
The ugly woman lived in a small thatched hut. Upon seeing Shanxin, she asked,
“Traveler from afar, what is it that you seek from me?”
“I have come solely to take refuge in you as my teacher,”
Shanxin replied. He gazed at her and knelt respectfully before her, thinking to himself,
“This woman is so ugly, yet she understands a gāthā—how extraordinary.”
The ugly woman asked,
“What do you wish to learn from me?”
Shanxin replied respectfully,
“Disciple has come to learn the Dharma from the teacher.”
“I have nothing to teach you,”
the woman answered.
“I only know half a gāthā.”
Hearing this, Shanxin rejoiced and said,
“I have come from sixty hundredliaway. Along the way I endured countless hardships, all for the sake of learning this half gāthā, so that the great Buddha-Dharma may be revived.”
“Very well,”
said the woman.
“Sit down and listen carefully.”
Shanxin immediately sat upright and waited with full attention for the woman to speak the Buddha’s verse.
The woman recited the gāthā, saying,
“All evil deeds—do not commit them;
All wholesome virtues—even the smallest—practice them.”
When Shanxin heard this, a cool and joyful clarity spread throughout his entire body. His mind naturally opened and penetrated the meaning, and the gāthā was firmly engraved within his heart.
The woman asked,
“Have you remembered it?”
Shanxin replied,
“Not only have I remembered it, I have also thoroughly understood it.”
“Very good,”
said the woman.
“You have already obtained spiritual power. Return now.”
After speaking these words, the woman fell silent. Shanxin took leave of his teacher and returned to his own country.
Because Shanxin had obtained spiritual power, he returned swiftly to his homeland. He traveled everywhere teaching this gāthā, accumulated great merit, and established unwavering faith.
From that time onward, even spirits and demons accepted transformation in accordance with the teaching of the gāthā. The people again took refuge in the Buddha-Dharma, the country received the protection of gods and Buddhas, the winds and rains came in proper season, and all calamities were eliminated.
Shanxin Bodhisattva declared,
“Before I knew this gāthā, I remained within the suffering of birth and death. Now that I have obtained it, whether explaining the sutras to others or carrying out any wholesome deeds, my faith in the Buddha-Dharma has grown ever more firm.”
From that time onward, the deeds of Shanxin Bodhisattva were transmitted through generations, and his merit has been deeply remembered in the hearts of the people.
