Buddha Hall Snake by Tom Johnson

On Thursday we had class discussion about the snake in the Buddha Hall.

Ron told the story like this... At the evening ceremony the master said that there was a dharma protector in the form of a snake that wanted to make obeisances. He instructed the crowd to not get excited by its presence and told everyone to ignore it. Everyone in the Buddha Hall was at the evening ceremony and after the ceremony there was the chanting of Ami-to-fwo while walking. The crowd headed outside and they saw the snake and some people had to step over it. At the end of the ceremony the snake came into the Buddha Hall and went up a stair way and bowed it's head three times to the master before heading back out the door and outside. It was not a rattle snake but was black in appearance (garter snake = ?).

However, as many people as I ask who were there, I get a different 'story.' perhaps it would be good to get more people to relate their version of events. It might be good to ask them and gather enough information to print an "official" version of this story before it degenerates into something else. I have contacted Heng Shun and he said he would write me a reply. I will post it below... Sincerely, Tom Johnson

Re: A request from Tom Johnson- INFO about the 'White Lady Snake'

From: Heng Shun

To the best of my recollection Simon did not mention anything about the part I highlighted below- so I do not know if that part is correct. What Simon told me was that at the beginning of the Sutra lecture "after" the ceremony and when everyone was seated behind the bowing cushions ready to listen to the lecture, the Venerable Master said that there was a snake that would come into the Buddha Hall and that no one should bother him when he came in. The "white" snake (it is very important to note that the snake was white) then entered through the door on the women's side front then winded in and out through the bowing cushions (like we do when there are a lot of people) on the women's side and then came around and did the same on the men's side. It then went up towards where the stage- however it first stopped right in front of Simon who was seated on the side towards the front of the hall- and looked at Simon and then it continued on to the steps for the stage/platform. I don't recall what Simon said the snake did exactly at that point, but the whole purpose of the snake coming into the hall was that it wanted to pay obeisance and respect to the Venerable Master. After the snake left, Shr Fu (the Master) called Simon to the front of the hall (I believe he was down below standing in front of the Master's high seat or he might have been called up to the platform where the Master was) and asked him some questions about what had just happened.

This snake was, according to Simon, the manifestation of the snake from a very famous story that originated during the Tang Dynasty. The story as it changed over time is entirely different now from what actually happened at the time (according to Simon). So what I have attached is highly distorted now- read the "about the story" file first to understand how it has changed. The actual story is that white snake that appeared as a beautiful human woman to seduce the son of a famous monk was the "bad guy" and the monk who was the abbot of Gold Mountain Monastery was the great hero who did defeat the white snake and sentenced it to stay under a pagoda as the story states. Note that the father of the young man that was seduced was a good friend of Master Fa Hai and the son was actually sent to stay at Master Fa Hai's monastery, Gold Mountain Monastery. So the story takes place during the time that the young man was under the tutelage of Master Fa Hai. However, according to Simon the white snake became a great Dharma protector for Buddhism and during the many centuries until the 20th century while it was under the pagoda it also developed more spiritual powers. Then sometime during the 20th century the pagoda was destroyed and the white snake was released. It came to America to pay obeisance to the Venerable Master. Simon believes that the Master was the monk Fa Hai in the story and that is why the white snake came to pay obeisance, although I do not believe the Master said that i.e. it is Simon's belief.

The white snake can also be considered as a dragon- dragons can manifest as snakes. To carry the story even further, Simon believes that this same white snake is the dragon that Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva rides upon when she manifests to help people (like she supposedly did during the time of the Vietnam boat people escaping Vietnam).

Sincerely, in Dharma, Heng Shun